Stock

The Truth Behind the Video Card Crisis

March 25, 2023 Editorials

There’s a lot going on right now in the world of video cards, but one of the hard truths that we have to face as gamers is that the actual super truth is that we’re hitting a point where the fidelity of games isn’t utilizing the entire graphics card power and thus, we’re looking at suffering in the video card market for a myriad of reasons and how people game is entirely one of them. People are quick to say “supply shortages” and “silicon shortages” as the reason for video card stock shortages and to a degree, it’s the simple answer, but what if I told you GTX 680s being viable today is probably a lot more involved in why there isn’t a rush to solve a what is now over a year long shortage in video cards. The Bargain Bin’s the Reason The biggest reason behind the ongoing video…

Are We in a Retro Game Bubble?

August 25, 2021 Editorials

In a recent video by Karl Jobst, he proposes that we’re in a retro video game bubble that’s been artificially inflated by the same folks who have done so with coins and comic books. That prices right now are unsustainable and that the market will collapse, leaving sellers with no buyers. Which is kind of scary for folks who love video games and kind of hard to take in for those who are attempting to invest in retro games. Well, when we ask if we’re in a retro video game bubble, the answer is very likely dependent on the game itself and the condition of the game. Loose cartridges, CIB games and games that are new but not graded are all right now showing minor inflation due to higher demand during 2020 and 2021 lockdowns for older games, especially in the Gamecube market. Collectors may have to pay a premium…

RoleGenerator Review: A Free Random Generator Online

August 2, 2021 Reviews

RoleGenerator was launched in July 2021 oriented to helping dungeon masters and roleplaying game enthusiasts with generating a lot of the day to day minutia of their roleplaying campaigns. As of right now, they have 28 modules divided into two categories: Dungeons & Dragons and generic roleplaying generators. The latter refers to narrative content or content that isn’t specific to any game system and ubiquitous across any type of roleplaying gaming. There are modules focused purely on roleplaying, my favorite being the land and event generator which will take a terrain type and generate flavor text and events that randomly could occur which is great for fleshing out tile by tile what’s there (or even in building rooms for a MUD). Their D&D module generates a shop with inventory, which is useful in building some much needed randomness between shops. Many of the modules include in-depth looks what the generator…

Are WATA/VGA Video Game Gradings a Scam?

August 25, 2021 Guides

To save you time, if you define a scam to mean that you give someone money for a service and they do not do that service, then by all means WATA and VGA (Video Game Authority) are not scams. They’re legitimate companies that, if you ship your games to them, will grade your games and send them back based on what services you paid for. Maybe not very quickly, but they do what they promise to do. Now, is video game grading in of itself a scam? A fictional system designed to inflate the prices of retro video games that are becoming more scarce due to the fragile materials used to construct their boxes? That’s a deeper question with some actually quite odd answers. Furthermore, should you invest in graded games? That’s an even tougher question. We will dive into all of them below. If you’re wanting to collect retro…

Should You Reserve the Steam Deck?

July 16, 2021 Editorials

Steam Decks have just been announced and reservations will have opened up at 10AM July 16th. Assuming you have the chance to reserve one, depending on how much stock Valve has. You can reserve one on the following page at Steam and it comes in three models. A base model, a mid-tier model and a high end model. A quick rundown of the three: Base: 64GB of storage and a carrying case. $399Mid Tier: 256GB NVMe SSD (faster storage), the carrying case and a Steam Community Profile bundle. $529High End: 512GB NVMe SSD, anti-glare etched glass, the carrying case, the Steam Community profile bundle and an exclusive virtual keyboard theme. Note, there is a MicroSD slot for more storage. Great Overview If you want a solid professional unbiased overview of the hardware, checkout Gamer Nexus. History & Stock Shortages Valve has failed on almost every hardware release so far, with…

Let’s Talk GameStop’s Impending Doom

January 18, 2020 Editorials

GameStop is the last vestige of brick and mortar electronic gaming stores. It is a business of acquisitions, claiming most other large competitors and merging them into the fold and is on every YouTube and blog’s “Top 10 Companies Soon to Pull a Blockbuster” for the last six months to a year or so. Are they right? Is GameStop about to go under? I honestly am not some kind of market wizard, I can’t say if their current plans will save them or not, but we can talk about what’s gotten them to this point, in context of video game sales (not the whole who bought who what when and where, lots of that is already out there). So this chart pretty much tells a very, very interesting story. The company went public in 2002 at around $10 USD a share. In 2002, we were still in the world of…

Buy an Nintendo 3DS Now As in 2019 / 2020

December 20, 2019 Editorials

Production of the New Nintendo 3DS XL ended in the summer of 2019 and new stock of the device has dried up. The only device in limited production is the New Nintendo 2DS XL, which will continue for the time being, however, if you want the 3D enabled version now is the time to buy. The same if you want new stock of the 2DS version. The reason to buy now is that with production just having ended, we’re at the peak of functional devices in circulation. New stock is at unreasonable prices on resale sites, above the $199 original retail and sometimes even higher. Used devices are for sale at basement bargain prices, such as $89 during the GameStop holiday sale, making them at the lowest price you’ll see them – it’s only up from here. The longer we go from when production has ended, the more devices that…

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island Cheat Codes, Tips & Tricks for the Nintendo Switch

December 6, 2019 Guides

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island is a prequel to the Mario series and canonically likely the very first title in the series. It’s a story of adventure as Yoshi and his friends carry baby Mario through Yoshi Island to reunite him with his brother who has been successfully kidnapped. The plot doesn’t matter nearly as much as the gameplay does. It’s basically the same gameplay from Super Mario World but drastically enhanced, retaining the simple controls and launching the series into a world that’s both dramatically colorful but also somber and creepy and every emotion between. With Yoshi’s Island now on the Switch, there is no better time to revisit a series classic and play one of the most satisfying SNES games out there. You’ve got 48 levels across six worlds to play and with the ability to rewind time on mistakes, a journey only as difficult as you…

The Best Black Friday Deals are the Things You Would Buy Anyway

November 24, 2019 Editorials

Retailers manipulate us and that’s just something that we’ve grown accustomed to. From the primary staples being located in strategic isles in the grocery store to force you to walk past tempting deals all the way to manufactured sales pricing where items perpetually stay at some percent off to give the expectation of a “deal.” Black Friday is no different and it’s a song and dance that retailers use to get us to buy things that we shouldn’t. Here’s an example. I use a projector in my bedroom to watch television because I love the aesthetic. I use a rather low quality projector to add in some “fuzziness” to movies and video and makes it more “old school.” I have a 4K OLED TV in my living room and switching between it and the projector makes me appreciate the TV more and watching kung-fu movies at 720p is just really…