New Yorker heading to San Jose/ San Fransisco

Well for starters SJ is like an hour away from SF driving without traffic; they are very different places. In SJ, you have the Shark Tank (hockey/multi-purpose arena), the historical railroad museum and the Tech museum. SF there are a few good museums, plenty of stadiums, resturants, panoramic views; etc, all depends what you are interested in seeing. In terms of small video games places in SF and SJ, I think they are all nearly extinct.

I was hoping to hit a small non gamestop store oh well

Found these 2 spots on yelp that could be promising. SJ is out of my area so I've never been to either of these places; SF for sure has nothing other than gamestop.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/game-world-san-jose

http://www.yelp.com/biz/spacecat-san-jose-2

SF:  Pier 39 (used to be a coin-op arcade the last time I was there), Alcatraz (tourist-y but everyone should tour it at least once), lunch or dinner in Chinatown, Exploratorium (science exhibits), concert at The Fillmore, Haight-Ashbury record stores (if vinyl is your thing), Golden Gate Park (comparable to Central Park in NYC), Sunset neighborhood (beach combing), ATT Park for a baseball game.  Those are just off the top of the head.

I was at Pier 39 last month, the days of the Riptide arcade are gone. It has now been turned into a mini-dave and busters.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/players-sports-grill-and-arcade-san-francisco

If you were coming in the Summer I'd suggest to see a Giants game at AT&T park, but a San Jose Sharks game is also a lot of fun. We have the best fan-base in the NHL!

There's a buy & trade store on Haight street in San Francisco.

The drive from SJ to SF is quite the trip, just saying.

I got Socom US NAVY SEALS for PS2 for $1.50. They also had DDR Supernova for $10 and GTA: SA for $20.

I was there looking for PS2 games only but they do have 360, Ps3 and all of that other good stuff. Definitely worth checking out