Games and Toys (Pix)

I recently beat another classic game from my teen years (on easy mind you... it's been a while). This is still a fun FPS that holds up well, despite a few confusing choices in level design.

I normally don't pick things like this up, but I don't have the original games in my PS2 collection, and it was on clearance at Giant Tiger so the price was good. It comes with two Zone of the Enders games, a soundtrack, and art book. It also comes with a demo of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, but I have that game already (https://www.ipernity.com/doc/derelict/28895177).

I took all these individual pictures for the Colexions.com website. I figured I put them in a collage and post them here. This is my current collection of video games for disc-based console systems. These include PS1/2/3 and Wii games.

I picked up this Skylanders board game brand new for $10. All the pieces were of course included, although they're not all shown here. It came in a nice metal carrying case as well. The kids and I have played it. It's not too complicated, but there is some strategy involved, and with the chance level quite high it can be hard to beat.

With the PS4 launch a year behind us, PS3s will become harder to find brand new. I have pooled together a reward gift card from work and birthday offerings to purchase this new back-up PS3 (in case anything should happen to my now 4 year old ps3). I did the same thing with my PS2 a long time ago and was glad I did as one of them recently gave out this past year. I figured it was a smart move to do the same with this one. It also came with Lego Batman 3, and because it arrived in the mail today, a full day before the game is supposed to launch here. Doesn't do me much good though, as I didn't get around to playing it. At least I got to feel special for a little while. :)

EB Games and Gamestop. We have them spread around Ottawa, Canada and there's some I don't mind going to and some that I prefer to avoid. The ones I do tend to still have the EB Games sign outside. My favourite is EB Games Trainyards. They don't have the best selection but they seem to have the nicest, most up-beat staff among the stores. But recently I experienced some great customer service at the one on Innes Road in Orleans. Here's what happened: I went there a couple weeks ago and picked up the new Wolfenstein game: the New Order. Brought it home and didn't get around to start playing it until just this week. I popped it in ready for an exciting time as I heard great things about it. It wasn't long (less than an hour) before I was thinking "THIS is the game people are saying is so great? It's not bad but so many been-there-done-that moments so early on." It didn't take me too much longer to realize that they didn't put the Wolfenstein: the New Order disc in the case, but the Wolfenstein game from 2009 that met much more mediocre reviews. Well crap. Although I did find my receipt eventually, I called the store before I found it and explained the situation. I told them, if you have a New Order disc in your store with no case and a case for the 2009 game with no disc, that should confirm what I'm telling you. They quickly checked, and agreed that's what happened. They told me to come in and they'd switch the disc for me. I went in today and did the switch quickly. No need to complain, no need to ask for a manager, no paperwork to fill out, no need to tell 3 people my story to get what I felt was fair, and no hassle whatsoever. Now that is exactly is what is supposed to happen. So why make mention of it? Because it's amazing when compared to other places that will make you jump through hoops because staff are afraid to take responsibility or because the company has ridiculous policies and protocols in place. EB Games / Gamestop doesn't always have the friendliest business model in practice, but this is an example of how the staff at a store can make the difference to the customer. In the end I didn't even care that the mistake was made in the first place, because it was handled so smoothly. This is an example of things done right.

So here's most of my He-man & the Masters of the Universe collection from my 80's childhood. I didn't bother setting up all the weapons and things like that, but most of my collection is here. I was inspired to post after seeing the avatar of a twitter user I follow. I lost a few pieces after taking them out of storage about 7 years ago to let my kids play with them. It's not all their fault though, especially where the rubber connectors for the legs had dried up and become fragile. But hey, toys are meant to be played with as far as I'm concerned, and casualties are bound to happen. :)

About a week or two ago I posted a picture of some games me and my kids had a day of on Twitter, and figured I should post it here too! No video games on this day, it was board games, a card game, and even dominoes. We play these types of games often, but a couple of these were a first for us to play together.

Here's my current collection of Lego Dimensions sets. I think we're done buying them. Pretty sure. :) Overall it is a fun game, and what I like about this more than games like Skylanders or Disney Infinity is that these are actual Lego toys you can play with like Lego. With those other games you get things that are more like statues that you can't really use outside of the game.