Share your pickup loot and finds

[Steve W]

A couple days ago I stopped at a Half Price Books and bought Final Fantasy 7 Remake Deluxe Edition for the PS4. And Endling - Extinction Is Forever for PS4 was something I ordered off Amazon.

I'm taking another week of vacation, so I'm hoping to find a lot more stuff soon.

[YoshiM]

I don't bump into anything game related I really want but seem to come across things that seem like Good Ideas To Spend Money On (TM).

At a small thrift by the grocery store my wife works at I find a Kindle Fire from 2017 for $25. Works great and is now a 32 GB warehouse of my table top RPG PDFs to pass around to the players.

I took a chance at the St. Vinny's at the strip mall a block away and came away with some things:

BSR McDonald MiniChanger turntable ($5)-it works to a degree but I think the needle may need replacing followed by finding where the hum is coming from over the speakers. It's designed to allow for a few records to be stacked on the spindle and when one album is done, the next one drops down after the arm retracts. Should be a fun project.

Philips Jogproof portable CD player ($2)-I gave my Koss player to my daughter so she could listen to the very first CD (K Pop, I think a Stray Kids album) she's ever purchased (with my ex getting on her case about "why not buy it off Apple" with the reply, "the swag, Mom. It comes with STICKERS." That's my girl). One week later I come across a replacement. The previous owner must have chucked in in a box or something over years as the batteries were really corroded but nothing damaged that I could see. The corrosion came out with the help of contact cleaner and a Q-Tip. The laser didn't really want to move so I gave it a gentle nudge (yeah, something one shouldn't typically do, but what the heck) and a squirt of C.C. and the sucker starts working! It's really picky with slightly damaged discs (or my 32 year old CD of Rush's "Hold Your Fire" is starting to get disc rot) but beyond that, plays decent discs well and sounds great.

Radio Shack audio switcher ($3)-now, I was in a bit of a hurry when I grabbed this. I found a Radio Shack AV switch BUT I could not find a compatible power supply. I found something that was close and fit but no power, so who knows. I saw the audio switcher BUT when I grabbed it, I thought it was AV. Well, everything I'd hook up to my TV in the basement is mono anyway so an audio splitter put in the works and all should be good.

I got my Rainbow magazines but I got stiffed on the combined shipping. They offered it in the description, I asked for it and was told that it should combine in the checkout and later in an invoice. It combined all right...MATHEMATICALLY ($6.30+$6.30+$6.30=$18.90 shipping for three magazines over USPS Ground Advantage in a cheapy mailing bag with the mags loose). No way they paid that much in shipping-they coulda sent the mags in a Priority Mail box for like $12-$13. I pointed this out and they told me that I got the mags at a great deal ("they are worth about $30 together") and I should have asked for combined (I did) and I should have asked before I paid and they shipped (which I did). This smells of "we had a 50% off sale on these mags and we're trying to re-coup the value by charging full price for the shipping for EACH ITEM but passing the savings to US". All I asked was a refund on the difference on the shipping. Of course, they said I could send the mags back as per their return policy but (and they emphasized this) I pay the shipping back. Yeah, ding myself twice. I'd pay more than I paid for the dang magazines.

I sent a mostly respectful message (with a bit of wit, mentioning the shipping was combined mathematically but not how the concept of "combined shipping" was intended) and that I'd contact eBay after Wednesday to see what could be done if nothing was resolved. I admit I probably don't have much to stand on but the conversation and the item descriptions would be my saving grace. I have to day, I've been on the 'Bay since 1999 and i think I had two instances of douche baggery-one where someone ditched on buying my Peek a Boo Poker way back when and now this grand example of a seller. Any other issues, namely a couple counterfeit DS games, were quickly resolved by the seller.

UPDATE: As true as my word, I contacted eBay. I chatted online with an agent who stated that this situation would fall under the rule of "doesn't match description" and found the person did not enter the dimension information correctly. I filled out a return, which would trigger the seller to contact me to hopefully work something out as now their money is frozen due to the dispute. Hopefully this person will be less condescending.

[Steve W]

I haven't done a lot of game hunting on my week off, haven't had the time or money for it. But I did head out after payday and picked up some stuff. Tricky Towers and Ghost of Tsushima were from the Half Price Books Dallas headquarters, RPG Maker MV came from a GameXchange, and today I picked up Death Stranding, Inertial Drift, and Genesis Alpha•One at my favorite game store. On the drive home I went to another Half Price Books and picked up a Japanese Dreamcast game I'd never heard of, Power Jet Racing.

I'm cheap, so I've been waiting until popular games like Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima have come down in price, and they finally have to my cheap bastard level. Now if only Elden Ring would finally drop...

[Steve W]

A few days ago I went game hunting, all I ended up buying was a Japanese PS3 version of Monster Hunter Portable 3. Since it's Capcom, I was hoping I could update the game and get a version in English (it was released on disc in places like Hong Kong and Singapore that played in Japanese, Chinese and English) but instead of just inserting the disc and the game popping up, five different windows popped up, all in a language I can't read. Oh well.

[Steve W]

I haven't posted anything in a while, something always comes up and I put it off.

A couple weeks ago I went to a GameXchange on the other side of Fort Worth and picked up Ride, Prey, and Drive Club. I only bought Drive Club because I kept thinking of Club Drive on the Jaguar, hoping it might be a modern reworking of the idea. It wasn't. Later that week I went up to Denton, TX to a GameXchange and bought The Last Guardian and the Demon Slayer game. Last week I went to a game shop and bought ADK Damashii. Apparently they bought it at a place called Ollie's Discount Store, kind of like a Big Lots where discontinued stuff gets dumped. I never knew that Limited Run Games would end up in a discount store, I'm going to have to start checking out all the Ollie's in this area just in case. And a couple days ago I received Sword Art Online: Last Recollection from Amazon.

[Steve W]

I haven't been game hunting in the past couple weeks. But I ordered a couple games off Amazon, Yomawari - Lost in the Dark, and Alice Gear Aegis for the PS4. Yomawari was interesting, but I couldn't get into Alice Gear Aegis... maybe I'm getting too old, but I can't quite get into the control scheme of a 3D arena fighter. Oh well.

[Steve W]

I found out there's another location of Game Over Videogames that recently opened up north of Dallas, so I ran out there today. Picked up Rabi Ribi for the PS4. At a Half Price Books I ended up buying a Japanese Tiger & Bunny PSP game, one of two that they had. The other one looked a lot like a dating sim. I then stopped across the street at a GameStop just to check it out, and bought Moonscars for the PS4.

[Steve W]

So, a little game shop nearby had a Nintendo tabletop game, Mario's Cement Factory... I thought the sign on it was saying it was $65, so I wanted to buy it. The guy rang it up at $399. Then I read the small print... the $65 is the first payment for layaway. Well, no. That seems a bit shady to have a giant price sign on it only to see in tiny print it's just the price of a payment plan. They've never had anything else there worth buying, I don't need to go back again.

I hit several places today, only bought games at a couple of them. Earthfall and Pixark at a Movie Trading Company, and later Wanted: Dead and 1971 Project Helios at a GameXchange, all for the PS4. Pixark was one of those that I saw everywhere and never bothered with until now, and 1971 Project Helios was one I've never come across before, and for some reason it was dirt cheap. Don't know whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing, guess I'll find out.

[Steve W]

My mom had a mini-stroke and I haven't been game shopping in a few weeks. She's recovering really well, so yesterday I left her hospital room and went game shopping at my favorite game store. I bought Circuit Breakers, Monster Viator, and Factotum 90 for the PS4, sealed. Today from Amazon Sand Land and White Day for PS4 arrived. And a couple weeks ago Ride for the PS3 arrived.

[jonjandran]

I live in Boquete Panama now. Game collecting is a bit harder here. Things are usually in poor condition. But I came across this batch 3 weeks ago.

[Steve W]

The only games I've bought recently were Zengeon and Psikyo Shooting Library Volume 2 for the PS4 off Amazon, and I picked up the Sydney Hunter Collection for the Evercade at a game store.

[Steve W]

I haven't been going game shopping recently, I haven't had the time. I've only ordered two PS4 games off Amazon, The Deer God and Killer Frequency. The Deer God is a procedurally generated platformer with a pixel art style, and Killer Frequency is a murder mystery created by Team 17, the classic Amiga developer that's going strong all these years later. I really like that, I've also noticed Microids seems to publish a lot of PS4 games, another company I know from the Amiga days. It makes me happy to see old-school developers still chugging along and seeming to be thriving in this kind of market.

[Steve W]

I finally went game shopping tonight, I was able to get out and do something before everything closed for the night. The Wizards of Brandel and Jotun were from my favorite game store, while The Caligula Effect: Overdose was from a Half Price Books. The Falconeer was something I picked up fairly cheap off Amazon. I've still got a few Amazon PS4 games coming in soon.

[Steve W]

My Amazon games came in yesterday and today. Archtype Arcadia, Gloomhaven, Labyrinth of Zangetsu, and Aggelos for the PS4. As always, two of the games have discs rattling around inside the case. Games off Amazon always get kicked around and knock around loose inside the case off its spindle.

[Steve W]

I managed to get out and hit some game stores for their Black Friday sales. At a Half Price Books I bought Double Dungeons for the TurboGrafx-16, one I never picked up back in ye olden times. They also had China Warrior, another one that I didn't have but never thought it looked very good, then Ys Book I & II and Fighting Street, both originally pack-ins for the CD-ROM drive, for $250 each. Okay, I get Ys would be high priced, but Fighting Street? There's a reason Street Fighter 1 has vanished into the void of arcade history, it sucked. It was a good stepping stone that got them to the sequel but that's all it will ever be. There's no PS5 remaster of Street Fighter 1, it's rightfully forgotten. So why $250 for a weak port of it? Bizarre.

The first game shop didn't have anything of interest, but the second did. Picked up Monster Hunter World for the PS4, then Date A Live Arusu Install and Oreimo: Happy End for the PS3, all Japanese imports. Then I bought a copy of Budget Cuts for the PS4. The games were buy 3 get 1 free.

When I got home I found a few Amazon packages on my porch. I've been on a tear recently, ordering cheap but interesting looking games off Amazon while the Black Friday sales are running. Jagged Alliance Rage!, Deeeer Simulator, and Embr: Uber Firefighters for the PS4 came today. Neon City Riders for the PS4 showed up a couple days ago. And I still have a few more arriving in the next few days.

[Steve W]

I hit my second favorite game store in the area the day before yesterday, grabbing stuff at the end of their Black Friday sale. Croixieur Sigma (talk about a hard name to spell let alone pronounce), Stray, Formula Retro Racing World Tour, and The Takeover were buy 3 get 1 free. Darius Burst EX + Another Chronicle, Zombi, and Psikyo Shooting Library Vol. 1 all came from Amazon.