Lord of the Rings: War in the North Snow Troll Giveaway

DOUBLE UPDATE: By the way, you guys should probably read the next post the contest winner... might be worth checking out.

UPDATE: Contest is over, get ready for the announcement!

Seeing as how the gaming community has been good to me the past few years, particularly cheapassgamer.com, I've decided it's high time I start giving back. I can't begin to think of the countless tips I've read about and helpful comments from random CAG'ers since I joined the site oh-so many years ago. So hopefully some of them are reading this because I've got a nice freebie for commenters.

Why buy the game when you can get the swag for free?

As a side hobby to collecting video games, I often spend as much time hunting down video game promos or pre-order bonus items. Not that fancy downloadable content business, just good ol' fashioned physical items. 

I know that these are rarely ever produced in low enough quantities to be considered "collectible". I'm even aware some of these are just clever marketing promotions. Y'know what? I'm okay with that. I'm just a sucker for clever stuff.

"For once, I'm stuck without a punchline."

It's been a tricky couple of weeks. After recouping from several trips to New York and New Jersey, I thought everything was back on track. I had been gearing up for some interesting posts, not to mention a few overdue changes to the blog. I'm not trying to build this up as an excuse but when my grandmother passed away last week, I really didn't feel like writing.

The Children Are Our Future, But They're All At Gamestop

On the way home from work Monday evening I decided to pop into my local Gamestop. I had a reserve on the Assassin's Creed: Revelations I'd been meaning to cancel, and this seemed like as good a time as any. As I approached the store I saw this kid:

Pictured: A boy who has not and will not know 

the touch of a woman for many, many years.

Monday night was in fact the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. This was an especially fantastic coincidence considering I absolutely despise the series itself almost as much as my hatred for its fans. CoD "gamers" are the reason I mute my headset on Xbox Live, and reason this was the last place I needed to be at this moment.

Now beyond the game itself, there is nothing wrong with attending a midnight release. I've been to many in the past, as recent as the Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3 releases. They can be exhausting but the trick is to show up shortly before midnight, game already reserved. On the other hand some people found the need to start waiting in line for CoD: MW3 at 6:30pm. By the time I left the store, this folding chair equipped idiot had a solid  five and a half hour wait ahead of him, just to buy the game. A game which will obviously be completely sold out during the next few weeks. Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt.

A man can dream.

(courtesy ugo.com)

If this kid wanted to actually play the game sooner, he could have gone home and turned on his Xbox 360. All he would have to do is pop in his Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 disc, start up some multiplayer and yell horrible slurs at "noobs". It's the same experience for him, and $60 cheaper. 

Side note to anyone who bought Call of Duty Elite or upgraded to the Hardened Edition just for the Elite: you are among the dumbest people on the planet. You have no idea how many map packs are guaranteed for delivery. And the bonus features for the upgrade to the Elite account? You tell me. I saw the word "premium" three different times but I have no idea what that means. Apparently it's like Facebook for CoD with more videos or something. Kind of like this.

Dumb.

David and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days (in New York) Chapter 2

Ok, enough with the long title nonsense. I hate NYC, Nintendo World Store is awesome, and I bought some scratched Star Fox dog tags. If you didn't read about it earlier do so, because the next sentence won't make a lick of sense.

I owe my wife big time.

David and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days (in New York) Chapter 1

The past two weeks have been busy. Between working 9 to 5 (plus commuting), errands in the evening, and working on costumes for New York Comic Con at the last minute, free time has been a luxury. Hell, even sleep would have been a welcome addition to my daily schedule. Sadly sacrifices were made and promises were broken. I'm still hoping to get a Battlefield 3 hands-on post up sometime before the game launches on Tuesday. Seeing as how I haven't had many hands on any console for awhile I figure I should dig a little deeper into the beta before reporting back. Here's a sneak preview of what I've played so far: It's goddamned awesome. More to come.

49 seconds of disgusting. Thanks EA/DICE.

Despite my hectic schedule there was fun to be had during the weekends. Sure they were busy weekends, involving two perfectly beautiful Saturdays spent in my most hated of cities:

Lost Levels - I'm Not Helping Edition

It can be a little frustrating collecting games. Recently, as seen in some of my older posts, I've been fortunate enough to come across some old Sega Genesis games on the cheap and in decent condition. Never one to pass up on a deal, my Genesis collection has grow significantly in the past few months. The trick is, I don't own a functioning Genesis.