• 11Jul 09

  Game shopping experience

  I came to realise I have spent less than $100 of my own cash on games this year. I've just gone and got myself another haul of goodies, courtesy of a voucher I won at work, and put a whole $13 of my own money into the equation. So this is the second time since getting out of the video industry that I have walked into a game shop as a consumer. I was always used to looking up prices from a supplier, and then ordering it in. Simple. So I looked up prices of games yesterday on EB Games website, where my voucher was valid (was a shopping centre voucher, none of the other game stores in the centre accepted it), wrote down a bunch of stuff that I thought sounded like good value and went down there today.

  Can't say I'm impressed with the layout of the store. Everything on tables, so you have to pick up piles of stuff to sort through them. Games on the same platform can be found in various areas, and not because they are split into pre-owned and new; they are all mixed in together. So basically I had to look through everything in the store to see if they had the titles. I found a couple, and had to ask about others, which weren't in stock. One such special was Oblivion Game of the Year Edition for PS3, which was advertised on their website for $20. On the shelf was a pre-owned regular edition for $60. Game of the Year Edition not in stock, and the regular edition doesn't count. She told me a new copy of the Game of the Year Edition would be $30... but that wasn't in stock either so the best she could do was $50 for a pre-owned one. She acknowledged that was a bit dumb, but she couldn't do anything about it.

  Then there was Marvel Ultimate Alliance which has been in the back of my mind to pick up since it came out. It was listed on special for a brand new copy on the website for $15. Not in stock, but a pre-owned copy would be $25. Sigh. I declined, only to come back and begrudgingly ask for it... but she was unable to find the copy the computer said they had. Which is probably a good thing. I've waited this long for the game, I can wait a bit longer and not feel bad about the purchase.

  Then there was Zack & Wiki (yes Foolz3h, I finally got a copy!). It was advertised on their website at $44.91 or something. On the shelf it was $55. I advised her that the price was different on the website and she said she didn't know what the website said, but the price was whatever it scanned at. It scanned in at $44.91. But if it hadn't, I don't think I would have been accepting that as an answer. Your company has a website. It is advertising a price. That price should be met. I'm glad it scanned in at that price.

  I must be the worst customer. I was there for about an hour scouring shelves and thinking about the price of everything. And then used a voucher for nearly all of it (though I shouldn't feel bad about that, they will still get the money from the shopping centre). So in the end, the haul was;

  Prince of Persia (360)
  Lego Indiana Jones (360)
  Lost Odyssey (360)
  Army of Two (PS3)
  Pikmin New Play Control (Wii)
  Zack & Wiki (Wii)
  Lock's Quest (DS)

  The good thing is, the company I work for is continuing the incentive plan in place, so there is a decent chance I will get some more vouchers (and I already have another $200 one up my sleeve but I might actually use it for something other than games... maybe) and spend bugger all on games for the rest of the year while still actually playing them. Here's hoping!

  • Posted Jul 11, 2009 9:14 pm PT
  • Category: Games
  • 17 Comments
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• 8Jul 09

  Dawgin It

  That's it Three Dog. You've gone too far. I've been meaning to have a chat with you for a while due to your slanderous tone regarding my pillage of the Wasteland. And then you go and mention that I could have helped the people in Big Town... and called me an A-hole for not helping them.

  Hey! I saved one of them. Sure, one of them died (sorry Red) but it was a damn sight better than what they were doing for themselves.

  I think me and Eugene are going to come and pay you a visit...

  • Posted Jul 8, 2009 6:21 am PT
  • Category: Games
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• 24Jun 09

  Xbox 360 settings

  Just a quick question. How do I get my 360 to select a particular gamertag as the default to sign in as? I did this previously, and it carried over when I upgraded to NXE, but now that I have my 360 back from repair, it isn't defaulting to my gamertag. I have to select it everytime I play a agme. I've looked through all the settings, even using the guide button menu, but I can't seem to find that menu again. Can anyone give me a hand here?

  • Posted Jun 24, 2009 6:00 am PT
  • Category: Other
  • 9 Comments
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