Bump on the road

Which turns out to be my thick and pointed head.

I have been mentioning that game trading site with the really stupid name lately, and how I have been waiting for a game to arrive via it, a game called Red Steel 2.

Now I didn’t just pick that title out of a hat, or just decide I liked the name, or whatnot. When I saw the game listed as available on that game trading site with the really stupid name , and it looked like it might be a game I would like instead of most of what is available there, namely stupid sports games, kids’ games, hunting games, and other lame games…. I immediately popped open a tab to one of my favorite Web resources, Metacritic, and looked it up there.

I checked out the score, read reviews from both pros and the site’s userbase, weighed the options and how many of the precious 650 points I got for turning in my precious Twilight Princess it would take to make it mine, and decided, what the hell, I’d give it a shot.

But somehow in my careful research, I managed to completely miss the highly salient fact that the game not only supported the new MotionPlus addon for the Wii, it actually required it.

And I… don’t…. GOT ONE.

So I spent two weeks chomping at the bit for a new game that I cannot actually play. It just sits there, taunting me with its promise of cool and stylish sword and gun style combat in a freaky looking sci fi cum Western setting, with robots in dusters with katanas and other cool stuff.

And now I don’t know what to do with it. I could just list it back into that game trading site with the really stupid name , put it right back into the system, and get my points back. But then I would have to wait for someone to request it, then pay for the postage and the envelope to send it to them, then wait for them to confirm that they received it, and only THEN would I get those precious points back. It’s a lot of hassle and a bunch more waiting, and I am not in the mood for either. Plus, I am growing increasingly disenchanted with that game trading site with the really stupid name and its lousy selection of games that are actually available. Seems like most of the users have the brilliant idea that they will trade crappy games nobody wants for points that will get them the cool games they do want[1], and hence, the games you can actually get (as opposed to those great games you tell them you want) are largely very lame.

How lame? Barbie themed game lame.

Presumably, if the site had a much larger userbase, it would work better. Or perhaps it works better for the PS3 and the 360, which have a lot more keen and hardcore gamers using them and hence attract a larger userbase that is computer savvy enough to find the site and use it right. Maybe it is just us Wii users who find the selection a tad low end. I don’t know.

But I am not eager to extend my involvement with that game trading site with the really stupid name any longer than it takes to get my Twilight Princess’ worth of games back from them, and putting Red Steel 2 back into the system would do just that.

I could take it to Gamestop and see what meager pittance they offer for it. I have been trying to avoid their fell clutches, as someone who lives in the lap of poverty like I do has to try to get the most value out of these games he can. And I in general don’t trust those places not to rip me off, honestly.

I could stick it on eBay. I have never sold anything on eBay, just bought stuff, so it would be a first for me. Should not be a big deal though, and then I could get something like a reasonable price for it. But checking on eBay, that ‘reasonable price’ would be, at best, around 15 bux.

Doesn’t seem like I have any truly good options.

Right now, I would trade it for a really good back rub.

Footnotes    (↵ returns to text)

  1. Of course, it won’t work, because you don’t get the points until someone confirms they received the game, and for that to happen, someone has to want it enough to ask for it first.