shopping

Girlfriend Gaming: Help Me Recommend PS3 Games

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My girlfriend is a life-long PlayStation fan. Way before I entered her life, she grew up playing Crash Team Racing on her PlayStation One. She’s since picked up a SNES and a Wii, but she’s had her eye on a PlayStation 3 for a long time now. At the very least, she’s wanted one long before I ever started thinking about it.

She feels like now is the right time to take the plunge and pick up a PS3. She’s asked for my help in recommending games for her to try, but my PS3 knowledge isn’t that great compared to what I know about the other systems. This is why I’m enlisting you for help. What should she buy or try out on the PS3?

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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is the XBOX LIve Deal of the Week

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Last time I wrote about this game, I was debating to myself whether or not I wanted to drop $10 on it. Based on what I had played from the demo, I enjoyed what was there, but I wasn’t sure if there was enough to justify my $10. Yes, I understand that in the grand scheme of gaming (console gaming in particular), $10 isn’t that much. However, I want a certain level of value out of my games and $10 for that particular package didn’t add up to me.

None of that matters now, at least for this week.

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Pick Up Post: Peggle Nights

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I’m not sure if I’ve said this on my blog before, but I’ve said it aloud many times to anyone that talks to me about iPhone games: I love Peggle. If you have not played Pop Cap’s digital version of cocaine, you are missing out on one of the most fun games in the last few years. I admit to being late to this party, too, since I didn’t buy a version of Peggle until it hit the iTunes store. By then, the sequel, Peggle Nights, was already available on PC and Mac. For us iPhone Peggle addicts, we’ve been waiting for over a year for the sequel to hit the iTunes store.

A few weeks ago, it did, along with a patch that for me, made both games worse.
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The Unfortunate State of the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console

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For those with a jones for retro gaming, the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console was supposed to be a dream come true. It was supposed to be the home of every old Nintendo game you could ask for. As time passed, the Virtual Console grew to include the Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, Sega Master System, Commodore 64 and arcade games. It’s been almost 5 years since the launch of Virtual Console, and we as consumers have access to over 300 games.

On the surface, that sounds decent. I’ve been able to buy a few favourites, try older games I’ve never played before and even grab a Japanese import game that never came out here (in my case, the very awesome Sin and Punishment). However, that number isn’t even close to representing the full catalogue of platforms represented in Virtual Console. Between the NES, SNES, SMS, Genesis, TG16, N64 and Neo Geo, the Virtual console has only made 10% of their combined catalogue available to consumers. It’s only going to get worse, as the once weekly updates have slowed to once a month, if we’re lucky.

What started out as an amazing idea is fizzling fast. How did Nintendo screw up what should have been a sure-fire win?

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Let’s Talk About Buying Video Games New vs. Used

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When it comes to video game shopping, I don’t think the average customer cares much about whether or not they buy a game new or used. I think when they want a game, they buy the game and get it at the best value they can. However, among gaming press, online gaming communities and anywhere else where serious video game discussion takes place, the topic of buying new vs. buying used always seems to crop up. The main argument for buying new is that your money supports the creators of the game and the main argument for buying used is that you get the game at a discounted price.

I don’t think this is a binary argument. There are a number of reasons for consumers to do both. I buy games both new and used. This post highlights the reasons I buy new and the reasons I buy used.

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Pick Up Post: Just Dance 2

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The first Just Dance was nothing short of a smash hit. It was a game that did a great job catering to the Wii audience, in spite of the gripes I had from a hardcore gamer perspective; which wouldn’t matter to the vast majority of people who would play or buy this game in the first place. To be fair, once I stopped thinking about the game as a hardcore game reviewer and started thinking about it as just someone wanting to play a dance game with others, the original was a lot of fun.

Yesterday evening, my girlfriend went to pick up her copy of Just Dance 2, which might be her most anticipated game of the year. After a long weekend of Just Dance 1 madness with her, my brother, my cousins and I, my brother and I decided to go half on our own copy as well.

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Plastic Crap and Other Useless Video Game Accessories

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This current generation of consoles has opened the door to what I feel is are the absolute worst video game accessories ever. Sure, the Power Glove is ‘so bad‘ and the U-Force was equally broken, but at least their intentions were somewhat grounded in offering players a new, better or different experience.

Thanks to the Wii (and now PlayStation Move), accessory makers are having a field day selling consumers plastic controller attachments that add nothing to the gameplay experience other than more stuff to hold. Sure, it’ll look like you’re swinging a tennis racquet, but do you actually need the extra visual stimulation to add to the realism? I say no. Based on how well these controller attachments sell, it seems like I’m in the minority on this one, which irks me to no end.

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My Beef With Gutted Copies of Video Games

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Recently, I took a stack of games to my local GameStop, hoping to get a new copy of ModNation Racers. I didn’t think that this would be a difficult process. Three GameStop’s later, I gave up on them and traded in my games at an indie video game retailer instead, because they had brand new copies of ModNation Racers in stock. GameStop had copies too, but only gutted ones.

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Trade Away Post: September 2010 Edition

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Trading games in is not a practice I regularly take part in. I generally like to keep my stuff and would like to think that I only buy games worth owning forever. However, sometimes I roll the dice on certain titles and it doesn’t always work out for any number of reasons.

I recently went to my local video game store to trade in a bunch of games. Here are the games I got rid of and the reasoning behind letting them go.

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Is the Nintendo 3DS Too Expensive?

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Recently, Nintendo announced launch details in regards to the Nintendo 3DS. It’s out in Japan in February and in March everywhere else. This is still a lot of time between now and launch, but you may need to start saving your pennies now. It won’t be cheap.
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