As you may or may not know, Nintendo had a Press Conference in regards to their new system, the Wii U. Now with any news regarding to Nintendo most remarks they recieve were: "Another failed gimmick", "A crappy system", "a baby's toy", etc. Well now there is a huge uproar about Bayonetta 2 being a Wii U exclusive and now they are crying about why is it on the Wii U and that it should be for the other systems instead, and that no Hard-core Gamer will buy the system and game. Okay I am sick of the whole idea of a "Hard-core Gamer" and that they should never touch a lower quality game system or it's games. Well you know what, those people who claim they are "Hard-core Gamers" are not REAL "Hard-core".

First of all I want to bring up the definition of what hardcore mean:

hard-core also hard·core (härdkôr, -kr)

adj.1. Intensely loyal; die-hard: a hard-core secessionist; a hard-core golfer.

2. Stubbornly resistant to improvement or change: hard-core poverty.

As you can see from the definition it describes someone who is either Intensely loyal or resistant to improvement or change, so with that in mind we can actually seperate who are just gamers and hardcore gamers. First of all if someone was a hardcore gamer they would of played every system and every game that has been ever made, that means you will have to had played games from the Atari al the way to using a Tiger LED game, right there I basically killed the notion of being hardcore because to one you must be Intensely loyal to the genre of gaming in general and appreciate the different qualities of every game. Also just to prove another point many games have changed over time from being a 2D linear game to a 3D free roaming world with in the game, so right there you failed on the second definition if you were a hardcore gamer since you keep changing by buying the newer version and at that point they contradict each other because you would never accept the change and you will deny the other games. Now at this point we just have "gamers" but even then we can seperate them.

So in a nutshell, there is no hardcore gamer and I don't think that should be used in any viideo game discussion. To be one is impossible because you have to have full appreciation to all videogames and systems and you will be stuck with one system which basically contradicts each other. In the long run just enjoy the games as much as you can but don't judge because it's on your rival system.

We as videogamers tend to buy many games, but during this economy it is hard to buy videogames. We have to be very selective of what games to buy and accept the buyers remorse that comes with it. As time passed, I have discovered ways of buying games frugally to adhere to our love towards this hobby of ours. Sure sometimes it maybe hard but you can find new games for cheap, but if you have the patience you can score big. In this blog I will discuss certain ways to buy games and at what retail stores to shop at so you can take advantages of good promotions.

1.) First of all, Gamestop is not your only place to shop for videogames. You can go to Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Kmart, or Toy'sRUS since at least about once a month, they have sales of "Buy 1, Get 1 50%/Free".

2.) Don't bother in getting games on release dates, be patient. In two week to possibly 6 months after a huge release of a game, there will be a sale that you can take advantage off. Here are a few examples of how being patient pays off: Ex.1) Scribblenauts came out it was 29.99, Three weeks after its release, I got it at Target for 19.00. Ex. 2) On the last week of March, Bestbuy was selling Batman: Arkham City for $29.99, and Rage and Bullet Storm (Both Special Edition) each for $19.99, and what made this deal even better was that I recieved coupons for these games from @gamer Magazines (which is Bestbuy's Magazine) that help me get them even cheaper, which changed the price to Batman: Arkham City to $9.99 and Bullet Storm and Rage coming out to $4.99 each.

3.) Take advantage of Stores special customer Rewards Program. They are huge money savers. The best one is Bestbuy since they send you 10% off coupon and credit coupon together. Also get yourself apps for your smart phones like Keyring Rewards or Card Star, they will send you coupons to your phone so you can take advantage of special deals.

4.) Gamestop has not monopolized the Trade-in Buisness. There are other videogame stores like Play N Trade that is rising up and competing with Gamestop with the used game market. Also Bestbuy has started a Trade in Program and they also sell used games. Also you can search online sites/community where you can trade games with other user or possibly even sell them for cash instead of store credits.

5.) Internet shopping is a must. Amazon has amazing deals on new games like giving out $10 credit for doing a preorder. Most of the new Wii games they sell go fo 46.99 plus they do not charge taxes and like I said before be Patient and go for the Super Saver Delivery. Sure it will take awhile for the game to arrive but at least you save about 7 dollars. Also if you are a good shopper with them they give you $10 credit.

6.) Have a change Jar. This will help make game shopping less stressful and if you have a Coinstar turn it to Amazon Credit since they will not take away 9% off your total when you want cash.

7.) Walmart, Target, and Kmart have a very small storage/department for videogames and at times so they can make room for the new games of the year, they do clearance for old games from the previous year. I am not talking about shovelware games or low rated games, you can find really good games at very low prices. I myself have bought many games, and if you are in a publisher program like Club Nintendo or Square Enix it is the perfect place to find games that give you points.

8.) Black Friday, Black Friday, Black Friday!!! The day after Thanksgiving is one major sale day of the year, so take advantage. Also if you are an internet shopper, Cyber Monday.

So far these are my advices if you want to increase your videogame collection. I will state one precaution with this, because of the possible low prices, you will most likely create a huge backlog of games that you haven't played since most likely you would lose control from the amazing deals you can find. Happy Shopping.