I’ve seen Amazon advertise their Trade-In program a few times, and I’m trying it out!

First, I grew tired of MAG, and I’d rather play MW2 with friends, so I’m selling it to max out my value while it’s still pretty new. But feeling lazy and not wanting to bother with Ebay, I decided to check out Amazon’s trade-in program.

It’s run by a third party, but it’s super easy to do. You search for the game you want to trade-in, if they want it, it shows a price. Since I was going to send one game, I figured I’d look around and find other games I never play and see what I can get for them. Turns out I’ve got 26 games I never play…so might as well trade them in!

Once they give you a price, and a free shipping label, you have seven days to send them in. The only iffy thing I see is that if the items are damaged or not what you were supposed to send, they won’t send it back. For videogames they say:

For video games and movies, this includes the correct disc(s), manual, cover art, bundled accessories, UPC, and case.

I have all original packaging and manuals though, so I’m not worried about that.

Total I’m getting $170 for all of it. Everything from Zelda: Twilight Princess on Wii (booooring!), to Rogue Leader on the GameCube (hey, $1.75 is better than nothing!). I could probably get more on Ebay, but the hassle of running 26 auctions, many of which probably would get me nothing (seriously, who wants Rogue Leader from 2001?), and it just made more sense to get a nice chunk of change with practically zero effort.

Once I get my Amazon gift cards I’ll comment to let you know how the process went. They also take trade-ins for dvds and textbooks too.

I’ve loved videogames since I was about five. Whether it was playing my dad’s Atari, or going over to a friend’s house just to play Super Mario Bros., they’ve always brought me a lot of entertainment.

I’ve had a PS3 for about three years now, and in that time my love for games has really increased, and it blows me away how awesome current games are. Back in the day it was rare to find a game that could keep my interest until the end, but that’s common fare now.

I think a big part of this is trophy support, and having those accomplishments recognized. But I also think game developers have reached a new level of quality. Check out some videos of God of War III. It’s amazing what they can do now.

I just finished Modern Warfare 2′s single player campaign, and now I’m working on Uncharted 2. I have never played the God of War games, but I have the first two coming for PS3. They remastered them in hi-def, added trophies, and it’s only $30 on Amazon.

But there are so many great games to play. Heavy Rain looks awesome, as does God of War III. And who can forget FFXIII.

It is a great time to be a videogamer.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Back in November I started playing Modern Warfare 2 on the PS3, and since then I’ve sunk well over 3 days into the game. The multiplayer is fast and furious, and highly addictive. This is my first Call of Duty game, so I can’t say much about anything previously in the series, but it’s super polished and plays great. The customization of classes is fun and gives some variety, and the use of death and kill streaks gives the game momentum. Getting rewarded for going on a roll and being able to call in air strikes and killer helicopters can really push the outcome in your favor.

There are some negatives. Despite the different game modes, some of which include holding flags in Domination (like battlefield) or capture the flag, it all feels very much like deathmatch. My personal favorite is Domination, where your teams wins by holding flags and accruing points, but even in this mode, there is usually little communication as a team. To compound the problem, people spawn at different times and places, so organizing isn’t easily done. And because of all this, the game begins to get very repetitive.

There’s a mode called “prestige” which adds some replay value to the game. Your level in multiplayer is capped at 70, but prestige mode lets you start all over and do it again. This gains you a special emblem, and there are 10 levels of prestige. So theoretically, you can play the game through 11 times in multiplayer.

MAG

I picked up MAG a couple weeks ago because I had to check it out. This is a game promising 256 players in one battle, and everything is about communication. So in a way, it’s the opposite of what Modern Warfare 2 is.

My first impressions were not good. I think I was expecting MW2….just bigger, and that’s not what I got. The game is much slower, and it took a while for that to feel OK. It runs at a slightly lower framerate, and the controls aren’t quite as tight and quick, and for the first few hours I had some serious buyer’s remorse. But the more time I sunk into the game, the more I got used to how the game played, and now it’s great. The game is much more like a simulation, where MW2 is like an arcade game.

The best part of the game is the teamwork. You and the members on your team attack or defend certain positions from the other PMC groups you’re battling against. You can custom design your player for different purposes, like being a medic, heavy weapons, or a sniper. You earn skill points with each level that you get to spend on these different attributes. One of the best ways to level up is to research healing and resuscitation early on, because it gives you tons of experience. Once I researched this, I was able to come out number 1 or 2 on my squad with ease.

And this is one of the things that makes this game more rewarding than MW2. Healing someone on your team so they can continue to fight with you feels good. Spawning with other members of your squad at the same time and place means you march into the fight together. Your squad leader tells you were to concentrate your fight to help your team win the battle. It’s this communication and teamwork that make the game standout.

If there are any drawbacks…it would be the learning curve. MW2 you can just start playing…and you might suck at first, but that’s because you have to develop the twitch skills needed to be good. MAG on the other hand comes with very little training or info on how the game works, and that makes it feel overwhelming at first. I’ve just gotten to the level where I can be a leader in a game, but I feel vastly unprepared to lead people into battle (especially on the biggest and most complicated maps).

But this is where the MAG community comes in. There is all sorts of valuable information at the MAG forums, and people are generally good at helping you in the game. But having a mic is an absolute must! Why anyone would get this game without a mic, I don’t know. Without being able to chat with others you feel isolated. You can’t request a medic, or call out snipers, and it really takes away from the game.

Conclusion

I’ve come to the conclusion that the games are very different, and both are quite fun. I’ve gone back and forth now between the two, and they both fulfill a different need. When I want fast paced action, it’s MW2. When I want something slower paced and more “intellectual,” then it’s MAG. I know a couple guys with MW2, but no one with MAG, so I’m sure I’d enjoy MAG even more if I had friends that played it, but finding good random people to play with is still fun.

If you can only pick up one, it depends on what you’re looking for. MW2 also has a good single-player game, so that might be important to you (MAG is online only). It also depends on the type of game you want to play. I’ve never played a SOCOM game, but MAG is by the same people. I’d compare MW2 more to a quake or counter-strike style game.

Hope this helps anyone looking to pickup one game or the other.

…one to go! I finished Uncharted 1 yesterday. First of all…awesome game. Great story and acting, and the gameplay was great. Today I dabbled with trying to beat it on a higher difficulty for more trophies…but I decided I’d rather just play a different game to get more trophies, so Uncharted 2, here I come!

I’ve got multiplayer in Uncharted 2 to play, but the more I read about Modern Warfare 2 makes me want to play that too. There are just too many good videogames to play.

I forgot that they had enabled new updates to the PSN Portable ID in the last firmware. Actually, it took them a while to update the portable ID so it shows trophy info…but it’s finally all working! Now you can track my trophy progress on the right, and even click on it to see what games I’ve played, and how many trophies I’ve achieved!

Right now I’m working on Platinum for Uncharted, and then I’ll be moving on to Uncharted 2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 looks pretty sweet…but I think I’ll be waiting on that for the time being. The God of War collection looks cool too.

Too many games, too little time!

For about the last year and a half I’ve been watching the Sunday Comics for good FoxTrot comics to put up in my classroom. Little did I know Bill Amend has been making them since 1988! Holy cow I have a lot of catching up to do!

Apparently there are “treasury” books full of the comics, so I might have to start collecting those. I love that they’re nerdy, about math, computers, video games, and all things geek.

As I was browsing through some older ones, this one caught my eye.

Our summer keeps on trucking along. We’re slowly getting things done on our bathroom. Our tile guy should be able to start in the next week or two, and in the meantime we’ve been deciding on a vanity and counter top. Today we ordered the counter top from Lowe’s. We went with a quartz counter top, mainly because we like the way it looks a lot more than granite. From what I’ve read, it also holds up as good or better, but doesn’t need to be sealed every year. Ordering it was really easy too. They’ve got a page with all the different options from how long it should be, how deep, where you want the sink centered, what side splashes you need, what kind of sink, and the edge of the counter top. Here’s the color we went with:

The tile we picked is a pretty neutral tan color with some dark gray glass, so that will match, and we also wanted something to go with a white cabinet. We think we’re getting this style, but in a 48″ version.

The bigger size should basically look the same, but with 4 drawers on each side. They also sell some nice mirrors that match.

When we’re not looking at bathroom stuff I’m still trying to beat FF7. I’m now on disc 3 and only have my big battle with Sephiroth left. I haven’t gone all the way to him to see if I can beat him, but I’m going back and getting any materia I missed and leveling up. There’s some pretty awesome stuff you can only get by doing some chocobo racing and breeding, so I think I might take the time to get all that before I beat on Sephiroth. When I’m not playing that, it’s fun to jump on Battlefield 1943 for a few rounds.

Not a ton going on here, just getting ready to enjoy a three day weekend!

The hard drive in my HTPC died. Arg! I seriously considered getting satellite, but I didn’t. This is the second time the hard drive has died in the last year. I think the first time might have just been normal hard drive failure, but when Western Digital sent me a replacement it was a refurb, so that’s why I think this one didn’t last long. I ordered a NEW drive made specifically for DVRs, and at 1 terabyte it should hold close to 100 hours of HD video. As much as I hate opening it up and setting it up, when the thing works it does a darn good job. I just couldn’t justify spending $50-60 a month for a DVR with limited space, no ability to edit or save shows, and a channel I really want (Dodgers!) and a few channels we enjoy on vacation.

My proof copy of Terra Nova is still on its way. Should be here Monday along with the new hard drive. I think next time I might pay extra for faster shipping. Here’s what shows on my UPS tracking info so far:

SUMMERVILLE, SC
WEST COLUMBIA, SC
GREENSBORO, NC
COLUMBUS, OH
MAUMEE, OH
HODGKINS, IN

I’m guessing it was on a truck…a very slow one that liked to stop in every city it passed. It left that last stop 2 days ago, so I’m guessing it’s now on an airplane.

I’ve been playing Metal Gear Solid 4 the last few days. I really wish it had trophies, but I already had it, and it’s pretty fun. I have Fallout 3 coming to me from ebay for cheap. My new philosophy is to buy games used, play them, and then sell them and recoup some of the cost. Few games are worth having for a long time anyways.

Pictures of baby soon, I promise!