Cheap Game Boy Advance games @ RITE AID

xDerekRx

xDerekRx

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This deal is probably going to be pretty tame to most but for those that can make use of sealed Game Boy Advance games it might be useful.

Went to a local RITE AID Pharmacy (http://www.riteaid.com/) to get some mayo for tuna sammich and stopped by the mini aisle that has a small section of 5-10 video games and actually find some decent deals.

:gba:
Backyard Football 2006 - $2.50
Barbie Pegasus - $2.50

There were also 2 other GBA games for kids marked 2.50 the names escape me.

Not sure if this is a widespread Rite Aid GBA clearence or something. I also have not checked another Rite Aid to see if the selection varies at all. Anyone else ever see deals at Rite Aid before?
 
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I think more than anything I was hoping to get answers as to whether all Rite Aids were clearing out GBA games and the selection. What if they had some Pokemons laying around at Rite Aid :)
 
All of the Rite Aids in my area were bought out and became CVSes years ago. I don't remember them ever carrying games then, and even now, CVS isn't known for carrying games outside for a couple of super-mainstream things like Guitar Hero bundles and plastic sports crap for Wiimotes. Around Christmastime my local CVS will get in a little rack of horrible dregs like M&Ms Kart Racing/Chicken Shoot/random DS pony game, but that's about it.

Buy a bunch and give them out on your porch at Halloween. Though, wouldn't this be the gaming equivalent of a razor-filled candy bar?
 
[quote name='xDerekRx']I think more than anything I was hoping to get answers as to whether all Rite Aids were clearing out GBA games and the selection. What if they had some Pokemons laying around at Rite Aid :)[/QUOTE]

If I remember tomorrow I will stop by Rite Aid for something or another and check it out, there's one on my way home.
 
[quote name='fwbweux']All of the Rite Aids in my area were bought out and became CVSes years ago. I don't remember them ever carrying games then, and even now, CVS isn't known for carrying games outside for a couple of super-mainstream things like Guitar Hero bundles and plastic sports crap for Wiimotes. Around Christmastime my local CVS will get in a little rack of horrible dregs like M&Ms Kart Racing/Chicken Shoot/random DS pony game, but that's about it.

Buy a bunch and give them out on your porch at Halloween. Though, wouldn't this be the gaming equivalent of a razor-filled candy bar?[/QUOTE]
I think it's a razor-filled apple, IIRC

Well, the game would probaly last 5 minutes. Candy only lasts a minute or less(Sans jawbreaker). Taste is YMMV.
 
as the father of a 5 yo girl who owns a gba micro i appreciate you posting about barbie pegasus -- these games are expensive used at gamestop as they know unknowledgable parents will fork over the cash for them.
 
[quote name='Shimrra']I appreciate your post but not sure if its something to be proud of finding :D[/QUOTE]

Indeed, this is odd.
 
[quote name='daminion']as the father of a 5 yo girl who owns a gba micro i appreciate you posting about barbie pegasus -- these games are expensive used at gamestop as they know unknowledgable parents will fork over the cash for them.[/QUOTE]
*faceplam* why can't you buy your duaghter a decent game like Mario? She might be a better game for it.
 
[quote name='ApeOverlord007']*faceplam* why can't you buy your duaghter a decent game like Mario? She might be a better game for it.[/QUOTE]

*facepalm* why don't you leave the parenting to her father? Turns out five year old girls like Barbie.
 
[quote name='ApeOverlord007']I think it's a razor-filled apple, IIRC

Well, the game would probaly last 5 minutes. Candy only lasts a minute or less(Sans jawbreaker). Taste is YMMV.[/QUOTE]

I've never seen someone actually pass out apples at Halloween, so I usually take the liberty of making the analogy more modern :lol:

Though I wouldn't put it past a little kid not to try eating a GBA cart. I've seen a few at yard sales with very human-looking teeth marks in them.
 
[quote name='bvharris']*facepalm* why don't you leave the parenting to her father? Turns out five year old girls like Barbie.[/QUOTE]

*facepalm* What he said.

Wait till u have a daughter. U will buy your little princess any piece of crap game she wants (American Girl: Julie Finds a Way). Its a fucking conspiracy.

Its one of the reasons that both parents and reviewers do a happy dance when good kid games like Barnyard or Dokomodake come out.

Mario "seems" to be all ages/sex/denominations appropriate, but if Nintendo leaves out Princess Peach, there is no way your little girl will play Luigi.
 
$2.50 for a Barbie game for your kid sounds good. Obviously, most of us don't want bad GBA games, but not everyone here is a teenager or young man. A deal is a deal, even if it isn't for everyone.
 
ya like i said, i was wondering if other peoples Rite Aids had better GBA games maybe on clerarence.

Also a "sammich" is vernacular for a sandwich :)
 
Rite Aid in general took over the Eckard drug stores when they went under and CVS took over Revco Drug stores. At least that is how it seems to have happened in NC.
 
Drugstores often have some very random CD/DVD/Video game stock. The Rite Aid near me had Mega Man Legends for 15 bucks within the last couple years. Currently of note they have Super Monkey Ball, Nano Breaker, Space Channel 5 Special Edition, and Back to Stone for GBA.

They also have two seasons of The Flintstones on DVD for 13 bucks each.
 
When kids get it in their head that they want something they want it regardless of the quality of the product. A parent can try to steer them towards a better game but it doesn't always work because they are dead set on the girly game. She is only 5 so that is fine at that age, honestly mario games are much too difficult for today's children. They may have been fine for you to play as a kid however all the kids I have seen play them throw them down in disgust. I know kids who have a whole collection of mario games but have not gotten more than 20% way through each of them. The new walkthrough system that Nintendo is coming out with is right on target.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']honestly mario games are much too difficult for today's children. They may have been fine for you to play as a kid however all the kids I have seen play them throw them down in disgust.[/QUOTE]

This is an interesting statement/admittance for which I can only assume is caused by one or both of these two reasons:

1. Kids, on average (or specific, since after all, this is just one person's observations), are getting stupider and/or less coordinated than the previous generation.
2. Kids, on average (or, well see above), have much smaller attention spans and/or diminished work ethics (yes, work ethics!) than the previous generation.

Now, if the problem is number one, then this is a real problem... one that is huge in scope and is either a product of our biology (unlikely) or our society (likely), and can probably be blamed on quality of education (and not just at the school-level). For example, compare children's television of twenty years ago to the children's programming of today: twenty years ago, we had Mr. Rogers, Mr. Wizard, Sesame Street (when it wasn't just the Elmo Hour), 3-2-1 Contact, etc. These were real shows that were focused on education through entertainment. Nowadays, the best we have is Dora, and even that is pretty terrible, since its educational value is slight and it's marketing value is primary.

However, if the problem is the second possibility, this is still societal, but one that is much more indicative of a case-by-case, family-by-family breakdown in values. The basic problem is the spoiling of children (OMG, now I sound like a weazened old coot... but I'm only twenty-seven, and I have no kids!) Let's use video games themselves as an example here: When I was a child, I had a Nintendo. I would rarely get new games, and when I would, they would be for a major event, like for a birthday or (more likely) Christmas. I remember also a summer in which I made a deal with my mother to earn credits by doing chores and getting along with my sister, and if by the end of the summer I had enough credits (and hadn't lost too many by doing the wrong things or failing to do the right things), I would be rewarded with a new Nintendo game. And so, 1, this made choosing the right game very important because I knew that I would not get a new game for some time, and 2, the decision I did make would have to be accepted. So, when you have a small number of games doled out over an extended period of time, you appreciate those games more and (despite how difficult they are) become good at them. If, however, you're willing to purchase games for your children on a weekly or monthly basis, they have no personal investment in getting better at the games because they know another one is just around the corner, and that game may be easier.

Now that I can afford to buy lots of games, I hardly finish any of them. That's exactly the situation I'm describing above with today's youth. Because we have so many games, we're accepting of the fact that we do not need to devote the time to master any one... because, well, why? There's always something "better" or flashier coming along. That said, I really miss the days where I could spend hours playing Rad Racer ad nauseum simply because I'd never beaten it, and the other games I did have had been beaten so many times that it rendered them pointless.

So here's my advice to the parents out there: limits. Make your children earn their fun, and limit the fun they have. While they may resist, they will enjoy the time that do spend with games and appreciate them that much more.
 
[quote name='zenintrude']This is an interesting statement/admittance for which I can only assume is caused by one or both of these two reasons:

1. Kids, on average (or specific, since after all, this is just one person's observations), are getting stupider and/or less coordinated than the previous generation.
2. Kids, on average (or, well see above), have much smaller attention spans and/or diminished work ethics (yes, work ethics!) than the previous generation.

Now, if the problem is number one, then this is a real problem... one that is huge in scope and is either a product of our biology (unlikely) or our society (likely), and can probably be blamed on quality of education (and not just at the school-level). For example, compare children's television of twenty years ago to the children's programming of today: twenty years ago, we had Mr. Rogers, Mr. Wizard, Sesame Street (when it wasn't just the Elmo Hour), 3-2-1 Contact, etc. These were real shows that were focused on education through entertainment. Nowadays, the best we have is Dora, and even that is pretty terrible, since its educational value is slight and it's marketing value is primary.

However, if the problem is the second possibility, this is still societal, but one that is much more indicative of a case-by-case, family-by-family breakdown in values. The basic problem is the spoiling of children (OMG, now I sound like a weazened old coot... but I'm only twenty-seven, and I have no kids!) Let's use video games themselves as an example here: When I was a child, I had a Nintendo. I would rarely get new games, and when I would, they would be for a major event, like for a birthday or (more likely) Christmas. I remember also a summer in which I made a deal with my mother to earn credits by doing chores and getting along with my sister, and if by the end of the summer I had enough credits (and hadn't lost too many by doing the wrong things or failing to do the right things), I would be rewarded with a new Nintendo game. And so, 1, this made choosing the right game very important because I knew that I would not get a new game for some time, and 2, the decision I did make would have to be accepted. So, when you have a small number of games doled out over an extended period of time, you appreciate those games more and (despite how difficult they are) become good at them. If, however, you're willing to purchase games for your children on a weekly or monthly basis, they have no personal investment in getting better at the games because they know another one is just around the corner, and that game may be easier.

Now that I can afford to buy lots of games, I hardly finish any of them. That's exactly the situation I'm describing above with today's youth. Because we have so many games, we're accepting of the fact that we do not need to devote the time to master any one... because, well, why? There's always something "better" or flashier coming along. That said, I really miss the days where I could spend hours playing Rad Racer ad nauseum simply because I'd never beaten it, and the other games I did have had been beaten so many times that it rendered them pointless.

So here's my advice to the parents out there: limits. Make your children earn their fun, and limit the fun they have. While they may resist, they will enjoy the time that do spend with games and appreciate them that much more.[/QUOTE]

I agree with a lot of these points. A few counter points:

1). Sesame Street is still around, and there are good, new shows that parents can choose for their kids - they just have to be intentional about putting education and value before their own entertainment.

2). Totally agree about limits.

3). Video games have evolved. They are to us what tv was to our parents. For today's kids, I'm sure there is something else to take games' place as a scarce source of entertainment. I don't have kids, but it's just the way things go. There's always something out there that's coming into the mainstream...

4). Totally agree about the effect the glut of games has on commitment to a game. While there are lots of benefits, I am disappointed by the erosion of "community" that comes through the shared experience of playing many of the same games. I remember back in the day talking with friends about certain games and sharing stories, tips, etc. There is so much gaming diversity now that everybody is playing something different and most people who meet a challenge just shrug and go to the next game.

I think that was all my points. I know there are a few Halo's out there that "everybody" plays, but by and large it's just not the Golden Age anymore. Too bad for all you youngsters who missed the 80s/early 90s!

:)
 
I am 27 and have no kids too. The problem I have witnessed seems to be a short attention span, they get frustrated too quickly and just throw the game down in disgust. They don't have the effort to pick it up and try again. Many kids I know LOVE video games, or so they say, yet they have yet to finish any in their collection, because they complain its too hard. As soon as they hit an obstacle in the game if the game doesn't provide the solution right up front they throw it down in disgust and start screaming and whining.

Not only that, but I hear that from almost every parent with a video-game playing kid, oh he plays the game for 10 min then throws it down because its too hard. So then I buy him another one, ad nasuseum.. I buy a lot of games at yard sales, and people seem to like to take their complaints out on me for why they are selling their games off at extremely low prices. Usually when I run into a house with kids and a stack of games, it is the above.

The solution is to give your kid a game (make sure its a beatable one, aka not one with any game breaking glitches) and tell them you are not giving them another one until it is beaten 100% or close to that. This will teach kids to perservere and earn their games, plus they will enjoy what they have more and they will be learning a lot of things in the process. They will become a better gamer because of it. The above problem is reinforced by parents buying their kids game after game so that even if they have not beaten 10% of a game, they know they can get another one.

This also seems to happen more in kids who start gaming later in life (getting their first game at 10 years old for example) and who game without the parents having any interest in gaming. If kids game with their parents early in life (like at age 4-5) they will have developed the skill and the will and try to beat a game. Moreso if parents are explaining the game and teaching them how to play. I know way too many parents who just buy games for their kids hand them the game and that is it. You have to take it as a bonding opportunity for you and your child.

I am a believer that kids should be started on gaming as early as possible, of course with the parents supervision, if they can cut their teeth on an atari 2600 controller that is great. If I had kids, they would be playing games as soon as they were able to, starting with the older games and working their way up. This way they would gain an appreciation for it and since there would already be games in the house this would quell the constant wanting for the latest and most expensive game.

As for the type of game played, that would depend solely on what the other kids in your kid's friend circle are playing or what your kid is interested in. I can't find any kid in my family who will play a pokemon game, but there are plenty of other pokemon-playing groups out there. However all the kids in my family have Mario Kart for the Wii and they love that game (yet they have nerve to call pokemon a game for little kids, when they in themselves are still children)...
 
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[quote name='SaraAB']I am 27 and have no kids too. The problem I have witnessed seems to be a short attention span, they get frustrated too quickly and just throw the game down in disgust. They don't have the effort to pick it up and try again. Many kids I know LOVE video games, or so they say, yet they have yet to finish any in their collection, because they complain its too hard. As soon as they hit an obstacle in the game if the game doesn't provide the solution right up front they throw it down in disgust and start screaming and whining.

[/QUOTE]

I'm in my 30s and childless. I come from a family where we played video games young...both my sister and I played games from an early age, and we still game to this day.

We both have witnessed this kind of behavior with my sister's kids. They're just too young to play games on a Playstation, Xbox, etc., due to most of the controls being too complicated and frustrating for them, even games geared at children specifically. We started on an Atari 2600 as children, where the games had a much simpler control scheme-it had a joystick and ONE button. You wiggled the joystick and pressed one button, and you were off playing. Now, compare that with a Playstation controller, and you could see how a small child could have a problem.

My sister has banned unsupervised video game playing in her house due to what she calls the "Spongebob Squarepants Incident". She got her children a PS2 Spongebob game, and they were so frustrated by the controls (which she tested out herself and agreed, were really too difficult for children under say, 10) that they ended up having a screaming temper tantrum, throwing the PS2 across the room and breaking it. She now closely monitors what they play and how long they play it.

But more on topic, and I can see how these deals would appeal to parents. It doesn't matter how bad Barbie Pegasus sucks, if you kids want it really badly, most parents will have no objections to paying $5 for a game rather than $50. Hell, if I had and nieces or nephews who wanted that game, and I saw it for $5, I'd buy it and save it to give away as a gift (like birthday or XMas).
 
[quote name='Spacepest']"Spongebob Squarepants Incident"[/QUOTE]

Those games are too hard for their audience. My nephew asked me to help him beat some parts in some Nicktoons game on the DS a few months ago. He had been stuck for a week, and I managed to beat the boss pretty quickly- but I'll admit it was a little to difficult for the market they were aimed at (mostly due to clumsy controls). Within an hour, he was back in front of me at another frustrating boss fight.

I don't think they need to dumb the games down- but it might be in their interest to program the game to get easier after the player dies a few times in the same spot.

I think what it comes down to is the number of buttons, options and reading required to play a lot of things. My nephew is 5, and he can't figure out how to navigate all of the menus in SSBB so I always have to set it up for him- then he gets confused because every place he has ever played it uses a different control set-up.
 
This is off topic but I like the discussion

Im 24 now and played games all growing up. As much as I like where the games have gone with graphics these days, Im dissapointed with the challenge level.

For example Res Evil 5 was fun but Res Evil 1 was a real survival exploration game. Now games are starting to take the path of Res Evil 5. Linear and easy to play through. I hate that. I want old school "getting lost" in games. Even todays FPS games are so linear. No more Duke or Doom games where it was actually a challenge to find the exit. They simply make games too easy these days to the point where I prefer the old style where youd have to have some patience and figure things out more.
 
damn that is some cheap ass game right there. I remember buying Moon Patrol for my 2600 at a drug store - but it had just come out and was expensive!

RE: kids today

Short attention span - check
Everybody's a winner - check
Golden Age of gaming over - check

blame it on the media - the entarwebs - cell phones - capitalism
 
[quote name='ApeOverlord007']I would never buy crap games for my child... even if they were cheap. $2.50 is a bit much for those games anyway.[/QUOTE]

Me neither. My kids aren't even going to know what video games are until they turn 18. Children should spend their time doing chores and homework, not having fun or doing anything awesome. There's plenty of time for that once you're an adult.
 
[quote name='hpv']Me neither. My kids aren't even going to know what video games are until they turn 18. Children should spend their time doing chores and homework, not having fun or doing anything awesome. There's plenty of time for that once you're an adult.[/QUOTE]

I seriously hope your sarcastic on this one, the last thing I would want is a kid who is a social outcast in their school, that or one who has super-strict parents who won't let them do anything the other kids are doing. If I had kids I wouldn't want to be that kid so I definitely wouldn't want my kid to be that kid. EVERY kid nowadays plays video games, so if you didn't let your kid play them, you would end up having the only kid in the school who doesn't play them. That would not be good. Video games are fine as long as they are supervised and the kids understand that there are time limits.

Video games are something every parent is going to have to deal with because as I mentioned, every kid nowadays plays video games so it is a relevant and important discussion. If I was to buy kids a video game I would make sure I test played it first or at least read reviews to make sure I wasn't giving a "spongebob" to a kid, especially if it was for a young kid who was just getting started on games. More reviewers should take difficulty into account especially when they know that the game is going to be played by this generation of kids or if the game is likely to be played by 5 year olds, parents would be happy to know if the game is too difficult or not. I have a feeling that there are a lot more "spongebobs" out there than we think.

The thing is in the 80's when kids had the NES they would only get 1-2 games per year if that and getting a game was a major event so purchases were considered carefully and you were stuck with whatever game you picked for the entire year or until birthday or Xmas came around. This also meant that when you got stuck in a game you played until you figured it out or you didn't get any further in a game. This gave kids the will to pick up the controller even at the worst and most harrowing games, and yes there were games that were poorly designed then as well. I hear barbie for the NES is a monster game that is unbeatable. There were also no saves at all in most games (this resulted in the notion that kids like to sit and play games for hours, well in the 80s that was the only way to beat them!). Games were often hard because they had to make a game with very little memory compared to today so if they made a 5 level game that was easy to beat a kid would beat it in an hour and then they would be stuck with that game for the whole year because the parents wouldn't buy anymore. If they didn't make the game hard then kids wouldn't have gotten much play value out of it.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']
The thing is in the 80's when kids had the NES they would only get 1-2 games per year[/QUOTE]

I was a hardcore gamer in the NES days and at least for me - I rented the hell out of some games - 2-3 every weekend and played them with friends. If I found one I just had to have then I might buy it. I agree I only bought a few - but renting was nice to give them a try - and we could often beat them in a weekend so no need to buy.
 
Can't say I'm going to go out of my way to look for this one, but I'm sure somebody will appreciate this. Thanks, dude.

[quote name='bordjon']I was a hardcore gamer in the NES days and at least for me - I rented the hell out of some games - 2-3 every weekend and played them with friends. If I found one I just had to have then I might buy it. I agree I only bought a few - but renting was nice to give them a try - and we could often beat them in a weekend so no need to buy.[/QUOTE]

You were probably an exception - I don't know many people that rented back then.

I was more like SaraAB - I'd get games for birthdays and Christmas, and (because I got my NES towards the end of its life cycle) when we found them at the garage sales my mom loved to go to. Thing was, I didn't mind playing TMNT2 or Ducktales for the hundredth time. :)
 
On behalf of parents here on CAG, I would like to thank all of you for your advice in how to raise our kids. I never would have know what to do if it wasn't for all of you non-parents informing me as to how to handle video games with my daughter, who you have never met.

I do my best to buy my 6YO daughter 'good' games, but sometimes she really wants to try the mainstream branded crap. She knows that most of them suck, though, after playing a few of them. A $2.50 barbie game would be a no-brainer for me. Even if it were junk, it would make her happy for a few hours while she tried it. Then she would go back to playing the good, age-appropriate, well-designed games that I have carefully picked out for her. Fortunately, we enjoy playing together, and I have shown her the value of some old games. She really happens to like duck hunt right now, for example.

I understand that renting games was more common in the NES days, but please remember that spending $50 on a game in 1985 was like spending $98 on a game in 2008, according to the westegg inflation calculator (http://www.westegg.com/inflation/). How many of you bought any one new game that cost $98 last year? The calculator also shows that spending $2.50 on a crappy game now is like spending about $1.25 on a game in 1985 - less than the cost of a rental. As someone else pointed out, situations change. The important thing for all of us to remember is to have balance, whether for our kids or for ourselves.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']
The thing is in the 80's when kids had the NES they would only get 1-2 games per year if that and getting a game was a major event so purchases were considered carefully and you were stuck with whatever game you picked for the entire year or until birthday or Xmas came around. This also meant that when you got stuck in a game you played until you figured it out or you didn't get any further in a game. This gave kids the will to pick up the controller even at the worst and most harrowing games, and yes there were games that were poorly designed then as well. I hear barbie for the NES is a monster game that is unbeatable. There were also no saves at all in most games (this resulted in the notion that kids like to sit and play games for hours, well in the 80s that was the only way to beat them!). Games were often hard because they had to make a game with very little memory compared to today so if they made a 5 level game that was easy to beat a kid would beat it in an hour and then they would be stuck with that game for the whole year because the parents wouldn't buy anymore. If they didn't make the game hard then kids wouldn't have gotten much play value out of it.[/QUOTE]

And we had to walk ten miles to school, uphill both ways, in the snow. We didn't have shoes, because we didn't have feet. We just walked on our leg nubs AND WE LIKED IT.

But seriously, I agree with you. Before I stared seriously collecting, I think I had a small shoebox filled with SNES games. There couldn't have been more than eight in there, and some of those were given to me by more fortunate friends. The others were pack-in games, Christmas presents, or games my mom got for me when they clearanced them out. Honestly, kids have it much easier now, and I say that with more than a tinge of jealousy.

Anyway, I went to CVS today on the off-chance that they had games, and they had Ed, Edd and Eddy: Jawbreakers! for the GBA for $5. Being an Ed fan, I picked it up, and I kind of wish I hadn't.
 
Renting seems to be confined to those who had a good local rental store around them in the 80s. Back then the rental store was like kid in a candy store and it was truly an experience that you cannot get these days. My friend who lives in Wisconsin said that he used to rent NES games for 2$ a WEEK and that his allowance at the time more than covered the cost of a weekly rental. This means he played lots of good games on the cheap. Man if I could rent games for 2$ per week here now I would be all over it, I suspect that was a pretty good deal back in the day too especially considering the high cost of games back then.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']Renting seems to be confined to those who had a good local rental store around them in the 80s. Back then the rental store was like kid in a candy store and it was truly an experience that you cannot get these days. My friend who lives in Wisconsin said that he used to rent NES games for 2$ a WEEK and that his allowance at the time more than covered the cost of a weekly rental. This means he played lots of good games on the cheap. Man if I could rent games for 2$ per week here now I would be all over it, I suspect that was a pretty good deal back in the day too especially considering the high cost of games back then.[/QUOTE]

$2 a week, you say..... https://www.gamefly.com/regoffer/start/
 
In the NES & SNES days, everybody had their fair share of licensed games that we bought based on the boxart. There's nothing new here. It happened in the PS era and the PS2 era. I remember Spongebob and Rugrats making GH.

If someone thinks his 5 year old will enjoy the Barbie game then so be it. To expect everybody to play 9.0 rated games all the time (and call them stupid or ADD for not doing so) is very elitist.

I have no idea why the gaming community as a whole is so concerned about what other people areplaying and use terms like "shovelware" to derride them.
 
[quote name='DQT']I have no idea why the gaming community as a whole is so concerned about what other people areplaying and use terms like "shovelware" to derride them.[/QUOTE]

It's sort of a concern for me because my mom's new to the whole gaming thing; though we played Atari, NES, SNES, etc. as kids, mom was never into it until my brother bought a Wii back on launch date; I also got her a DS Lite for her birthday/mother's gift earlier this year.

A lot of developers/publishers seem to be taking advantage of the onslaught of people new to gaming as a result of the Nintendo systems; sure, there's shovelware on other consoles, but it's most frequently found on the Nintendo. A person who's just getting into games (like many Wii/DS consumers) won't know about reading reviews or renting games from GameFly; they're going to end up buying inferior product.

Shovelware takes advantage of people like my mom who are new and naive when it comes to gaming, and it may keep good games from hitting the market because they don't sell as much (e.g., why's this Mario game so expensive? Game Party II is only 20 bucks! I'll take that!) or because publishers/developers can get away with selling an inferior product that costs less money to produce because naive customers will buy it anyway.

I'm no consumer studies expert, though, so please don't take my word as gospel.

And word to those people who had to scrimp and save for games, and usually only got them on special occasions; I've known kids (yes, kidS!) who have recieved DS systems for Easter. Yes, for Easter.

All I ever got was candy.
 
Back in the day when I had to play on my dad's NES, I remember all those wonderful puzzle games. When i'd go to my grandfather's house, I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw half a cabinet full of NES carts. I remember when I had my own GBC and I got to choose my games below the $10 range. This was, of course, used pinball games. It was a tough decision that'd come once in a while, and it'd be the most enjoyable thing ever.

I find it surprising that kids get things the way they do, but it's understandable. If a parent were to compare buying an old console to buying one today, it'd seem more cost efficient. You say that markets are full of shovelware because people don't rent or know, but you'd also have to look at it like 'Why is it that this Mario game is still at such a high price after years, and this one has gone down to $5 within 6 months?' It's an easy way to entertain children, and it doesn't break the bank for the kids who would probably put down Mario anyway.

And sure, games may be too 'complex,' but there's always stuff like the PSN, Xbox Live, and the Virtual Console. There's plenty of nice, cheap games there, but I guess that isn't the concern here.

Anyway, I haven't seen any games in Rite-Aid for quite a while. I guess they just wanted to clear out the warehouse stock that's taking up space.
 
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