McWilliams’ World

Okay… I have a bit of buyers remorse.

A week or two back I bought Ninja Gaiden 2, and since I saved $10 when I picked it up (Best Buy was slow to get me my on-line order in the store), I also bought Lost Planet: Colonies. I teetered between the two versions, but decided to go with Colonies since it was newer.

Later I find out that the two version are completely different in the way of achievements. I started playing through the single player game and after clearing the first few missions and not getting achievements, I started digging around the inter-web and found that Colonies is more geared toward the on-line portion - to an extent. I have no real desire to play through the game multiple times on different difficulty levels or really jump on-line just to get a few gamer points - I don’t have the time.

So my dilemma is this:

• Do a find someone to do a straight up-and-down-trade - My Colonies for your Extreme Condition?
• Do I post it on Goozex.com (get 700 points for Colonies and then get Extreme Condition for 500)?
• Do I use it to trade in at GameCrazy or GameStop?
• Buck up and deal with it?

Thoughts? Wanna trade?

[UPDATE 06.19.08]

I ended up trading LP:C in at GameCrazy last night and getting my Halo 3 disc buffed (stupid 360 drive - maps wouldn’t load - nice ring around the outer edge). I managed to get an extra 20% on my trade in so I actually ended up with some store credit after the swap. So now I can start earning normal achievements in Lost Planet: Extreme Condition.

I did contemplate going the Goozex route but didn’t want to wait.

I spent this past Monday through Wednesday in Chicago for work. We were meeting with Microsoft to talk over our SharePoint 2007 implementation. Let me just say that there was a lot of walking, very expensive meals (mmmm, fillet minion), and no free internet at the $350/night hotel. That’s the long and short of it.

The best part (beside the food)? We got certificates to buy stuff from the MS employee store at employee discounts. Even though we had a one time limit of $200, I only spent about $80 (including shipping). But managed to pick up two 512mb memory units for the 360 ($20/each), Lost Odyssey ($25), and Viva Piñata: Party Animals ($10). There really wasn’t much else that I wanted there.

I’m done spending my $500 gift card. I need to save it for the rest of the year’s games.

I made a small killing at Target tonight. Nothing special but managed to get about $50 worth of Xbox stuff for $15. There’s a crazy Target coupon thread over at CheapAssGamer.com where you can get $10 off Xbox 360 software - no limit- one coupon per item and a $5 off $25 toy coupon that is also stackable (1 per purchase). Beware though, the $10 coupon expires 6/9 - so get in while you can.

Since my local Target had virtual crap for games, I ended up with Thrillville -$20 (kids wanted it), Mortal Combat Ultimate - $10, and 1600 MS Points - $20; all for $15 after $35 worth of coupons. I plan on making a run to Appleton’s Target to see if I can score any more stuff. I’m thinking Timeshift, some more points and maybe Dark Sector. We’ll see.

Best of all… didn’t cost me a dime. I had about $13 on Target gift cards, so I only used about $2 of my $500 gift card. Sweet!

[UPDATE: 6.8]

I hit my Appleton, WI Target last night and managed to pickup Lego’s Indiana Jones ($50) and Timeshift ($20) for $45. It’s like I got Timeshift for free and saved $5 on Indiana. Total bill was $70 - $5 - $10 - $10 = $45.

Last night while gleefully playing Ninja Gaiden 2, I passed the 12,000 GamerScore threshold. My Xbox blogged about it as well. I’m getting pretty close to taking over Chill Penquin’s gamerscore of 12,391 - of which I’ve been traking via 360voice.com. With all the new games I’ve been picking up, it won’t be long.

Just pre-ordered Ninja Gaiden 2 at BestBuy.com. Cost? $0.00. Okay, I had gift cards and b-day money. Actually I used $8 of my $500 gift card to cover the difference. I also got a free “wall skin” along with it plus free shipping.

Can’t wait to get it.

[UPDATE: 6.4.08]

Lucky me. I scored $10 off NG2 at Best Buy because the couldn’t get my product to me in 1min. Pretty sweet. So I since I saved $10 I picked up Lost Planet - Colonies Edition (also had a 10% off coupon). So I made out pretty good.

Next on the list: Unreal Tournament 3.

Just recieved my $500 American Express gift card from TrustedRewards.com today and just scored a great deal on Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Limited Edition from Amazon.com for $29.99! It wasn’t on my list of “must get with gift card” but I couldn’t pass up this deal. Maybe some of my buds will do some co-op with me.

First major strike will be Ninja Gaiden 2 which comes out June 3. Can’t wait!

Just scored Overlord (360) over at Buy.com for $9.99 after Google Checkout discount of $10 + free shipping.

The math: Overlord($19.99) - Google Checkout($10) + free shipping = $9.99

Not to bad of a deal. I had rented this game a while back. The kids and I had a pretty good time with it but didn’t feel the need to blow $40 or whatever on it. But for $10 - it’s a pretty good deal.

Still looking for Blue Dragon. I’m perusing through the CheapAssGamer.com trading boards and putting some offers out there. We’ll see. eBay doesn’t seem very viable since everyone’s raping you on shipping. I hate that.

Putting out some feelers for a copy of Blue Dragon. I know Target has been reported as sellling it on clearance for $15 but I can’t find a copy within 60mi. So, I’m asking friends, readers that if you have a copy, no longer play it, no longer want it; I’m willing to send you $20 (PayPal, Revolution Money Exchange) to ship me your copy. If you’re feeling generous, my birthday’s coming up on 4/24 - so a gift of Blue Dragon would also be welcome.

You can email me if you want to set something up.

[UPDATE 04.16.08]

I just caught wind of Amazon and Toys-R-Us dropping Blue Dragon down to $19.99, so my theory is that a price drop from Buy.com won’t be too far off and I should be able to nab this for $10 like I did Overlord. Patience is a virtue!

[UPDATED 04.18.08]

Okay, so maybe I don’t have very much patience. I managed to score Blue Dragon for $8 after signing up for the Buy.com credit card and getting an instant $30 off my first order. Not bad. I never have to use the card again and I scored a game for less than I could have ever bought it at - short of having it gifted to me. The kids will be thrilled.