Stuff to do in London? (Gaming)

[Asura]

Thought I'd ask, as we're going to London this week and we're going to do some shopping.

I know that Segaworld is long gone, but is there much worth looking at in central London in terms of arcades or indie games shops?

Hell, even places like Forbidden Planet, or traditional gaming shops would be of interest, if there's a particularly big one.

We're staying at a hotel in Chelsea but we'll be roving around a fair bit.

[speedlolita]

Heart of Gaming - Arcade
Casino - Arcade, Goodge Street
Forbidden Planet, Orbital Comics, Japan Centre, Tokyo Toys, Funland - Leicester Square/Tottenham Court Road/Picadilly area.

There's also a Japanese bookstore behind Trocadero in the Soho area.

These are my usual places to browse at least among other stores.

[wakka]

The games are pretty much all gone from Casino now I believe Speedy.

Las Vegas on Wardour St has a few games like Outrun 2. Everyone is dead or gone really though, so don't expect to come down and find loads of cool games stuff.

If you venture as far south as Streatham there is a retro shop called Retro Game Base. I've not been there myself yet despite living in South London.

[Decider-VT]

HoG is so far out from Central London that it's only worth going to if you're going to spend a decent amount of time there. Casino has also gotten rid of the decent games, as wakka says.

If you're going to look at Forbidden Planet you should also check out Gosh Comics on Berwick Street, as they carry a lot of independent and small print stuff in addition to graphic novels. If you're interested in traditional tabletop gaming you should also have a look at Orc's Nest in Cambridge Circus, as they have a better range than Forbidden Planet and they're just down the road from there.

Also, don't bother with Retro Game Base. I've been twice now and their stock is highly variable. A lot of the games and consoles are in poor condition and the prices are on par with things you'd get in a better condition on eBay. They keep the good stock in locked cabinets and "seal" things like SNES games in plastic so you can't check the condition of the contents. It's not worth the trip.

[speedlolita]

Oh god, Orc's Nest is one of the few places in the world I think is too nerdy for me.

[shaffy_oppa]

Don't go TokyoToys either... the owners a knob.

[speedlolita]

Yeah it isn't that great. A bunch of dodgy merch with the official stuff being overpriced. Price of owning a shop though I guess.

[shaffy_oppa]

And being a knob who doesn't pay his staff properly, doesn't show up on the new staff members first day, expects said member of staff to take instructions over the phone and open the shop... then has the audacity to tell the staff member that they were talking to customers too much on their first day...

oh he also pretends he's Japanese when it's quite clear he's Vietnamese.

[Decider-VT]

Oh god, Orc's Nest is one of the few places in the world I think is too nerdy for me.

I used to lap it up when I was a DM as a teenager but I'm a bit lost in there these days myself. :P

I feel a bit bad, as there's really not much left in the West End these days. Not unless you want Saturday night glad rags from Primark and aren't adequately served by every other high street in Britain. It's probably worth just spending the day at HoG instead!

[Asura]

I suppose we were one of the first subcultures to really "take" to buying stuff online.

[wakka]

There isn't even a branch of GAME any more. Lol.

[importaku]

Tokyotoys is that the tiny cramped shop full of grossly overpriced figures & low quality cosplay stuff? Think i stumbled across that on my last London visit. The giant forbidden planet shop was much better to look around, not exactly sure of the location though. Biggest one i have seen so far.

[wakka]

Tokyo Toys is a pretty horrible shop. It's 99% fake Chinese copies of Naruto plushes.

[Decider-VT]

There isn't even a branch of GAME any more. Lol.

There's a concession in Hamleys but that's it. I wouldn't bother with HMV for games either- the section keeps halving in size every week and they're dumping Nintendo completely soon. The only other place to buy games in Central London that I can think of are the two branches of CeX in Rathbone Place and Tottenham Court Road, unless you want to pay ?47 for a copy of GTAV in Fopp.

[S3M]

Casino - Arcade, Goodge Street

Casino is gone now they've removed all the arcades last year.

There's a few retro gaming stores in London but they are well off the beat'en track.

The Namco Center is still around but never been.

http://namcofunscape.com/locations/view/London-County-Hall/7#!prettyPhoto

Wrong Forbidden Planet website guys the link you want for the London store website is

https://forbiddenplanet.com/