The Reason I Stopped Shopping At GameStop

Power to the players, right? That slogan couldn’t be farther from the truth. This tale is more of a warning. A “buyer beware,” if you will. Also, for the integrity and livelihood of the employees and the location of this GameStop, they shall remain nameless.

It all started when all I wanted was to buy a DS title. It was a copy of Digimon World DS, for those of you wondering. I was rather eager to play it, so right there in the store, I put the game in my DS. That was when the trouble started.

Before I go any further, I need to explain a few things about GameStop’s policies, and how they handle things, for those of you who don’t know. There are a couple things they do that, quite frankly are not consumer friendly.

Firstly, they open games, and label them as “new” when they place them on display. Wouldn’t most of you agree that a new product is sealed in the cellophane and related product packaging it comes with?

Secondly GameStop employees are allowed to check out games, new or used. Sort of like an internal rental service. There is already something wrong with this practice, as demonstrated with what happened with me.

And now, on with the show! So, when I put the game in my DS, while still in the store, there was already a save file on the cart! A @#%$#^ save file! I was quite pissed! They had sold me a game marked as “new” when it was clearly played.

I went back to the counter and asked for a refund. Of course they refused, saying that game, once played or opened they can’t give a full refund. They offered for me to trade in the game. I shook my head, and gave them some lip. The employee who had sold me the game, no less happened to have the same name like the one on the DS save file.

Demanding to speak the manager yielded no results. So I made a point to say that I knew about their employee checkout system. They were probably a little startled, asking where I had come across such knowledge. Kotaku did a story a few years back detailing how their rental system works. At any rate, when they still refused, I demanded to speak to their regional, of which they didn’t want to give me the number. Instead they offered to refund, and save what little face they had left.

Needless to say to say, this probably won’t stop the worlds largest game retailer, but buyers beware. If you are going to buy a "new” product from GameStop, make sure that you buy a sealed copy of the game. As for me, I am not giving them the time of day anymore. I am opting for Amazon, Target, Best Buy, etc. Any place but that @#%RW$ bag of a company.

E3 2011: Looking Forward To The Future

E3 has come and gone, and there are some things that were announced that make me want them RIGHT NOW. However these things are in the far flung future. Games and hardware of the future are coming, and some notable ones I think worth keeping an eye on are listed below.


Tomb Raider


This game is still a ways off. Coming in fall 2012 what was demoed at the Microsoft press conference showed a reboot of the character. A vulnerable Lara Croft, one inexperienced in her travels. It was clear that the character was not over sexualized, and it appeared that she was learning as she went along in the demo. All in all, a great new look and feel. Fear of the unknown and survival are the name of the game.


Battlefield 3


Only having shown the multiplayer at this years E3, EA seems to be positioning this game as the ‘other’ first person shooter this fall to compete with a certain ‘Call of Duty.’ Graphically speaking this game looks astounding. Unfortunately, I am going to have to play the game first, as the Battlefield games have always made me scratch my head. This one has a strong single player focus, but at its heart the Battlefield games have always been about multiplayer. Can it compete with Modern Warfare 3 this year? Only time will tell.


ICO/Shadow of The Colossus HD Collection


I loved, LOVED this games on my PS2. And now they are getting remade in HD on PS3. One Blu-ray, higher-frame, and trophies. I cannot wait for this game. I am going to preorder it as soon as it becomes available. If you don’t know what I am talking about, YouTube is your friend. Seek out these games and just watch. There is a sense of fidelity and emotion when you play those games. Swelling soundtracks, mysterious sounds, and abstract stories make those games a wonder to play.


Catherine


Atlus was showing off this game, and it is scheduled to come out this July. A weird hybrid puzzle/dating sim game. It appears that it it will be telling the story of man plagued by nightmares, and having to decide between two women. Possibly two endings, or multiple endings. The game was lauded for its incredible difficulty when it was released in Japan, and the developers released a patch to fix the difficulty. From I gather this is actually an offshoot story from the Persona universe. Keeping my eye on this one, as it looks like a really good experience.


King of Fighters XIII


Another title announced by Atlus, this SNK fighter looks incredible. The previous iteration, King of Fighters XII, was a broken, unbalanced mess. This has more characters (Mai Shiranui returns!), complete move sets, and what appears to be a competent fighting system. This is the one fighter I am excited for, and I hope that it can compete with the likes of Street Fighter X Tekken, Super Street Fighter IV, and Mortal Kombat.


PlayStation Vita


Sony came out guns blazing with the announcement of the their new portable system. At a selling price of $249.99, its kind of hard not to be excited about this new fangled piece of tech. With enough horsepower underneath to have a similar experience of a PS3 game, two analog sticks, an Organic LED touch screen, Sixaxis motion, and a back touch pad, this system got me pumped for what was to come in mobile gaming. Several of the demos demonstrated how a person could play a game on PS3, save your progress, and then continue that same exact game on your Vita and vice versa. I can only hope that Sony gets their act together with this system, or its doomed from the start.


Wii U


This was the big mystery of E3 this year. What was this new system Nintendo wanted to show us? Could it do HD? Is the controller as crazy as the rumors speculate? Turns out both of those questions were answered with a resounding “yes.” The new system is capable of outputting in HD, up to 1080p, is backwards compatible with Wii accessories and games, and has a tablet like controller with a 6 inch touchscreen. The new controller also sporting two analog sticks, and a full feature set of buttons. The question I have to ask, will it be enough? Will people be intimidated by the new controller? Can Nintendo rope in the publisher’s needed for the system to succeed and compete with the other current consoles that Microsoft and Sony are offering?


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It has been exciting to see what is coming in the near future and I hope that games continue growing and expanding into new areas. It looks to be a rough year with all these games coming out around the same time. The competition has ramped up and gotten tougher. Many of the above titles are a little niche, but they are great games, and I plan on getting them all. Time to start saving…

Dead Space 2 Demo Impressions

Note: This was originally written as a writing sample for a gaming site. Thought I would post it here for those looking for an opinion on the Dead Space 2 demo.

After recently playing through the first Dead Space, I was eager to play the next chapter in Isaac Clarke’s slowly crumbling mind. Right from the start of the demo, a narrator describes a summarization of the events of the first game. This summarization promptly gets thrown out the window as you are thrown into the middle of the story of Dead Space 2.

It appears that the story element s have been taken out of the demo, and for good reason, as I would not have wanted any of the story spoiled for me. They do however give you a nice sampling of what is to come. Some new enemies, a new weapon, and some changes to the how the zero-gravity sections play.

Right from the start the demo goes over the controls quickly with a series of popups telling you how to play. I was already at home with the controls and so, I just made my way through the series of rooms rather quickly until I came up on an enemy.

I cycled through the guns until I got to one of the new ones. The Rail Spiker, as the game calls it, shoots single spikes that can pin enemies to a wall, with a secondary fire that can electrify the corpse and other things around it. The other weapons in the demo include the trusty Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Line Gun. All of those guns function the same, except for the Pulse Rifle. The alternate fire was changed to make it a grenade launcher. I found no use for the secondary fire on the Pulse Rifle because most of the demo takes place in tight corridors.

Visually speaking, the demo looks almost the same as the first Dead Space. The only difference being that the game now takes place on a space station as opposed to a lone ship. The demo didn’t give any context as to why Isaac was there other than he woke up in a mental facility. The station itself is pretty to look at, and the first time you come across a window, you get to look out across a city space. It appears that game has not gone through many changes, the textures look a little sharper, and the engine appears to have been enhanced a little, a higher frame rate and such.

There were a couple new enemies in the demo, one of them being what appears to be these infant like beings that attack you in groups, making for a bit more panic in the mayhem. I found myself frantically shooting just to keep the creatures off me. The only other new monster in the demo was a rather large being that it did not seem like you could kill, just rather keep it from killing you by shooting its weak spot.

The last noticeable thing about the demo that stood out to me was the zero gravity environments. Isaac’s suit now has some thrusters on him, allowing for full 3-D movement in a zero-g space. In the first Dead Space, there zero gravity environments, but all you could really do was jump from point A to point B. While in these zero-g moments in the demo, you can also aim and shoot your weapon if need be. Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any enemies while doing this.

All in all, the demo left me craving more. January 25, 2011 can’t come soon enough. I am going be spending a great deal of time playing that game.

Mass Effect 2: A review

Having just completed a play through of the above mentioned game, I thought I would share my thoughts and reflections of the game with the readers that have stopped by and read my blog thus far. The game clocks in around 40hrs if you have gone to do all the side missions available and the trust missions of the characters. I got about 43hours out of it with the launch DLC quests and character (Zaeed). Also I should note that I will attempt to make this review as spoiler free as possible, just going over the mechanics, gameplay, and graphics of the game.

Mass Effect 2 continues the story of Commander Sheperd and his quest to stop the Reapers. The events of the game take place some 2 years after the first game, and the galaxy seemingly at peace. However, not all is well as a new threat has emerged that Sheperd must stop. This new threat is a race of alien beings called the “Collectors.” Commander Sheperd must find a way to stop them before they wipe out all life in the known galaxy.

To start, the game is much improved over the first game in many areas, and some areas they streamlined several of the systems. Gone is the inventory management of the first game, replaced with a weapons load out before the start of each mission. You can also edit the load out of each character at any point as long as you are back on the Normandy. Throughout missions and exploration of hub areas you will find upgrades that are necessary to not only improving your equipment, but also Sheperd and his fellow crew members.

Exploration of other planets was a major portion of the first Mass Effect. Though many of the environments in the first game were repetitious and somewhat annoying as you had to drive some long distances in a vehicle just to get to some warehouse or enemy base that looked like every other environment that you had been on in some other planet. Mass Effect 2 does away with this by replacing the exploration with a planet scanner, helping you collect resources to improved your upgrades and finding places to land and complete side quests.

Another one of the streamlined areas is the leveling system, and how you gain experience. You can no longer gain experience points by killing enemies. Instead, you gain experience simply by completing missions and side quests that you acquire through the course of the game. At first, I was a little apprehensive with this approach, because it limits the amount of experience and how many levels you can gain. However I found that Bioware did an excellent job balancing the experience you would gain from missions. If you want those extra levels though, I would recommend seeking out as many side quests as you can. Also, when you gain levels, you are given a certain number of points to distribute to different skills and attributes. Again this has been streamlined by the number areas in which you can put the points.

The graphics of the game are much improved over the first Mass Effect. In the first game, it appeared that the graphics engine was not all well optimized for the game, as textures would often pop in, and come into focus in many areas, particularly in the Citadel. Also load times were a bit of an issue, as they masked many of the loading sections of the game with a mandatory elevator ride. In Mass Effect 2, the graphics load in without a hitch. Many of the sections have been replaced with a loading screen of some kind when traveling between areas or when you are on the Normandy.

Where the first Mass Effect had issues with its shooter mechanics, Mass Effect 2 is much better in the handling of everything. I cannot quite explain it, but it seems they took a few cues from Gears of War 2 when improving upon the shooting and fighting in the game.

Final Thoughts:

I was greatly impressed with the game, and was glad to have played it. Everything, and I mean everything that they could have fixed or improved, Bioware did. I don't think I could have asked for a better game.

Should I Play or Not?

PLAY this game.

A fitting first post

Welcome to the first blog post in this blog, which will serve as an introductory post about what I intend this blog to cover and be about, and who I am as a person. It will be a short little blurb (I hope).

So to cover what this blog is all going to be about, videogames. Maybe I will throw some news up here from time to time as well. I want to do some specialized posts to, maybe looking back on history of video games or a review of an older game. I also intend to put up my own reviews, and when I attend a covention, I will attempt to put a blog about what I have been doing there.

And now a little about myself. Where should I start? I guess it would be best to start by saying that I started playing games when I was very young. It must have been in 1988 or so when I started playing video games. I was handed an NES controller over at a cousin's house, and I was immediately captured by what I was presented with on screen. Super Mario Bros. was the first game I ever played. I played just about every major NES game, (To name a few, I played Zelda I & II, Metroid, Tetris) with a few here and there that not many people may have played. Some of those titles included a shmup called Jackal, an overhead RPG called Crystalis (Probably my favorite NES game of all time.)

Sadly I had to part ways with my cousin, and when it was time to get home, I longed to play those videogames that I played when I was over there, and sure enough it was a matter of time before my parents had enough me and my brother's nagging. The funny thing is, the way I had gotten my Nintendo was a little...strange, to say the least. It was, I think a Sunday morning, and I didn't want to eat the bacon that my mother had made for me for breakfast. My dad told me that if I finished my bacon, I would have a Nintendo later that day. My mom took me and brother out shopping and sure enough, when we came back, there sitting on the dining room table in a "Babbage's" (Yeah, remember that store?) bag with a brand spanking new NES in the box waiting to be hooked up to our TV in the living room.

After a few years, in 1991, the Super Nintendo came out, and it was time to upgrade. I remember reading a Nintendo Power with all the pictures and screenshots of what the system looked like, and what the games looked like. I was blown away. Unfortunately the NES we had went by the wayside and we traded in the system. We got the SNES and the rest is history with Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy II, and Final Fantasy III. There were plenty more that I played, but none are coming to mind at the moment.

The whole Genesis and SNES console war thing passed me by. I was a Nintendo fan through thick and thin. I even had every single variation of the Gameboy. I completely skipped what Sega had to offer when it came to their stuff. (Except for the Dreamcast, but that is a different story.) Sometime down the line, I think it was sometime in 1997, me and my brother ended up with a PlayStation (One of those originial grey systems). Final Fantasy VII was quite an amazing game at the time, and for many it still is. Most of the games I played on that system were RPGs, as I had begun to mature and appreciated deeper storylines. Final Fantasy VIII, Star Ocean The Second Story, Thousand Arms, and Grandia were all games I really loved on that system.

For Christmas 2001 one, we managed to get a Playstation 2, and that system was pretty much the first DVD player we also had. There were some many games that I played that naming just one is a bit hard, though I guess that one that sticks out in my mind was Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. The depth of that game was quite awesome, and the amount of content in that game was enough to keep you playing for at least 80+ hours.

Eventually I graduated from highschool and got my own job and I was able to afford my own systems, and I ended up with and Xbox, which was the first system from Microsoft. It was quite the amazing system, having its own hard drive to save games to. Halo was a game that brought many people together and was also the game that gave Microsoft a foothold in the videogame market. There is much else to say here except that I bought Fable, Halo 2, and Panzer Dragoon Orta (probably several other games that I am not mentioning too...)

But anyway the rest is history when it comes to the later generation systems, namely the Xbox 360 and PS3, both of which I currently own, and I am currently updating my personal game library with new games almost every week and month. At the moment I also own several classic systems that I never got around to playing when I was younger. I own a Turbo Grafx-16, Sega Saturn, & Dreamcast. I am looking to get my hands on a PC-FX, a Virtual Boy, and a ZX Spectrum next.

Until next time...