Buyer's Remorse #20 - The Trade Deadline

I can honestly say that this is the first time I've come into a blog post to talk about owning LESS games...

Weird.

Anyways, Tommy and had a discussion recently about the difference between being a "collector" and being a "possessor" of video games. I had read some comments online about this and it boiled down to the difference between owning a large amount of games solely for the reason that you did not have them, and having a collection that shows your personality and interests as a gamer. If there is no theme to your collecting, you're just padding the numbers and collecting by volume instead of quality. We like to joke about hoarding around here, but what's the point of mindlessly accumulating games if you don't plan to play them or you don't like the content of the game. For example: I really fucking hate baseball games, but I own a bunch of them for different systems. Ugh, why?  

A great collection could really show a stranger what you are into, and a little bit of your personality, just by looking through where you focus your collecting energies. I think I'm more proud of the games that I really love than the intimidating shelves of volume. I want someone to be able to pick up one of my games and say "Tell me about this game!" and I can answer their request with more details than just "Uhhh, I got it at Value Village for a buck..."

You have to read this in Morgan Freeman's voice...

To make a long story short, we sat and had a few beers and decided to look through our collections on GameFaqs to make a list of expendable games that we planned to get rid of. This would give a little more purity to our collections and maybe net us a few bucks towards something really cool. Before I downsized some games, I did however get kinda drunk and found myself on eBay one night at around 3am. I really need to stay off eBay when I've been drinking. At least what I bought was awesome and well priced. It was disc only, and I made a case.

Drunk online shopping = still a win!

I then started to make a box full of all the stuff I wanted to get rid of. It was about 20 games to start, mostly PS2 and Original Xbox. I also threw in all my doubles of games, magazines, manuals, etc. I got $40 for the box and never looked back. I also sold a 15 year old laptop for $60 and box of lame hockey cards for $100. I felt clean and redeemed. I was also accumulating cash as "The Trade Deadline" was approaching and I wanted a few extra bucks to seal the deal. What's "The Trade Deadline" you ask? Read on friends, and I'll fill you in...

Before we get to the big trade, I might as well drop a few more pics of some stuff I landed during a few chasing trips with Tommy. Check it out:

Monty Python on CD-i? Awesome!!

The most notable scores from above were my first Sega 32X game, Haunting on Genesis, and the Monty Python CD-i game. I'm a big fan of Haunting on Genesis and have been wanting to land it for a long time. I also grabbed a minty cart of Captain Comic on NES just to piss off Tommy.

The final reveal of the blog is the big trade that I made. I was able to reduce my collection of Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 games and come home with a great new addition. EB Games was running a promotion where if you traded in 10 games, you got $200 off the purchase of a Wii U! The end of the promotion was fast approaching (The Trade Deadline), so I had to put my strategy together fast. I traded in some games I was "possessing" as well as the cash I made selling other junk and came home with an exciting new console. I also took advantage of the "Trade More, Get More" deal and ended up with another ninety bucks in trade credit as well. All together it cost me less than $20 out of pocket for everything you see below.

Does it really look just like Buddy Holly?

I've been thinking about getting a Wii U, but I knew that I would have to find one cheaply or exploit a promotion like this to acquire one. All the stars aligned and I can't wait to play it! Overall, it was a great week of spring cleaning and I really feel like I purified my collection to the point where even Morgan Freeman would approve...

Super Robot Tyson

Buyer's Remorse #19 - The Long Awaited Return

Hey Everyone!

Hard to believe that it's been almost two months since my last Buyer's Remorse. That being said it's not like I wasn't buying video games during this time. Tyson and I had put a temporary game buying freeze on leading up to the Calgary Expo at the end of May. During our trip we both walked away with somewhere in the ballpark of 40 games each. However within 3 days of our return we were back out there at our local haunts making sure that no deals slipped past us.

If you listened to the Two Crude Dudes podcast (link in post below) we spent the entire episode recapping the convention and all the hijinks that occurred, so I won't waste time retelling you the same stories. Instead I actually am going to try something new. As previously mentioned on this blog we've been wanting to increase our usage of You Tube. Now that said, unfortunately Tyson and I don't have access to some of the fancy toys and programs that many in the You Tube community have purchased for themselves. Long story short, we're not really in the position to drop $400 on a new video camera, especially when that could easily be turned into new games at the flea market or pawn shops. But we make due with what we have and appreciate any and all the support we get from you readers as well as those of you who take the time to listen to our ramblings on Two Crude Dudes.

So what you're about to see is about a 10 minute video of me going through all my pickups from the last two months. As there may be some people who come across the video who do not visit the blog I did spend the first minute or two quickly discussing the premise of Buyer's Remorse and what we do. Once I get past that I try to keep it quick and not having a little story attached to each game that I bought. I felt that the video format would be beneificial for this entry simply due to the sheer volume of titles that I wanted to show off. By my count there's 67 games that appear in this so in order to hold your attention I've tried to keep the pace up the whole way through. Lastly I do apologize for the quality of the video, as stated I'm using a very cheap camera to film this and being inexperienced at visual media I did what I could.

But enough talk........have at you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SutXzNZelus

Two Crude Dudes - Episode #3 - Calgary Expo Special

Two Crude Dudes Episode #3 is finally here! 

"Super Robot Tyson and Hitman Tommy ventured out West for the 13 hour long drive to the 2013 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo! We bought dozens of video games, met amazing celebrities, and ate thousands of calories...and that was just the first day! Canada's premier comic and pop culture convention was conquered by Canada's crudest retro game collectors. We recap the whole weekend including meeting Nathan Fillion, Eliza Dushku, the cast of the Terminator films, and many more! We also scoured the barren prairie lands for deals on games. Comics, Games, Art, Movies, Collectables, Pizza, Beer, and more!! You'll hang yourself from the Emo Tree if you miss this special episode!"


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Future episodes will always be available here and at http://twocrudedudes.podbean.com/.

Two Crude Dudes is also available on iTunes! Follow this link and then click "View in iTunes" so that you can subscribe and automatically receive new episodes when they are released. https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/two-crude-dudes/id623016132  

We will also be providing more content from the big Calgary weekend soon as Tommy will be adding a "Buyer's Remorse" entry with a recap of the amazing games he picked up, and we plan to release more photos from the show too. We met a lot of great artists and creators and plan to spotlight their work on the blog with links to their sites if you want more information on how to support them. 

Here's a few pics to get us started!

Super Robot Tyson

Buyer's Remorse #18 - Calgary Stampede

Hey everyone!

We are back from our huge road trip to the 2013 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo! There was so much to see, do, buy, and eat in Alberta that a blog post could not do it justice. We met lots of cool celebrities and discovered some amazing artists and creators. We also scoured the vendors and came home with a literal trunk-load of games. 

This week we plan to record a special episode of the Two Crude Dudes podcast dedicated entirely to the trip and all the memories of it. As a visual reference, I figured I should just put up pictures of my giant game load and save the discussion for the podcast. Not only did we hit the expo, but we also manged to dig into some pawn shops and gaming stores during the 13 hour drive there and back. Check out the goods here and then tune into the podcast to hear the stories from the trip!

Highlights Include:

- Nearly dying on the highway.
- Gillian Anderson stares at Tyson's meat. 
- Robert Patrick stoned with Pink Floyd?
- CD-i games mixed in with the Spin Doctors? 
- Fillion Riot!
- Boogie Burger with CABG? (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft)
- April O'Neil is a filthy whore! 

..and more!! 

These were actually found on May 3rd after we got back home, because I needed more games. Yep.

Man, that's a lot of games! Wait till you see the pile that Tommy brought home! Two Crude Dudes Calgary Expo Special should be recorded this weekend at the latest. Don't miss it!

Super Robot Tyson

Come To Calgary if You Want To Live

We leave for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo in just over 4 days. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. I attended the show in 2011 and it's the Western Canadian pinnacle of pop culture, comics, entertainment, art, and collecting. It's fanboy heaven and chance's are that there is a celebrity guest at this year's show that would interest anyone who ever watched a movie or turned on a TV, especially if you are a fan of science fiction.

Now, I'm not a Star Trek nerd or a Star Wars freak. I'm pretty selective of the comics and books I read and I really don't watch a lot of TV except for some hockey and wrestling. I maybe see a movie in the theatre once or twice a year. Basically, besides my video game collecting obsession, my other pop culture interests are more discerning and selective.

...but goddamn-holy-shit-mother do I love anything to do with The Terminator...

The first Terminator film is my favorite movie of all time. I love Aliens, Evil Dead, and Hellraiser too, but in the 1980s nothing could top The Terminator for me. I watched it on Betamax until the tape looked like a snowstorm. It was the first VHS tape I ever owned and I even started collecting Arnold Schwarzenegger movies because he was from The Terminator. I wouldn't call myself a huge Arnold fan, but he just happened to be in some of the best 1980s action films. I watch Predator, Robocop, Total Recall and other classics a few times a year and they never get old for me.

I made the decision that I had to make the 13+ hour drive to the Calgary Expo when I saw that Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor) and Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese) would be appearing. Not many celebrities would I sit in a car full of ball-sweat and farts for 13 hours to meet, but I had such a crush on Linda Hamilton in the 1980s, that getting an autograph and a picture was too good to be true. Robert Patrick (T-1000) will also be there, as well as Kristanna Loken who played the Terminatrix (T-X) in Terminator 3. I have met Summer Glau before from the Sarah Conner Chronicles TV show, and this year's show will also feature Lena Headey who played Sarah Conner on that show. If I could meet two Sarah Connors, Kyle Reese, and Hicks from Aliens all in one day I think my nerdgasm may flood the whole West coast of Canada. 

The rest of the celebrity guest list is pretty stellar with names like Casper Van Dien, Gillian Anderson, John Carpenter, Peter Dinklage, Norman Reedus, Eliza Dushku, Carrie Fisher, Nathan Fillion, Edge, Stan Lee, and many, many more! Check out the full list and details of the show here:

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/     

The whole trip is going to be a weekend of game chasing, convention crawling, celebrity gawking, and probably a lot of beer and deep dish pizza. We have planned and saved for months now and can't wait to hit the road on Thursday morning. We plan to update Twitter and this blog when we can while we are there and I'm sure there will be a full episode of the Two Crude Dudes podcast dedicated to the trip when we return.

When I think of major players in the Terminator (and Aliens) films that I'd like to meet, it does choke me up that I missed out on Lance Henriksen last year...and that Tommy got to meet him. Other than that, I'll be able to knock so many Terminator celebrities off my list in one convention. Hmmm, it kinda seems like I'm missing someone...

Was he killed by a Predator in "Indian Summer"? I can't remember...

That's all for now! Keep watching this space and Twitter for updates during the big weekend! We also plan to hit some pretty dark corners of Canada looking for retro games on the way there and back, so you can count on us to deliver some interesting finds...

See you soon! No fate, but what we make, bitches!