I like money, I like having it and I hate wasting it, as I have done all too often since opening an eBay account. Since finally joining the now-gen I'd figured I'd be buying more games, but I knew my wallet couldn't take it so renting was the real choice. And hearing so many good things about GameFly (mostly from X360 achievement whores) I decided to try it for myself, save one problem: GameFly is continental U.S. only. Before I really startikng digging around, I found GameAccess.ca completely by accident and immediately filled my queue with games I know I'd buy if I was a little less frugal. (Seriously, I spent almost what my PS3 and games cost on eBay crap last year. I really needed to reel it in.) First arrival was Dead Space, and playing the first two chapters and jumping out of my chair yelling when my cat nuzzled my leg was enough to convince me to buy it outright. Despite what some pessimistic Aussie might say, Dead Space was really fun, scary as f&(% and a game I'm glad I bought. Two games (Call of Duty 5 and Prince of Persia) later, I declare the experiment a success.
Not that it's been flawless. I want to rent some things because buying them outright would be stupid, like Guitar Hero Smash Hits. I've made good buys in Orange Box and inFamous, but I abolutely refused to even look at GHSH prices online. However, when I found myself in a Videotron/Microplay searching for a used copy of Burnout Paradise, I saw SH on the shelf and gave in. The guy working that day turned out to be a friend I had not seen in months and months, and we must've talked for almost an hour when he wasn't serving other customers. I tried resisted that purple box's siren call, but GameAccess had no copies and I knew there wouldn't be many people playing it online by the time I received it. I became extremely pissed later when I discovered that my Rock Band drums don't work with it. They work with World Tour and Metallica, so why not Smash Hits? What The F**K Activision? But I digress.
(EDIT 7/14/2009: My RB1 drums DO work. I realized the problem: when I tried them the first time, the drums were automatically assigned to slot 7 on the PS3. Why do all my music game peripherals get assigned to 7 when pretty much every game only recognize up to slot 4? Geez. Well, at least I didn't go out and buy GHWT drums only to discover this afterward, huh?)
I've sadly also become a trophy whore. I don't have any platinums yet, but I actually seek out games that have easy trophy accomplishments and look up how to get simple or obscure ones, going so far as to reset Prince of Persia a couple dozen times to ensure I got the Speed Demon and No Time to Waste trophies. But I'm not a complete slave to "the system": I can't push myself beyond what I'm capable of and I know it. For example, World at War has numerous (bronze) trophies for finishing each mission on Veteran (expert) difficulty, and the only reason I ever played Veteran was to get the Purple Heart trophy, which is essentially the 'die 20 times without quitting' award. That's also the biggest reason I caved to GHSH: easy trophies for winning online matches, but not close to worth the $60 I paid. Why didn't I just go back to RE5? I dunno.
GameAccess has one quirk that so far has bugged me: the game they send is practically random. They have you set up a ranked list, the ranking being the game you'd prefer to receive next. My first rental was Dead Space, and it was #1 at the time, as was Call of Duty, but the next game after WaW I was sent was Prince of Persia, which I think had been at #6. Two weeks and some $10 DLC later I've decided that getting sent PoP wasn't so bad, but now I've been sent Far Cry 2, which was #7 out of 11! There was some malarky on their front sign-in page about the 'Game Reserve' feature 'increasing your odds,' and maybe an extra $2 a month wouldn't be so bad, but on top of the $17.95 per month and the $4 for the "Fast Return" feature I feel slightly like I'm being milked here, which is ironic because the entire reason I rent is so I don't have to be milked at retail if I wanna play ten game this summer instead of two. But why bother having rankings if I have to shell out an extra two bucks to ensure that the game in my #1 slot is the game I receive? Maybe I'll be singing a different tune if Far Cry 2 turns out good, but if the game after that isn't Ghostbusters or Terminator Salvation (nothing but Gold trophies in the latter) I'll be making an angry phone call or two.
And that's how you all know I'm still alive. (...Aperture Science, we do what we must because we can...)
No updates for months at a time? Makes sense, considering my emotional state, school workload and the fact that I had nothing to say about games I had no chance of playing or owning. Well, that era is over and I have officially joined the current gen:
The Playstation 3 is finally mine, the most expensive birthday present I've ever received, but the game library will have to come slowly. I'd forgotten just how bloody expensive games are! I suppose rental is the way to go, but knowing me I'll be blowing a lot of money on Rock Band DLC in the coming weeks when I'm not playing RE5 or the soon-to-be-acquired MGS4. I have other games in mind: Dead Space, CoD4, Fallout 3, NHL 09, and who knows what else. I also wish I'd bought that $15 copy of The Orange Box I saw earlier, but I didn't have my $20 gift card on me. I hope it's still there next week.
PSN ID (add me): T-Prime85
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