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Recession Gaming Deals: The 360 Arcade Pack-In

If you're anything like me, you probably don't have a lot of extra money to spend on entertainment. But the savvy among us know that it's not necessary to spend the standard $59.99 retail price of a new game to have fun. Everything from Steam's weekend deals to console digital download services prove that you don't have to go into debt to waste away a few afternoons. But sometimes, cutting out the middleman isn't always involved in finding amazing gaming deals; cheapskates are often welcome in the wonderful world of brick and mortar retail, as long as no one knows how truly poor we are.

The Impetuousness Of Youth

When I was writing up my lament about the end of good instruction booklets, it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I don't deserve really cool pack-ins. I didn't really appreciate the work that went into designing and translating the old texts. How many of us did? We were naught but children.

I remember a few years ago, my mother found our old Super Mario Bros 3 instruction booklet and handed it over to me like the corpse of a pet. Every page was marred with angry slashes of red crayon. I'm not sure if I'm to blame or if was the work of one of my brothers.

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone? I never thought beyond my selfish 9-year-old world and even thought that I could someday make a bundle off some desperate retro game collector bulding up an 8-bit legacy for his apathetic children.

Are any of your old games and instruction booklets still in good condition? Or at least, aren't covered in words that will offend your grandma?

The Death Of Awesome Pack-In Material

When I was bite-sized, Nintendo games were a rare treat that came to me on just a few days out of the year. It was always an experience, though. From one bright cardboard box you'd recieve a game (of course), a full-colour instruction book that usually included an extensive encyclopedia of enemy characters and items, maps, artwork and, of course, an offer to subscribe to Nintendo Power.

In these modern times, we get skeletal black-and-white instruction pamphlets contracted out to some godforsaken company without a spell-checker. Instead, we learn about games' hazards and inhabitants through extensive in-game tutorials and the developers' websites. Soon, all that will be packed with game discs will be a voice chip that growls, "Go check GameFAQs and feck off fer Chrissake."

In a way, games offer us more frivolous materials than they ever have, but now it's through digital means instead of collectables. I'm not one to get pissy about the march of progress, but sometimes when I open up a new game and see the sparse innards, the '80s brat in me says, "Awwww..."

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.