Tapezilla

On June 2nd, Gamestop will be starting their annual Summer sale. I’ve gone through the list and can tell you that it’s all shit - with two exceptions. Odin Sphere, which hasn’t been under $20 since the Circuit City deal a few months back is a bona fide steal for $18 (after 10% coupon - it’ll be $19.99 for all other schmucks). And if you want to see the sole reason the PSP still exists in Japan, you can now grab a copy of Monster Hunter Freedom 2 for under $20. These are likely to go fast, so make sure you get there fairly early on the 2nd to avoid getting stuck with a $10 copy of Shadow the Hedgehog (I warned you the rest of the deals sucked).

Yeah, not the greatest deal in the world, but starting on June 8th, you can get a copy of Mass Effect for FREE at Target with the purchase of two of the following games:

Ninja Gaiden 2 - $59.99
Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 - $39.99
Scene It? - $49.99
Assassin’s Creed - $39.99
Gears Of War - $39.99
NASCAR ’09 - $59.99

So if you can hold off on NG2 for a few days, and were meaning to pick up Gears or RSV2 at their discounted prices, this isn’t too shabby. Combine it with the $5 off $25 or the $10 off any 360 game coupon for an even better deal.

To those I speak with, it’s not much of a secret that I’m little if not a long time Ninja Gaiden fanboy and hardened ninja warrior.

(Dramatization)

A playable demo consisting of the first level (minus the boss fight) of Ninja Gaiden 2 went up on the Japanese XDL Marketplace this morning, and those of us cunning enough to send our internets across the Pacific ocean have finally gotten the opportunity to see the game first hand.

If you’re the forum type, you’ll note some misgivings floating around about the game and some of its half-hot early review scores… As a long time fan of the first game, and having played the demo through a couple times, I don’t see where they’re coming from. The entire feel and dynamic of the first game is intact, only served up with an exclamation point — Which is precisely what fans of the series want. It’s faster, slicker, the animations even more pleasing, and the violence far more brutal. The dismemberments and obliteration techniques alone add an extraordinary amount of fun and flavor to an already fun and flavorful formula.

Based on this demo, I don’t really see what more fans could want.

With the constant barrage of deals on Xdude Live 12 Month kits ($20 at K-Mart for the Vision bundle right now if you’re lucky enough to find one), there should be no shortage of wired headsets in your closet. The wireless headsets, on the other hand, have been slightly harder to come across - without paying the exorbitant $60 price tag. Seriously, who thought that was a fair price for that thing? Probably the same person who thought $180 was a fair price for the 120gb drive… Anyway, if you find yourself at your local K-Mart, be sure to take a look around the electronics section for the Halo 3 Wireless Headset, as it can be yours for the much more reasonable price of $15. Beware, though - the regular wireless headset will still set you back $60, so don’t go mistakenly grabbing that one. Oh corporate markdowns… you crack me up.

So for anyone who doesn’t already know, which I guess would be everyone, I love both games and deals. Combining those two things gives me a feeling inside that I can only describe as “completeness”. Of course that feeling only lasts a few seconds, and I’m off to find the next great gaming deal. And now, since Tapezilla loves its readers/listeners, I’ll be sharing the knowledge with you. So enough of the nonsense… let’s rap about deals, man.

One of the things I hate hearing is everyone complaining about prices on Xbox Live (or Xdude Live as I usually refer to it). If you’re smart, you never pay full price for anything, and that INCLUDES DLC and fresh games on Xdude Live. While I’m still living off MS points from the Halo 3/MS Points deal from last summer, those of you who are all out can grab a 1600 points card at Target this week for $15. But why stop there? If you grab two cards for $30, you can use the $5 off $25 coupon that’s floating around and end up paying just about $12.50 a piece for your cards. What’s that equal? Well just like that, the average Rock Band song just dropped to $1.25. That huge Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion just went from $30 to a little over $18. And The Penny Arcade game is… well, still an over-priced piece of trash.

And before you e-mail me, yes I’m well aware of the other coupon floating around…

Keep checking back for even more deals… man.

So with Wii Fit’s release today, the Nintendo hype train grabbed yet another passenger as my girlfriend found herself sans $90 (apparently Gamestop got in more than enough to cover their pre-orders). Now with her $95 (after tax) investment, came a fairly large box that I figured I’d kindly offer to carry around the mall since we had a few more stops to make. And with that, I discovered the best way to gain some muscle with Wii Fit - carry that bastard of a box around for half an hour. By the time we were leaving the mall, I had put it down once, switched hands twice, and complained about carrying it far more than 3 times. But on the bright side, I would now kick some serious ass at that “Test Your Grip” machine found at rest stops along the New York State Thruway.