Well, here we are again...
Previous Years
2018
2 Jan 2021
Bought myself some gift cards for both the Switch and Steam today. I think getting gift cards for myself on January 2nd is now officially a personal tradition. I haven't bought any games with them yet. Although, I will be using the money for the Steam account soon. Their winter sale ends on the 5th.
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| I wonder what these cards will end up buying... |
The game I was expecting from Wal-mart on the 7th got shipped earlier than expected. It's New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, complete with all the DLC and add-ons that were made for the Wii U version.
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| This makes 18 titles for the Switch on physical media. |
How did the game get here 4 days ahead of schedule? Probably because one of the local Wal-Mart locations had it in stock. I checked Amazon for this title too. They had it for the exact same price, but wanted to ship it sometime between January 25th and January 27th. That was with Prime shipping too. Unacceptable.
4 Jan 2021
Went through my wishlist on Steam for the Winter sale that ends tomorrow. Got rid of a few things that I didn't really want and bought three games that I did: Dusk, Polybius & Wrath: Aeon of Ruin. I really do need to spend more time playing Steam games. I have so many of them now and they get routinely neglected. That is such a gaming sin.
20 Jan 2021
Went shopping at Wally World today for various supplies. Saw this new version of Monopoly that has a local theme. It's all about the largest suburb of my hometown, New Orleans. I look forward to playing it on a family game night.
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| Monopoly just got a lot more interesting... |
I have not been able to find a link for this game on the manufacturer's website or anywhere else online. I don't know why. I was able to find the New Orleans version on Wal-Mart's website with relative ease.
6 Feb 2021
Bought 2 cheap digital games for the Switch that were on sale. Both combined cost me about 6 bucks at most. They are Chess Royal and It came from space and ate our brains.
24 Feb 2021
My old PC has finally had a critical HDD failure after 6 years. (All important data is on external HDDs and flash drives.) And since the machine was aging rapidly, I decided to upgrade to a new machine. The new machine has more USB ports (including 4 that are the new USB 3.0 standard), 32 GB DDR4 RAM & a Quad-Core CPU w/ 4.3 GHz clock speed for each core. The old machine was 16GB of DDR3 & a Quad-Core CPU w/ 3.7 GHz clock speed for each core. The new machine didn't come with any kind of optical drive since that's almost totally unnecessary these days with the cloud storage that I usually refuse to trust. It doesn't have a gaming graphics card, either. However, it will have both of those things within the next few weeks, courtesy of a few 'creative solutions' on my part. More on that later.
I've already loaded the programs that it needs for work/school and all of my Steam games. The Steam games took at least 6 or 7 hours spread over 2 days to re-install. The rest of my old games will be installed later after the new video card comes in a few weeks. Anyway, here's the new machine, a Dell Inspiron.
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| New PC for school, gaming and general use. |
Here's a photo of the old machine that I purchased in 2015 and have upgraded several times: an ASUS M32 Series.
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| I will make this machine great again... |
Since the machine has HDMI output via its graphics card, hooking it up to the TV is all-too-easy. Same with the stereo. All I need is a cable with a 3.5mm audio jack on both sides to plug into the computer's sound port and the stereo's auxiliary port. I should have both of those cables laying around in the large amalgamation of electronic junk that takes up most of my utility room. Therefore, all I need to do is acquire/set up those 2 hard drives and get the wireless input devices. Then, after the files are loaded, I will have hundreds more movies and thousands more songs to play in my living room. Total parts investment for that project should be under $200 since I have so many of the parts already.
Or, I could turn this rig into a Bitcoin miner, once I've figured out how that works... Or an exclusive gaming rig since it's still quite capable in that area... More to come...
The very first item that I have ever ordered from eBay has finally arrived. It's an old Pinball title for the PC made back in 1993. And here I thought my days of buying MS-DOS games were long over... :P
Anyway, this was HIGHLY recommended by Clint from Lazy Game Reviews on YouTube... in one of his early videos from 4 Mar 2010. And it only took me 11 years to get around to buying it... Lolz.
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| HIGHLY recommended by Lazy Game Reviews on YouTube |
Also, my equally nerdy cousin was kind enough to buy me a new graphics card for the new desktop since I was short on cash. I will have paid him back by the time you read this post, if he even cares. He's a lot wealthier than me. I add to/edit these game collecting misadventure posts over the course of the whole year. Otherwise, I would not be able to keep track of all gaming-related additions to this collection.
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| This ought to be VERY useful... :P |
This card ought to be at least equal, if not superior, to what is in the old desktop. That means it will have no problem running Doom Eternal, which is the whole reason why I cared about getting a graphics card for a PC. Most of my gaming is on consoles and portables. My PC gaming, most of the time, is old titles from my youth in the 1990's. You don't need fancy graphics cards for the classic Doom & Quake titles. So yes, most of the time, I could be called a dirty console peasant. However, when it comes to Doom titles, I am most definitely a member of the PC Master Race. FPS games just work so much better with a keyboard and mouse. And since all the consoles these days have USB ports, I am really wondering why game developers don't include an option to use keyboards and mice with the console versions of these games. Would it really be all that complex and costly to do?
Anyway, I have started playing around with eBay more, now that the first item purchase/delivery has been a success. I bought one used GameCube game and put in bids on 3 others, including one that is still factory sealed. If I get them all, I will be out around $60 (including shipping) and have completely wiped out everything on my want list for that system. Let's hope that I succeed in this endeavor.
I'm also watching a number of auctions/listings for various old Atari 2600 and Jaguar titles/accessories. Not sure if or when I'll pull the trigger on any of them, but we'll see. I'm just happy that there's a way I may be able to get those titles without having to resort to emulation for all of them. Although, for those 2600 titles that cost more than $20, I probably still will. In fact, I probably have already with my Raspberry Pi emulation console. I really need to update that device...
14 Mar 2021
My misadventures with eBay continue, this time tracking down the few titles for the Nintendo GameCube that I still had on my want list. As of this writing, I have acquired all but one of them from eBay. I really should have got into using this site sooner.
So far, 2 of them have arrived. The other two should be here within the next 48 hours at most. However, the post office can be VERY inconsistent with delivery times on packages. That's why I prefer to use UPS wherever possible.
The 2 titles that have arrived are a copy of XGIII: Extreme G Racing that once belonged to a rental store and SSX On Tour. I got the one-time rental copy of XGIII because it was the best deal available. I am not going to re-sell this one, so it doesn't need to look pretty. I am going to put it in an actual GameCube case, though. I have several extra ones in storage for just these kinds of occasions.
I got that extreme sports title because of the Mario characters guest starring in its roster. That and snowboarding games can be a lot of fun. It's essentially another type of racing game to me, even if it is classified as a sports title. The price for both of them with shipping & taxes was $32.75. Pic below.
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| 2 down, 2 more to go... |
15 Mar 2021
The Post Office delivered a copy of Namco Museum for GameCube today. They're supposed to be delivering one more item today, but I doubt they will. The Postman does not come through the neighborhood twice in one day. The game works as it should, but the spine on the card insert of the case is slightly sun-faded. That's a common problem with these old games and one of the reasons why I was looking to get a 3rd copy of this title. The other 2 have fading on the spine as well. However, this latest one is better than the others. You can see it in the pics below. The one I got in the mail today is the Player's Choice version that I put at the top of the stack.
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| A collection so great that I now have 3 copies of it in my inventory. Lolz... |
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| The copy from Ebay is on the top. Good thing all of the discs are in good shape. |
Anyway, I have 3 more GameCube titles on the way, including the one that probably won't arrive today as scheduled. All of them should be here no later than the 22nd. Yes, I know that I said there were only 2 left before. That was before I found a copy of Soul Calibur II for a decent price. Once they are all here, that will wipe out ALL of the titles I had on my want list for this particular console. Awesome.
What's potentially not awesome is the fact that I'm running out of room on the shelf AGAIN. (I keep having that problem!!!) I took a picture of what my GameCube & Wii shelf currently looks like, just to illustrate this problem. However, I am sure that a solution will become readily apparent in the near future. It always does...
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| This configuration will be changing a lot after I start selling on Ebay in the near future. There are plenty of GCN & Wii titles that need to be re-sold. |
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| Only 2 more titles to go now before my want list for GameCube games is fulfilled. Both are on the way and should be here soon. |
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| I have been waiting for this game for a long time... |
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| Definitely one of the better fighting game franchises out there. |
I know I said this was the last GameCube title that I had on my list. However, that's because I forgot one: the GameCube version of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. I rented that title once many years ago (either 2002 or 2003) and thought it was hilarious. I do have the PS2 version of the game, but I still prefer the GameCube version. Of the 4 consoles in the 6th generation, GameCube was my favorite. (The others were SEGA Dreamcast, Sony PS2 & the original Microsoft XBOX.) I can't believe I forgot to put that one on my list until today.
I'm not in a hurry to get that game though, even if Price Charting is telling me that it's less than $20 for a complete-in-box copy. (As of 20 Mar 2021.) I have bought enough from Ebay for now. I need to start selling things instead. I have an entire banker's file box full of stuff that needs to be sold. (Mostly DVD & Blu-Ray movies that I no longer need since I've upgraded those films to Blu-Ray box sets.) Everything is already priced. I just need to start listing things and make some sales.
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| This game should have been released in arcades. It definitely takes me back to the great racing games of yore... |
I downloaded Cohort Chess and the PS1 version of the 1990's Centipede remake. They both had Crossplay functionality with the PS3, so I put them on that console as well. Same with another PS Vita game that I bought years ago named Resogun. I knew it had Cross play with the PS4 but didn't know about the PS3 option. There's still 26 cents attached to my account with the PlayStation store. However, I don't own a PS4 or PS5, nor do I plan to acquire either of them. So, what happens to that penny and quarter is still a mystery.
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| Pac-Man never gets old. |
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| Time to slay the Covenant... |
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| It came in that full-size jewel case with the purple tray. I put it in that mini-disc case, just like my other loose GCN discs. |
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| GCN & Wii shelf on 17 Apr 2021. |
I am out of room on that shelf now. Good thing that I don't plan on any more GCN or Wii games in the foreseeable future. (Just watch, I said that and now we're gonna get more sometime this year...)
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| Tiger-Heli for NES |
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| Glad that I have so many extra plastic cases for these loose GameBoy games... |
There were also several other systems that I just removed from the want list altogether, because they were non-essential to me: Microsoft Xbox One, SEGA Master System, SEGA Genesis 32X and Sony PlayStation 4. I don't have the 32X, XB1 or PS4, nor any desire to buy them strictly for the 2 or 3 games I wanted for those platforms. The costs associated with them all were also quite outrageous. SEGA CD might also share this fate for the same reasons, in addition to the fact that the platform is notorious for being unreliable. I've already emulated the 32X games that I wanted (and more) on my Raspberry Pi console. Same with the SEGA CD. There's no need to keep those systems on the list. I might also do the same with the Atari 2600 since the 9 carts on my list for that system are expensive or just not cheap. I've also emulated 8 of those 9 titles on my Raspberry Pi. I can (and once did) get the entire officially released library of 2600 titles in a ZIP folder from numerous websites. So, I can emulate any Atari 2600 game that I want at any time. Awesome.
The 4 Master System titles on my want list got removed after I watched some long play videos of them and decided they weren't all that necessary to have. So, that means Master System is complete and the PS4 & XB1 are no longer up for consideration. I've also been using product reviews and long play videos to decide whether or not to keep certain games on my list for multiple systems. This has made my want list look pretty damned sparse these days... and that is good. 🙂
Anyway, I've already got a SEGA Genesis game on the way from Ebay right now and only 1 title to acquire on the SEGA Game Gear. Therefore, Game Gear is going to be the next system to get completed/finished/removed from the list. After that, it's likely to be the PS1, since there's only 4 inexpensive titles for that system on my list. Looks like 2021 is going to be one of the best years for game collecting that I've ever had. Glad to see that there's at least ONE thing going right these days.
3 May 2021
I finally won an eBay auction and got a complete in box copy of Beavis and Butt-Head for the SEGA Genesis. So, 1 down and 9 more to go with that system. There's also a SEGA GameGear game on the way right now. That will be the last game that I look to buy for that system. Pic of the Genesis game featuring everyone's favorite cartoon dumbasses below.
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| Not the best game in the world, but still quite satisfying when you finish it and get the secret ending... |
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| Rather nice of the seller to include the plastic case that originally came with GameGear games. :) |
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| The box cover for the physical release, I'm guessing... |
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| I bought this solely for Theatre of Magic. I love that table. |
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| Awesome... |
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| STILL waiting on Metroid Prime 4, Nintendo. 😜 |
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| And the Christmas shopping has only just begun... 😈 |
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| The Switch items |
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| The Steam items, complete with VERY 1980s neon background. I love Photoshop. |
24 Dec 2021
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| What will all of these cards end up buying for me? |
Also, I removed everything but 2 free-to-play titles from my Steam wishlist. Looks like the $88.43 that I have in my Steam wallet is likely to stay there for quite a while...
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| One of my last retail purchases for 2021... |
Downloaded the Williams Vol.5 pack for Pinball FX3 because it has one of my favorite tables: Tales of the Arabian Nights. The other two tables in the pack look interesting too. It was also on sale. It cost me $5.45, including tax.
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| Too bad I don't have the money and space in my home for a real pinball table... |
Thankfully, school and the game collecting have both gone well this year...
- I've all but completely eliminated everything from my Steam Wishlist. There's just 2 free-to-play games that I haven't downloaded. I'll eventually get around to that... 🎮🕹💻
Come what may, we can all still take solace in two important facts:
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