Sale: Super Mario Galaxy

I usually don't post these sorts of things, but it seems that Amazon has Super Mario Galaxy (Selects) for sale for $14.99 right now.  This is the lowest I've seen it sold from Amazon so far and I'm a bit tempted even though it might be a month or two before I get my Wii back.  Considering SMG2 is still $40+ I think this is a great price point to get started with the series.

Hey, I've been good so far with the Steam Christmas sale and haven't purchased anything.  That's not like me at all!  :D  Then again I have dropped a good bit of cash on retail 3DS titles in the past 2.5 months. (~$115)

Anyone else tempted???

Merry Christmas!

I know it's a day late, but Merry Christmas everyone!!  I hope everyone had a great holiday with memorable times with family and friends and perhaps even snagged some cool games along the way.  Our oldest is 2 now and it was great to really see her enjoy Christmas morning along with starting to say more real words.  That in of itself is plenty of gifts for me.  On the food front we enjoyed some epic smoked prime rib and have tons left for future use.

We also decided to buy a decent DSLR camera earlier this year and to skip gifts for each other so I have no real gaming news to report.  Though as I've written in the 3DS SwapNote app, I'll probably treat myself to some eShop titles.  (also have $200 in amazon for me and the kids, but may save that for a retail game in 2012)  It's been a little slow going in looking at my options so here are some thoughts.  Feel free to let me know if you have any suggestions and what your gaming Christmas consisted of!

Top of the List:

• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
• VVVVVV (12/29 release)
• Pushmo
• Zen Pinball (maybe a January release in the US)

Not sure:

• Kirby:  The original looked incredibly clear for a game of that era and the 3D remake certainly was vivid.  Though from a few reviews this may not be the best use of my money as I don't have any nostalgic attachment to the series.
• Blaster Master Enemy Below
• Tetris:  Come on, it's a classic.  I played the original GB so much as probably everyone did being packed-in.
• Bionic Commando:  More nostalgia here, though I wish it was the NES version.
• Adventure Island

Club Nintendo Coins:

I was going to have an entirely separate post for this, though the idea of spending coins on downloadable games is cool.  (albeit painfully overdue)  Super Mario Kart, Fluidity, Xevious 3D and Mario vs Donkey Kong are the current four titles for 100-150 coins.  I'm going to skip the dollar vs coin math for now and just land on the fact of getting something for our purchases.

I'm a bit undecided on Xevious and MvsD with the overall feel that Fluidity is the best buy in this group.  Am thinking I may wait until the next group of games appear.

Retail:

I do keep my eye on a number of retail games for both 3DS and Wii, though have no plans to jump on anything in the immediate future.  Zelda 3D OOT, MK7 and Super Mario 3D Land is a good bit for now.

Hiatus / Quick Impressions

In contrast to the massive volume that clearly I'm known for, the near future is probably going to be a bit slower.  Our second child (boy) was born almost three weeks ago and to say things are busy is quite an understatement.  Gaming has been pretty slim, I mean, not everyone can be coffee.

Overall we are getting an ok amount of sleep; it's just rough when it's broken up throughout the night.  It certainly puts a new twist on my late night gaming routine.  Had to go to bed at 9:30 last night; the lack of sleep was catching up with me.

Anyway, I have a number of posts in mind, but here are a few quick game impressions from what I've been able to squeak in.

NightSky headed to 3DS?

   Just like my own personal field of dreams where I was wishing NightSky on 3DS were an option; I see this on twitter. Pretty cool actually, though I'll hold my full enthusiasm for the price point. I'm sure we're looking at something more like $7-15 vs the awesome $2.49 I swooped up on Steam the other day.

   I'm certainly encouraged by this and several other efforts by Nicalis such as Cave Story 3D for retail and the VVVVVV port to 3DS. Let's hope this momentum continues to grow and other developers will also bring their titles over. The "trickle in some VC titles" bit is growing old... (not to mention that we don't need overpriced episodic releases of "House MD")

  Pretty sure VVVVVV is going to be a release-day or soon thereafter purchase and from what I've experienced with NightSky on PC, I'd certainly like that on the 3DS.  Have to wait and see on Cave Story 3D due to the high retail price.

Is anyone else looking forward to NightSky or other titles from Nicalis?

The Steam Beast

That dang old new years resolution isn't looking so hot and now I've gone and purchased three more...  The Autumn Steam sale looks pretty good and as usual you have to watch for good deals while trying not to get whipped into that buying frenzy.

I ended up purchasing three games from my wishlist: NightSky, LIMBO and Altitude.  All were under $3/ea at 75% off which I thought was a good bet.  As is my new mantra 'I wouldn't mind seeing them on 3DS' though that might be a stretch or a long wait.  I also would have liked to get NightSky on WiiWare, but I'm just not going to shell out the money right now.

Hm, there's zombie Driver for less than $3 as well...


NightSky just finished so I'm going to check it out for a second, though that download was very painful.  ISP service is either bad tonight or they're throttling us back..

StarCraft II Sale

That's right folks, $29.99 via their website through 11/28 which was a bit of a surprise.  I believe it started out at $59 a year and a half ago and has maybe dipped to $39 a time or two, but seemed to be holding strong at $49 most of the time.

On one hand it's pretty tempting to get the full version for that price.  Though on the other, I haven't really played it (Starter Edition) since early September and I don't foresee myself being able to dedicate enough time to really make it worthwhile.  Sneaking in little bits of time to play some 3DS titles has been hard enough and many of those I can easily put down.  I know you can save in StarCraft, but it's not exactly the same when you're in the midst of a large build/battle.

Perhaps we'll see similar or better sales close to the time the second chapter is released..

Is anyone else looking to take advantage of this sale?  For that matter is anyone planning to gift me a copy?  :-D

Super Mario 3D Land: Pre-Ordered

Typically I don't pre-order or purchase on launch day, but I've bit the bullet for Super Mario 3D Land today. I decided to go with Best Buy with an in-store pick-up option to avoid shipping delays.  Needless to say I'm excited about Sunday and while I've watched quite a few videos, read dozens of impressions articles I'm trying to keep away from too many spoilers.


Considering how typical 1st party Nintendo titles go, I can't see there being much of a price drop over the next year and I don't want to wait that long.  I also hate to "reward" them for holding out on prices, but if a game is a real hit they aren't going to lower it.  Just look at Super Mario Kart Wii ($40+ 3.5 years later), Mario Kart DS along with the New Super Mario for DS and Wii.  They aren't exactly sporting bargain bin prices some 3-6 years later. It should be interesting how many gameplay hours I get out of it for a $30-40 retail title vs something like Donkey Kong on VC for $3.99. (sunday purchase)


I was also reading a wired article featured on GoNintendo today and they make some good points.  I hardly ever purchase anything on steam unless it's 50% off or more and it seems to pay to wait for the various GOTY or bundles where DLC is included.


Is anyone else planning to buy Super Mario 3D Land either on launch or at some point?  Also, what are your thoughts on waiting for price drops?