Any of you that read my articles regularly will know full well that I have a soft spot for independent gaming stores. I love them. In my former life (you can read that as "when I was still with my previous girlfriend") me and Mrs. Ben would on occasion go out shopping, as girls seem to like doing. I have mates who are coupled up that will happily spend hours trawling round clothes and shoe shops, burning their cash in the very contemporary pursuit of branded clothes and YSL baseball caps. I, however, would much prefer to spend the afternoon loitering in a decent indie gaming store. I love browsing the import and retro sections for oddities, chatting to the staff and gently guiding bewildered parents in the direction of an at least semi-commendable purchase for their kid's birthday (no, I'd personally stay clear of Underground. Why not try Outrun 2 instead?).

I remember one time when she wanted to pop into some god-awful girly clothes store and I elected instead to stay outside and have a fag. As I sat on a bench, watching the world go by and very much minding my own business, a very attractive young lady approached me, clipboard in hand. Now, in Croydon (as I was at the time) this can only mean one thing - a shopping survey. Normally I refuse to partake in these things - superstores already know too much about us and our shopping habits. I have no desire to aid their efforts to informationally rape me any further.

However, on this occasion it was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and I had some time to burn. I also feel I should emphasise again just how attractive she was (what can I say? I'm a man - at times we have the capacity for intense shallowness). After asking for a moment of my time, and leaning over quite suggestively if I recall correctly (what can I say? She was a girl - at times they like to toy with us) she proceeded to ask me a number of questions concerning my shopping habits. What would I be shopping for today? Shoes? No. Men's clothing? No. Women's clothing? What are you suggesting? Men's toiletries? No. Computer hardware? No. Books? What would I do with those? Then the question came that she might have well just asked to begin with - what do you intend to shop for? "Games." I answered, lighting another fag. "Games?" she enquired, in a gentle prompt to explain. "You know, computer games, for like, playing on a Playstation 2 and stuff."... "I see." she replied, whilst swiftly ticking a box that I've always imagined would have sat next to a label like "Socially abnormal" or "Foreign". Indeed, after this brief but powerful encounter I did feel somewhat freakish. "Am I the only one here not shopping for designer shirts?" I pondered, even more so since I'd spent an hour earlier in the day alone browsing the Megadrive and Neo Geo sections of the local indie, with only the noises of III Third Strike for company. "Sho-Ryu-Ken!"

All of this is irrelevant, and actually completely irrelevant in terms of this article. I'm actually writing this in connection with a conversation I had with one of my customers in my "other" (obviously far inferior) job. The guy's name was Matt Dawson, though for the purposes of anonymity I shall refer to him forthwith as Carl. Carl owns a recently opened, and if I may say currently struggling, games store in the English midlands county of Derbyshire. Based in a small town where there is no GAME or any other established high street gaming outlet, you may think that Carl would be without any significant competition. It's true that his main rival is in fact another indie based just down the road. Despite the fact that Carl always undercuts him the other guy still keeps getting more custom, for reasons unbeknown to either of us. Yet despite this, this other indie store is not Carl's greatest concern (though that's not to say that if he could somehow rain Holy Jihad down upon the owner he would not). What bugs him even more is the local Tesco's.

Tesco's, Sainsbury's ASDA, Somerfield - all utter bastards, according to Carl. He reckons he can accept the fact that he'll never be able beat the prices offered by the likes of Play, Gameplay or Amazon. He even accepts that he can't realistically beat the range offered by his main rival as he hasn't currently got the capital to build up stock. What Carl is less able to accept, however, is that on top of these he now has to deal with the latest contender on the gaming-retail scene, the supermarket. He put it to me very bluntly. "Why do supermarkets have to do their games so cheap?" I answered, "Well, to sell them I suppose." He disagreed. The thrust of his argument was that the majority of the games sold in supermarkets are bought by clueless mum's (or dad's, I would like to add - this is the 21st century after all) on the shopping run who do not go in with the express intent of buying a game. They go in to buy processed chicken, low fat mayonnaise, cheese strips and the lottery tickets - it's only when they pass the gaming section that it even occurs to them that little Johnny back home might, for some unknown, perverse and hellish reason, like to play Army Men Sarge's War or Ford Racing 3. For this moneyed middle class he describes these purchases as not made because the parent in question has recognised a bargain - it's an emotional purchase and in this instance he says that for a mother £39.99 is a small price to pay for the love of your child (it's certainly small in comparison to actually spending time with them and getting to know them - bloody hell, could you imagine that?).

Carl understands that other indie's naturally need to bring down prices in an effort to be competitive and he does the same. GAME and Gamestation are both powerful forces and the stops really have to be pulled out to make an impression on the modern British high street. However, what sort of business do Sainsbury's and Tesco's have getting involved? They exist to sell us bacon, bread and bananas - games should not be their concern. But alas this is not the case. So you can see why Carl is pissed off. Not only is he making barely a couple of quid per game at best just in an effort to be competitive, but no bugger's actually going into his shop in the first place because since they'll be popping into the supermarket later they can just pick up San Andreas then.

It's a depressing situation. I envisage that one day every shop in the will be amalgamated into one single enormously huge Wal Mart store (once it's bought out everyone else), so big that it actually sprawls across the whole country and you're never more than a 5 minute car trip (or 50p Park and Ride journey) away from it. Inside you can buy absolutely anything for at least 20% below RRP. It's bright everywhere, little robots drive about sweeping the floor, they install several ice rinks in the winter and there's a McDonalds or Burger King on every corner ("straight ahead, just opposite the Starbucks, Sir.") If a game's not in the top 40 charts or hasn't recently been re-released on Platinum then unfortunately the chances of you finding it are a little slim, unless little Johnny has recently traded it in and Wal Mart are now selling it at three times the price they bought it in for. Their idea of a retro machine would be an original red GBA SP and despite their huge size, only a small corner in the eastern Dorset wing would carry any titles whatsoever.

That's what this level of competitiveness in the gaming scene is doing to our independent traders across the nation (albeit in a slightly exaggerated form). Now I'm not saying that these superstores shouldn't be allowed to sell games at such prices. No point fighting against the world economy and the freedom of trade within the EU - I wouldn't fancy my chances. About the only thing that can be done lies with you and I. Nor am I going to preach to you about how you really should make more efforts to support your local indie gaming store (though you should). I know if I was put in a situation where I can either pay £30 or £40 on a game then the decision does seem like a bit of a no brainer. Indeed, many of you probably either don't have an indie nearby or aren't interested enough to bother with them. GAME will do fine, thanks.

But for those of you that do enjoy a trip to your local gaming specialist, I say well done. By staying loyal you're enriching our gaming heritage, championing the workers, rewarding passion. Let the generation go about their business, buying every annual update from GAME only to trade it in a few weeks later - that's not for you and me. We're old school, from back in the day. I can order new games dirt cheap off the internet, but that's not shopping. Shopping for games is going through a gaming bargain bin and finding Athlete Kings on the Saturn for £2, it's buying the Japanese version of the Hedgehog 2, even though you have a PAL copy, just because you prefer the cover. It's spotting a PAL version of Space Channel 5 Part 2 on the PS2 even though it's never had a UK release, it's splashing £30 on a Mega CD just because you think it looks really really great sitting under your Megadrive (why are all of these examples related to Sega?).

You can't do any of that in GAME or Wal Mart. Granted, you can get really cheap new releases there, but I guess that's what I'm saying. There's room for all of us out there - big chains, small indies, even those weird aromatherapy and acupuncture clinics that never, ever, have anyone in them other than the really bored and attractive Chinese girl standing by the till. If you're a gamer, spread your wings a bit, try something different. After all, games have been around longer than most gamers have been alive - yes, that does mean before the PS2.

By Ben Parfitt