Figured I shouldn't crap in my own backyard, but heck, spread the love right? Hopefully this will be helpful to a lot of poor gamers in this time of crisis. With mass gaming goodness abound, pretty much any game released for XBox, PS2, or GCN can be yours for $20.00. And that's BRAND NEW games.



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If you're fortunate enough to have a Hastings in your area, they are perma running a deal where if you bring in 4 games on any one platform, you can trade them in for a brand new game for that same platform. Hasting's doesn't advertise this very hard (you won't even find mention of it on their website), but all stores participate.

Again, this 4 for 1 deal is running indefinitely. Last month, it was 3 for 1 (man was that sweet combined with the CC deals) so look out for even better deals from them.

Anyway, here are some more details:

1) They'll take pretty much anything except for older sports titles and a few off games. It has to register as more than 1 dollar worth of trade in credit for them to accept it. Fortunately, they're very generous with their trade in credit. For example, I've used:

Extermination, Stuntman, Haven, Pryzm, Zone of Enders, Onimusha, Amped, MDK2, EOE, Fantavision, Turok: Evolution, Jet Grind Radio, Kabuki Warriors, the list goes on and on. If it's not sports, odds are very high they'll take it.

I can tell you Blowout and RTX: Red Rocks don't work.

2) You 'technically' can't bring in doubles. But if you dump 24 games on them and have a double or two, dollars to donuts says they don't notice.

3) Any bundles with peripherals don't seem to work for the trade in. That said, I was able to trade in 4 games for Madden: Collectors Edition (a $60 value!)

4) Manuals aren't required, but depending on who you're trading in with, they may be.

5) Stickers are ok on the case.

6) The 4 for 1 on all the same system even has flexible mileage. I've traded in PS2 games for GCN games, and traded in mass amounts of games and they just told me to get whatever I wanted.

So now you ask, where can I get games for 5 bucks? With the titles listed above, it's really not that hard. Check local game stores and look online. www.cheapassgamer.com and www.vgtalk.com are good places to start.

My average game price is 18.71 depending on how impatient I get.

Catch: some Hastings are very slow to put games out and even slower to restock. For example, I haven't gotten Fable yet, but I have gotten Burnout 3, Star Ocean: TTEoT and Phantom Brave.

Now, please don't go crazy with this and wipe out your Hastings looking to sell stuff on eBay. It's not worth it. After all the driving, fees, and time, you're looking at 15 bucks profit a game at most. Plus, you may ruin the experience for other Digitpress-ites (or other gamers, anyway) in your area.

Hastings are limited to smaller cities (around 50,000 - 100,000 person population), so you Metropolis area living folks will need to suffer for once due in the supply arena. Visit www.gohastings.com for stores in your area!

If you knew about this, then wonderful, if you didn't, well, have fun! And if you didn't know about this and you make out like a bandit, PM me and I'll give you my address so you can send me some of your spoils of war