Their Loss is Your Gain

Were you able to take advantage of the preorder "sale" that went on at Walmart.com today? I put sale in quotes because it would appear that not everyone at the World of Wallace was in on the sale, cause if they were than it would mean that the every person responsible for pricing video games went bat shit crazy.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl for $19.82? Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for $29.82? Condemned 2 for $19.82? These prices represent two things: a savings of $100.51 and madness. There is no other way to describe it, as the pricing strangeness goes both ways. Assassin's Creed for the DS is going for $49.82, a good 15 bucks more than the most expensive of DS offerings. Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney is retailing for the low, low price of $69.82. While I am happy for those that were able to take advantage of the sale, myself included, I feel bad for anyone who read up on the Apollo Justice game, thought it might be good, and paid 70 bucks for it. I hope that person doesn't exist, but if they do, here's hoping Wal-Mart refunds you the difference. Then again, maybe they won't. Maybe, in an attempt to not get screwed over with all of the low preorder prices, they'll stick with the Apollo Justice pricing and instead screw over the handheld lawyer simulation aficionados, of which there must be countless numbers. Countless.

It will be interesting to see how Walmart responds to this. Of course, I'm hoping that they honor the transaction, however if they don't, I already have Smash Brothers paid off, so no additional money need leave my pocket for me to rain lightning down upon those that dare face off against Pikachu. Condemned 2 was more of an impulse buy. I enjoyed the first one, and since playing it, have not hit a hobo in the face with a cafeteria tray in any situation, real or simulated, so I would expect that I'd enjoy this one. I'm just not sure I'd enjoy it to the price of sixty dollars. The first one had problems, namely that you could play the entire game and not understand anything that happened to you, even after ferreting out the various dead birds, metal pieces, green clovers and purple horseshoes, so I am wary that this game would be similarly unyielding with its secrets. Then again, some of the scariest moments I've had in a game were in the first one, particularly when in the department store with its mannequins of doom. There is also the aforementioned meetings of hobo faces and large, flat implements. For twenty dollars though, it is a must have. I will be sure to keep you up to date as to what happens, but I'm sure if Walmart decides to not honor its commitments, you'll hear a great rending and gnashing of teeth coming from the Intarwebs.

In other news, I finally finished Ratchet and Clank for the PSP and I deem it...acceptable. Actually, it was a great deal of fun, despite the second, mandatory hoverboard race which was constructed in the bowels of hell from the tears of weeping children. If I could, I would gladly go back in time to the moment when 2005 me was ready to plunk down $349 (!) for a PSP at launch and tell that person to wait, just wait. For while the 2005 transaction would bring nothing but resentment and bitter, bitter disappointment, giving the console a few years to ferment, and come into its own would result in nothing but smiles all around.

Finally, if you're wondering what ever happened to the Friday Five, feel free to add me to the list as I have no idea. I think it's because I have a horribly, horribly forgetful mind and a very short attention span, so the shiny bauble I'm currently playing with is easily replaced with the whirling dust mote caught in the noonday sun. Perhaps it will come back, on a Friday when I have nothing to write about. Perhaps it will be replaced with the Friday Funny, or the Day Before Saturday Exclamatory Phrase (Fiddlesticks!). I have no idea and I make no guarantees. The fact that, on any given day, I remember that I have this site is taxing enough. Further defining the content of our interactions is a fruitless endeavor.