We have all played them at some point or another. Guitar Hero and Rock Band are beyond household names; they are worldwide commodities. I haven't had the chance to really sit down and play every single song on Rock Band, but I could most likely beat you at GH.

Braggadocio aside, my roommate that owns the 360 upon which I rock has recently moved out of the house, taking all of the plastic instruments with him. Now if you would have asked me a few weeks ago if I would ever miss these games, I would have quickly responded 'no,' but in these last few weeks of their absence, I have found my fingers itching to tickle some frets. I thought about it for awhile, and decided that these games were probably worth owning in some incarnation or another.

Now upon further inspection of all of the different versions of the games, I have found that it is almost irresponsible to purchase any of these games for the Wii, which happens to be the only next-gen system I own at this point. Not only does the Wii version lacks the digital audio and high-definition video of its MS and Sony counterparts, but also (and most importantly in my opinion) any form of downloadable content. This, in essence, makes the Wii version of the game almost identical to the PS2 version, and to top it all off, you have to pay 10 extra bucks for the Wii version of GH:Aerosmith.

I can't imagine owning Rock Band for the Wii only to hear stories about all of the AMAZING songs that my friends downloaded on their vastly superior consoles. Why would you ever limit yourself to the tracks that come with the game? If ever there were a justified reason to spend money for DLC, I would say that complete downloadable albums (such as the new Metallica album) certainly fit the bill.

If anybody out there loves them Metallica boys as much as I do, or even at least used to, then you are probably psyched about the possibility of their new cd being good. Hell, if it is half as good as Puppets or anything before that, its going to be magnificent. They say its going to be a 'return to their old stuff,' but remember, they also said their last cd was going to be 'good.'

Of course, the guys have not done much in recent years to reward me for being one of their biggest fans. They recorded a horrible album (St. Anger) that turned away newcomers and old fans alike, they sought 'group therapy' in a 2 hour long wuss-fest of a movie called Some Kind of Monster, and lets not forget about Lars' napster fiasco (as much as I would like to).

To top it all off, a Norwegian music site has come out and listed the price for the new Death Magnetic box set at 929 Euros, which is juuust under 1500 smackerels. Wait, WHAT?!? They go on to say it will include things such as a bonus cd of 10 demos, a 'Making of Death Magnetic' DVD and an exclusive T-Shirt. There’s also memorabilia like guitar picks, a Death Magnetic flag and a 'fold-out, coffin box, poster with pictures of the band members.'

I don't know WTF that all means, but unless I am getting the entire Metallica discography, there is absolutely no way I am paying that much for a box set. I can't even remember the last time I bought a cd.



Comon, I still love them; they're METALLICA for crying out loud!

Seriously.

I know that many prominent Destructoiders have already sang its praises, but there is literally no reason that any self-proclaimed gamer should be without Goozex, the ultimate game trading site. Anyone who has been in the business of buying and ultimately selling video games must be familiar with the systematic process of rape that constitutes retail buyback. Companies, most notably GameStop, are literally in the business of screwing you over by 'buying back' your games at a ridiculous portion of the original price. If you have never felt the pang of defeat from one of these transactions, let me walk you through a hypothetical one:

First, the employee assesses the 'quality' of the game; mind you, they don't actually check to see if it works in its corresponding console, they just cursorily scan the disk for visible scuffs and scratches. In my time, I have most definitely sold major retailers broken/defective versions of games and gotten away with it solely because they never test them. The employee then offers you a pathetically low number which he can give you in cash (it is slightly higher when used for in-store credit), which I would like to believe comes from a standardized list of values that is universal across all retailers.

Which, after it is all said and done leaves you standing at the register in GameStop watching them print a yellow price label that is CLEARLY 20 or 30 dollars more than what they just gave you. You summarily storm out of the store, clutching your pithy amount of money that you might use for lunch tomorrow, thoroughly pissed that there is not a better way to turn your used games into better ones.

Well, in case you have been living under a rock for the past 2 years, there IS a much better way to cycle through your old games. They are probably worth more than you think! Heres a brief overview of how Goozex works:

1. You make a list of all the games that you have and are willing to trade. You state the condition, such as "Disc Only" or "Full Package" or "Disk + Manual."
2. You also compile a list of all the games that you want. Literally every single game all the way back to Dreamcast is available; there are almost 5000 trades going on at any single time.
3. When your "Offers" list (the games you want to trade away) gets a hit (someone wants one of your games and the system matches you), you send the game away through the mail to that matched person and receive Goozex points, which are a predetermined value for each game. The particular value of each game is based on demand, availability, actual retail value of the game, and other factors.
4. After accumulating enough points, and after matching with other game-traders on your "Requests" list, games will start coming in the mail! Easy as pie!



Any gamer that is either laden with next-generation shovelware or who wants to start a serious game collection (or both) would be doing themselves a serious disservice not to check Goozex out. The opposite is also true; if a gamer has a huge collection of retro games and wants to break into the next-generation without paying out of pocket, they can turn their old library into a new one. Everything 100% guaranteed, and there is an easy-to-read feedback system similar to eBay's that helps you avoid problem traders. In my six months or so with them, I have had absolutely zero problems with the system.

Thanks to a "Wii-bacle" that left me with a crap-load of still-expensive but shitty Wii titles, such as Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Super Monkey Ball, Mario Party 8, etc, I was able to MASSIVELY expand my PS, PS2, and GC librarys. All in all, I have turned somewhere around 15 games into almost 40; I just found a copy of Tactics Ogre for the GBA and got 600 points for it! To put that in perspective, thats a copy of Metroid Prime, Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, WaveRace Bluestorm, Legend of Dragoon, Doom III, and Rise of Nations ALL FOR MAILING OUT ONE GAME.

I simply cannot endorse it enough. Long story short: turn the games you don't want into the games you do, for cheap!

Do you Gooz?

Believe it or not, I used to be at the forefront of PC gaming. My Starcraft / Diablo II rig was bumpin', and it saw many, many sleepless nights of continuous use. Yet as the years pass and mercilessly ravage my older consoles, they are the least kind to my PC. I could be wrong, but I think there is actually still a GeForce 3 (or maybe even 2) collecting cobwebs inside my computer tower, ready to spasm with flashes of mediocre framerates at a moments notice. For most of the PC games I play or used to play, I never met the minimum system requirements for video card, and have not for years.

It has been equally long since I have stopped by a Best Buy or Circuit City with the intent of 'tricking out' my computer, and I am not even sure if CompUSA is still in business. Hell, I don't even know my way around my motherboard anymore, a former companion of the utmost intimacy. All that looks to change soon, however, with the announcement of heirs to such PC gaming staples as C&C: Red Alert, Starcraft, and Diablo, I simply cannot come up with any more excuses not to buy a new video card. The specs for Red Alert 3 are not even that impressive, but after a brief segment of gameplay footage, I am positive that I want the full experience as powered by a proper video card. It looks absolutely fantastic, as does the gameplay from both Starcraft II and Diablo III; the flow is so smooth and fluid that any sort of glitches brought about by sub-par hardware will be made that much more jarring.

Time to go shopping.

I am in a predicament.

When the 'next generation' of gaming started, I was positive that I would end up purchasing either a PS3 or a 360; the Playstation seemed a logical progression because my library consisted of predominately Sony games by a large margin. Other contributing factors, such as the then-exclusivity of Final Fantasy (still my favorite franchise), and the Blu-Ray capabilities also led me to that conclusion. My roommate at the time had a 360, so I was getting decent exposure to its positives as well; the streamlined Xbox Live, the achievements, and so on. He has since moved out, and I found myself missing the 360. It seemed I was going to have a big decision on hands as to which next-gen console I would be purchasing.

Sometime last year however, all of that changed when my girlfriend decided to 'get me a Wii,' which really meant giving me a $300 dollar gift certificate to GameStop and telling me to go get it myself. All I could purchase with 300 smackerels was the Wii, which pretty much made the decision for me. Back then I was doing everything in my power to avoid gainful employment, which had its drawbacks - I was without any source of income. Also, I was gravely uninformed back in those days because I did not have the pleasure of reading any hardcore gaming blogs. So I thought that the Wii would be a good idea because it was cheap and its innovations seemed novel at the time.



So here I am now coming up on third quarter 2009, only beginning to realize the errors of my ways. Granted, I own Super Mario Galaxy and Okami and SSMB and Twilight Princess, but four games does not a system make. I have spent upwards of 300 dollars on peripherials alone for the Wii, not to mention VC and WiiWare downloads. Needless to say, I could have saved more than enough money for a maxed out 360 or PS3 rig had this 'Wii-bacle' not happened. I am embarrassed to call myself a gamer when my TV is bedecked only with a Wii and PS2 - the time has come to remedy the situation. I have also come into a good job as a runner for a local law firm, which affords me not only time to blog but a paycheck as well.

And so, to get to the point, its time I truly ascended into the next generation of gaming and finally turn that bastard Nintendo novelty off for awhile. That is where you come in. Which system, a 360 or a PS3, if I can only pick one (I'm not getting rich overnight) should I choose? I love the achievements and profile set-up of XBLA, and it would appear that MS has the best availability of quality games at this time. Yet, as aforementioned, I already have a huge library of PS and PS2 games (as well as a PSP) that would wonderfully compliment a backwards compatible PS3. I love Final Fantasy, but it seems that it will not matter either way now.


PS3 or 360?

Justification for your answer is appreciated, but not necessary; you only have to leave 3 characters as a comment, but please, HELP ME!