(from: Shamoozal)

When I was a kid, I remember the cost of games rarely crept over a hundred bucks. The most expensive game I ever bought was Perfect Dark on the 64. I paid around ninety bucks for it, and that included some price swindling. As a kid (before the internet) I spent most of my time hunting for bargains in pawn shops, and independent stockists (Like Gameworks, for those of you who grew up in my area). Generally I would buy second hand, because I couldn’t afford new games. This was a bit of a pain. As it was difficult to find games cheap on their release date.

Today, the Australian dollar is quite strong and there has never been a better time to buy games online. This is how I make the majority, if not, all of my game purchases. Personally I favour play-asia. All the times I have dealt with them I have received good, reliable and timely service. In addition, their weekly special are really generous.

Recently, I picked up Mass Effect 2 for under $30 and Fable 3 for around $24 from play-asia. Both including postage! Last week play-asia advertised the Halo Reach collectors addition as a weekly special for under $30. Although, check the postage when ordering special editions which come in bulky packaging.

Friends have recommended other sites such as ozgameshop. They offer some cheap deals on range of games, and all of their prices include postage. Although I would say their selection is not as extensive as play-asia. If you sift through the special offers and cheap games ozgameshop has to offer you can sometimes find discounts which rival play-asia. At the moment Bayonetta is going for $15.99 including postage at ozgameshop.

In addition to the above mentioned online retailers, it might be a good idea to consider other perks. Play-asia offers $5 discount coupons every time you purchase a game. As well as US50c credit for reviewing your purchase. If you “like” gamesplus on facebook you have the opportunity to win games just for liking and commenting on their comments. Another site to check is cheapassgamer. Although I don’t find this site as useful because I think it mainly focuses on the US. For Australian price matching check out gamecafe.

Well, I will sum it up there. If you are patient, you will be more likely to snap up a bargain. Looking back, it is a pretty biased article towards play-asia. If you have any other strategies for getting the best price on games please feel free to comment.

(from: jake71887)

Well, I spent my Easter weekend thrashing another Mass Effect 1 play through. As I ate thick rump stake for dinner on Good Friday, I thought a renegade play through would be suitable.

(from: tempusdominus)

To build the brothel, or to build the orphanage?

As I sat on the throne, the people of Albion eagerly await my decision. On my left, Reaver stands in support of establishing a whorehouse. On my right, Page argues that the orphans of Bowerstone will have no where to live.

Now, the people of Albion are already fearful of my careless axe swinging at the local pub. Although, I am not that evil, am I? To press (and hold!?) the flaming X button would render many children homeless. To press the sparkling A button would be a benevolent act, costing me coin.

This is an example of the common theme of dichotomies which I have noticed in recent games. Choices of good verses evil. When I play these types of games, I tend to make decisions which reflect my personality. For instance, I am happy to boot chickens and murder villagers, although I was hesitant to drain the Bower Lake for the purpose of mineral mining (as I am a conservationist).

What bothers me is that most choices are good or evil. Anything in between is boring and neutral. You are unlikely to get anywhere if you are true neutral. Consequently your Paragon and Renegade bars end up all over the place, which results in little persuasion during conflicts between team members or difficulty scoring a discount at the shop. Which brings me to the question. Do you really have a choice?

Then why not just take all the Paragon choices and ignore all others? Why give the illusion of choice?

Having just finished Mass Effect 1 and 2 over the weekend I found myself leaning towards the Paragon options. As it was my first play through of both games, I made the choices which I felt were right. I was interested in seeing the consequences of my particular actions. There were times I would sway from Paragon to Renegade. For instance, I chose to destroy the Rachni Queen back on Noveria, as I had just spent an hour fighting off her drones, and Wrex (a top bloke I might add) held up a pretty solid argument. I wasn’t prepared to let the Rachni Queen get away. It would be like getting glassed in the face at a pub, then hugging the offender.

The disadvantage of playing games in this way is that you never end up truly Paragon/Renegade or good/evil, just a default vanilla flavoured hero in sensible brown slacks. What I would like to see is some system to shake up the dichotomy. Possibly a more complex method of tabulating the status of you decisions. Maybe something like (I said something like, not exactly) the Dungeon and Dragons alignments. After all I wouldn’t consider my personality to be completely good or evil.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the choices which we face in these types of games. I just think they can be bilateral at times, and I think it is time for the system to evolve.

-Rick