Two blogs in one day? I didn't plan to make two blogs today, but this is gaming related so I thought I'd share it with you guys. And I'm sure I'll use the above picture again someday.

Today I wrote a blog, which I wrote in about an hour. When I emerged from my lair to go get something to eat, or perhaps a cup of Hot Cocoa, I was told that a package had arrived for me. Happy days! Now this could have been either one of three things: Anthrax, the book I ordered from eBay, or that Anthrax I ordered from eBay (KIDDING! Although you can get a lot of things from eBay, anthrax is not one of them). Well, I looked at the well package and thought:

"They couldn't have found me yet. I've been so careful, so clean. The bank robbery in Philadelphia, the rendevous in Dublin, the showdown in Cambodia which led to my eventual escape in Minsk. They must still be looking for me in Scandanavia. No, they couldn't have gotten onto me yet. And also the package looks nothing like the packages Manuél regularly ships my anthrax in... No, this must be something else. Something much else... "

The package didn't appear to be ticking. That's always a good sign. And when I started opening it, I didn't begin internally bleeding. That's always desirable in recieving mail. Also, it appeared to be much weightier than most low-grade explosives (again, kidding). Well, when I had opened the package and peeped inside, I saw, that it wasn't an attempt on my life, but rather a nice surprise. It was the book I had recently purchased from eBay. What book you ask? None other than Resident Evil: Archives.

Now those of you who read one of my most recent blogs, will know that I take great enjoyment from the Resident Evil series of games (that was a shameless plug, by the way). There also is a series of novels revolving around the series, but I can't tell you if they are any good because I haven't read them. But this book is different. This Book is Resident Evil Archives.

The book is a 304 page reference guide to the entire series summarising the events and biogenetic shenanigans of the Umbrella Corporation from 1960 to 1998. The game also deals with main characters in the series and covers the events in a wide variety of the games.

From Wikipedia:
Resident Evil Archives (Biohazard Archives) is a reference guide of the Resident Evil series written by staff members of Capcom. It was translated into English and published by BradyGuides. The guide describes and summarizes all of the key events that occur in Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Along with the main plot analysis, it also contains character relationship charts, artwork, item descriptions and file transcripts for all five games.

So essentially, its a nice little 304 love-letter to the fans of the series. This book was only printed in English in America to the best of my knowledge costs quite a pretty penny on Amazon.co.uk. £60, ouch. Even on Amazon.com it'll set you back $69.99. Originally sold in the US for $29.99 I managed to pick it up for £10.50 on eBay, and although it's quite heavily used (some of the pages are sellotaped in), I'm ecstatic that I was able to find a copy so cheap, especially since mint condition copies are known to go for very high prices on eBay.

I haven't begun reading it yet, in fact, I'm thinking of saving it for when I go away in August. Does anyone else have this book? Is it good? Bad? Worth the £10.50 I paid? Worth more? Opinions below please! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go lay some beartraps just incase they've tracked me. And I need to contact Manuél to see where my damn anthrax is! (Again, Kidding!)

(Credits: As always, you the reader, Destructoid, BradyGames, Capcom, eBay, the eBay seller, Amazon,co.uk, Amazon.com, Wikipedia and anyone else!)