<![CDATA[Cheap Ass Gamer - Blogs - Psamtik's Blog of Stuff by Psamtik]]> http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php A current listing of cheap video games, video game sales and video game deals: CAG en Thu, 23 May 2013 14:27:00 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Cheap Ass Gamer - Blogs - Psamtik's Blog of Stuff by Psamtik]]> http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php This Arrived In The Mail Today http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=17601 Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:37:56 GMT 19336 I wonder what it could be... :D Hmm, the more I look at the photo, the more I...


I wonder what it could be...


:D


Hmm, the more I look at the photo, the more I realize that I should probably get some Windex and clean my table. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=17601 The EBGames/GS Hattrick! http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12288 Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:33:26 GMT It's been a long time since my last blog post, but I feel this one was worth putting up.

It's also long, Sorry.

Before I get into it, I should say that this really isn't a “I hate EB Games/Gamestop” thread, nor should it be one. I have shopped there for many years,(and will probably continue to do so). If you need a visual image to describe what this is, think of it as more of a ring of flies consisting of my continuing displeasure at EB/GS's practice of selling open or “Gutted” games as “New”, going around a mass of shit known as my nerd rage at a particular individual who happens to be an employee at one of the stores. Yeah, I couldn't really come up with a better description.

As some of you might have heard, Metroid Prime Trilogy Wii has apparently become discontinued, and is now Out of Stock in many places. Up until now, I had been holding out on a price drop for it, but I had a hunch that I should grab one while I could, since it might become next to impossible to find, or at a higher price which was unacceptable. I never really played Metroid Prime before (I tried out very little of the 1st and 3rd installments to see what it was like but nothing really in depth), and I also thought the steel-book was sorta spiffy, and if they did do a re-release, they more than likely wouldn't include that. My hunch was right since Amazon.ca, Best Buy as well as Futureshop listed them as out of stock online. BB and FS did have them listed for their store stock, but those particular stores were almost 20-30 minutes away from where I lived, and while I didn't mind the drive, I wanted to see if I could find possible close closer to home. That's when I went to check Gamestop.ca.

It wasn't available online there either, but I looked up their store search feature. Unfortunately, the store I regularly shop at wasn't listed, however, the one that was listed wasn't too far away, less than 10 minutes by car. I called them to confirm if they had it in stock, The employee said yes they do, so I asked if they could hold a copy for me, he says to me “not to worry, they have a bunch in stock and I can come any time to pick it up”.

I ended up going to the store about an hour to an hour and a half later, and asked the person behind the counter for the game. The employee asked if I was the person who called earlier, I said yes, says that he remembered me and he proceeded to look for the game. After looking at the display case behind him which had all the unopened titles, he proceeded to look on the computer for the game. I guess that should have been my first indication that something was amiss. After about half a minute or so, he goes off to display floor and picks up an empty case.

He tells me, “looks like this is the last one left”, to which I reply, “but you told me that you had multiple copies of the game in stock when I called”, and his response was that he had sold a bunch of them before I came. I found this hard to believe. Even with the game's possible discontinuation, I just couldn't see a situation where that many copies would sell out in such a short time. My best guess is that he looked it up, saw that there were copies, but he didn't want to wade through piles of games that he had (it's a very small unit and everything seemed to be piled up and cramped.). Still, I wasn't going to press him on this, let alone get into argument, especially over a game, so I let it go. I mentioned about asking to keep a copy on hold and he said that "they weren't allowed to do that." Other stores had done it for me in the past if I was picking it up the same day, but I digress.

When he brought the case to the counter, however, I noticed that it was missing the overlay plastic cover that covers the Steelbook. When I asked him about it, his exact words were:

“There is nothing else, this is how they're sold.”
“Are you sure? I'm pretty sure it does come with a plastic overlay.”
“No, I'm sure. The other ones that I sold earlier had no cover.”

I was a little annoyed at his attempt to bullshit me, but still, I let it go. I pretty much said “Ah, I see, alright”, and let it pass. How I wish this was the end of the story.

When he went go grab the game from the “Gutted Games” drawer, he then said, “I'm sorry, it looks like there's no manual. Someone must have stolen it from the case.”

A smarter man would have probably walked away at this point, but no, not I. I asked him if there was any possibility of a discount considering the situation, and he quickly said “No, that was impossible”. It was a long shot, but I had to try.

I said to him that I would take it, but asked if I decided to return it, could I return it to the store that was closer to my house? He said yes, but they would only give store credit and not a full refund. I said alright, and took the game.

Now, I accepted this,not only because I still wanted the game, but because I know the manager who works at the EB Games I usually go to, and he might be able to let me return it there. I called him up and told him what more or less transpired and asked him about the refund, he said “Sure, no problem bring it over and I'll be glad to return it here if you don't want it.” He also said that the store I went to was “crappy”.

When I got back into my car, I made a beeline to the Best Buy that was listed on the internet as still having it stock. At this point, I might as well see if they still have the game, and if so, I could return this and get my money back. It was a bit of a drive, but they did have one copy of game left, SEALED, WITH PLASTIC OVERLAY and all, and to top it off, I remembered that I had 5 dollar gift certificate, being a rewards zone member, and the store employee was nice enough to let me print it out there to use it.

You would think that would be the end of it right then and there, but my life is funny like that.

I stopped at my local EB to return the gutted game on my way back home. The manager was still there and after re-telling him what happened in detail, he had a good laugh about it and he proceeded to do the return.... at which point on opening the case he said:

“This is the wrong game.”

Inside the case was a copy of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

The manager had a good laugh about it, I just sorta smiled, while stewing in annoyance. I don't open a game unless I start playing it, and I had 5 other Wii games to get to before this one! I might have never have noticed until the return period lapsed. I also said I just managed to get the “EBGames hattrick.”

The manager said that in cases like this he had to call up the other store to let them know that they gave the wrong game. He also said to me that I should probably call the toll free number and make a complaint. I said no, I don't know if they'd really do anything, and if they did, I didn't want anyone getting in trouble or worse over this.

So he calls them up and this is more or less what I hear:

“Hey (insert manager of other EB store's name), I have a customer here who's returning a game that he bought from there and you guys gave him the wrong disc inside.”
“Metroid Prime Trilogy, and inside the case you gave him Metroid Prime 3.”
“No, it still had the seal on it.”
“No, I broke the seal myself.”
“No, he's a regular here, he's been coming here for years.”

The rest of the conversation turned to stuff about what they had to do with him sending it back and computer inventory and whatnot, but after he hung up he told me what they said.

They thought that I somehow broke the seal, replaced the game disc with Metroid 3, and that I might be trying to return it to another store to “game” them.

Even the elderly lady standing behind me was shaking her head at what happened, and person behind her said “Shenanigans!”

At this point, I just asked one simple question.

“Can I have the number of their district manger?”

From what I understand, store employees usually refer complaints to their customer hotline, but he gave me the email and office phone number of the head of customer relations for Canada and said that I should call him as well as e-mail him to let him know about my experience.

I figured those of you who read this would get a somewhat interesting tale, and it would also help me in putting down what happened on “paper”, so that it would help when it came to writing an email, or making that phone call.

Eitherway, that's pretty much my most recent buying experience.

But wait! There's more!!

After all that, the manager told me as I was leaving, “By the way, it looks like they gave you a display case for Metroid Prime Trilogy instead of the actual game case.”

I really couldn't even make this garbage up if I tried. Well, I could, and it might have involved them punching babies in the face and kicking me in the balls, among other things.

Anyways, here's the part where I get to rant on EB/GS's continuing practice of gutting games to put the empty cases for sale to let customers know the game is in stock/prevent theft is just plain wrong. Stores like Best Buy don't do it, they use pictures of the boxart printed on paper “tokens” and put those up for people to give at checkout. They might be somewhat poorly printed at times, but they tend to have both back and front covers, so you pretty much got all the information you need there.

If that doesn't work for you, they also have these crazy things called theft detectors. There are of course ways to circumvent it, but I think tend to work more or less as advertised. Don't forget that whole debacle of employees borrowing gutted games to play and return so they could sell those off as “New”. There are probably better suggestions that others could come up with here as well.

Well, that brings me to the end of this long ass story/rant. Why bother to read this?

Free downloadable codes, of course!

I still have a Dragon Age: Origins pre-order card to get the Feral Wolf Charm and the Memory band left over, and they're good until 11/3/2010.

CODES HAVE BEEN CLAIMED
Feral Wolf Charm:

GWN7-K8ZK-RE3Y-N99K

Memory Band:

CSMG-CKSV-LDFY-DSBU

Let me know in the comments section if they've been claimed, just so I know. Also, I assume that this will work on either the console and PC versions.

According to the download instructions:
  • Enter your code at dragonage.bioware.com/redeem
  • Start up Dragon Age: Origins and log on to your EA online account
  • Go to the Downloadable Content Menu to view the download progress.
That's about it.

A big thank you to the manager, for helping me out with the return as well as providing the contact information.

And to the employee of the other EB games who's name I'll refrain from mentioning here, and my early candidate for my own personal Douchebag of year award:

Fuck you.


Actually, there is one more thing I should mention.

I picked up Half-Minute Hero for the PSP before I left for home.

And it was gutted.

At least I made sure it was the right game, so it was all good. Right? Right?

*Cue the Price Is Right Loser Music* ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=12288 Sometimes there are benefits to being single. (with game pickups) http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=10267 Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:11:58 GMT It's been a while since my last blog entry about my game pickups, mainly due to my camera battery dying out. It was compounded by the fact that I wasn't able to find the charger for it until recently, only to find out that the battery won't hold a charge anymore. A few months later and after finally finding a replacement battery (for a somewhat cheaper price than brand name, since it's 3rd party), I can finally post some pictures again.

Before I get into the pickups I made over the months, I got a pretty cool story to share. Not sure how many of you also notice this, but in my case, I can safely say that I'm the only person among my network of long time friends, who's still single. Everyone I know is either married, engaged, or has been in a long term relationship with their engagement an all but sure thing. It makes it weird when a bunch of us go for movies together, and while they all bring their significant others (or significant others to be), I feel like a 3rd wheel, or in these big group instances, a 7th or 9th wheel.

But there are times when being single comes in handy.

A friend of mine called one day and asked me "Hey man, I have some old transformers that I got from (another mutual friend) because his wife didn't want him to keep it in the new house they bought, but I can't keep them either, because my condo's too small (it is pretty small) and my wife says there's no space in storage. Do you want them?"

I, being of free will and sound mind, said "HELL YES, I'LL TAKE THEM!"

So here's what I ended up getting. Now, keep in mind they're old, so parts are missing, but they're transformers, and they're oh, so cool.



In this picture, starting at the top row from left to right we have 3 of the predacons, Divebomb, Razor Claw, and Rampage. They're missing whatever attachments they used to have like the fist for rampage if you were able to connect them all together, and Razor Claw is missing a leg, hence his new name, "TripodClaw".

In the bottom row, we have Blitzwing, Grimlock and finally Astrotrain. Astrotrain and Blitzwing are missing parts, but Grimlock appears to be in excellent condition. At the right side in the middle of Rampage and Astrotrain, there's another toy. It's not a Transformer, best I can figure, it's some Japanese Mech-like Toy, but it came with it, so I put it with the rest.

But the best piece out of all of this next to Grimlock of course, has to be this:



Metroplex.

No fists, and he's missing almost all of his attachments, even the little car that comes out of his right...... um, moob, but other than that, he's in one piece, and he's all sexy. This is the second Metroplex I've ever had, and let me say that the younger me was not kind to it. Sigh, I still miss Shockwave.

Point is, their loss is my gain. These now sit in various parts of my room, and I'm not ashamed to admit it: I did play with Blitzwing, airplane noises and all.

Here's some of the pick-ups that I've managed to get over the last few months, some of which were for some decent prices.



I picked up Dead Space for the PC at my local Source store(they were Radio Shack's but the Canadian operations were bought out by Circuit City. I have no clue who's running it now) by pure accident. I walked in looking for some cables, and noticed that they were having a clearance sale on their games. I found this for less than 10 bucks, so I snapped it up. The clearance sale also applies to other games on other platforms, so check out their website or head over to your local Source store to see what they have in stock.



I've had my PSP for a number of years, but it started getting to the point where a 32MB Memory Stick just wasn't going to cut it anymore. I picked this up along with an extended life battery at my local best buy. They were for a decent price, the 4 gig stick on sale for 29.99, while the Battery was at its regular price, still, it might be hard to get down the road, especially ones that fit a 1000 series PSP, so I went for it.



Halo Wars: Collectors Edition. I picked this one up from my Local Starstruck Entertainment. They're desperate to get rid of their games, so they've had a 40% sale on all their games and accessories (excluding consoles) for a while. The only downside is that they don't drop their prices along with other stores like walmart or EBgames/Gamestop, so what may cost 30 dollars in EB regular will still cost 69.99 at Starstuck, so the 40% doesn't really do much. Plus sales are final. Most of the really good deals were claimed, but I managed to get this, and end up paying 44 dollars for it, which wasn't too bad considering that the regular edition still goes for 70 before tax.



Patapon 2 for the PSP and Infamous for the PS3 are the final two in terms of pickups. Both were part of Best Buy's Canada day sale, which saw Patapon sell for $9.99 and Infamous going for $29.99. I know of quite a few people that flipped this at the local EB games when the trade value for it was still at $40. I opted not to, since I actually want to play the game at some point.

Well, that's about it for now. I do have two other examples of how being single has benefited me in terms of loot, so I'll post those stories later, with pictures! ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=10267 The Power Is Not Making It Better. :( http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=9488 Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:44:33 GMT One of the disadvantages of having an email account that suffers from what I can only imagine to be... One of the disadvantages of having an email account that suffers from what I can only imagine to be a very regular, everyday word or one that is used as a last name, is that I happen to get alot, and mean alot of email sent to me by mistake. I've gotten things from family photos to emails about baseball teams to corporate emails.

I also happen to get signed up for alot of newsletters by people either by accident or on purpose (I'm looking at you Dylan Lackey, you asshole), although more often than not it's an accidental.

Which brings me to what I got in my mailbox yesterday. I turned 29 last month, and that whole "one year before the big 3-0" has been on my mind more and more. Leave it to the "Powers that be" to rub some salt in the wound:



I hear being a member entitles you to discounts. I wonder if they provide coupons with their webletter, and if so, do they work in Canada?

Oh wait, I think there's an actual membership card involved somewhere in all of this. Now to wait until I actually get an webletter from them so I can unsubscribe to it. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=9488 Star Trek Movie Impressions without Spoilers http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8327 Fri, 08 May 2009 05:53:58 GMT As I write this, I've just gotten back from watching an advance screening of the new Star Trek Movie, and I might as well let the rest of you know how it was (without ruining the plot.)

To sum it up, this is a movie that you'll either like, or really, really hate. if you've never been a fan of the show, chances are, you might actually enjoy the movie, as it does tend to be more "action-y", than other Star Trek movies have been, probably second to First Contact. If however, you're a fan of the series as I am, you may say the movie was alright, but it did have a cloud of disappointment around it. If you're a Die-hard trekkie, as in trekkie from the movie Trekkies... there might be a chance you could get a heart attack while watching this, especially during some of the plot twists. In fact, while waiting in line for the movie, there was a couple dressed up in the classic 60's era Star Trek uniforms, short skirts with the bad hairdos, looking extremely happy. I saw them after the show, and boy did their expressions on their faces do a complete 180. I thought the poor girl was going to burst into tears.

I mentioned in my previous blog post about how there's a prequel comic, and after watching the movie, i have to say that without reading the book, you might be left with more questions about the movie as opposed to if you had read it, even though the bridge between the comic and the book wasn't done too well, as there are some ... "inconsistencies" in terms of the plot. I don't think that there was that much communication between the team doing the comic and the those in charge of the movie.

In the end though, J.J. Abrams and Paramount wanted to reboot this series, or hit the "reset" button if you will, and make no mistake about it, that is what they've achieved with this movie. Mr Abrams has said in the past that he was never a Trekkie, but he just "wanted to make a good movie". I think after watching this, I think he succeeded, but only partially. The only thing I can say for certain is that the Star Trek universe has changed forever, and if they do green-light a future movie, or even a TV series, it would be interesting to watch the voyages of this new crew and see where the ride takes me. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8327 Fun Times At The Theatre (aka: How I Watched 97% Of X-Men Origins: Wolverine) http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8230 Sat, 02 May 2009 23:30:23 GMT Yesterday X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened in theatres, and I managed to catch the show with a bunch... Yesterday X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened in theatres, and I managed to catch the show with a bunch of friends. Overall, the whole experience was disappointing.

There's not much to say about the movie, other than that I think was a somewhat mediocre. I'm not going put in any spoilers, nor do I think I'm qualified to give an in-depth analysis of how good/or bad the movie is, but I'll just say that it was a bit of a let down overall, especially considering how interested I was in seeing how they were going to put a tale like the origin of one of my favourite Marvel Characters on the silver screen. Among other problems I had with the movie, I did sorta feel that it was a bit rushed in how they were laying the movie's foundation, but maybe that was just me. In the end, I felt sorta unsatisfied with the whole experience, and didn't think it was as good as the first two X-men movies, which I really enjoyed.

However, the overall experience with the movie itself wasn't why I felt so disappointed, rather what happened during the movie itself. During the later half of the movie, the audio did cut out for about 2-3 seconds, nothing major, but I thought to myself "I sure hope nothing else happens". Little did I know this was only the prelude to the main event.

When the final climatic battle was about to start... well..

Like I said earlier, I don't want to give anything away from this movie, so I'll bring up the example of another, older movie.

If any of you watched Star Wars: Episode One, and when you watched it for the first time, I'm sure that you felt that sense of excitement when Obi-wan and Qui-Gon Jinn face off against Darth Maul in their final climatic battle. When, Maul takes off his hood and activates his dual-bladed lightsaber and then..........

the movie screen goes dark.

That's what happened during Wolverine. Just as the FINAL FIGHT was about the start, the video shuts off, and the entire theatre goes dark. And if that wasn't bad enough, the audio feed was still working, so you could still hear the entire fight!

It doesn't take a genius to think about what happened next with the audience. All I will say is, however, is that, and I'm a little proud of it to be honest, is that when the video feed went out, there was this initial shock among the entire audience for about 3-4 seconds, because we honestly didn't know how to react. But I can tell you I was the first one to yell "BOOOOOOOOOOOO" which caused the packed house to follow in an uproar.

Chants of "BULLSHIT" and "REFUND" among other profanity were resonating throughout the house of irate movie-goers, with quite a few people getting up and leaving the theatre. I guess when they start the movie there's no one in the projection room to make sure nothing screws up, because it took a good 2-3 minutes, practically the entire length of the fight for the video to finally come back on. When it did come back, the fight was at its conclusion, and I felt so very robbed.

A bit of hilarity ensued when after the video feed came back, there was a scene which was a little reminiscent of 300, and someone among the audience yelled, "THIS... IS.... SPARTA!!!!" That caused everyone to start laughing.

An employee of the theatre walked in towards the end and tried to yell something to the remaining crowd, but of course his voice was being drowned out by the movie, so ended up turning our heads back and forth between trying to watch the rest of the movie and trying to understand what some poor guy was trying to tell the audience without the use of a microphone.

Eventually, he gave up and waited until the credits started to roll to let us know that that the theatre was sorry and that they would be handing out free movie passes as a way of an apology. He also told those of us who were remaining to wait till the end of the credits as there was an extra scene put in after.

No spoilers again, but the "extra" bit pretty much fit the rest of the movie in how it wasn't very good, unlike how I felt with Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk's extra scenes, and I probably wouldn't have felt that way, had the employee not told us to sit during the credits because they "added a bonus scene", I assume as a way to combat the work-print leak issue.

Oh well, at least I got a free movie pass out of it. I'll probably use it for Terminator: Salvation, or Pixar's Up, if It'll work towards an IMAX 3D movie.

Yep. Fun Times at the theatre. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8230 <![CDATA[Why I Won't Feel So Bad If The New Star Trek Movie Sucks.]]> http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8203 Fri, 01 May 2009 08:18:35 GMT One of my favourite shows is Star Trek, so when they had announced a new movie, I had been counting... One of my favourite shows is Star Trek, so when they had announced a new movie, I had been counting the days until the release date looking forward to seeing it in IMAX. During this time I would periodically "check-in" with the online movie ticket ordering sites to see if seats would become available.

A couple of days ago, I finally found them available. I had woken up late (around 10am) and without thinking sat at my computer, and just went to the site, and volia, the online ordering for advance ticketes were available. I was going to order them right then and there, but I figured, why not drive and pick them up myself? It would be a bit of the drive, as the closest theatre to where I live that had IMAX is about 30+km one way (20ish M), so it would take me at least 30 minutes, even if there were wasn't any gridlock, but I figured it was good to get out of the house and go on a drive once in a while.

I left my house at around 11:20am and arrived at the theatre at about 12. There were only 4-5 cars in the parking lot. I had a bad feeling. Turned out, the box office didn't open until 2:30pm. That was a facepalm moment right there. Lesson to the rest of you: Find out what time the box-office opens for anything, before driving like an idiot and finding out the time the hard way.

So there I was, with 2 and a half hours to kill and unwilling to drive all the way back home just make the long trip back. I opted to hang out in the practically deserted parking lot. Fortunately, I could see that there was an EB games right across from the threatre, so I thought I'd kill time there.

Soon, I was pretty happy I had 2 1/2 hours to kill.

As it turns out, the store was relatively new (according to the manager), so according to him, the head office would send him every month quite a few old PS1 and PC games. He had to eventually tell them to stop sending it since he wasn't able to handle the load.

After spending well over an hour sitting there going through what there was with no one to bother me, I picked these titles out for purchase:



Colony Wars Trilogy (Ps1): I had played and beaten the second title in the series, Vengeance (I had a modded PS1, so boo me), and had always wanted to play the other two titles since I felt that I missed out. This was the perfect opportunity to have the whole series.

Otogi 2 (xbox): Finally, I can now complete my Otogi Collection and say with pride that I have the set and have no way of playing either of them since the 360 isn't compatiable with either 1 or 2 (I'm still holding out for that miracile BW update btw) and my original Xbox has been lost somewhere over Asia since 2003.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms VI (PS1): Never played any of the series before, but I had heard good things about it. Even the manager was surprised when he saw that his store had the game.

Suikoden Tactics (PS2): I only bought this game to complete my Suidkoen Collection, really.

Requiem: Fallen Angel (PC): Back when I first started University, close to 10 years ago, I saw an ad for the game in a PC magazine. I liked the ad so much, I cut it out and taped it to my wall and it stayed there for years, even though I had no idea what the game was like. Once I saw the case for it, great game or not, it had to be mine.

It does suck that quite a number of these games had no covers or manuals to go with them, but I couldn't pass up picking up the games for only 3 bucks each. I also ended up getting Otogi and Suikoden under for the 2 for $20 deal which was great, since they had been labelled at 9.99 and 14.99 respectively but rang up as 19.99 each due to a price increase (the increase must have happened that day according to the manager). The manager said that he would drop Otogi down to 14 since I was buying so many titles, but couldn't do anything about Suikoden. I agreed, mainly because I wanted Otogi but when he went to make the changes, the 2 for $20 kicked in which was a sigh of relief.

I'm thinking of making the drive there again, just to go through the titles again and see if I should pick anything else up.

Has anyone else here had a similar experience happen to them lately? Where something initially looks like a crappy situation but it turns out to be a pleasant experience?


Oh, and to end it off:



Got 3 advance tickets for the movie on May 7, the day before it officially opens!

I was actually a little worried, because when the theatre opened up, I spoke to the employee opening the doors and he didn't know if Star Trek was available yet on their system, even though it had appeared online. That along with him pointing out even though I did see the ordering for tickets appear online, i checked it on a 3rd party website, not through the "official" theatre website (I forgot to look) so it didn't necessarily mean that the theatre was allowing orders yet, which did make a knot or two in my stomach. Good thing I came through that with tickets (and games) in hand. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=8203 My Little Rant About Demigod http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7941 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:00:44 GMT When Demigod was first announced a couple of years ago, I was quite excited at the prospect of... When Demigod was first announced a couple of years ago, I was quite excited at the prospect of having a game similar in style and gameplay of DoTA, but with all the bells and whistles that came along with having a developer/publisher combo like Gas Powered Games and Stardock involved, two companies that I happen to be big fans of. What I was really looking forward to was the potential of having a single player campaign, storyline and all, of your character's quest to be the one chosen to take his or her place among the others as a god.

That's what I thought, anyways.

You can imagine the amount of disappointment I had when, after starting up the game that the "single player" option that was always blocked in the previous betas I was playing since this those were "multiplayer-only" versions turned out to be just a skirmish and tournament mode, which is basically multiplayer with AI bots.

Now, am I upset? Yeah, a little. I had read nothing about the non-inclusion of a campaign mode from GPG/Stardock, which would have been nice to hear about before I plopped full price back when pre-orders were first announced over a year or so ago. Had I known about that little fact beforehand, I wouldn't have placed my order, since I would be paying $50 for a fancy looking version of DoTA with only 8 characters in it, but back then so little was known about the game. Even if I found out that the game wasn't going to include a SP campaign storyline, I doubt there would have been much that I could do. From what I've read on Stardock's forums, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but since they gave access to the beta for ordering early, once that happens you can't back out and say you want your money back, since it isn't a demo, rather a beta of a 'full' game. So, I technically already got the game, just in installments.

The irony is that during the beta, I never played against other people. I just made private games using the password feature, and played against the AI bots. Looks like I played the single player skirmish mode after all. I'm also not the only one who feels the same way too, as a number of people complaining on different websites about how when they started up the game there was no single player campaign.

Now, why bother with an expensive clone of DoTA, when I could play the original for "free"?

Easy. I suck at DoTA. Well, perhaps "suck" is too strong a word. I was very, very average, and in the world of DoTA, if you weren't very,very good at how you played the game, you might as well welcome the abuse you're going to get, both from your opponents as well as your teammates about how you're not playing your character properly, or how your item build is shitty and the general taunts about how you suck. I was lucky it didn't happen to me while playing (as far as I remember, I do not discount the possibility that I might have blocked it due possible suckage), but seeing it happen to others slowly wore me down, more so than the things I have experienced on xbox live (that's another story for another day), still after a while, I just gave up. I also found it more and more difficult to keep pace with the game itself. As more items and heroes became available, I just found it increasingly difficult to keep track on certain heroes and how to play them. I guess that's why Demigod appealed to me when I first heard about it. Being able to play in a DoTA like atmosphere with an actual backstory and history was for me, the best of both worlds. It just sucks for it to not be the case.

I guess I've learned my lesson. Never plop down money as a "pre-order" until you're sure what you're getting is what you want, especially through Digital Distribution. I was going to pre-order the upcoming title from Stardock called Elemental: War of Magic, but after this experience, I'll hold off until I get all the info about what the game will have.

I also paid the $10 dollars extra to get a physical copy sent to me in the mail, so that stings a little.


edit: I just saw gamespot's review about Demigod and one of their cons was and I quote:

"Demigod doesn't offer what you would expect from a full retail product. Without any story-based single-player campaign, the intriguing backstory and heaven-gone-haywire atmosphere go disappointingly unexplored."

This only reinforces the notion that I shouldn't pre-order a game unless it's done in a store where I can get my money back in case I change my mind. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7941 My Pork Army Guide Arrived! (Mother 3) http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7756 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:29:55 GMT I woke up today to find a package in the mail. Opening it up, I find this little beauty: 6238 ... I woke up today to find a package in the mail. Opening it up, I find this little beauty:



My Pork Army Survival Guide finally arrived! I'm so stoked! Now I can survive the onslaught....




... of pork...
...
...

Ok, you guys got me. I have no idea what I'm talking about. The jacket cover is a clever disguise for what the book really is:



That's right! The Mother 3 handbook is finally complete and shipped out to those of us who pre-ordered it! After going through it, I have to say, for 20 dollars US, this was well worth the money I spent. Here's what I got in the package:



On the left is the bonus jacket cover that they made and sent out as an "apology" for there being a delay in its original shipping date, the Mother 3 book itself is in the middle, and on the right is a package containing a key chain which was a pre-order bonus, which, from the looks of it looks very well made indeed, as well as a badge and a paper from fan-gamer.net thanking me for pre-ordering it, and including a bonus hand-drawn picture on the card by one of the artists, with an included bonus code for a discount on any future purchases from fangamer. Now, the hand-drawn picture was a very nice, and thoughtful gesture, as they did it for every order they had, and the from what I've seen on the M3 forums, they range from extremely well done, to well.. mine, which seems to look like a snake chasing a pac-man ghost. I'm not complaining though, It was something that I didn't expect and it was a very nice extra.

Here's a picture of what a page inside the book looks like:



The pages are nice and glossy and have a very professional look to them, which was, to be honest, something I worried about when I put the order down, and had thought about canceling, thinking that it might be as good as initially thought. I'm happy that I was proved wrong.

This guide, if I recall correctly, will be a free download as well in pdf format, but like I said earlier, I have no regrets putting the money down for this, judging by how nicely they put this together.

Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase, and have been waiting for this book so I can finally play through Mother 3. And yes, I have no clue what the Pork Army has to do with Mother 3.. yet. I guess I'll find that out when I start playing.

The only negative I have was how it was shipped to me. The envelope that it came in could have been better, as the jacket was a bit bent along the edges of the spine, and the book itself had some peeling along the spine due to shipping. If play-asia can send me packages in the mail from Hong Kong that are so well protected that the games come without a scratch or crack in the case, that I think that some splurging on better envelopes would be nice, but it's not that big a deal, considering how well everything else turned out.

Oh, and before I finish, the bonus jacket cover had one more surprise waiting for me. Printed on the inside is this:



Well done Fangamer. This was a quality product, and one of the best looking guides I've ever bought. The love you had for this project really shows in the final result. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7756 New Game Pickups http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7369 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:43:19 GMT I got a call from my local EBGames store yesterday letting me know that my preorder for Suikoden:... I got a call from my local EBGames store yesterday letting me know that my preorder for Suikoden: Tierkreis was in, and here it is:



Notice anything missing? Yeah, the preorder bonus that was supposed to come with it. According to the employee working there, the preorder bonus was a "US only thing". It's frustrating to hear that, especially since the main reason I put money down to pick it up was for the preorder bonus, which was a soundtrack and artbook.

When you sit down and think about it, yes the preordering bonuses themselves are nothing special, and only adds to the argument that companies nowadays aren't offering anything worth the 5 dollar deposit just to be among the first people to get the game. Still, I was under the assumption that I was going to get it when I picked it up, and it's frustrating to only find out that it's not the case the hard way. Even though I am a fan of the Suikoden series, I'm still considering returning it, and pick up when it drops in price. I'm also holding out that this is also another case of us getting preorder bonuses later (eg: SOCOM, LBP).

This isn't the first time I've had this kind of experience with GS/EB when it came to preordering. It most recently happened with this game:



This is the preorder edition of PS3 version of the new Prince of Persia. Now, I can't speak for other store chains in Canada, but I can talk about what happened at my local EB. Apparently, they got the 360 preorder edition, but not the ps3 version. When I enquired about it, they said that it looked like none of the EBGames in canada got that edition for the ps3. I went to a couple of other EBGames in my area, and got the same answer, "We recieved only the 360 preorder editions, no ps3 version".

I ended up getting a copy of the preorder version on a complete fluke, as it was sitting in a video store (which was a couple of stores down from the EBGames oddly enough). Not only that it was priced at 59.99 cdn instead of the 64.99 EBGames was selling it at, so I grabbed it.

Anyways, back to my pickups. I got these two DS games as well:



I only played a little bit of Retro Game Challenge, but I can see the appeal of this game already.

Ninjatown is (very) cute take on tower defense, and I have to admit, it's a really fun game so far. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=7369 I hate fanboys. http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6486 Sat, 14 Feb 2009 04:01:45 GMT I went to Metacritic today to take a look at some ratings for a game or two I was interested in... I went to Metacritic today to take a look at some ratings for a game or two I was interested in purchasing, when I notice that Halo Wars for the Xbox 360 was one of the front page listings under games. when I click on it, I was greeted by this:



This game isn't coming until March, and already the user rating puts it at a 0.8?

As a PC gamer, let me say that my expectations for an RTS being put on a console were low, since I've always played, and enjoyed RTS's with a traditional mouse and keyboard set-up, but when I played the Halo Wars demo, I was pleasantly surprised by the game and really enjoyed it, especially with the easy to use interface. Heck, even though it might be ported to the PC, I still might buy the 360 version just to play it.

Obviously the ratings that have been submitted by users on metacritic are complete B.S so far.

I get it, you're a fanboy who loves Sony/Nintendo. You don't like Microsoft. You don't like Halo. Heck, you might not even like the demo, but 0.8 after 115 ratings? That's nonsense.

But something like this was expected, to me anyways. I do think though that sites like Metacritic need to stop allowing user reviews before the game has been completed and released, since any review of the game is currently only from the limited experience of the demo, and should only be counted when the game is in stores, to also have a disclaimer, and to have constant moderation less you have another Gears of War 2, LBP or Spore incident with ratings attack (although in the case of Spore it was more well founded with the DRM issue), making the headlines of gaming blogs everywhere and only fanning the flames.

edit:

I decided to take a look at Killzone 2's reviews, just to see if the fight was going both ways, and while the score isn't as awful as Halo Wars, it's still a little evident. Mind you, they could have thought this was the review for the first one (ok, ok it wasn't that bad a game lol):



edit2:

Just to get a look at games from all 3 consoles:



and just for good measure:



Best I can figure is that the Sony and Microsoft fanboys are so busy beating each other's titles up (or down in these cases), that Nintendo's fanboys have been left with nothing else to do but to well.. have a big love-in. That or the ("professional") reviewer scores don't necessarily fit with how good these games might be (God hand).. but i'm leaning with my first answer. heh. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6486 For you, Anexanhume. http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6461 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:19:45 GMT In my last blog entry, there was a comment by fellow CAG'er Anexanhume that my avatar was "scary". When I asked him why, apparently it looked like:

Quote:
I can't decide if it reminds me more of whos from whoville or cat/man things I've seen before.
Since there's been some confusion about what my current avatar is, I might as well take this moment (and blog post) to show what my avatar is originally from.

Here's my avatar:



And here's the original image:



I don't know about you, but that's one sexy looking Who... no comment on the man/cat thing.

Here's one more of her for good measure.

]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6461 Et Tu, Amazon? http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6453 Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:42:16 GMT I only started this blog yesterday, but I thought I'd make a quick post about something I had mentioned earlier.

In my first post, I posted about how I bought Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3 and while very happy with the purchase, also felt a little lucky that I managed to get a copy since all the signs pointed to it selling out on Amazon.ca. I bought my copy for $53.99 which they then put back up to $59.99 (I had to go through Google Cache to find the following pic).


About a week ago, the listing for it's usual "Will ship in 3 to 6 weeks" was removed and only marketplace sellers had price listings up. My gut told me that they weren't going to sell it anymore.

Turns out I was wrong, but in a slightly bad way. Today I went back onto amazon to take a look around and I notice that Valkyria Chronicles was back in stock, but when I clicked on the link, this is what greeted me:



It looks like since it was selling so many copies, not only did they bring it back, they decided to forgo the discount they were initially offering and bump the price of the game back to it's original $69.99, And while it's not as dramatic as my title would suggest, it does suck for anyone living north of the border who wanted to get this title and couldn't find one locally or was hoping for a cheaper price.

Well, it's still being sold at bestbuy.ca at $59.99 here. According to the website, it does state that it's currently out of stock, but that more are one the way, so if you're still interested in buying it, I would recommend getting it from therewhenever you can, or from your BB if they sell it.

edit: I should mention in case there is any confusion that all the prices that I've listed are in Canadian dollars. ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6453 First! http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6424 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:23:55 GMT Yeah, I couldn't figure out a better name to put in title for my first blog post on here, but anyways, welcome!

The purpose of this blog is just for any daily musings on my life or anything related to gaming. Hopefully, I can keep doing this on a (semi) regular basis.

I guess I might as well start off this by going straight into a gaming related post, and specifically, what happens when a guy goes on vacation to another country for what was supposed to be 2 weeks and ends up living there for 4 1/2 months:




A little backstory: I went to India to visit relatives and it was supposed to be a 2 week vacation.

While we were there, my mother asked my brother if he'd like to meet a girl for a "meeting" between families.

My brother was reluctant at first, but he eventually caved in after endless pressure from her as well as from my grandmother, for whom my brother has a soft spot for and can't refuse anything from her. Besides, as he thought, what could possibly happen from one meeting?

One engagement and marriage later, I finally returned back home to Canada with my newly married brother and happy mother in tow. :\

You might be wondering what I got in this whole deal. Well, if I were to sum it up in two words:

Kidney Stones.

Anyways, while I was sitting there in India roasting away in the 30+ degree weather and pissing blood on more than one occasion, I started to go a little... crazy.. with the credit card. At the end of it all, those boxes you see at the top was my crazy little mountain of joy when I eventually returned back home. After taking a bit of time to settle in, I went through them and here's what was inside:



Apologies if the picture is a little hard to see but this is what was inside the boxes when they were all opened.

- Super Famicom Wii Classic Controller (not pictured): I had been looking to buy this for my wii ever since I first heard about it and finally managed to order it through Play-asia. I think they're fairly easy to order now though. I forgot to include it in the picture. My bad.

-Mother 1+2 value pack ( GBA JP import from Play-asia) While I was in India, I had an incident with my laptop which basically prevented me from playing anything beyond SNES graphics.. so I found an earthbound ROM floating on the net, tried it and loved it. After finishing the game, I put an order for this online.

-Siren: New Translation PS3 (the Asian edition from Play-asia which unlike the NA version comes on a Blu-ray disc, and it was on sale for around 24 dolalrs, while it sells for around 40 here on the PSN store, so I thought it would be a decent buy. The manual isn't in English, but the game has english subtitles and there's a card insert which tells you how to play in english which is cool)

- Valkyria Chronicles PS3 Apparently amazon.ca couldn't keep this in stock quick enough. It took me almost a month to actually get my copy shipped from them due to the high demand. when I last checked the listing on the site, they seem to have stopped selling it and only market place users are selling it, at a 20 dollar mark up to boot.

- SOCOM: Confrontation PS3 /w Bluetooth headset. I bought this for the headset.

- Gears of War 2 Collectors edition Xbox 360: Got dragged into the "limited" edition hype once again.. not only that they goofed up and the "special" hardcover art book they included with the game ended up being in french while the english one was softcovered and strapped to the back of the box. I know some folks in quebec are happy at the pleasant surprise, but not I.

- Breath of Fire IV PS1 I had been looking for a copy of this game for a long while, and finally found one which was reasonably priced, and it was in much better condition than I expected. the disc had no scratches on it, which was a big bonus.

- Persona 2 Eternal Punishment PS1 (Reprint Atlus did as a thank you to customers which sold out quickly on amazon)

- Persona 4 PS2 /w Artbook: Now i just need to start playing a title with the name Persona in it. lol

- Persona Strategy Guide (normally I don't buy strategy guides, but I like double jump and how they make their product)

- Persona 4 Social Links Expansion Pack /w Plushie, Calendar, Side B OST, and T-shirt.

- Front Mission 5: Scars of the War Ps2 (JP import; probably the best one in the series, and which sadly will probably never come to US shores, but is getting a fan translation done.)

- Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning PC Collectors Edition: This purchase.. I have second thoughts of, mainly because I've started playing Final Fantasy XI again, and my current PC couldn't handle the Warhammer beta too well especially during fights where it would get choppy, but I'll either ebay it or install in and see if it's worth playing.

- Command And Conquer Red Alert 3 Limited Edition: once again, I played into the limited/collectors edition trap and ended up paying more for this game than I would have liked, and it especially stings since i heard that they already dropped the price on this title. With the exception of a few titles from companies like Atlus, i'm going to refrain from buying anything that has "limited" or "special" stamped on it, since i've become an obvious sucker for them. At least I know i'll be playing it soon since I finished off C&C 3: Tiberium Wars.

- Mass Effect: Ascension The second novel in the series, I enjoyed the first book and this one was on sale for cheap.

- Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 3 DVD set

- Halo: the Trilogy OST

All in all, I got a few great games, and a couple of titles that on hindsight I should have probably either waited for the eventual price drop, or just ignored altogether, but overall I'm pleased with what I picked up.

Now to just find the time to play through them.

I do have two Play-asia coupon codes for 5 dollars off any purchase over $50, so if anyone would like them, feel free to PM me and i'll send it to you since I won't be buying anything from them by the time these coupons expire.

And just in case you were wondering: yes, I only brought enough clothes on my trip to India to last me two weeks... ]]> Psamtik http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/blog.php?b=6424