I traded in a bunch of games to Amazon- it worked out well and I pre-ordered Dragon Age: Origins. This deal is better than it looks: $57 ($3 off) is not much, but it's also tax free and free shipping (another $5 for tax and another $5 maybe for shipping) and then there is a $10 credit on amazon that can be used to purchase another game- that's a total of about $23 off the list price. Anyway, this game looks wonderful and I believe it will redeem Bioware after the rather lame leveling mechanics/side quests of Mass Effect. I had gotten $88 for my games trades so I still have some left over for the game that I will apply the $10 credit to. I have high hopes for Borderlands (though I am wary) and Alpha Protocol (which seems less of a risk).

I traded some games to Gamestop as well (they have a $20 bonus if you trade in 4 games, effectively doubling or more games that don't trade for much). I used that to buy The Beatles: Rock Band. It is awesome- I can't say how thrilling it is to know and love every single song on the game's soundtrack. Random songs never make me nervous that a song I hate will show up. It's also rather easier than the other music games- I can do every song on expert, which is not true of any other GH or RB game.

Oh, and I also picked up Rock Revolution for $5 at Best Buy. It is a low budget rip off (I would have expected better from the makers of DDR) but at over 8 songs per $1 it's really a pretty good deal. I've had at least $5 of fun with it so far.

Anyway- Dragon Age is going to rock and I hope that the whole 'Origins' schtick does lead to massively different plotlines when you play as different characters. Even if it is just the first 6 hours that are hugely different, well, that's as long as a lot of games these days.

PS: the Amazon deal on Dragon Age includes a price guarantee so if Amazon lowers the price before it releases they'll refund the difference between that and what you paid.

Looks more exciting than poor old Liara!