This is where blogs live.
Until news the a couple of months ago that Toys 'R' us was closing down and I read the ensuing comments and reactions from people who were shocked that Toys 'R' Us was still around, I never really questioned the existence of our local store. But, it's begun to quicken its pace on its long, slow march to the retail graveyard, and every time I go back, I'm reminded of the time that I've spent in there, and how that time is coming to an end.
As a part of my not New Year's Resolutions, I've decided to go through my ridiculous backlog of games once in a while and see if the games I bought were any good. The backlog also consists of a lot of games that were part of some BlahBundle or another over the years, some are gifts, and a bunch are freebies from programs like the PlayStation Instant Game Collection. Games like Crypt of the Necrodancer.
I admit that I get a little annoyed whenever I see Doritos and Mt. Dew being peddled as 'game fuel'. There are Doritos and Mt. Dew displays next to or in the video game department of several stores, game awards shows are sponsored by Mt. Dew and Doritos, you can sometimes get secret codes on Mt. Dew and/or Doritos to give you perks in some video game or other, and so on. Mt. Dew and Doritos have somehow become the de facto food and drink of people who play video games, and it really bothers me, but maybe not for the reason you're thinking.
It's kind of hard to believe now, but Laser Tag (or, the more extreme cousin, Lazer Tag) was pretty popular for about fifteen minutes back in the early 2000's. When a laser tag arena opened here in town, it was a pretty big deal.
I was in my local Staples, looking for office supplies for totally business reasons, when I decided to check out the Clearance section. They had the usual stuff: day planners for last year, expired coffee, a notepad that fell underneath a cart and got the cover crinkled up, and so on. But they also had a portable video game player in among the Martha Stewart report covers and the fancy-pants ballpoint pens.
Made by renowned developer COPCEM, no less.
However, it was empty, and I declined to purchase a $3.99 empty case.
I'm not patient enough to gamble. Every time I sit down to play a gambling video game, I get bored about two minutes into it, bet everything on one hand/slot machine/whatever, lose, and then shut it off.
I actually prefer to gamble with fake video game money instead of real money, otherwise I'd be penniless before my first bathroom break.
