http://kotaku.com/5295415/advertising-horribly-reimagined

Hello world. And hello small portion of that world that might actually have this place bookmarked. I’m sorry to say that, once again, I’ve neglected you! Like an innocent puppy tied outside in the rain, lightning, and mud, I’ve abandoned you. I apologize. (Your cries were amusing.)

I could give you excuses left and right, but really, the truth is I’ve been lazy, and I didn’t love you. But I do now! So spank me and call me Billy (don’t ask, ’cause I don’t know), and we’ll move on. :)

heh =P Really though, I’ll do my best. I doubt I do, but if I have any fans, I’d like to keep you. Maybe even hold you close and whisper sweet nothings into your ear. You know who you are. ;)

Unicorns.

I am. So tired. I’ve had a busy schedule this week at my (ugh) night job. Last night = 3.5 hours of sleep. Yuck.

But, money is worth some sleep deprivation, no? :)

Here’s some “updates,” for lack of a better word, that I wanted to throw out there:

1.) Use Cheapassgamer.com It’s no secret, but that is a pretty good place for finding (and posting) gaming deals. The name really says it all. You just have to look past all the junk on there that is of no use to you. And there will be a lot of it.

I don’t know how this site escaped me when I wrote my attempt at a guide to budget gaming. Forgive meh?

2.) Want a cheap handheld? Buy one on ebay with a scratched screen. Not horribly scratched, mind you, but scratched. The mint-condition ones sell for a lot more, and you can remove (hide) the scratches using your RL alchemy profession.

I was skeptical, too. Then I did some more digging and found a forum with several people saying this method worked for them. I’m still a bit skeptical, of course, but considering you can get a beater psp on ebay for $50 if you’re lucky, I think it’s worth the risk. I assume this method would work with a DS as well.

For the psp, though, I recommend you wait a while before buying even a used one. There’s rumors flying around of a whole new psp revision, more than just your run-of-the-mill Sony 1001 -> 2001 -> 3001 minor upgrades. If true, this thing will drive the cost of the older psp’s down.

If you found anything in this post useful, leave a comment and tell me about it! 8)

After one of my friends mentioned Fable II, I did a Google search looking for a review and found that I had an interest in the game before even reading one sentence about it. Why? Box art. There’s just something about good box art that draws me in. From there I will determine whether or not I’m interested based on other facts, of course, but I love me some good box art. In the case of the Fable II Collector’s Edition box art, it’s the subtlety of the shadow that made me like it so much. I dunno, when I saw it I was just like “sweet!” I love little things like that on video game boxes.

I especially love great-looking game boxes because they make for wonderful trophies you can proudly display on your desk or shelf. For instance, one of my all-time favorite game boxes is the Knights of the Old Republic box, and I just love to look at it. I’m likely biased because it also happens to be my all-time favorite game…but still, I think the cover art is just awesome. It screams “riveting galactic adventure.” And that’s exactly what you get.

Bastila will have to count as your anime babe for this post. ;P

I’ve put about 3-4 hours into Valkyria Chronicles so far. I know, I’ve been slouching! But I wanted to give some of my first impressions anyway. :)

So far I have loved every second of it. It’s definitely a unique game, and very hard to put down. One of the things I love the most is the chapter system. And this may sound contradictory, but it makes it easy to stop playing, even though you don’t want to. Easy because there’s good spots to stop, breaks from the story and action because you have to select the next chapter from the “book mode” first. Hard to stop because it’s just so fun.

Did that make sense? I hope so. lol If you’ve seen screenshots then you already know this, but the game looks marvelous. The cel-shaded art style is beautiful, and perfect for this game because it is being told from a book. It gives it that “illustrated” feel that fits so perfectly.

As for combat, I am loving it. It’s turn-based and strategy heavy. The strategy is getting more important as I go along, so I suspect (and hope for) some very intense strategy gameplay soon. You have to think about what you’re doing, especially since you’re managing a whole squadron of characters. And man are there a ton of characters to choose from! You assign who is in your squad, and can change them from town whenever. It’s a lot of fun.

Lastly, I’m really getting sucked into the story. That’s the mark of a good story, and of course story is arguably the most important part of an RPG. A story can be ruined at any time, though, and especially with a bad ending. So once I finish I’ll tell you if it holds up! But for now: I give everything an easy A. :)

And with that said, it’s time to play some more Valkyria Chronicles!

I rented Elite Beat Agents a long time ago with Gamefly. Loved every second of it. I was playing on the easiest difficulty setting, and still it kicked my ass many a time. But I loved it. So when I saw a used version in perfect condition for $10 the other day, you can be sure I snatched it up.

Then I got home and booted it up…and heard angels sing. The person who had it last was a real pro. They had unlocked everything and beaten everything. This mystery person even unlocked the hardest difficulty level and then annihilated it. They have insane high scores on everything. Now, first off I am perplexed how someone could just part with a game they obviously put so much time into. They had to love it, or they wouldn’t have tortured themselves to get those scores. The game is HARD on anything but the easy setting, and even that gets rough later on. This person played through the 3 difficulty levels above that! They even unlocked the “Elite Beat Divas” difficulty level that I didn’t even know existed. Amazing.

So that brings me to the second thing. … I can’t bring myself to clear the memory and start from scratch with my own progress. And I can’t play it myself unless I do. Instead, I just boot it up, look at all his/her progress and scores and just sit there with my jaw open, unable to delete it. Either it’s too beautiful, or I’m too crazy. I’m not sure which.

I’ve gotten to the “erase all save data” yes/no screen 3-4 times now and just couldn’t do it. I’ll keep trying…but I might have to get someone else to do it for me.

Heh, I think I’m just crazy.

There’s this persistent rumor going around that a new PSP is on the way. One with a sliding touch-screen and two thumbsticks. Sounds yummy…but what about all those people who just bought a PSP-3000? Life’s a bitch.

Still, it looks to be fairly awesomesauce – if it’s true. Personally, I hope it is true. The rumored improvements over the current PSP are very droolworthy. Check Kotaku out for more info.

(Update is at the end)

It’s true. Gamestop no longer sells new games. At least mine doesn’t. A while back I went there to purchase a copy of Burnout Paradise, only to find that not only was the used price almost as much as the new price, but the new games were already opened, and the disks were out of their cases. Now, I understand the desire to thwart theft. But to take away a consumers joy in opening a new game is like a kick in the nuts.

Yes, this is a rant. But it’s also a warning: Don’t buy new games from Gamestop. ‘Cause they ain’t new. That copy of Burnout Paradise? The disk they put in the case on checkout was scratched and had fingerprints on it. SCRATCHED, AND FINGERPRINTS. Do you know what that means? That means I payed full, new price for a USED game. Sure, no one had played it before, but if it is scratched and smudged, it is used. It is not new. Needless to say I made them give me a refund immediately. I then went to Wal-Mart and bought the game there. It actually still had the shrink wrap on it, imagine that!

Yesterday I visited Gamestop again, this time on a quest for Valkyria Chronicles half off, new. I love a good deal. However, I was once again greeted with whole shelves of new games…opened. It was horrific. Worse than the scariest Resident Evil moment, the goriest Dead Space scene. I knew I what I was getting into. But I just really wanted the game now.

So I bought the game. I get home, and try to get the two stickers on the case off, one touting the sale, the other the sale-price. Since the stickers were on the GAME CASE ITSELF, my “new” game now has sticker residue, that annoying white paper and sticky glue residue you can never get off, right across the front. That is my brand-new game. I should have had it shipped to me online, where the deal applied as well. I should have waited and then been rewarded with the pleasure of opening an actual new game – with no scratches, fingerprints, or sticker residue.

This is not to mention the attitudes of the associates or the complete ripoff they call a “trade-in program,” often times only giving $0.35 or less for a game. Yes, seriously. One of my games they wanted $0.10 for! I’m not idiot, I had only brought said games to Gamestop because I couldn’t get rid of them anywhere else – but 10 cents? I said no thanks, I’ll sell them for $1 easily at a yard sale this summer.

But that doesn’t bother me nearly as much as them opening all their new games, taking out the disks, and then putting the empty, opened cases out and calling “new”. What utter bullshit. How dumb do they think we are?

And the most insulting part is this: After you buy a “new” game, they then look for the disk, hastily and carelessly throw it in the case, slap the case shut, and then put a piece of tape across the case, taping it shut. What purpose does that serve other than to say “Hey, watch as we tape this shut right in front of you and claim it’s new, idiot.”

Oh, that left residue on the case as well. I’m grateful that I got Valkyria Chronicles for 50% off, but if Gamestop is going to continue to ravage all their new games, I’d like them to respect their customers enough to at least stop labeling them as new. Because they’re not. Buy a new game as a gift for someone from Gamestop, and they’ll look at it and think you’ve given them a used game. They’ll know you have, from the un-shrink wrapped box to the scratched and smudged disk. They’ll know.

/rant off

Update: GameStop Sells Played Games As New, Sources Say, Practice Could Be Illegal

Head on over to Gamestop.com to get Valkyria Chronicles, NEW, for $30. The used price is $55. New anywhere else it is $60. Enter the coupon code: “SAVER” to get free shipping.

This is a PS3 exclusive, and is supposed to be quite good. If you’re into original rpg’s, or just games with great stories and/or strategy, get this.

Also, the deal applies at the stores as well, but BUY IT ONLINE. There’s actually a 50% sale on a bunch of games across the platforms, but this is arguably the only really good game on the list.

*Just got back from the store with mine. I can’t wait to play it, I’ll tell you how it is! :D I also picked up Killzone 2 while I was there…talk about impulse shopping. I heard it is great, and I loved the demo. And since the price of $60 isn’t likely to drop for a long, long time since a) it’s a big seller and b) it’s a 1st party game, I decided to just go ahead and buy it.

Isn’t it wonderful how you can come up with perfectly logical reasons to do something you know you shouldn’t do? heh

Still, Valkyria Chronicles for $30 makes me happy, despite my other bad budget move. ;)

The Nintendo DS sure has come a long way in style since its first incarnation as the clunky DS phat. And its functionality has vastly improved as well. Going from the DS phat to the DSi, or even the DS Lite to the DSi, you get bigger, brighter screens, SD card support, better sound, downloadable games, and even more processing power presumably for those DSi-exclusive games.

The Sony PSP, on the other hand, has gone from phat, to slightly skinnier, to moving the buttons around a little and (arguably) improving the screen a little. Homebrewers and pirates will further dislike Sony’s minor upgrades with each new iteration of the PSP because each one seems to be aimed at making it harder to pirate for the thing. I think people are still working out ways to hack the PSP-3000, which, as the newest version, is the least-hacker-friendly at the moment.

So what are the differences between the two companies’ upgrade philosophies, or at least practices? From Nintendo you get big, big changes. I suppose that is subjective, but I doubt anyone will argue that the differences between the original DS, the DS Lite, and the DSi are much larger than the PSP-1001, PSP-2001, and PSP-3001, which are more minor improvements.

Now, improvements are improvements, but if you’re going to tempt us to upgrade, I think Nintendo’s strategy is much better. Not only is it more likely to get you to upgrade, but it is more likely to satisfy as well. You are less likely to think to yourself “Why did I upgrade from my old one again?” Then again, maybe Sony isn’t expecting current PSP owners to go out and buy each next new version, maybe they aren’t trying to push them down our throats. And I like that too.

So I’m on the fence. It really doesn’t matter, both are great systems. On one hand I like not feeling too compelled to upgrade, with the PSP. And on the other I like that I am compelled to upgrade, because if I do decide to do so I will get a ton of new goodies for my money, albiet the same core functionality that made the DS great in the first place will still likely be what makes the new versions great. The exception being the DSi, which may bring a whole new world of DS gaming goodness to the table with all the customization and WiiWare functionality it has.

No point here really, just musing on the differences in upgrades between the two companies’ handhelds. One seems aimed at minor improvements possibly masking the main goal of trying, hopelessly, to thwart piracy; while the other seems aimed at improving upon the last version as much as they possibly can without making a “DS2.”

This post is a hurried brain dump in its current state. I’ll come back to it later and edit, adding minor improvements, cutting some weight, and improving the look over the older version – with at least one anime girl of course. ;)