Damn it, Steam!

For those who even remotely know or care about gaming, you would know that Steam is currently having their Summer Sale (lol, America) - and as a result selling games ridiculously cheap. This is both a boon and a curse.

For starters, it is obviously a good thing due to cheap games! Never complain about cheap games (unless they're terrible, anyway)! I've managed to buy a fair few games off Steam in the last few days, and likely will continue to for the next few days until the sale is over. Magicka with all the DLC for $8! Monkey Island remakes for $8 (both together in a pack!) Dwarfs?! for $5! (don't buy it, its a trap) I believe The Witcher 2 was up for $50 at one stage... not bad for a brand new game.

Don't ask me to recall my purchase list - I've forgotten big chunks of it because there are so many. I recall picking up Frozen Synapse though (and it comes with two copies... anyone want a copy?).

And this is where part of the curse lies. I already had a ridiculous backlog of games I'd never finished. What better way to make this pile larger than for Steam to have a sale!

On the other hand, Steam has also put up a competition where each day there are specific achievements for specific games. Each achievement earnt gives you a ticket in the major draw - the prize being the top ten games o your wishlist. Once I saw this, I started working on the achievements they specified (at least, the ones I could do for the games I already owned), and have so far earnt 16 tickets. As an added bonus these tickets can be redeemed for extra free DLC for certain games (and they don't destroy your entries into the draw).
While I'm not typically an "achievement whore", if they are usable for something tangible then I'm all over it. I've averaged 3-4 tickets a day so far, though this will likely drop over the weekend when I stay at Spritza's place. Well, that's assuming I get over this cold (I'm still sick, to a degree >_<).
It's also quite nice having Steam tell me what to play - even if it is for a short period of time. It's reminding me that I have some great games that I've been neglecting (and not necessarily long ones either). For example, last night, I was working on achievements for Trine, Zombie Driver and Serious Sam HD. I had already finished Serious Sam, but I had completely forgotten how good the other two games were (particularly Trine)!

On the other hand...

Creddit where its due: MrGestore of Reddit

Horrible, horrible purchases

Everybody makes horrible, horrible decisions sometimes. Particularly regarding purchasing certain items. The real question here is, are these horrible decisions mistakes, or are they intentional? Because sometimes, you can't help but make a terrible purchase, because of the hilarity of it.

I did this myself the other day, but let's back up a little bit to the beginning of this story, shall we?

The story begins on Saturday Morning. I had stayed home that Friday night, due to needing to be in my home electorate for the state election - I needed to be able to vote. Hence, my girlfriend and I decided it would be best for me to go home on Friday, instead of the usual ritual of heading to her place then for the weekend. That way, I could vote on Saturday, then head on over to her place where we do... well, whatever we feel like for the weekend (this weekend we watched Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni)!

Oh yeah, it's cute until they start mercilessly slaughtering each other

So, after staying up to 2am playing Dragon Age (what can I say? It had me hooked!), I went to bed, only to be woken up at around 8.40 by my mother. "Wake up, we need to go and vote!"

I was allowed to return to bed, since I was going to walk down to the local school and do that on my own later, but the awakeness and noise from the rest of the house convinced me that trying to sleep was a horrendous idea, so I got up, showered, and proceeded to vote. Afterwards, I packed my things, got a train and a boat to Manly, and met up with Sarah.

We decided it would be a good idea to go to the mall, since neither of us had eaten anything that day, so food was high on the agenda, and she was interested in getting a second controller for her somewhat-newly-acquired PS3. We entered EBGames before grabbing our food.

And that is where I saw the sale. In typical EB fashion, there was a "3 preowned games for $50" deal going on, and I always make a point of looking at those, since you can occasionally find hidden gems.

I managed to find Resistance: Fall of Man - a game I had been looking for cheaply for a while, mainly because I'd bought the sequel cheap, but being OCD when it comes to games, refused to play it until I had found and conquered the prior game (This burning need tends to get relaxed in certain situations, like Final Fantasy, where the games have nothing to do with each other, or in Metal Gear, where the original couple are inaccessible to me).

I desperately began to look for two other games of note, to justify the purchase. I managed to find a game called "Eat Lead - The Return of Matt Hazard", a game which, by all accounts, sucks. Except that it parodies other games. And has a character voiced by Neil Patrick Harris. OHMYGODAWESOME.

Everyone's favourite suited-up womaniser

Satisfied by that decision, I began to look for a third game. Something to round out the $50 deal. It didn't have to be amazing, it had to be bearable, to make it worth picking up the other two. I almost bought Blacksite with it (rounding out three generic shooters - two of them featuring aliens), but then, I saw it. What has to be the worst game ever.

Can you pick what is it? I'll give you a hint - its real value is likely to be about 50 cents.

Have a minute thinking time.

OK, time's up.

50 Cent - Blood on the Sand. I bought a game about a rapper, who fights terrorists (apparently). The plot is so awful that I needed to purchase this game. The following is quoted from the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia.

"The game is set in an urban warzone in an unnamed Middle Eastern country, where 50 Cent and G-Unit have been hired to play a rap concert. After the concert the promoter refuses to pay them the US $10-million in cash he promised, but relents after being threatened. However, instead of the cash they were promised, he gives them a diamond-and-pearl encrusted human skull as collateral. This is promptly stolen by a paramilitary group. 50 Cent (with the help of a selected G-Unit partner) decides to get it back at any cost."

So there we have it - a purchase that is so bad, it's amazing. Once I'm finished with Dragon Age (another day or two), I will play this to take a break before I head onto FF13, or Dragon Age 2. I just don't expect I shall be sane by the end of it.

I will probably look something like this

So, I put it to you, loyal readers (all three of you). What horrible things have you purchased intentionally. I don't mean buying something that you thought would be awesome, but it turned out to be the most horrible thing you've ever experienced (Assassin's Creed, anyone?). I mean things you know are a bad idea, but you bought it anyway. Either BECAUSE it was a bad idea, or because you wanted to torture yourself. Let me know in the comments!