Pop Goes Nintendo
Nintendo and videogames as a cultural phenomenon.(a.k.a. The blog formerly known as Ei Ei Poo: Enter the mind of a Monkey Ball Addict)
August 2008
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- Name: Ben Wood
- Location: Ottawa, Canada
- Favorite Game(s): Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
- Favorite Developer(s): Nintendo, Ubisoft, Atlus
Blog
Jun 22nd, 2007PSP, Regrettably
The other day, I walked into EB to possibly impulsively buy Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition when I spotted a big, yellow sign stating, "Trade 6 used games and get a used PSP!" I thought to myself that that could be really good deal. I've always kinda wanted a PSP, but I've never really had enough reasons to actually buy one. Trading away some games might do the trick.
Except, I hate trading away games. It nearly killed me to pick 3 games to trade in to reserve a copy of Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes a few years back (RIP Dr. Muto, Crazy Taxi, and something else that I'm sure I loved). So six games might actually do me in. I looked through my games collection and came away with a dozen-ish titles that I could live without. Only four of them qualified for the deal. I opted to go home and find two more instead of giving him my life and another $20 for the bloody system.
So I call him up and find my two new titles. I figure I should just do it. The casualties, you ask?
DSN Spectrobes (very sorry, Disney)
WII Chicken Little Ace in Action (very sorry, Disney, again)
DSN Spyro Enter the Dragon (kinda sorry, Vivendi)
DSN Nintendogs (very, very sorry, Nintendo)
GCN Mario Golf Toadstool Tour (I'd be sorry, Nintendo, if you included a mini putt mode)
DSN Horsez (eeh)
They wouldn't take LEGO Star Wars for DS. Not surprising, I guess. But they took Horsez over it?! I digress.
Ben is now the reluctant owner of a PSP. Ben has taken his first step towards multi-platform ownership, or at least, not-Nintendo console ownership. As you can see, my DS collection took a big hit, but at least now I get to play Gitarooman, those fancy Mega Man games, and Loco Roco, the latter of which I bought.
So, walking towards the bus stop, my mind races, kinda like what I imagine a mind does after you kinda accidentally sleep with a stranger (which I have yet to do, not that I'm looking for such an occasion). Except I'm not worrying about STDs and the like. "Bloody hell, I need to buy stupid memory card... er, stick. And probably a USB cable. And this is a PSP, so I'll need another battery pack. What if it's broken? What if it has dead pixels? Who in their right minds would ever take a used Sony product?!" I'll take the 1-year warranty.
A heavy sigh later, I do a 180º, go back towards the mall, and look for a memory stick. Now I know why I like cartridges. I walk into The Source by Circuit City (formerly Radioshack) and ask the guy, "what's the cheapest I can get a 1GB memory stick for Sony products?" Then I figure the 2GB is a better deal. After all, I bought this to watch podcasts and the like on the go... extra memory is a better investment. More money gone for my "free" system.
Now I have to deal with $50 portable games, and I have a new section that I have to browse. Worst of all, I have to deal with the "which version" dilemma, which I never had to before. For example, I was planning to get Star Trek Tactical Assault for the DS. But now that I have the PSP, I may as well get it for that platform because that version is probably better.
And what am I playing right now? Planet Puzzle League. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever need another portable game. How ironic, if only in an Alanis kind of way.
beN-Philes. (I just put that here so that if someone random fights me at Planet Puzzle League and websearch me because I'm awesome, they might actually find me.
Except, I hate trading away games. It nearly killed me to pick 3 games to trade in to reserve a copy of Metal Gear Solid Twin Snakes a few years back (RIP Dr. Muto, Crazy Taxi, and something else that I'm sure I loved). So six games might actually do me in. I looked through my games collection and came away with a dozen-ish titles that I could live without. Only four of them qualified for the deal. I opted to go home and find two more instead of giving him my life and another $20 for the bloody system.
So I call him up and find my two new titles. I figure I should just do it. The casualties, you ask?
They wouldn't take LEGO Star Wars for DS. Not surprising, I guess. But they took Horsez over it?! I digress.
Ben is now the reluctant owner of a PSP. Ben has taken his first step towards multi-platform ownership, or at least, not-Nintendo console ownership. As you can see, my DS collection took a big hit, but at least now I get to play Gitarooman, those fancy Mega Man games, and Loco Roco, the latter of which I bought.
So, walking towards the bus stop, my mind races, kinda like what I imagine a mind does after you kinda accidentally sleep with a stranger (which I have yet to do, not that I'm looking for such an occasion). Except I'm not worrying about STDs and the like. "Bloody hell, I need to buy stupid memory card... er, stick. And probably a USB cable. And this is a PSP, so I'll need another battery pack. What if it's broken? What if it has dead pixels? Who in their right minds would ever take a used Sony product?!" I'll take the 1-year warranty.
A heavy sigh later, I do a 180º, go back towards the mall, and look for a memory stick. Now I know why I like cartridges. I walk into The Source by Circuit City (formerly Radioshack) and ask the guy, "what's the cheapest I can get a 1GB memory stick for Sony products?" Then I figure the 2GB is a better deal. After all, I bought this to watch podcasts and the like on the go... extra memory is a better investment. More money gone for my "free" system.
Now I have to deal with $50 portable games, and I have a new section that I have to browse. Worst of all, I have to deal with the "which version" dilemma, which I never had to before. For example, I was planning to get Star Trek Tactical Assault for the DS. But now that I have the PSP, I may as well get it for that platform because that version is probably better.
And what am I playing right now? Planet Puzzle League. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever need another portable game. How ironic, if only in an Alanis kind of way.
beN-Philes. (I just put that here so that if someone random fights me at Planet Puzzle League and websearch me because I'm awesome, they might actually find me.
User Comments
Caster13
I'm going through the same as I'm in the process of buying a 360. By process, I mean weeding out and trading in games that I won't play anymore. Looking for cheap 360 games and accessories on eBay (which, ironically, arrived in the mail in 3 days before I even have a 360). Figuring out whether or not it would be a "safe" investment was another issue all together. We've all heard the stories of the red ring of death, so I've spent countless hours pondering and calculating which would be the cheaper open in terms of warranties and stuff like that.