Saying Goodbye to buying Retail

It started simply enough with the Orange Box. Steam was installed and ignored as best as I could. I bought my games because I liked the box that came with it. Most of the time I would redownload the Game off the internet or get a cracked .exe file. I enjoyed my line of Old Games and New Ones that I had stacked neatly on a shelf but times are changing. I would still be buying through Retail but Circuit City closed and with it the last real competition to Best Buy. I noticed that the PC Game aisles were getting smaller each time I came in and the prices never went down. So, I started to look at Impulse (Stardock), Newegg, and last but not least Steam. It was officially last week with the free Unreal 3 Weekend that I really used Steam. There was Audio-Surf there for $7.99 and I loved the demo and bought it, there was the World of Goo, The Maw, I began to play Team Fortress (though I kind of suck and I haven't figured out how to level), and began to enjoy the simple aspect of downloading and playing. There isn't that rush home and play or the long downloading time to get a cracked copy. There is a whole new set of Games that I would have never looked at that I'm buying and enjoying.

Instead of a large shelf of Games it will become a long list. The old Games I couldn't find are begining to show up on Steam and the price is near free. Games that I would have been forced to Pirate I can now get on Steam. I'm enjoying the Gaming of Steam but there is a small part of myself that I can see on my shelf. A lot of Gaming history is there and I wonder how I will continue it on without the Retail Boxes and CD's. Still after these last two weeks I know that my days for shopping in a Retail Store is going away. I would rather spend two to three hours sweeping through Newegg than spend an hour in Best Buy. Radio Shack is seeing more of me in this last year than I had in my entire life, I also see more people in Radio Shack than I can ever recall, and those experimental electronic build things are selling out as Fathers and sons reconnect in a way that was once lost. I can't even remember the last time I was in a Best Buy nor do I care to go there which is a shock in itself.
I talk with other people and they tell me the same thing and that is they are wanting to learn things and teach things to there kids that there fathers never did for them.

It seems in this last year that more and more people are waking up from a Nightmare of Glazed Eyes, Bigger Houses, and even Bigger Boats they are figuring out what is important in their lives. I'm taking a Book End and putting it at the end of my long line of Games and moving on to Steam. No more Best Buy or Walmart or any of them Gaming stores. The day of me buying Retail Games has closed to an end. Instead of boxes I'll hang up posters instead... Maybe it will be Gaming Posters that I'll spend time drawing with my kids.

Here's what you should do - buy yourself tons of DVD-Rs in full-size cases (or buy a spindle of blanks and get the cases seperately), and a decent printer. Then burn your Steam game backups to disc and download the case covers and print them on glossy paper. That's what I do, the 2000 DVD rack I have isn't going to go to waste, damnit!

HAHA that is so true. Unfortunately, mine has began to recognize different games when I am playing them.

Cuddles, great post. I think you summed up what is happening on a large scale and not just with games. Online based stores and services are going to take over brick and mortar stores. Think about Netflix and how it is killing the video rental stores. Not only is it easier to walk out to your mailbox rather than drive into town, there is a larger selection of videos available and you don't have to worry about getting it in late. It all boils down to having easier access to a larger selection...throw in lower pricing and it is a no brainer which way people will go.

Because of newegg, I haven't bought anything from Best Buy in a long long time. I priced out a router and they wanted $20 more for it at Best Buy than what newegg's price was. I understand the whole concept of why that is but if they can't change then etail will take them over eventually. For the router, I walked out and bought it from newegg the next day and haven't been back since. The number of people doing this is growing.

When steam first started with Half-Life 2 back around 2003 or 2004 I HATED IT. Over the last year I have grown to love it. Much more convenient being able to simply download the games, keep them up to date, not having to worry about cd's etc... It's rare that I buy a pc game from the stores anymore, steam has turned into a really good service. I still keep my last few store bought games displayed on the shelf though just to have something up there...

i always preferred steam because of its prices and convenience (and i guess you could consider me a Valve fanboy). the only physical PC game i ever had was Tom Clancy's ghost recon, which i broke before i got past 1/4 of. i don't trust myself with CD's anymore.

also there is not leveling system in tf2, you can get side-grade guns for certain classes by completing that classes achievements but the levels are there for no reason.

Thank You for the nice replies back. I'm not one for embracing new tech and when I decide to move forward it's usually in huge steps because I understand that the new is replacing the old. Back in the dot com era a lot of people rushed towards this new technology before it had fully matured. I see some unanswered questions for Steam but the technology has matured to the point that now it's just a "when" and not an "if".
I love the idea of just Printing out the Covers and will use it.
Newegg set a pretty high standard in it's ease of use and web friendly site. When you go there it feels like if you just stepped into a Best Buy and makes you want to "window shop".
For a while shops like Radio Shack and other "Mom and Pop" shops were looking like they were going to disappear as Best Buys and Circuit City's began to populate the landscape. Now I think everything has come full circle. People when they go shopping will begin to look for that smaller more one on one quality customer service when they go shopping. These will be the places where when you walk in the Owner will greet you on a first name basis. When you know you need an item that isn't carried locally we'll turn to the Web. Best Buy and such are just to big and unwieldly to survive against the Web, Walmarts, and Mom and Pop shops. All in all I think this is going to be an interesting time to live in.
Thank You again for the comments.