There are a lot of good games for the XBox 360.  I have quite a few of them.  I couldn't possibly afford them all and wouldn't want to.  That collection would become too big and I wouldn't want to spend $60 on something that will be collecting dust in less than a month.  So I limit myself to purchasing games I could see myself playing in the future.

Tomb Raider.

I LOVED the first game.  It felt original.  It felt epic.  The music and the sounds just added to the sense of grandeur that I was hoping could be duplicated in its many ill-fated sequels.  Needless to say they never quite accomplished the task.  Until the most recent release of Tomb Raider: Legend.

I played the demo and I'm positive I would thoroughly enjoy the game, once.  I want to play this game but I don't want to own it.

What are my options?

1. Pay six times the amount I would pay for a movie for only a slightly longer and arguably better experience?
2. Rent the game for a couple of days for more than a fair percentage of the entire cost?
3. Buy the game used for only $5 off and make sure that the hard working developers don't see a penny?
4. Pay $10 for a pirated copy and also make sure the hard working devlopers don't see a penny?
5. Or wait a year or two for the price to come down?

As a sidenote it seems rediculous to me that each pirated copy is counted as a potential lost sale.  The entire reason games are pirated in the first place is because people are too cheap to  pay full price for them.  I doubt pirates would be willing to pay full price for a game if that was their only option.

My solution?  Include purchase only exclusive features so the true fans of the game will have an overwhelming desire to actually pay good money for the game.  Extra DVD's.  Maps, toys, swag.  ONLINE FEATURES.  That last one is emphasized because this is the strongest reason why I don't even contemplate pirating copies for the 360.  XBox Live.  The primary reason why I bought an XBox 360 in the first place.

I wouldn't want to lose access to XBox Live just to save a couple bucks.  But what happens to the titles I  want to play but not own?  I'm forced to either rent the game for 5 days at $8 or wait a year and buy it used for $20.

In any case the company that sells the used game to me makes all the profit.  How is this any different from piracy?  GameStop is making a lot more profit on the sale of used games than any pirate I know.

Just like the technique Cliffy B has been pushing for his new game, Stop 'n Pop might be in reference to more than simply a gameplay strategy.

I have a feeling it will also be their sales figures. One big hit and then sales will drop. Why? The more they show of the game, the less meat to the game there appears to be. I'm sure they have a few surprises but I don't see anything epic(sic) in scale on the horizon. It was exciting the first few times I saw it. Then The more videos I saw I noticed how limited the gameplay seemed to be.

There were some quirks with the A.I. They didn't notice when the player was standing right next to them. The chainsaw wouldn't kick on during Cliffy B's own demonstration as he was chasing the enemy around a pillar.

When your character runs towards cover he always treats it as a four sided pillar. I wonder if there we'll see any of those new fangled fancy round pillars they recently invented in the Roman Empire.

Perhaps I'm being facetious but my point still stands as a concern. The recent and very near release build videos and lack of information has me concerned that Gears of War might be a one trick pony and not the Halo "Killer" it set out to be.

I hate GameStop but this is an o.k. deal. I have two DS-Lites but my cousin has an old DS with a really dim screen. I think I'll try it out for him. In-Store Offer Only You can pick up either a Coral Pink or Onyx DS Lite for under $100.00. If you have a working GBA SP, get to your local GameStop and trade it in towards a new DS Lite for $99.99. And if you have a working original model DS? Take that to your local GameStop and trade it in towards a new DS Lite for $69.99. This offer is only available in stores and expires September 24.

They should price match. Take a Fry's ad or anything else and they will match the price as long as they have the item in stock. Make sure you take the locations and phone numbers with you so they can't rip you off. Sometimes you can confuse the idiots with the price of a PC version of the same game. I paid $31 for Prey and $34 for Dead Rising. Honestly, I didn't notice until I had gone home and opened the games. After contemplating the return to the store I remembered that they don't take back opened video games so I dismissed that idea quickly. My favorite? Buy a Videogame Gift card. It comes with a $5 coupon. Then go back in the store and buy the game with the gift card and your free coupon. This won't work if they tax you or if the state tax is really high in your state. They usually don't tax me on the gift cards.

Buy an old one.

So many games come out at the same time I frequently find myself buying only a select few. Then when I have some extra money to spend I go out and buy a good game I find. This doesn’t always work to my benefit since I might have forgotten about a really great game that came out in a better game’s shadow.

So I wanted to write this. If you’re walking around GameStop or Best Buy with a hand full of cash and can’t figure out what you want, try one of these great old games.

XBox
Psychonauts - Great voice acting in a platformer with interesting graphics. If you can find it pick it up.
Ninja Gaiden Black - The best version of the game with a lower difficulty setting.
Halo and Halo 2 - Halo 2 is still the top XBox Live game so that tells you how great this game is.
Grand Theft Auto - The entire series is great but San Andreas is the best.
Fable: The Lost Chapters - Now’s your chance to catch up on the story before the sequel come’s out.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic XBox 360 Project Gotham Racing 3 - Now that it’s nearly a year old the price has dropped considerably.
DOA4 - Ditto
Burnout Revenge
Call of Duty 2
Condemned
King Kong

PC
Oblivion - Hands down the best version of the game with FREE add-ons and better graphics.
Moonbase Commander - Budget strategy game you should find under $10. I own this one it’s a fun puzzler.
Guild Wars
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One - New but still cheap.
Unreal Tournament - Still one of my favorite 3D PC shooters. Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project - Fun sidescroller.

PS2
Grand Theft Auto - The entire series is great but San Andreas is the best.
Final Fantasy X - My favorite Final Fantasy tale yet. Great voice acting and incredible CG cut scenes.
Keep an eye out for Guitar Hero’s price to drop with it’s sequel due to hit store shelve’s.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - I heard this game was good. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
Def Jam: Fight for NY
Stuntman
Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution

PSP
Megaman Powered UP - It’s cheap now that it’s a few months old.
Daxter
Burnout Legends
Wipeout Pure
Lumines

GameCube
Super Smash Bros. Melee - I never really liked these games but some people are huge fans. Give it a shot, it’s cheap.
Animal Crossing - Truly an experience I will never forget. A game your girlfriend/wife might thoroughly enjoy.
Resident Evil 4 - The best in the series. Game of the Year in many publications.
The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Metroid Prime 1 or 2
Mario Party - Any of them are fun with the right group.

GameBoy & DS
I would mention more of the great DS games but most of the best are still new and expensive.
Metroid: Fusion
- GBA Metroid: Zero Mission
- GBA Wario Ware: Twisted
- GBA Wario Ware: Touched!
- DS Mario Pinball
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong - Great freakin’ game. More Donkey Kong than Mario but lots of fun.

Let me know if you have some you’d like to add.

~ HL

Things were too good to last long. Finally someone who stood up for gamers on the show. She will be missed. Bob Colayco... My Blogs. I only wish my blogs left a shadow to compare to the wake of their absence. The lack of response has led me to try elsewhere. I'm going to post all my blogs on 1up. Hopefully I'll get a more satisfying response.

You have to grow up after all. (A marketing strategy opinon from an amateur perspective.)

Everybody knows the theme song, "I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid."  For some time now Toys 'R' Us has been going through some financial troubles.  Some industry analyst's don't expect the company to fully recuperate its losses with stores closing all across the country and those that aren't closing becoming Babies 'R' Us.

I’ve had some thoughts about what the company could’ve done to stay afloat for a long time and finally found the time to write them down.

$

First and foremost I have to talk about their pricing.  I don’t know if they just didn’t watch market trends or because they were a nationwide company they, for accounting reasons I imagine, chose to keep the same pricing across the board for their products.  Expensive.  They were way too expensive.  I remember Toys ‘R’ Us was always crowded.  They had the inventory, they just didn’t have the right pricing to make people walk out with their toys.

Name Recognition

Every kid I knew recognized the colors, the name, the song, their mascot and in my area even the freeway that passed by it.  The Toys ‘R’ Us freeway as it was know for miles around brought joy to kids everywhere as they drove towards it and sadness as it led them away empty handed.  As far as Toy Stores go, I knew no other and thousands of other children felt the same.  They had the name recognition and they did not take advantage of their control over the toy industry. Exclusivity and slapping the Toys ‘R’ Us brand on their products was never anything I saw them push for aggressively that I believe would’ve helped them become a success this generation as much as the last.

Video Games

What I believe was a key reason Toys ‘R’ Us lost their industry power has to do with the video game boom.  In the 80’s gaming was a niche hobby for young children and typically geeky Simpson’s comic book guy collector types.  After the introduction of the Super Nintendo and the Sony Playstation in the early 90’s, video gaming moved beyond the niche hobby it used to be and became an entertainment medium that was not limited to a relatively small consumer base, like toys.  The stores, at least the Toys ‘R’ Us stores I used to frequent, were at one time innovative.  Allowing children to play with the toys and offering a broad range of brand name toys and lesser known knick-knacks.  The video game section was a small isle with categorized and alphabetized cover art with paper tickets that you would take back to the cage to pick up your “cartridge.”  This was smart and much better than the chaos that is Best Buy’s ${}!+-pile.  But unlike hoola-hoops and jump-ropes the video game industry is constantly evolving and erratic with its pricing.  Toys ‘R’ Us just wasn’t keeping track of the changes in this industry and lost the potential foothold they could have had.  You would go to the video game section and they would have old NES games labeled as new and still fully priced.  Stocking the new inventory was rare and they wouldn’t spend too much time advertising the products or making the labels for their intuitive ticket scheme.  The

Spin-Off

Kids ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us.  The prior is long gone and the only reason Babies ‘R’ Us survives today is because of the greedy mother’s and their baby registry’s.  (The term Mother’s is to be taken literally.)  What they needed to do instead of concentrating on clothes was to stick to what they new best, TOYS!  Electronic toys to be exact.  It wasn’t until after the release of the XBox that they got their act together and created the ‘R’ Zone but it was already too late.  The lack of an online plan and other crucial mistakes began the downfall of the once larger-than-life toy giant Geoffrey.

Community

Social events.  There is a stigma associated with video games that people see the video gamer as a dark dungeon scavenging lonely individual that fears social relationships.  If the fantastic success of XBox Live has proven anything is that gamers have been waiting for the opportunity to play together.  Some of the first (arguably popular) video games were Pong and Space War.  Those and Combat on the Atari 2600 were all TWO-PLAYER GAMES! Mario & Luigi, Sonic & Tails, Ken & Ryu.  An entire library of games on every system dating back to the very beginning of gaming set the trend. What could have helped the company was to host special video game sponsored social events and competitions.  They had the power and the industry respect to succeed at this.

Too Little, Too Late

Animal Crossing, a game with Toys ‘R’ Us opportunity written all over it, fairly recently came out with an online capable iteration on Nintendo’s newest handheld, the Nintendo DS.  This self-proclaimed “communication game” finally gets to live up to its title.  It involves a little character that you control as it goes through his/hers daily regimen of cavity-inducing sweetness including but not limited to, fishing, writing letters, visiting friends, picking and planting fruits.  This game prides itself in its little surprises.  Tiny toys, new outfits, stylized furniture for your home and even classic NES emulated games. Some limited edition ornaments for your home have recently been made available only in Toys ‘R’ Us via download station. You take your Nintendo DS and download these little trinkets for free.  This is the type of event that, although seemingly pointless, spur consumer traffic, social interaction and will greatly improve product name recognition and assist in establishing a positive brand image.  As if the colorful nature of the Toys ‘R’ Us locations weren’t enough, an outside carnival-type atmosphere would attract much more attention.  Last I checked they had plenty of space available in their parking lots to hold these events.

Conclusion

What would normally be a small part of a larger event schedule has become a sad and pitiful attempt in exclusivity by a company that moved too slowly to adopt to the online and video game explosion.  A good intention too late after stores like GameStop and Best Buy engulfed the electronic entertainment retail market.

Hang on to that 2 X 4 all you want Geoffrey Giraffe; it’s not enough to keep you from drowning.

~HL

"It's been such a long time since I completed a game like this."

New Super Mario Bros.

I didn't purchase the game until I got my hands on a DS Lite and I played it on and off.  It's been such a long time since I finished a game let alone with 100% completion so I have expected to leave this game unfinished as I have so many others.

I just don't have the time anymore.

This game, however; had such a classic feel to it.  It was so much fun to play that I didn't feel the need or the frustration that comes with so many other games.  I didn't just HAVE to finish this game, I actually WANTED to.

I knew exactly where all the secrets were.  They weren't exactly hidden but that didn't mean they weren't difficult to get to.  So when I finished the game and that little background with the hint at a Luigi code got me right back into the game.

At first I told myself I just want to see Luigi.  Then it was I just want to get that coin I saw that in my rush to complete the game I just ran past.  Then it was a, "Hey, I can actually complete this."

I won't lie.  Some levels were harder than I remember the original game being.

It was fun.  What is it about today's games that doesn't attract me as much?  Oblivion is a great game but I just left it there.  PGR3 has some great cars I haven't obtained but it sits there.

This is exactly why I will be standing in line when the Wii is released.  Nintendo just has something that no other developer has been able to tap.

So he’s not exactly in hiding.  He has just passed the public spotlight torch to Mr. Moore.

Or has he?

Those of you who know have already seen his little racing video but what else has he been up to?  He hasn’t been fired obviously.

Here’s my theory, or wishful thinking….

During Microsoft’s press conference they openly suggested people buy the Wii.  This is their competition.  Why would they do that?  So what they mentioned that the PSP was compatible with the 360 as a file system.  It works like a memory stick.  If I remember correctly it was brought up by news media as a possibility and the Microsoft response was, “That IS interesting isn’t it?”  Perhaps waiting for the official “OK” from the big wigs to make such a statement.  When they did they said, “Even working with the competition.”

Sony’s competition was the PS2 and now the PS3.  Microsoft has never been in competition with any portable gaming device.

At least they haven’t openly acknowledged it.

Live Anywhere.  Hmmmm.  What types of devices would find this handy?

I’ll stop beating around the bush and come out and say it.  For a long time now there have been rumblings and rumors about a portable XBox device and I feel they are true.

There are simply too many little hints and clues to come to any other conclusion.  Even when the 360 was being developed there were rumors about the hard drive being integrated into a portable device.

I forsee J. Allard making an announcement at next year’s E3 about where he’s been and what he’s been up to.

As far as Nintendo…Listen to Microsoft’s Major Nelson’s podcast and read his blog.  Count how many times he mentions how great the DS is and how excited he is to play Nintendo games.

Yeah he’s a gamer and he feels the need to prove it to us all but does he mention anything about Sony?  The only times I hear him mention Sony games or devices it’s in a blind-sided slam.  No true gamer would be such a fanboy, I don’t care who you work for.

What sort of agreement (or contract) would you have to have with Nintendo to talk about them so often when you work for the competition?  Nintendo Licensing isn’t easy to get.  Try to find Mario toy’s.  They are rare.

My point?  Microsoft is working on something big and secret.  My bet’s are on a portable device that J. Allard is involved with somehow.

My wish?  It has something to do with Nintendo.

My dream?  Perhaps the Revolution was exactly that.  A joint union between the two mega-corporations.  Microsoft needs Nintendo for Japan and Nintendo needs Microsoft for the hardware and XBox Live.  The 360 can do everything that the Wii can do.  Perhaps it’s an additional service and not a piece of hardware at all?  The Nintendo-On looks more realistic than the Wii does now that I think about it.

Just like the popularity of the Nintendo DS, Wii's interest grows with each coming bit of news and rumor.  Sure it seems like a gimmicky toy.  Sure it's kind of plain looking.  Sure it's not HD and sure it doesn't play movies.

Neither did the NES and that saved the gaming industry.

Neither did the Gameboy and that has made the portable gaming genre what it is today.

Neither did the N64 and with Mario established the de-facto standard for 3-D platforming.

I played a few games on the Nintendo Wii at E3 and I can't lie, I wasn't excited about it at all.  But I have to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Nintendo has disappointed me only once.  (*cough VirtualBoy *cough)

According to a CNNMoney report, industry analyst's expect a late October and possibly September release date for the Wii.

After going public with a statement something along the lines of, "..people don't want online gaming" in response to queries about what Nintendo intends to do to about the threat XBox Live poses, many fans are glad to hear that Nintendo's DS Wi-Fi Connection wasn't the only online plan for the company.

During the E3 press conference they said there would be an online option, if not feature available for gamers.  Download service for all Nintendo games ever made and an always-on "feature."  They used Animal Crossing as the example.  Your system goes on standby and an online visitor comes through your town and leaves notes or possibly gifts.  Perhaps a destructive warpath as well?

Only time will tell if this flip-flopping strategy will work on their behalf.  Even the funny name doesn't seem to be doing them much damage.  On the contrary it has become the most widely spoken console name coming out of the mouths of non-gamers.  Which is exactly who this system is aimed at.  Classic and non-gamers.

The dramatically cheaper price is also a selling point to the individuals who don't consider gaming as a hobby but a fad or toy.  This system will come out at the same price as Nintendo's previous consoles but with the competition starting at the three century mark it will appear to be a steal.

The games I played were standard fare, nothing revolutionary.  This weekend I played Mario Party 7 with some friends and I remembered why I liked Nintendo games to begin with.  It isn't the graphics.  It isn't the cinematic flair.  It definitely isn't the gore.

It's the main reason XBox Live is so popular.  Socialization.

I'm excited to see what they do with the Wiimote in Mario Party.

I'm excited to see how developers take advantage of online multiplayer Mario Kart.

I'm excited to reserve my system and play with a much nicer crowd than the morons I deal with in Halo 2.

Wii the People of the Entire World.