$60 a Month: Episode I
I had a discussion with a friend about $60 a Month and he suggested that the concept has merit, but it remains overwrought and unnecessarily complicated. As a result I continue to streamline and this first month’s report shall reflect that. Essentially it is now merely a breakdown of what new games I acquired and played and how good I did at keeping within my budget. No ratios, no scores, no complex rulesets: If something seems wonky or it appears that I’ve cheated in some way, call me out in the comments section. Let’s see if we can make this thing worth reading, hm?
New Games
The only thing worth noting is that the cost for rental games from GameZnFlix is the price I pay per month for the subscription divided by the total number of games I acquired through the service for the whole month. Besides that the budget has been modified this month by adding $20 for a couple of bags of cans I recycled.
- Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
Platform: Nintendo DS
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
I shouldn’t have bothered with this game. I read half of one review that said it was good and let my love of RE carry me through. Sadly it’s impressive what they did to get the game that once required a CD-ROM onto a DS cart, but it doesn’t hold up and the original version has lost all appeal since the GameCube remake came out. I shipped it back shortly after it arrived. - F.E.A.R.
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: GameZnFlix Rental
Cost: $2.55
I had already played part of this game months ago when I first bought the 360; renting this was just a means to finish the campaign mode. It took me a few days and then I sent it back. It’s a pretty good game, but I’m glad I didn’t spend more than it cost for the couple of rentals on it. - Rockstar’s Table Tennis
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: GameZnFlix Rental
Cost: $2.55
I put two solid night’s play into this game and while it amused for those two nights, if I’d paid full retail price for this game I’d be pretty heated. It just isn’t deep enough to last very long. - Trace Memory
Platform: Nintendo DS
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
It was a really cheap adventure game that I picked up because it was available for trade when I had Goozex points burning a hole in my pocket. I’ve since run out of points and considering that I was falling asleep while trying to make progress in this game, I kinda wish I had my points back. I’ll give the game another chance because I’ve only put half an hour into it so far but if it doesn’t catch me, it’s on its way out. - Robotech: Battlecry
Platform: PlayStation 2
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
I picked up this game mostly as a collector’s item. I already played all the way through it many years ago (and I even found I still had my save file) and I played it for about 45 minutes when it first arrived just to remember why I thought it was so cool. I’m not sorry I dropped the 200 Goozex points or however many on it, but it may be a while before I sit down and play through it again considering all the other great games coming out in the next little while here. - BioShock
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: Retail Purchase, Sale
Cost $54.11
I had to do it. The demo was so amazing and the reviews were astounding. My wife claims she bought this for me as a gift but since she used our shared account to buy it, I think it still counts toward the total. Circuit City had a $10 off sale when it first came out and she took advantage of that, which helped a little. In any case it was totally worth it. I would have blown the budget away to obtain and play this game. It took me a long week to beat it (my stats indicate it took me over 22 hours to complete) so I might have gotten away with a rental but I’d have had to use the local Hollywood Video because I can’t rely on GnF to get me new games in a timely manner. Still, it’s a good enough game that I’ll be playing it through again to get the other ending and then it’s going off to Goozex as a trade, hopefully for 1,000 points, so not a bad investment if you want to look at it that way. - The Godfather
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: GameZnFlix Rental
Cost: $2.55
I liked the game well enough to put about ten hours into it, but while it was something I was very excited about at first that infatuation wore off pretty quick. Once I’d done basically every type of mission the game had to offer I was basically over it and had no problem sending it back. - Far Cry Instincts Predator
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: GameZnFlix Rental
Cost: $2.55
I really disliked this game. I thought the whole thing was dull and uninspired and the quintessential Just Another 360 Shooter. I sent it back after a day or two and wish I hadn’t wasted the days of shipping for it. - God of War II
Platform: PlayStation 2
Method: GameZnFlix Rental
Cost: $2.55
It’s pretty much God of War: The Lost Levels, but the original was so good I’m starting to not mind so much. I’ve continued to play the game despite not having nearly the same sense of excitement I did while playing the first and I’ll do so until it gets old or boring. One thing it does very well is keep up the pace so that you don’t hang around one area too long and get tired of seeing the same backdrop. I’m not sure I’d buy this game; I’d probably buy the original as a collector’s item first. - Silent Hill 2
Platform: PlayStation 2
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
I traded for this because I love Silent Hill and read an interesting article dissecting the plot of this game and decided it has too many rave reviews for me to continue to dismiss it even though I made two separate attempts to get into it. I figure by owning it I can at least have it as a rainy day game should the mood ever strike. Plus, up until BioShock took over my mind I was really pining for a good scary game. When that mood strikes again, this game will be there. - Metroid Prime Zero Mission
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
I got this game because it was cheap and I’d been meaning to play it for some time but never got around to it. At these prices, you know? It turns out I love this game. I mean, it’s the original Metroid only it looks sweeter and has some of the Super Metroid advances cleverly injected. I couldn’t be happier with this acquisition. - Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Platform: Game Boy Advance
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
This was a concession to my brother who says this game is better than the original Zelda on the NES. Now, I played Link to the Past on the SNES a long time ago and I remember liking it but I don’t remember thinking it was better than the first. Yet a lot of my memories have proven to be oddly colored upon later reflection so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and said I’d try it again and see what I thought. It was cheap on Goozex and I’ve put maybe an hour into it so far, which isn’t enough to make a determination but is at least enough to confirm that it was a solid trade. - Condemned: Criminal Origins
Platform: Xbox 360
Method: Borrowed From Friend
Cost: Trade
I gave my brother-in-law Gears of War to play for a while and took this game from him, which was collecting dust on his shelf because he hated it. I played it similarly to F.E.A.R., back when I first got the 360 as a rental. I liked it okay and always meant to get back to it but had never wanted to spend a lot of money on it. After I heard they were making not only a sequel for it but also a movie, I decided to take the opportunity when it presented itself. I’ve put another couple of hours into it so far and it’s still very good. Not sure if it’s purchase-worthy, but I probably would have spent the money to rent it much more willingly than I did for Far Cry. - Jade Empire
Platform: Xbox
Method: Goozex
Cost: Trade
BioWare pretty much convinced me of their game creation prowess with KotOR and I always meant to play Jade Empire on my original Xbox… somehow it fell through the cracks. I was talking to a friend and he recommended that I go back and give it a shot. It was cheap on Goozex and I had the points so I picked up the special edition with the added content, although I think the 360 update adds that as well, I’m not sure. In any case I only played long enough to download the update, confirm the disc worked and note that it still looks pretty good even for a game that’s a couple of years old. I’m not likely to have much chance to play this in the immediate future, especially once Mass Effect comes out, but as with Silent Hill 2 I’m more likely to play it now that I own it than I would if it was just some title on a mental list of “stuff to get around to.”
Sacrifices
In order to get the above games, I traded away Prey for the Xbox 360 and Resident Evil: Deadly Silence which I both acquired and lost this month. I also had Enchanted Arms from GameZnFlix all month although I didn’t play it very much so it may need to be dealt with to improve the efficiency of my GnF account and I had Marvel: Ultimate Alliance for the 360 earlier in the month as a carry-over from July which I sent back in week one.
I also had to lend out my copy of Gears of War and recycled two bags of cans for $20 this month.
Results
I managed to get out of the month only buying one game and paying for my GameZnFlix subscription so my total expenditures came to $66.86. That’s more than $60, but I also recycled the cans which brought me up to $80; my total carryover into September is $13.14.
I had seven Goozex arrivals, sent one back and sent off another game I didn’t have any more interest in so my net game count for trades came to five, which is pretty dang good. I’m mostly happy with the games I held onto although we’ll see how long Trace Memory sticks around. As far as GameZnFlix goes, I got five new ones from the service and had eight different titles in my home during the month which means I cycled through three games during the four-week period. I think I can do better on that front especially if I either give up on Enchanted Arms or go ahead and finish it. Perhaps that’s a game that needs to go on the Goozex Request List since it’s a long game that I like and want to finish but don’t like it clogging up my queue. Getting the per-game value to $2.55 isn’t bad; it’s tempting to measure success with such a service against the cost of similar rentals from a brick and mortar but my price plan is such that I only need to refresh my three games once per month to beat those rates. Instead I want to make $2 per rental my target. I didn’t quite get there, but it was pretty close.
So not a bad month, but I think I can do better and of course next month will be extra tough. Stay tuned for the September preview.