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Good Old Games Deals: More Fallout Than You Can Handle

I may have been late to the party on Fallout 3, but Bethesda's RPG masterpiece (yeah, I went there) is one of the few games I had to force myself to finish, just because otherwise I knew I'd be playing it forever. Mainly, I wanted to clear my plate of Fallout and go back for a second helping this upcoming summer, where I plan on playing through the game again (and purchase all of the expansion packs) as a right wasteland bastard, instead of the goody-two-shoes of my last apocalyptic adventure. But now that the fine folks over at Good Old Games are offering Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics--along with some super-nice goodies--bundled together for the odd price of $14.37, I suddenly feel the urge to visit the early years of a series I inexplicably missed as a mid-to-late-90s PC gamer.

As with anything available at Good Old Games (who is in no way paying me for this post), the real incentive for their digital downloads--aside from the ultra-low price--are the extras bundled with every purchase--and this Fallout three-pack has some good ones.

Posted Apr 21 2009, 02:45 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments

Filed under: bob mackey, sales, deals, recession, depression, economy, good old games

More Discount Friday Gaming Deals

Due to the extreme popularity of PopCap's world-conquering Peggle, it will soon be illegal to not own a copy of this addictive little game for at least one of its many supported platforms. Those of you who haven't yet experienced the joy of PopCap's instant gratification funhouse needn't fear a midnight assasination by the Secret Peggle Police, though; this weekend on Steam--the frugal-friendly digital download marketplace--you can pick up both Peggle and its sequel, Peggle Nights, for a mere $9.99. Considering the first Peggle debuted on XBLA for this price alone, you really can't find a much better deal--that is, until next weekend, when Steam will inevitably have some new mind-blowing bargain available.

Posted Apr 10 2009, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: bob mackey, sales, steam, deals, recession, depression, economy, good old games

Recession Gaming Deals: The 360 Arcade Pack-In

If you're anything like me, you probably don't have a lot of extra money to spend on entertainment. But the savvy among us know that it's not necessary to spend the standard $59.99 retail price of a new game to have fun. Everything from Steam's weekend deals to console digital download services prove that you don't have to go into debt to waste away a few afternoons. But sometimes, cutting out the middleman isn't always involved in finding amazing gaming deals; cheapskates are often welcome in the wonderful world of brick and mortar retail, as long as no one knows how truly poor we are.

Posted Mar 24 2009, 02:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with no comments

Filed under: microsoft, xbox 360, sega, bob mackey, pack-in material, recession, depression

Dear GameFly: Please Try Harder

I've been a recession gamer long before the actual recession started. This isn't due to any foresight on my part; you tend to be pretty frugal when you've haven't yet made a living wage in this lifetime. As a result of my relative cheapness, I signed up for GameFly in late 2005, and since then, my life has changed for the better. I used to find myself trapped in a horrible cycle where I would buy games, never find time to play them, and then stare in deep guilt at a DVD rack full of shrink-wrapped titles that were only depreciating in value.

Since I changed my buying habits, I've become a much more selective gamer with a little more disposable income--both of which are good things. But, despite all of the inherent awesomeness of GameFly, the service could use a few improvements.

Posted Mar 16 2009, 08:45 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: bob mackey, recession, depression, economy, rentals, gamefly

EA says, "Recession actually a good thing"

Sometimes gaming execs say things that are so blatantly in defiance of reality that you wonder if they really believe themselves.

The impact of the cratering global economy on the game industry is not a bad thing necessarily says Riccitiello. It is a "blessing." Hard times means we'll see less "junk" on the store shelves.

"A lot of the riff-raff is going to go bankrupt," he said. "Our company was too big for the current economic environment," he also stated, "and it was probably slowing us down."

Tell that to the thousands of poor schlubs who got laid off. How horribly insensitive.

Posted Feb 20 2009, 10:00 AM by Cole Stryker with | with no comments

Filed under: cole stryker, bullshit!, electronic arts, depression, layoffs, economics

The Big Question: Are Games Depression Proof?

Okay, so we might not quite be in a depression yet, but whether or not it’s on the way is a question that’s been keeping a lot of people up at night. For people like us, that begs another question: can video games survive it?

The reason I’m bringing this up today is because GameStop just announced how well they did over the last three months, and that company’s performance is a pretty good barometer for how well things are going over all. Looking at that announcement alone, the answer to “will games live?” is “probably, but just in case…”

It turns out that people actually spent more money at GameStop this year, despite having less money and Halo 3 coming out last year. So things may be looking good, but many companies, including GameStop, are lowering their predictions of future money making, just in case it all drops off a cliff.

Here are a few more of the points that have been made by a variety of smart, educated people who make a lot of money on this sort of stuff:

Posted Nov 20 2008, 02:00 PM by Joe Keiser with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: gamestop, joe keiser, recession, depression

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.