I dreamt last night of EB Games.
I was in my store, in Cary. I was alone in the store. Presumably, it was before I unlocked the door. Early morning, then.
My store was… odd. The fixtures were big, bulky, wooden things. No other EB Games store looked like mine. The walls were brown. The shelving was oddly shaped; it was designed for only two DVD cases deep.
I walked behind the register. I opened the cabinets. I thumbed through the gut trays, where the game discs were stored in red storage trays, under the counter. At the primary register, I touched the metal counter top, where it had been worn smooth.
The dream was pleasant.
I don’t often think of EB Games. I left four years ago, but in truth, the company that I loved had died six months before that. All that remained was a zombie, one that employed the people I knew and loved and respected, but one that didn’t have the soul.
My head gets lost in the past sometimes. I close my eyes, and I see stretches of road I used to drive, places I used to live, places I used to work. It’s surprising. And unexpected.
I suspect the trigger, yesterday, was that for the first time in a very long time, I wanted to play video games.
Scratch that. I wanted to buy video games. When I worked for EB, I invariably bought more games that I could ever play.
Yesterday…
Besides reading up on Age of Empires Online, I checked out the website for Lord of the Rings: War in the North (and changed my desktop wallpaper at work to this image of Rivendell from the game). I watched the trailer for the game, which was rather brutal, and while I thought that the game didn’t look especially Tolkien-esque (too much magic), I know I’ll give the game a shot.
Then, I learned that Peter David, writer of stuff, wrote a Fable novel, to tie into Fable III, and I realized that I’ve yet to even start Fable II
And finally, I learned that there is another LEGO Star Wars game on the way:
Unfortunately, it’s based on a series I’ve never watched — nor have any particular interest in. I can see the reason behind the game, though; Star Wars: The Clone Wars is fantastically successful, kids know it, it’s good game fodder. I, personally, want a LEGO Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy game, but I don’t know how viable that would be. Oh, it would sell, no doubt, but I question whether or not it would be especially playable.
Two games I’m likely to buy, and a book I might possibly read. And because of them I wandered down the musty halls of memory last night.
That’s not such a terrible place to be.