In this day and age, the Internet is bringing everyone together in new ways. From the days of usenet, to AOL chatrooms and IRC, followed by BBSes (now forums) we are now in an age where social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are commonplace.

For most of the past fifteen years, PC gaming has had its place online in one way or another. At the turn of the century, that started to spread to consoles, starting with the Dreamcast and XBOX. Today, every current-gen console and handheld is online and part of its own distinct service; XBOX Live for the 360, Playstation Network for the PS3 and PSP, and Nintendo WFC for the Wii and DS. Nowadays, many console games ship with multiplayer modes that are strictly online, where in the past we would have split screen. As time wore on, the Internet has reshaped the way we play games with other people.

However, this does not mean that the days of local multiplayer are gone forever.

The best example of that came today. Those that are in the know might have known today was the day that meetups for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies were held today at Gamestops across North America. Taking advantage of this, Gamedeals (the suburban Vancouver independent video game retailer you might have heard me talk about here) decided to have a DQ9 meetup of its own. This store is now twice the size that it was when I went there last, bigger than any EB Games or Gamestop that I’ve ever been in, and converted one of the back rooms into a lounge. A small group of people had gathered to play the game’s unique and somewhat revolutionary multiplayer mode. We all tagged up with each other to exchange maps and players, then split off into a couple of separate groups: A bunch of people tackling some of the more difficult treasure maps, and us lower level people grinding and working through the game’s story. The whole meetup, which was also attended by store owner Brian and the Happy Console Gamer, was a smashing success and reintroduced me what it was like to be surrounded by a bunch of other people, all playing the same game as you and having fun doing it.

It was a local multiplayer experience that you don’t see very often in this day and age, back in the days where kids like myself would be sitting out in the backyard with their Game Boys, or grabbing a bunch of friends and playing Goldeneye. (And if you haven’t heard, the Wii version will have split screen multiplayer, just like its predecessor, the way it’s MEANT to be played.) Back in the days, your specs or ping didn’t matter, only your skill. Your opponent was only across the room, not across the world, and trash talk was completely acceptable in some circumstances. (Though, not like the absolute bullshit trolling you see on XBL)

On the handheld side of things, though, I’ve been noticing a trend: A increasing number of games that are being released on the DS and PSP these days are going local multiplayer only. There are many games nowadays on both systems that probably would’ve worked nicely with an online multiplayer mode do not include these options; Everything is limited to whatever opponents you can find out there, though that’s not always easy. Then again, I’ve found that online multiplayer experiences on handheld games don’t tend to be of the same connection quality as you would see on a console. I tend to find more laggy people playing Mariokart DS than I do playing Mariokart Wii, and seeing how online races on the console counterpart can have triple the number of participants of its handheld descendant, that’s saying a lot. When you think of it that way, it was time to turn back the clock a bit. Even if the 3DS makes improvements in the online multiplayer area, handelds, and most video games in general, are still fit for the local multiplayer experience. It just brings a feeling that you can’t experience online.

And that was apparent in a back room at Gamedeals today, with people collaborating and talking strategy in order to take down a tough boss, or laughing when Zoma flattened half of an average-leveled party in no time whatsoever. Many people have talked about the collective experience, when people come together, for various things, and I think it was shown today in a new light how gamers can be reunited through the split screen.

A more interesting thing actually came out of that meetup today, and that was a group called the “Handheld Gaming Group” for Vancouver-area gamers. The plan is to meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and just play a game together for a few hours; All local multiplayer. Even today, where online multiplayer is prevalent, people are sticking to their roots, getting together and gaming together. Some people nowadays might ask “Why?” But I say “Why not?” It’s how I grew up.

If it’s one thing that many older gamer remembers, it’s the little stores back in the days that sold video games, allowed you to trade them in, and whatnot.  Even in today’s age where game retail seems to be dominated by GameStop/EB Games, these small stores still exist.  One said store is GameDeals, a little second hand store in New Westminster (suburban Vancouver) situated within walking distance from Columbia Station along the Expo line.

Just recently, GameDeals’ manager Brian Hughes finished a five episode series in conjunction with Dissapointed People centered around their store that was presented by ScrewAttack:

Although I’m sitting on the fence as to whether I actually liked the series or not, as soon as I found out that it was a real video game store in Metro Vancouver, I literally left to check it out.

Walking into the store to me was like walking into a ScrewAttack feature; If you’ve seen the series, you already know what it looks like.  This really is a true gamer’s store, covered wall-to-wall with gaming memorabilia, fanart, various trinkets, and games and systems that go all the way back to the Atari 2600. The prized possession of GameDeals, it seems, is the fact that they were able to get their hands on the limited edition Megaman 9 box. If you’ve got money to spend, they’re selling it for $500.  To be honest, I thought I’d never see that box with my own eyes; I just did today.

You can find just about every current gaming mag you can think of here, plus they have tons of merchandise, including their own t-shirts that they sell for 10 bucks. (They’re the same ones that you see in the video.)

Contrary to what you might think by watching the final episode above, the staff here are competent and are all nice.  I was browsing around the store when the owner, Brian Hughes, walked in and such. As I went to buy a t-shirt for myself along with a copy of the latest Nintendo Power I cracked a joke from the series.  When I told Brian that I had actually found out about the store through their ScrewAttack feature, he literally said “You’ve gotta be shitting me!” It seems that he wasn’t expecting the store’s popularity to rise. I told him what I thought about the series and how I wasn’t sure if I really liked it or not, and that ScrewAttack had quite a big community: I’m sure he’ll gain a handful of new customers as a result.  There actually was one member of the SA community that had already been there and didn’t realize it.

One other thing I found amusing about the store was the fact that they had cheeky signs in all their display cases that had some amusing lines such as this:

“She bangs! She bangs!”

Another interesting fact is that in April of 2007, a couple of thieves broke into the store overnight. The security cameras inside the store caught the whole ordeal, and after Hughes looked at the videotape, he put it all together and uploaded the camera footage to YouTube.  The robbery made local headlines and the criminal was actually found and arrested.  The story has a happy ending for both sides, though, as the criminal turned his life around afterwards and even paid for the store’s losses after getting out of jail and rehab.

GameDeals is the type of store that’s by gamers, for gamers. You can walk in there and feel like you’ve walked into a place where you’re already known and welcome, and I would highly recommended this place. If you live in Metro Vancouver and still need incentive to go, a lot of the new games they’ve gotten are significantly cheaper here than they are at department stores and retail chains.  Go check ‘em out!