I was fiddling around on my Gamefly account today, and I was surprised to find that they had a full log of every game I ever rented from them, started from 2008 to the present. I decided to use this information to my advantage and factor in how many games I rented for the year 2010 and, based on the yearly membership price, determine if it was worth it. Below is a list of all the games I rented in 2010:

January:

• Darksiders
• Brutal Legend
• Dead Space

February:

• Aliens vs. Predator
• Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce

March:

• Prototype
• Guitar Hero: Smash Hits
• Prince of Persia

April:

• Valkyria Chronicles
• Jurassic: The Hunted
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2

May:

• Lost Planet 2

June:

• Green Day Rock Band
• Transformers: War for Cybertron

July:

• Just Cause 2
• Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

August:

• Mass Effect
• Mass Effect 2

September:

• NHL ’11
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• Fable II

October:

• Fallout: New Vegas

November:

• Modnation Racers
• 3D Dot Heroes

December:

• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
• Fable III

As a side note, I would like to mention that the months of May and June were very busy, as I was actually working the month of May, got married on May 30, and had our honeymoon until the middle of June. I’m just saying that the total number of games would have been a bit more aside from the wedding.

So I rented a total of 27 games throughout 2010, and we can say that I averaged about two games a month. I pay for the Gamefly service on an annual basis and with the 20% discount given for paying for a year at a time, I pay $150 (plus tax.) So in 2010, I spent about $150 to rent 27 games, which came out to about $5.55 a game.  Before I started renting from Gamefly and would go to the local Blockbuster or Movie Gallery to rent games, it would run me about $8.00 for five days. Seeing how I spent $5.55 per game, and kept each game on average of two weeks (technically could keep as long as I wanted with no late fees), Gamefly proves to be cheaper in that department.

Of course, I would never rent 27 games a year from a retail store…maybe 10 a year. So one could argue that Gamefly is more expensive because it technically makes me rent more than I normally would. While that is true, Gamefly does have one more savvy detail to bring it over the top: it is the cheapest place to purchase games. While I could look at all the games I rented in the past year, I could also look at all the games I purchased from Gamefly in the past year. I paid $7 for Ghostbusters and Lost Planet 2 last year, which is probably $10 cheaper than I would be able to get a used copy at Gamestop. I also purchased WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 from Gamefly the day it came out. While Amazon and other retailers charged $56-60 for it, I got it from Gamefly for a total cost of $45.89, clearly making it the cheapest place to get this new release the day it came out.

Finally, Gamefly does save money by stopping me from buying games that I would have purchased used from Gamestop if I didn’t rent from Gamefly. Some classic examples are the Mass Effect and Fable games. I had just won a 360 in August, so I had a need to catch up on 360 exclusives I had missed out on. If I didn’t have Gamefly, I would have went out to purchase Mass Effect, Fable, and probably some other games. But thanks to Gamefly, I was able to rent them and enjoy them at my leisure without having to make a purchase.

You can say that $150 is pretty steep to spend for games. But when you think about it, the average game costs $60, so you would be spending quite a bit if you wanted to play games when they first come out. With Gamefly I’m able to rent them the day they come out and then send them back when I’m done. I’ve done it for Smackdown vs. Raw 2010, Aliens vs. Predator, Two Worlds II, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Fallout: New Vegas, and more. While it would have cost me quite a bit to get purchase these games the day they came out, I was instead able to get them, play them, and then send them on their way, and it cost me only $5.55 a game!

I think that, after looking over my 2010 Gamefly rental and purchase history, I can confidently say that Gamefly is a must for today’s gamer. I’ve praised them many times in the past, but looking at the information above, I think it speaks for itself that Gamefly is the cheapest way to play as many of today’s games as possible.

If you want to try Gamefly free for one month, shoot me an e-mail at rob@bigbadbob113.com and I’ll send you a referral link so that you can try the service for a month.

Shell was in Vegas this past weekend visiting with her family and throwing her sister a surprise baby shower. That left me alone for the extended weekend, which proved to be the perfect opportunity for me to throw a “Guys Weekend In” and have my friend Steve come up from Middytown. The weekend was full of gaming, cheesy movies, geocaching, hockey, and lots more. I fine time was had by all.

The main event of the weekend was WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. I had created a co-op storyline for Steve and myself which followed our rise to the top, and eventually to the tag team titles. The storyline had everything: action, suspense, treachery, comedy, and more. It also included a variety of tag team matches of varying degrees, all culminating in a massive Hell in a Cell match at the PPV for the tag team titles. We also played plenty of exhibition tag team and other matches, including Royal Rumble, Table, Money in the Bank, Elimination Chamber, and many others. WWE SvR 2011 was clearly the winner this weekend.

Another great title we played was Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light on the 360. This was my first time playing in co-op, and it literally blew the single player experience away. The game is so much better in co-op, as you really need to work together with the abilities of both players in order to solve the puzzles, as opposed to Lara having tons of abilities on her own in the single player game.

Other 360 games we played included Left 4 Dead 2, Castle Crashers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The 1989 Arcade game. We had a blast since this was not only my first time playing these games with someone else, but also because it was some of Steve’s first 360 experiences.

The PS3 also saw some additional action. We played some co-op in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Final Fight: Double Impact, as well as some competitive in gaming in Modnation Racers, 3 on 3 NHL Arcade, Peggle and Street Fighter Puzzle Fighter. Steve also checked out a bit of Fallout: New Vegas, which will probably get him rocking on my copy of BioShock 2 so that he can give it back to me and borrow New Vegas next. All in all, we had plenty of gaming this weekend.

However, gaming was not the only thing that Guys Weekend-In was about. We also watched plenty of crappy movies and television, thanks to Netflix Instant streaming. Once late-night delirium set in, we turned to Netflix for some mindless, ridiculous media entertainment, and we found it. We watched “Fritz the Cat”, which was some weird hippy cartoon/adult-film that was one of the oddest movies I’ve ever seen. The next night we watched “Little Bigfoot”, which was selected based on my Sasquatch fetish, and was a family flick starring a very disturbing-looking child Bigfoot. Sunday we spent part of the day watching “Dead Snow”, which was a foreign horror film about Nazi zombies that rise from the dead to search out the recently-discovered Nazi gold cache from WWII. We also watched some cruddy old school cartoon shows including the Super Mario Bros. Super Show and The Ghostbusters…but not the one based on the Bill Murray Ghostbusters. This Ghostbusters is an older, and totally separate, entity which has two guys and a gorilla combating a robot ghost.

On Saturday night we headed over to the Times Union Center to see the Albany Devils take on the Rochester Americans. I’ve been to a few AHL hockey games at this arena, but this was definitely the most intense game I’ve seen. The two teams must have a heated rivalry, because there were a ton of fights and plenty of penalties going on in the game. Unfortunately, the Devils ended up losing 4-6 in the end, but it was a great game to watch.

We also spent Sunday morning geocaching in the East Greenbush Town Park. Steve wanted to drop off a travel bug he had, and I wanted to knock off two more caches that were there. I’ll post up another blog at some point that will have a more detailed account of our adventure, as well as some pics.

This weekend was a big change of pace for our Guys Nights, as they are usually totally devoted to games. We did a lot of other things this weekend, and I enjoyed it. It was nice to get out of the house and be out and about doing things other than just sitting on the couch playing games. Now to wait another bunch of months for the next one…

I enjoyed the single player campaign and the online co-op modes for the Ghostbusters game. However, I wasn’t keen on dropping $40+ for it. Today, Gamefly sent me a list of their April Bargain Bin games, and Ghostbusters was listed for $11.69. After my $5.00 coupon I had for them, the total for the game came out to $7.23 (including .54 for tax.) $7.00 is totally worth it for such a fantastic game! I look forward to playing through the game again and picking up trophies I missed out on during my first playthrough.

Today was Gamescom, which is some kind of video game thingy in Europe. Anywho, Sony used it to release some interesting information.

First and foremost is that not only is the PS3 getting a price cut, they are also introducing a slim model. This is cool because the current one is so freakin big and bulky. As far as the price goes, its about time. The PS3 default console will now be $299, a $100 price cut. This is essential, because for the longest time the PS3 was soooo much more expensive than the 360. Now the PS3 can compete more directly with the 360 as far as price goes.

They will also be revamping the XMB with a firmware patch which will be released on Sept. 1. Should make things like the friends list and trophies more user friendly and easier to view.

There was also some PSP news, which I didnt care as much about since I think the DS > PSP. However, one cool feature is that you can view comic books on the PSP now, which I think is pretty neat. I think that, to me, the PSP is kinda like a whole other console, in which you really have to put a lot of time into playing the games. As in, the games are pretty in-depth. The thing about the DS is that its casual, made for quick gaming on the go. I like the DS better than the PSP for this reason and others.

So there were some good reveals at Gamescom. Of course, they missed out on the most important: VOICE CHAT!!! To this day I still cannot believe that I cant be playing a single player game and chatting with someone else playing a different single player game. This is my biggest complaint with the PS3 to this day. I just want to be able to sit back and play inFamous one night while talking to Steve as he plays Ghostbusters. Is that so much to ask Sony? Is it???

Steve came up this weekend, and we had ourselves an old-fashioned game night. Aside from playing PS3, Wii, and DS, we also went out to snag some sushi and caught Transformers 2.

Heres the games we played:

PS3:

• Streetfighter IV
• Mortal Kombat II
• Punisher: No Mercy (pass and play)
• Battlefield 1943

Wii:

• Ghostbusters
• Boom Blox Bash Party
• Ghost Squad
• Mario Strikers Charged
• Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball
• Madworld
• Tetris Party

DS:

• N+
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
• Pictochat

We didnt get as much gaming in as usual, but a great time was had by all.  I hope to get in one more gaming night later this summer.

I beat the game last night, and then played a bit more of the online co-op with Steve, so now its on its way back to Gamefly.

I was tempted to purchase it. It was a very fun game. The campaign mode was great, and was supported with an awesome storyline and combat system that actually made you “feel” like a Ghostbuster. The online mode was differentiated enough to warrant many playthroughs, as the random modes and maps made each round unique.

However, in the end, there were a few things that stopped me from making the purchase. First and foremost, I was not keen on dropping $40 for a game. But also, I was a bit disappointed at times with the campaign. For starters, why the heck not make it co-op. For about 95% of the game there is always another character on the screen with you. Just make it so that someone else can play as him. If the campaign did have co-op, I would have made the purchase without a second thought.

Also, the campaign mode was very short. It was a bit too quick to get through, and only had something like five stages (I forget exactly how many). While it was an awesome story, it could have been longer. Thus, the lack of co-op and a short playthough make the game, to me, have a low replay value. While the co-op mode is interesting, it is not expansive enough to warrant making the purchase solely on that.

For example, with Resistance 2, there is the single player campaign, and the co-op consists of several different missions across something like five maps. So even if the campaign sucked (which it somewhat does, compared to the first Resistance), the co-op is so awesome and the replay is so high that it warrants a purchase just for the co-op. Unfortunatley, Ghostbusters does not fit into this catagorey, so while the co-op is fun, it is not fun enough to convince me to purchase the game.

So I want to take this time to thank the Ghostbusters game. For about two weeks it instilled me with a lot of fun times, both online and offline, with myself and with friends. And Im sure that if I happened to walk into Gamestop sometime in the very far future and find a copy for $20 or so, I will most definitely pick it up. But for right now, it is my sad opinion that Ghostbusters does not warrant purchase. There are other games with higher replay values out there that should be purchased in its stead.

Dont take this the wrong way though. Ghostbusters is an awesome experience, and should not be missed. So go out and rent it, or if you have some extra cash squirrelled away, then go out and buy it. Its not a game you can hate, but one that may leave you a tad disappointed, as there were such little, simple things that could have been included to make it the game of the year.

Shell and I were pretty busy today.

My family from New Hampshire are coming down tomorrow, so we spent the day preparing the apartment. Before the cleaning began, we had to run some errands in the morning and do food shopping for tomorrow. As we walked into Wal-Mart we got caught in the middle of a hail storm, but it wasnt too bad. It rained on and off a bit the rest of the day.

When we got back we ate lunch, and then got down to cleaning. I think I found enough of Loki’s hair that, if I combined it all, I could make a Loki clone. Shell did lots of cleaning, and is baking a cake now. Tomorrow morning she’ll make up a nice batch of baked ziti. YUM!!!

Despite how busy we have been, I still got in a few hours of Ghostbusters, Sacred 2, and Resistance 2.

So Steve and I got around to playing Ghostbusters the past couple of nights. It was a pretty fun experience.

The way it sounded, I initially assumed that the Ghostbusters online co-op would be like that of Resistence 2- a bunch of short mini-missions. However, thats not how it works out. The basic set up is that you start a round with up to three others, and play three random (or you can select them) mini-games. Each player chooses one of the four original Ghostbusters (or the new and horrible “Rookie” character) and you and your team work your way through the three stages. Each stage is basically like a different mode.

Each stage follows the same basic premise. If your player gets knocked out, you can either have a fellow ‘Buster revive you, or wait 25 seconds for the auto-revive. However, if all four players become knocked out, then the stage ends. Also, each stage has power-ups for new weapons, as well as a force field-like bubble. Also, as you bust ghosts, you receive cash. Cash is not used to purchase anything, but instead seen as your “score”. A higher score unlocks new uniforms and “titles”, such as “Ghostbuster of the Year.” These do not help you in-game, but are purely for leader boards and bragging rights.

Survival mode is by far my favorite. You and your team basically have to try and survive several waves of ghosts and destructible enemies. Each progressing wave consists of tougher ghosts as well as more of them. The final waves are pure chaos, as the screen is filled with many ghosts who wont go into the traps without a fight.

Containment mode is, in my opinion, the most challenging. You and your team have two minutes to trap as many ghosts as possible. As you trap ghosts, you get precious seconds added back to the timer. When the timer reaches 0, its stage over. I find this the most challenging due to the rushed pace and limited time, and thus the least enjoyable.

Destruction mode is also a blast. Basically, there are these green relics which appear on the map, and you and your team have to destroy as many as possible within five minutes. The trick is that the relics spawn ghosts, so they are usually heavily guarded. However, once you destroy a relic, the associated ghosts will disappear, thus the trick is to not waste time on trapping ghosts, but smashing their relics.

Thief mode was decent. There are four artifacts you must protect from ghosts who will attempt to swoop in, snag them, and take off. So you just sit around and blast ghosts as they come in. If one does grab one, you can destroy it in order to retrieve the artifact.

There is also a fifth mode titled Protection, but I havent gotten around to playing it yet.

So what do I think of it? While its not a co-op campaign, the modes are still entertaining. The single-player campaign is a lot of fun, but short, and does not leave much for replay value. The online co-op is what gives this game life, and more importantly, replay value. The co-op mode saves the game, and warrants a purchase.

So I put about an hour into the game so far, so heres a quick thought on it.

First off, I like it. I think the graphics, voice acting, and everything else is presented in a great way, which I think does reflect, to a degree, the Ghostbusters.

The single player gameplay is of course the heart of the game. You play the new Ghostbusters recruit, so you run around with the four other guys. I didnt like this idea at all. First off, you’re not even given a name. When they attempt to introduce your character, Venkman jumps in and says, “I dont want to know any names.” I thought this was very lame. I dont see why you couldnt just alternate between playing one of the four Ghostbusters, since your character is always paired up with at least one of them.

Now as for the gameplay itself. Obviously, you are busting ghosts. You use the main proton gun to weaken the health of the ghosts. Once they are weakened enough, the beam switches to a containment beam, which acts as a lasso. You can then whip the ghosts around the room, slamming them into the environment to further weaken them. Once they are weakened enough, you can throw down a trap, direct the ghost over the trap, and then direct him into the trap. To break up the ghost catching, at times there are general enemies which you will just have to blast until you destroy them.

Also, you spend a lot of time ghost hunting. You need to use the PKE meter to track a ghost down. For example, at times ghosts are hiding in objects or something, so you have to scan it with the PKE meter in order to flush them out so you can start busting them. You also use the PKE meter to scan the environment to get data on the ghosts, as well as unlockables and other bonus content. As you bust ghosts and such, you get money, which can be used to purchase upgrades for your beams and traps.

A few things I’d like to whine about. First, is the lack of a save point. Not so much that I cant save manually whenever I want, or that I need to find a place to save the game, but the fact that I dont know when the game is saving at a checkpoint. Thus, if Im playing, and I want to finish, I dont know when its safe to turn the game off, because I dont know where the last checkpoint was.

I also found the ghosts to be somewhat of a pain in the butt. They will charge you and knock you down, and the thing is that they do it so fast, with little warning. In most games, you can get a sense of a pattern or something, so you know when an enemy will attack. But not here, you will find yourself knocked to your ass several times out of nowhere.

Overall, its fun, and Im enjoying it. Its definitely got a staying power, and I’ll hold onto it until I at least complete the single player campaign. Hopefully at some point I’ll get to check out the online multiplayer modes.

I’ll pop up a fuller review later on, but so far the game is awesome.

Gamefly delivered, and the game is installing as I type. Has a pretty big install. Oh well, whatevs. Im excited.

Time to save the city.