my stupid flipping adventure

Let me tell you a story about what happened with my copy of Rock Band for PS3.

I got it used a few weeks ago for a very reasonable $23. I should have actually been able to buy it for $21 because I later realized I had a coupon for a discount on used games. But just as well, at least I wasn't paying EBGames' extortion of a price for a used copy (somewhere on the order of $50 or so).

What I really wanted it for, of course was simply to export the song library to my PS3 so that I could have an additional 58 songs in Rock Band 2. Which I did later on (in fact, just this past weekend I finally unlocked every on-disc song from RB2 which meant it was time to rotate in some new material). Between the price tag of a used disc and the export key, I invested just under $30.

But what if... it didn't have to be that way? What if I turned around and sold it back to the store for trade-in credit? I got $8.40 for it... which... well... I suppose I could have made twice as much selling it on eBay. But I'm just not that kind of guy. My time is not worth that so for me, being in an electronics store and having eight bucks in my pocket is a better proposal.

...now if only I knew what I wanted to buy. Because as usual... when I do have a gift certificate for anything... I never find anything I want.

Iron Man vs Bruce Lee

this video will pwn your toy collection...

Canon Rock by JerryC with Japanese guitarists

This video will pwn you ...600% more than the usual Cannon Rock video.

Fat Pack: Shards of Alara

Just wanted to show off an unusual find from a local shop (I don't know where they get this sort of out-of-print stuff, but I'm glad I stumbled on it). In case you weren't paying attention during one of my previous posts, a fat pack is basically a box full of booster packs. What's unusual is that this box is from the previous set in the block. While you can still encounter fat packs from the Core10 and Lorwyn block, for some reason this box is pretty hard to find. Well, there's one less floating around out there now.
Now pay attention because I'm tired of explaining my writing style to certain folk (yes, I'm looking at YOU, Napoleon). The box is slip cased as fat packs usually are. Something odd however is that the slip is colour-themed (mine happens to be green; when you unfold it, the underside is a mural for Naya shard. I would have prefered Jund (red) but it doesn't change much of anything - the actual box underneath is more generic and features art from all 5 shards that figure in the Alara fluff.
First however is the player's guide - which, unless I'm mistaken is only available in a fat pack. I said it before, and I will again: WotC knows how to make their product look slick. The player's guide is a full-colour booklet containing 50 pages of the people and places of the Alara setting plus articles about the cards and a full encyclopedia of the set. It's arguably the centrepiece of the box.
The box itself is also a very stylish card box containing a preview booklet of the "Planeswalker's Guide to Alara." The 8 packs are shrink-wrapped with a 40-pack of basic lands (on the off chance you STILL need some; I didn't even open my pack from the Conflux fat pack yet). And finally a "spin-down life counter" with the Shards of Alara icon where a 20 would be on a normal D20.

I had to shell out a few more bucks than I did for the Conflux box, but considering it's rarity, I didn't mind so much. If you'll recall, I said I snagged the Conflux fat pack for the price of the 8 booster packs so I rationalized that I got all the other contents free. Well, this time, I think I paid around 5 dollars for the "other stuff." Not bad as I've spent that much and more on deck boxes and other paraphenalia before.

Things I've been up to...

Just because I haven't posted anything useless in a while:

The video backlog is fluctuating. Finally finished Gurren Lagann. Loaned the DVDs to Weirdguy. Finished my collection of certain fansubs. In the mood for romantic comedy so it's Kanon and Tonaguri. Right now I'm enjoying Tonaguri much more than Kanon (I had high-expectations for
Kanon since I loved Air and Clannad).

I put a hold on Kenichi Ultimate Disciple while I read the manga. I've been spoiled by Amazon's service (when they have stuff in stock). It took Archambault over 2 weeks to deliver my impulse-buy. Is 2 weeks even considered "impulsive?"

Speaking of Amazon, after that Street Fighter 4 incident (I did wind up finding it the next night), I placed a pre-order at Amazon for Resident Evil 5. It will fall under "nice to have" category. I was hell-bent on the SF4 CE was that I'm a long-time fan of the franchise and wanted to
see the OVA that comes with it. For RE5, not so much, but the fanboy in me thinks it'll be cool to have the announced (a collectible figure, patch, medallion, messenger bag with company logo, etc).

As for SF4, I still not particularly good. Sometimes I blame the game, sometimes I think I'm just sloppy. As a veteran SF player for the last 15 years, I know my strengths and weaknesses. I know I play better with an arcade stick than a D-pad. I know that I play a decent game on Medium difficulty. So why is it that on Easiest (while I'm trying to unlock new characters) I wipe the floor with every opponent, but then Abel, Zangief, and Seth come along make life hell?

Dawn of War 2 was a little bit dissappointing. Because of the dramatic shift in game mechanics from the previous DoW, I decided to play my campaign on a lower difficulty. So far the only certainty is I learned to handle special abilities and the different unit types. But I'm also
peeved that there doesn't appear to be a skirmish tutorial (not that I really looked for it). Campaign mode gives you some dudes, then you get a few more, then upgrades Diablo-style. So now I'm running on auto-pilot to level-up. I have a history of reaching final bosses without having enough XP. Don't want to make that mistake this time.

Finally, I picked up Prinny: Can I really be the hero? for PSP. The PSP battery turned out to be completely dead (I hadn't used it in several months). So I decided to let it charge overnight. Thought I'd give it a try this morning but then it asked to do a firmware update (certainly
didn't have time for that before work). Anyway, The game came with an audio CD with a couple of vocal tracks and in-game instrumentals. The insert CD insert is a single sheet folded twice (a reversible cover, translated lyrics, 1-page comic), Funny how the back of the box made it
sound like you were supposed to get a whole bunch of stuff. I'm just happy that besides some shelf-wear, I was at least able to get the notorious EB Games stickers off the box without damaging it much.