Gaming Good For Consumers ⁰

by Adam Blue • Editorial

I don’t know if it has to do with the various retailers trying to get business, or maybe boxed vs. digital downloads, but it seems there are many good deals for gamers all around when looking to purchase games – especially new. Now I want to also add that games are somewhat cheaper than they have been in the past. The start of the Playstation era really brought prices down (probably due to the compact-disc format), but games are still at a decent price. 16-bit games would be as high as $80.

See, I’m currently on an extremely tight budget. While there is some periodic new-game investments made, if done correctly, could gain some valuable returns. For instance, Amazon has been incredible with pre-order credit. You pre-order a game, and more often than not, you’ll receive a $20 credit for future purchases. To take things further, make sure to then pre-order a game with said credit that will even give you additional credit.

Let’s also look at digital distribution versus retail. Steam, D2D, among others, have some amazing weekly/daily deals. You can get a game for as much as 75% off the original price. These deals are insane. My Steam library is full of games I have yet to play. Because digital distribution looks attractive in this light, many retailers try jumping on the deal wagon. Toys ‘r’ Us normally has a buy 2 get 1 free sale. Yeah, that can still cost you some up front, but you could get three new releases that can then be traded in. Trade these games in when Gamestop does their 20%-50% additional credit, plus 10% Edge card discount, and you can add a ton to your library for very little.

Gamestop. A lot of gamers like to hate Gamestop, but I think it has to do with the fact hat someone is working at a gaming store and knows very little of that product. Because of this, gamers tend to nerd-rage over people not knowing their gaming business. It makes sense. But I understand retail and this is just how it is anywhere. Getting past the hate, Gamestop has been cropping up some good deals lately to compete with all the others. Every once in a while they will be a $20 off $80, or the previously mentioned additional trade-in value credit. But much more recently, Gamestop has started giving credit to new game purchases, just like Amazon. Some of these new games have even been priced around $10 lower than normal.

It could be the economy or just competition, but it’s great to see all these good deals everywhere. I suggest anyone interested in the deals above go to Cheap Ass Gamer. You will learn a lot about saving money and getting great deals. It took some effort, but I was able to secure a pre-order of Halo Reach Legendary for $60 because of CAG.

Split/Second And Splinter Cell Impressions ⁰

by Adam Blue • Editorial

I got a hold of the Split/Second demo this morning and Splinter Cell: Conviction came in from GameFly. Now let me impressionize them for you:

The Split/Second demo was just way too short. There was just not enough there to get a good understanding of how the game will warrant its full price, but what was there was entertaining. I hope a multiplayer demo is released soon as the single offline race is all there is. It plays like burnout but with environmental hazards. As you race, you earn the ability to trigger traps that are notified to you by icons. The strategy here is that they come and go quickly, so always be ready to trigger the environment for shortcuts or explosions. Like I said before, the demo was easy. Because of this, I never fell victim to any of these hazards, so it’s hard to say if there’s a deep skill-based mechanic to avoiding these obstacles. Again, we need a bigger demo! So for now, the game is just a rental.

Splinter Cell: Conviction is just flat-out awesome. It never really slows down even though this is a slower-paced game. There are just so many ways to get from point A to point B, taking out enemies along the way….in so many ways. The graphics and presentation are incredible here too. There’s just not much more I can say because everything is just done right. And here’s the thing – the demo was lame to me. But I think it had to do with where it dropped me off in the story. By starting from the beginning of the game, you are really put into Sam’s world which gives the missions in the rest of the game a lot of meaning. This feeling is not found in many games. I may do a review if I think the likes/dislikes need to be explained. As it stands, I feel any gamer would enjoy this.

I Thought Giant Bomb Would Be Cool ⁰

by Adam Blue • Editorial

…but I thought wrong.

I liked the whole games database and achievement system (which promotes spamming btw), so I thought I’d start a gaming blog there to get my voice out to more gamers. I mean, after all, a blog is for just that. Anyway, in my blog I talk about the Bluecast and how it’s a hobby right now and hope to do it for a living someday. First comment was by user ‘Vinchenzo’ who just-flat out called me a mother fucker. I mean, his point was that my blog post seemed like an ad. I’d understand if I was making money off of any of this. But as it stands, I’m just a gamer that likes my voice to be heard. I figured I’d blog at a site that allows for gaming blogs, about my gaming hobby. Again, I can understand the confusion.

But then the comments get worse, then I get PM’d some crap. Then the blog post gets deleted. You know why it got deleted? Mob rules…of douches. It happens all over the net, which makes me appreciate Colony of Gamers a whole ton.

So in short, I can’t just be myself on a gaming blog, and even then users follow the pack and love adding into the asshatery when the time calls for it.

I have a lot of rage I’ll just vent off next Saturday.

Lost Planet Redux ⁰

by Adam Blue • Editorial

Lost Planet 2 is due for release on May 11th with the multiplayer demo available for anyone interested. I wasn’t though. I found the original game kinda bland. I didn’t like the controls either. It’s funny that the original LP demo had me though; not sure what changed from that and retail. But a recent Lost Planet 2 promotion got me thinking about how cool the universe is. The weapons, mechs, pirates, and Starship Trooper-style aliens. Because of this, I decided to jump back into the first game.

First thing I did was sit down and mess with the controls. I easily found a scheme that worked very well and made the entire play-through enjoyable. I sat down and went through the whole game within a day. Yeah. I even have the urge to go back for the secrets. So, fortunately this event has sparked interest in the upcoming sequel. I think I’ll go back and play the demo.

I’ll add the mech combat in this game is awesome. It reminded me of the Gundam game on the Dreamcast. Even if they took out all of the “on foot” sections of the game, it would still be spectacular.

A little off-topic, but the Bluecast may or may not broadcast from the Comicon in San Antonio, and the whole new crew may or may not be there.