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My Marvellous Bargain

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hanabius yamamura

14:51 / 28.07.05

... upon meandering among the shops on a rainy pay-day earlier today, I wandered into GAME thinking 'DO NOT SPEND MONEY ... BROWSE ONLY' when I chanced upon the 'Deal of the Week' ... Oddworld: Strangers Wrath for £9.99 ... brand new! ... in a shop, not the internet! ...

bonus!

... anyone else have any lucky gaming bargain pick-ups lately?

Spatula Clarke

15:56 / 28.07.05

Heh, I just picked that up myself today. Got a few other bargains this week, too. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes in Blockbusters, Astro Boy: Omega Factor on the GBA from Game online and P.N.03 from Play.com - a tenner each.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:55 / 28.07.05

Off to Game tomorrow, methinks...

Picked up Project:Nomads for three quid in a charity shop the other day... other charity shop bargs include Thief 2 for 99p in Oxfam.

Supaglue

08:27 / 29.07.05

Woo-hoo! Cordless controller £4.00. I'll have one of them. Also got Powerdrome from HMV for £4.99 (Ta Dupre!).

I still go all misty-eyed for the time I went into Game the week Mechassault had been released and it had been labelled £9.99. Suckers.

chiaroscuroing

08:41 / 29.07.05

Having an Amiga 64 when I was a kid and going down to the sunday market and discovering they sold the games for £1.

Pure happiness.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:25 / 02.08.05

Yay! Got me some Stranger's Wrath action (and boy is it ace!) Added to (well, subtracted from, really) which it turned out I had £2.50's worth of points on my Game card. I am teh happy!

Something I've noticed since buying an XBox, having previously only been used to PC gaming, is the wide availability of second-hand games.

Although my bestest bestest most marvellous bargain ever was finding System Shock 2 in Computer Exchange for eight quid. As I was handing over the cash and waiting for the guy to find the manual and stuff, I could hear the envy of the other customers who hadn't spotted it...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

12:26 / 02.08.05

Also in Game, a while back I got the Return Of The King player's guide for ONE PENCE.

hanabius yamamura

17:42 / 12.08.05

re ... upon meandering among the shops on a rainy pay-day earlier today, I wandered into GAME thinking 'DO NOT SPEND MONEY ... BROWSE ONLY' when I chanced upon the 'Deal of the Week'

... and the mysterious circle of gaming life continues with CALL OF DUTY : FINEST HOUR on xbox for £9.99 ... granted, not quite as sweet a deal as strangers wrath, but still cool for under a tenner!

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:12 / 24.08.05

My local supermarket has Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines for three quid. I know it's not supposed to be up to much (unfortunately I've been tidying and have got rid of most of my old PC mags therefore can't find out actually what's wrong with it)... but is it three quid's worth?

rising and revolving

20:28 / 24.08.05

Stoatie, IGN says 3.5

So I'm betting no.

Triplets

22:09 / 24.08.05

I picked up Metal Gear Solid 3 for 12 quid last month. 2nd hand bins are fucking legend.

Spatula Clarke

16:57 / 28.08.05

Not sure if anybody's going to see this quick enough to snag one, but there's an Xbox FarCry Instincts demo disc freebie available here. Limited to first 500 applicants. Could be good - I've been looking forwards to this since they started showing video footage of it and mentioned the mapmaker options for the online game.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:34 / 28.08.05

Ooh, cheers for that, Randy. I imagine they've all gone, but I figure it's worth a shot.

The Strobe

22:03 / 28.08.05

Cheers, Randy, snagged that (I hope); I've been really looking forward to FC:I. Other bargain: trading Everything or Nothing (which I bought for £6) and Warrior Within (£12.99) against the excellent Ghost Recon 2: Summit Strike. Amazingly, they gave me £16 for that stinking pile of shit, so I got GR2SS for £4.

Bloody good four quid.

Mouse

20:17 / 29.08.05

Well, there was the time when Populous: The Beginning had just come out and I wandered into HMV to buy some music to find a "buy two, get one free" offer on a record label I liked, with an additional "oh, and get this brand-new £30 computer game free too" tacked on. That was prety great.

Then there was the time when PoP:SoT had just come out, and I found it in PC World of all places for £15, with a £30 joypad thrown in too. Also pretty great, and a good game this time too.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

04:24 / 30.08.05

Silent Hill 2 and Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time, twenty quid the pair, yesterday in Game.

I'm Rick Jones, bitch

16:28 / 30.08.05

Tenner for Astroboy GBA. Stock to clear. Brand new. It's sold fuck all in the UK. It's amazing.

Go figure. It was in GAME, by the way.

Spatula Clarke

18:23 / 24.09.05

Aging MMORPG Anarchy Online is free to download and play until 2007.

Worth trying out for those who are interested in full-scale MMORPGs but don't want to be saddled with a monthly bill. I've been giving it a twirl for a few hours today and it's fun. A huge number of changes to the beginning sections since it was first released, with an entirely new opening stretch. They've also altered the GUI in a fairly major way, but somehow made it less intuitive and beginner-friendly than it was originally, which is quite impressive.

But yeah, definitely worth trying. The first couple of hours can be confusing, as you try to get to grips with everything, and the combat is your usual Morrowind-style rubbish, but there's a great deal of enjoyment to be had from customising your character. No idea how big the download is, I'm afraid (I've got the original CD here, so 'only' had to get all the patches), but I'd imagine it's a fair old size.

The Return Of Rothkoid

05:13 / 26.09.05

eBay is my mate. I got Freedom Force for 99p, and Freedom Force Versus The Third Reich for four quid, including a bonus DVD. So that's the superhero aspect taken care of. Both new.

I also picked up Killer 7 and Area 51 from eBay for about $20 each. A damn sight better than paying $90-odd for them in most stores.

rising and revolving

15:40 / 26.09.05

I got Freedom Force for 99p

Hope you like it. That one's my baby in a lot of ways - still the game I feel I had the most impact on. While I didn't do the original concept, I wrote all the dialog and drove much of the implementation - lemme know how you like it.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:27 / 26.09.05

r&r- you serious? I fucking LOVED Freedom Force... haven't checked out 3rd Reich yet cos my computer's a bit buggered, but... whoah. That was a top game. "Not so fast, my little red friend..." Loved it. Nice one.

(I was fairly shit at it, mind you).

rising and revolving

16:43 / 26.09.05

Dead set. Mind you, I had nothing to do with the sequel. Haven't even played it yet, because I have that whole "Don't want to see what other people have done with my baby" thing. I can't really look at it - for fear that it's worse and for fear that it's better, especially.

But yeah. As with all game dev, really the work of an amazing and dedicated team rather than any individual - but like I say, I did all the writing and oversaw a lot of the design and level implementation and mechanics, and I'm super happy with the direction it went. Still more "mine" than my other work has been since ...

It's weird - I'm working on a Teen Titans game ATM, and it feels sort of like coming home in a lot of ways. Back to the superhero four player action - although this one is a kids console brawler, it still feels familiar.

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:01 / 26.09.05

Another yay here, R&R. I _loved_ Freedom Force - in fact, now that my graphics card has packed up and melted, it may be time to go for some of that loving again... in fact, I feel a neglected classics thread coming on...

Axolotl

19:29 / 26.09.05

I'll chip in with my praise for Freedom Force. Excellent game all round.

All Acting Regiment

19:32 / 26.09.05

I know they're not exactly great deals but some of the older games in the Xplosiv (yuck) range are still good, and for 3.99? Hmm? Maybe?

Spatula Clarke

19:59 / 26.09.05

The name aside, I've only got good things to say about the Xplosiv label. A lot of European budget labels are staffed by amateurish fucktards who can't help but butcher games through laziness or the numpty-headed belief that they have to westernise the content, otherwise they won't sell.

In contrast, the two Japanese PS2 shoot 'em ups that Xplosiv have brought over here - the Psyvariar and Gunbird collections - are seriously high quality releases. 60Hz options, no fucking about altering the content. I've been hoping that they'd buy up a whole swathe of some of the more obscure Japanese releases that haven't made their way over here yet, but they seem to have slown right down in recent months.

Still, they're giving us the Taito Legends Collection in a couple of weeks. This makes me happier than I can say.

Spatula Clarke

23:01 / 13.10.05

Play.com have got a sale on at the moment. It's generally a bit rubbish, apart from La Pucelle Tactics and Phantom Brave at £15 each. I still say that it'd be best to have played Disgaea before venturing near PB, but I'd guess that La Pucelle isn't as frighteningly complex, having been developed before either of the others. Not played it yet, so I'm not sure. Was holding off for it to come down in price - as seems to be inevitable for Nippon Ichi's stuff over here - so I'm definitely picking it up now.

Oh, and they've also got Xbox Serious Sam 2 for £18 - RRP £40 - which is a bit odd, given that it's only just been released this week. It's had mixed reviews, but it's probably worth the risk at that price.

admiral sausage

07:25 / 14.10.05

Game cube bongo's for £9.99 in HMV Cardiff, I guess it must be the same in most HMV's, there selling a lot of GC stuff off at the moment, probably trying to make room for Xbox 360 for crimbo.

ORA ORA ORA ORAAAA!!

05:31 / 31.10.05

Yesterday, in the video shop, looking for a copy of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I found Sam and Max Hit the Road and Day of the Tentacle for two dollars and fifty cents each.

Seeing as I've been trying to get my hands on copies of these games for about six months, I was very pleased.

And now I have some bigfeet to rescue.

Spatula Clarke

15:38 / 22.12.05

Game have got a silly season sale on. Nothing amazing right now (PS" and GBA games go on sale tomorrow) but the best of the bunch are Xbox versions of XIII and Breakdown at 98p each, and Future Tactics at £1.98.

Breakdown's a fairly innovative first-person adventure with beat 'em up gameplay that got some shitty reviews but has an insanely dedicated fanbase - real cult stuff. Future Tactics was an attempt by a British development team to make an accessible TBS. Generally considered to be an enjoyable failure - I'm guessing it plays a lot like Worms 3D, from what I've heard.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:22 / 23.12.05

WHY DIDN'T I CHECK THIS THREAD BEFORE I WENT SHOPPING TODAY???

I may have to go again tomorrow.

Spatula Clarke

19:23 / 23.12.05

Play.com have also got a sale on now. Some nice bargains, but nothing as cheap as those mentioned above. Harvest Moon (GameCube) for £11.99, Genji (PS2) for a tenner, and Halo 2, Project Zero 2, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Ninja Gaiden and Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox) for a tenner each.

God bless their desperate need to shift stock whenever a new console comes out.

Mouse

12:53 / 24.12.05

Aye, Play.com also has Quake 4 for a tenner if anyone's interested. I know I am.

iamus

09:44 / 01.05.06

Flicking through the second-hand bins for a copy of Lego Star Wars and I found Gregory Horror Show for a mere £6. w00t! Been keeping an eye out for this game for a while, and I think this is actually the first time I've ever seen a copy. So that was nice.

You've been trapped in Gregory House Hotel and the only way out is by retrieving Lost Souls (stolen by the other guests) to give to the Grim Reaper. This involves spying on the guests through keyholes to find their weaknesses, and then exploiting them to nab the souls. Once you've got a guest's soul, you have to avoid them for the rest of the game, or else they'll chase you down and perform a HORROR SHOW! on you.

Graphics are cubey and cute, like a gothic Animal Crossing. Voice acting is superb. All in all, a lovely wee game.

Spatula Clarke

19:38 / 19.02.07

WHSmiths. PC versions of Sega Rally Championship and Virtua Fighter. £1 each.

Seriously, you'd be a fool not to. Unlike a few older games they work perfectly on current machines - no probs on my spanking new rig. Sega Rally is a port of the Saturn conversion, which makes up for in slightly scruffy visuals with a wealth of options and altered handling which, imo, was always superior to that in the arcade original. Plays brilliantly with a 360 controller, too.

VF isn't so great, simply because I can't get it to recognise the controller and, if that remains the case, am going to have to try and play it with the keyboard. Sure there's a way around it, though.

£1 each. Madness.

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