By Todd Russell
Over the last year I’ve noticed a change in my buying habits when it comes to media. It started with my son buying Jaws (see: Our Son Bought a New In Box Jaws Stern Premium – The First 40 Days of Ownership – What’s the Experience Really Like?).
For those not following that purchase experience, it has been very positive. The game after some 18+ months of ownership now has over 5,000 played games. It spawned purchase of three more games (two by me, one by another son), so in the last 18 months we’ve bought 4 NIB (new in box) modern pinball machines.
Well, maybe this all started sooner, when I got this record player — that I still have in box — and bought one album: Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance. Then a second album, the soundtrack of the pinball machine Black Knight Swords of Rage (first mentioned: Stern Pinball second cornerstone of 2025 is King Kong: Myth of Terror Island to be talk of Humpday Wednesday S2E2).
Just this last Saturday we were at the mall eating at a buffet restaurant and a new Barnes & Noble opened across in the mall and it was a huge store with a whole wall and significant section near the checkout registers with more vinyl records. I picked up two more albums ($27 USD each): Iron Maiden Powerslave and Piece of Mind. Put in the Christmas present pile. Haven’t opened any of these vinyl albums.
Sidebar: this was one of the coolest Barnes & Noble stores I’ve ever seen. It was a big store, bright, teeming with people. Places to sit and read, sip drinks. It was a cool store. I was intrigued to read this article:
“No longer were its locations going to look like a giant book supermarket. Each location would function as a representative of its locality and the people coming to the store. As CEO, Daunt implemented a new strategy for Barnes and Noble to have bookstores that were smaller, full of books that were hand-picked for the community, and would have more unique aesthetics across every store rather than having every location use the same shelving, furniture, and decor. Even the lines of shelves were done away with in favor of the more familiar maze-like layout of the traditional book store. In short, every Barnes and Noble location began to function as an independent bookstore where the manager and employees were delegated the authority to implement sales and curate book offerings with autonomy. This is what brought people back to Barnes and Noble.” – How Barnes and Noble Saved Itself – The Cornell Daily Sun
If you haven’t seen one of these new Barnes & Noble stores, they are well worth checking out. I want to go back to this one and look at more stuff there. We also bought a few other Christmas presents there: a mini Zoltar machine for my son and a World of Warcraft board game.
Meanwhile, since Jaws, I bought my first modern pinball, Iron Maiden, for my birthday last September. Then three weeks later, bought James Bond pro. In 2025, I picked up two arcade machines: full-sized, the real deal: Ms. Pac-Man with additional board for Pac-Man and Pengo. My most recent arcade game purchase was my dream machine: Robotron: 2084.
Last month we were at the Portland Retrogaming Expo show and I bought an Evercade VS-R with 10 game carts. Also, a Christmas present.
Seeing the pattern?
Clearly, buying more physical and going backwards vs. digital. I’m buying some stuff digital, but instead of going with the Nintendo Switch 2, I bought into an Evercade. I’ve seen a bunch of Switch 2s in retail stores, too, so it’s not a case at all like the PS5 where you just couldn’t find one anywhere at launch, except through scalpers.
The Nintendo Switch 2 and their overpriced, IMO, new games and hardware with a lack of innovation doesn’t interest me at this time. The biggest reason I’m not interested in a Switch 2 is there is nothing that creative about it. That’s the thing Nintendo over the years has done so well. Time and again, they do creative things you don’t expect. But not with the Switch 2. I’ve already predicted this system isn’t going to do very well (Wii U Deja Vu? Nintendo Switch 2 is coming June 5, 2025, are you buying at launch, later or never?). I’m on record that I think it will struggle to sell 60 million units, which is on par with how the Xbox One did and few regard that system as a winner.
So far? It’s sold a little over 10 million units, so it has a lot of mountain to climb, sales-wise, to get 50 million more.
If/when Nintendo releases some killer Switch 2 only game, that will definitely move the numbers, but as of right now things aren’t looking like this is any kind of Switch killer sales-wise.
Back to the whole physical vs. digital media topic. I want to actually own stuff again. There’s something inherently phony about digital media. It’s a transitory buying experience. You are paying for something you never truly own. It cheapens the media in a way. Guess that’s the main reason I’m going backwards.
Am not planning on becoming some kind of mass physical game hoarder. Not this time around. Instead, going to surgically purchase games that I really, truly want to own the rest of my life. Robotron: 2084 and Iron Maiden pinball fit.
What about you? Are you staying digital? Buying some physical media? Let’s chat about this more in the comments, PGM Discord or on one of the live Twitch streams.