Entertainment: 9 Tips for Gamers to Save Money in the New Normal

We may be living in the new normal, but some things never change: gaming can be an expensive hobby.

As of the writing of this blog post, Sony's PlayStation 4 is selling at a retail price of $299.99 (17,700Php in the Philippines). The Nintendo Switch also costs $299.99 and so does Microsoft's Xbox One S at $299.00. The price of a gaming PC varies depending on the specs but they usually cost much more than consoles.

Whatever your hardware is, getting into video games now is going to put a $300 dent in your wallet. If you're not careful, buying the video games for your platform is going to exacerbate that dent.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic forcing people to stay indoors, gaming is quickly turning into a recreational activity that more and more people are getting into. Some time around April, the World Health Organization recommended video games as a pastime to stop the spread of the coronavirus. And it's working! The numbers don't lie; the video game industry has been making a killing during the pandemic. 

I've been playing video games since I was a kid. Now I'm an adult and I'm still gaming as a way to kill time. Naturally I picked up on some budget-friendly tips and tricks and I'd like to share them with you in this blog post.

Whether you're someone new to the gaming scene or you're a veteran gamer looking for ways to save your wallet, here are some tips on saving money related to gaming so you don't break the bank.

1. Wait for price drops

If you're on a strict budget, buying a video game as soon as it's released should never ever be an option, no matter how excited you are to get your hands on it. Whether you're buying physically or digitally, a brand new video game normally costs around $59.99 (2,900Php). Generally speaking, the retail price of video games tend to drop significantly after six months have passed since its release date. Waiting even longer -- let's say a year -- will cause the price to drop even further. Some games go as low as below half of their original retail price.

There isn't a fixed time period on when games slash their prices. A good rule of thumb is the better a game performs at its launch, the longer it will take for its price to go down, so patience is the key. A terribly rated game like Fallout 76 can go from $59.99 to $39.99 (1,934Php) in a couple of months, while a critically acclaimed game like God of War stayed up at around $59.99 for a good long while.

Protip for Nintendo Switch and DS owners: Nintendo has a policy of NOT dropping the price of their exclusives. So you may be wondering why that Mario game you've been waiting for is still around $59.99. Unfortunately waiting won't do you much good in terms of budgeting if you're a Nintendo gamer.

2. Buy secondhand games

Want to know what's even better than waiting for the price of a video game to drop? Waiting for the price of a video game to drop, and then buying it secondhand! Secondhand sellers will never sell a game above its current retail price. I once bought Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition, which cost $59.99 many years ago, for just around $10.00 (483Php).

Your means of finding secondhand sellers will depend on your location and nationality. For me, websites like Carousel and Facebook groups are how I find out about people near me who are trying to sell their video games. You can even opt to trade games with people even if I don't recommend that.

3. Sell your game after you're done playing

If you bought a video game physically, you can sell the disc/cartridge to someone else once you're done with the game. Since you'll be a secondhand seller, you'd want to price your video game below the game's current retail price to attract buyers.

If you weren't able to follow the first tip on this list i.e. you succumbed to the temptation of buying a newly released game because you just had to have it right away, then this course of action can get you some of your hard-earned money back easily once you're done with the game. I say "easily" because newly released games are still popular so it's not hard to find a buyer. Trying to sell a game that has been out for one or two years already is much more difficult.

Let's say you bought a newly released game for $59.99. A couple of weeks pass and you've beat the game. Congratulations! You go back to the video game store and find out the game is still selling at $59.99 a pop. You can take advantage of this opportunity and sell your disc at around $44.99 (2,177Php). Once you've sold your game, you'd have technically only spent $15 (726Php) on it.

4. Finish your game

This is one of the more interesting tips because it tackles the mindset of a gamer.

Some players tend to play through games only until halfway through the story before losing interest and buying the next big thing. This is a bad habit that has to be curbed if you want to save money. A game with 80 hours of content isn't maximized if you only get to around 40 hours of gameplay, meaning you will look for and buy another game sooner than anticipated, burning yet another hole in your pocket before you have a chance of fully recovering from your initial purchase.

Sounds like an unnecessary waste, doesn't it? Completely finishing your game isn't just the practical thing to do, it's also a satisfying thing to do. You feel more accomplished after experiencing a great big adventure. It's almost the same feeling as reading a book up until the last page.

5. Buy games 150+ hours long

If you want to be a thrifty gamer, you'd want to develop a taste for massive and immersive video games.

Do your research and read some reviews to find out about popular titles in gaming that can keep you occupied for more than a hundred hours. Games that last this long usually belong to the role playing genre, like Witcher 3, the Fallout series, or the Persona games. These games are great choices because they can tide you over for weeks or even months depending on how frequently you play.

6. Replay your games

Once you've beaten your game, you might want to check and see if it's something you'd like to replay. Most games nowadays have a new game+ feature which lets you play the game all over again while keeping your latest progress, such as player level and equipment, intact to keep it interesting. Other games have alternate endings which make giving the story another go worth it just to see them.

By replaying games fully, you manage to double the lifespan of your game. A 30-hour game that you can replay will last you about 60 hours in total. Yes, this also means that a 150-hour game can keep you entertained for a whopping 300 hours if you replay it!

7. Take advantage of online sales and freebies

Keep your eyes peeled and your ears opened for any news about games going on sale or are being given away for free.

Physical shops like GameStop and Datablitz don't normally go on sale, but sales happen all the time in the digital world. All you have to do is go to your console's eshop, or for PC players, Steam, to find out about amazing deals.

Games that go free and yours forever is a rarer occurrence, but it does happen. EA made Sims 4 free for a limited time in May last year. Sony made the Uncharted: Nathan Drake collection and Journey games free back when the coronavirus pandemic just broke out. Ubisoft made Assassin's Creed Unity free for a moment to bring awareness to the Notre Dame fire that happened last year.

8. Take advantage of sales... but DON'T buy games you aren't going to play

While it's a good idea to take advantage of sales, you have to make sure you buy games that you're actually going to play. The infamous Steam sale is notorious for making PC gamers buy dozens of video games that they're never actually going to pick up. Isn't it ironic to end up losing all your hard-earned cash when prices are actually lower? When we play our cards right, a sale can actually save us money.

The trick here is to have a target, a game that you actually planned on getting, and buying only that.

9. Don't be fooled by free-to-play games

Free-to-play games seem like the best choice for a gamer on a tight budget, right? After all, it's free, and they're normally multiplayer games so they can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment. There's nothing wrong with playing free-to-play games like Warframe, Fortnite, or Valorant as long as you steer clear of microtransactions.

Microtransactions are a way for the developers of free-to-play games to make some money. They usually do this by selling exclusive weapons or armor in-game that can only be purchased with real money.

Cosmetic items like a fancy hat or a weapon skin are flashy but they can be easily ignored as you play. What's difficult with some free-to-play games are the ones that are "pay-to-win". In these types of games, skill can only get you so far. You're essentially forced by the video game to pay up some real cash just to get an advantage over your opponents. Clash of Clans is an example of a game like this. Sure, microtransactions don't cost a whole lot on their own, but collectively they can total more than $60.00 if you're not careful.

Entertainment: Dan the Man Mobile Game Review: Good Retro Fun!

I recently stumbled into this video game called Dan the Man by HalfBrick Studios on the App Store. I'm not much of a mobile gamer but I loved this game so much I got inspired to write something good about it. I did some extra snooping around and found their official website here. Go check it out!

Bright and action-packed!

Let me just get right into it. Dan the Man exudes the essence of a bunch of things, but one of the first things that it reminded me of is Scott Pilgrim Vs the World: The Video Game. For those of you who don't know, that's a game released in 2010 that's based on the movie with the same name. If you haven't played it nor seen the movie, you should check it out. I'm not writing this blog post to talk about Scott Pilgrim though, so I'm not going to link to any of that (I also think it's a movie that you should jump into completely blind 'cause it's more fun that way. The trailer gives out way too much information).

From here on out it's nothing but Dan the Man. From the story, to the, presentation, and then to the gameplay. Lmao just kidding. I'm the kind of guy who looks for similarities between things of the same medium, so I can't help it if my blog post detours into other video games for a few sentences. I'll be going over the story, presentation, and gameplay in that order, but expect me to gush about a different game while I go through them.

Story
I was surprised to know there was a short web series for Dan the Man. I'm glad the game pointed that out. I highly recommend you check it before you play the game because the game picks off where the web series ends. Even though the story isn't very integral to the game, you can still be confused as to why you're doing things or why does it look like you're working with the bad guys.

In a nutshell, the story revolves around Dan, a belligerent fighter who prefers to solve everything with violence. Dan sees his world as if it were a video game, so when he messes up and dies he loses a life and he's thrown back into the past with memories of his previous life. He can then take a different course of action if he wanted to. He meets a bunch of different friends, and girls, and unearths conspiracies as the plot ensues.

I have to say it gets pretty wild though. The content of the web series isn't really for kids *ahem* Stage 4 *ahem*. The game however, tones down on the mature content. Dan the Man isn't the pinnacle of storytelling like Game of Thrones per se, but the web series is ballsy enough to make a few unexpected plot twists here and there.

The first episode of the web series -- aptly titled Stage 1 -- doesn't really show much of the "mature content" I mentioned, but I think it's something both kids and adults can like. Colorful animation for the youngsters and all-too-relatable dilemmas for those 20 years old and up.

Presentation
I honestly fell in love with the presentation of the game. It put a smile on my face when I saw the sprites and the cutscenes of the prologue because it's so unique from the minimalist design of most trending mobile games like Balls Bricks Breaker. Dan the Man's going for a charmingly retro feel and I'd say they nailed that down rather nicely. The pixelated environment is vibrant and crafted with care. You'll traverse all sorts of different places in Dan the Man, and each area sports its own different motif like a castle, the woods, or the sewers. If I had to draw a comparison of the presentation of the game with something that's more or less the same, I'd bring up the classic 2D shooter Metal Slug. I think the creators took inspiration from it; because Stage 1 has Marco, one of the main characters of Metal Slug, making a cameo on the TV.

The music of the game is also super catchy.  Much like Scott Pilgrim Vs the World: The Video Game, Dan the Man plays upbeat, 8-bit tunes as you smack and whack bad guys in the face. The "Stage Complete" audio queue starts to become endearing after a while.

Gameplay
The core mechanics of the game is 60% a beat-em-up and 40% a platformer. Both of which it does really well. The game is really easy on the first levels but later on the casual gamer will have a hard time because the jumping gets trickier and the baddies get tougher. It's nothing a seasoned gamer can't beat, but if you find yourself lacking the skills and the time to acquire the said skills, you can always grind in Survival mode to make enough Gold to buy all the great upgrades.

There's a lot of variety in the thugs that you fight, and you have a huge arsenal of moves and weapons to choose from to wreck havoc on anyone standing in your way. The combat is accessible because it's possible to button mash your way through the entire game on the lowest difficulty setting, yet the game will also reward you for putting in some variety into your combinations.

The level design is also pretty clever. There are challenging platformer sections but they won't be too frustrating. There are also secret areas and items hidden in every level (A whole lot like Super Mario Bros.) so it's fun to explore the different places.


So there you have my short review of the game. What are your thoughts, do you think the game deserves a sequel? Let's talk about it after you've finished the story :)

Entertainment: The Logan Effect (aka the Post-Hero), and where it can be found in other similar works of fiction

There's been a certain trend in entertainment lately, wherein instead of starry-eyed, young, energetic heroes are found under the spotlight, rugged, bearded, tired old men have been the protagonists of stories. Wisecrack's video perfectly sums this up in what they have dubbed the Post-Hero, but they did this by only mentioning Logan, God of War, and The Last Jedi; I can name several more protagonists and shows that fit the archetype and aesthetics as they're more prevalent than it seems.

Images used to create this edit belong to their respective copyright users. Images used below are labelled for reuse.

I've personally dubbed this trend The Logan Effect even if Logan wasn't the first work of fiction to exhibit it. The reason behind this is because Logan might just arguably be the most well-known piece of media if I were to make a complete list. The Logan Effect is categorized most predominantly by an aged, bearded protagonist, well beyond his prime in terms of fighting. He is someone with nothing left to lose. He will often be accompanied by a sidekick that is youthful, and act as an idealistic foil to the  rugged protagonist's cynical outlook. The protagonist of the story and the sidekick will not get along at first, -- there may be some serious fighting between them during the story -- but in time they warm up to each other to make for some endearing character development moments. Also much like how Logan increases the amount of gore compared to its predecessors, those that exhibit the Effect will be bloody. Very very bloody.

Hopefully that description isn't too vague for the readers. Below are some items in fiction that portray the Logan Effect (i.e. they're basically a bunch of stuff with violent old men as protagonists).

1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

Admittedly, this one is slightly stretching it, since the only thing this video game has that can be called Logan Effect-ish is the protagonist. However I do actually think that this is the very first instance of the Logan Effect, way back in 2008. I also believe that this was the very first instance of an action video game protagonist over the age of 50 (Snake isn't actually above the age of 50, but his rapidly deteriorating physiology definitely seems like it).

Metal Gear Solid's 4th entry into the series introduced us to Old Snake. A war veteran way past his prime due to being a war machine born from a test tube. Snake is thrust into the battlefield once more to finish a long war to prevent the proliferation of giant war machines capable of launching nukes. Old Snake was the same protagonist for two of the previous main installments into the series. He still exuded a tough professional sort of personality in the other games, but it was in Metal Gear Solid 4 that we got to see him tired of fighting, and of humanity's insatiable greed that relentlessly innovates and lubricates the gears of war. Old Snake's combat skills have gotten rusty due to aging; he isn't as spry as he used to be.

2. The Last of Us (2013)

This video game has a very strong resemblance to Logan, and I daresay Logan actually took some inspirations from this video game (Even the director of the video game tweeted how much Logan reminded him of TLoU's protagonist, Joel). The Last of Us would probably win against all the other items on this list if we were to pit them against each other based on which one exudes the most Logan Effect.

The Last of Us brings us to a dystopian world brought to ruin by a horrifying fungal infection that turns people into faceless flesh-eating zombies. We play as Joel, an old man who was there when society succumbed to the disease. For most of the duration of the game, he's accompanied by Ellie, a sincere spunky girl. Very much like Logan, Joel and Ellie travel together across the dangerous country because Joel has been tasked to deliver Ellie to the destination safe and sound.

3. Bioshock Infinite (2013)

Bioshock Infinite is another 2013 video game that exudes some Logan Effect, more or less. It's a bit more steampunk and sci-fi than the average story with the Logan Effect, but it checks out because of the reluctant hero and endearing character development between hero and sidekick. The one major crime that nearly disqualifies it from this list is the fact that the protagonist doesn't don a beard.

We play as Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent turned private investigator. He's tasked with taking a woman, Elizabeth, from where she's kept, to Booker's employers so that they can wipe away his debt. The whole task becomes a lot more complicated when Booker finds out that Elizabeth is held captive in a floating city, and she turns out to be far more special and extraordinary than Booker could imagine.

4. Samurai Jack (2017)

Samurai Jack's fifth and final season makes it on this list thanks to its brutal fight scenes that reflect how much the show has matured with its audience, much like how Logan did. Jack's mighty new beard also definitely helps to have it on the list. Although the show's promotional material only show Jack as the protagonist, he's also accompanied by a sidekick after the first half of the season that gives him a new perspective on things.

The show made a big splash on the internet when news of an M-rated fifth and final season of the classic cartoon was going to be aired on 2017. Much time has passed since the happenings of the previous seasons of Samurai Jack, wherein we saw the noble samurai, flung into the future by the evil entity Aku, travel wide and far to find some way to travel back in time. His search has proven fruitless, and Jack has begun wandering the world as a mere husk of his former self while being relentlessly hunted by Aku's fiercest warriors.

5. Red Dead Redemption (2010)

Red Dead Redemption perfectly encapsulates the Post-Western genre, which is where the Post-Hero borrows heavily from as mentioned by Wisecrack in their video. As such, even though the protagonist of our story here doesn't have a sidekick, its story, themes, and aesthetic all make it ooze with so much Logan Effect.

The star of our story is John Marston, an ex-outlaw who quit his life of crime to live his remaining days as a family-man as far away from violence as possible. John's past bites him in the back when government agents force him to work for them to track down the remaining members of his gang, otherwise he won't see his family again. John Marston reluctantly goes back to the path of violence one last time to safe his family and the life he's worked so hard to build.


And there you have it. That's a short list of items I've seen that reminded me of the Post-Hero, and subsequently, Logan. I'm sure if I thought about it more I'd add some other stuff to the list, but I'm afraid I'd be stretching it already. All of the titles I mentioned above work well with a Logan Style Trailer which is a trend in video editing lately. A beautiful perfect example is the video below.



Do you have any other titles that you believe captures the same essence of Logan, or the Post-Hero? Leave a comment below and let's talk about it :)