Tom Clancy Round Up

The Goozer Says—Ubisoft is about to add another Tom Clancy title to their library tomorrow. This makes for perfect timing to round up all of the titles: including current values on eBay and Goozex, links to reviews, and a mini-discussion on the franchise and the EndWar demo.

The Tom Clancy titles never got the full respect they deserve from me. I’ve only played Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I loved Splinter Cell and I cannot wait for the 2009 follow up. The game was a good change of pace after playing the CoD franchise religiously. On the other hand, GRAW was a bit difficult, but it was still fun to play, although I never finished the very last mission. I’ll probably still play GRAW 2, but it might be sometime in the distant future.

Rainbow Six Vegas is currently sitting on my shelf. I’ve been holding off playing it until I’m done with GRiD, Saints Row, and Battlefield: Bad Company. Currently, RSV is getting the shaft and collecting dust. But I’ll get to it, eventually, and I’m sure it will be a solid play. Yes, the Tom Clancy titles are good, but there are better games out there.

As for EndWar, I asked two other gamers their opinion of the demo, one replied back saying they couldn’t play it because he didn’t own headphones. While it’s true a good set of headphones enriches the game, you can bypass this option and still play, it just won’t be as fun.

The other gamer I asked to comment on the demo said, “Played a bit, but didn't understand really how to play. It didn't suck me in—the only thing I thought was fun was doing the voice commands. I've since deleted it and have no plans to ever play it again. BAD DEMO.”

He was right about one thing, the demo is not intuitive, and it takes several tries to figure out the game play. I really wanted to like this game. So I gave it several chances. At first, I liked it, then I didn’t like it, then I decided, yeah, I like it enough to trade for it down the line. It’s not a $60 purchase in my opinion or the opinion of the two dudes I asked to comment on it. It appears that Real-Time Strategy games on the Xbox 360 and PS3 have a very uphill climb.

But still, the TC titles are worth playing. And you can get them cheap. Dirt cheap. 

EndWar: Releases November 4

Splinter Cell: Conviction: Coming in 2009

GRAW: eBay $5.00; Goozex 350; Metacritic 90

GRAW 2: eBay $9.99; Goozex 450; Metacritic 86

Rainbow Six Vegas: eBay $10.00; Goozex 450; Metacritic 89

Rainbow Six Vegas 2: eBay $20.00; Goozex 550; Metacritic 82

Splinter Cell: Double Agent: eBay $8.99; Goozex 400; Metacritic 85

Point Drop Round Up

This will be a very quick and dirty edition of Point Drop Round Up. Only two games that TGR follows has anything new to report. All other games appear to be holding steady in their value.

NHL 2K8 is now worth 250 points, but TGR is not surprised, nor do we care too much. Our love for hockey never materialized, and after reading the hate mail we got from the last hockey post, our love for hockey fans never materialized either...

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 appears to have finally stopped dropping in value and is now worth 550 points. For those of you holding out to play this one, now might be the time to request it.

Editor's Ramble on CoD4:
After playing through the CoD4 SP three times, and playing countless hours of online matches, I finally put the game down after close to a year of non-stop playing. Today I put it in the mail after selling it for 950 points. I really have to consider CoD4 to be one of my best purchases ever. The Call of Duty series was always my favorite, and so I never played any of the Tom Clancy titles, that is until recently.

With CoD5 not out yet, and me looking for something new, my attention turned to the Tom Clancy titles. I started with Splinter Cell: Double Agent and loved it. I am currently playing GRAW and have only two missions left to go. I don't love GRAW as much as Splinter Cell, but I do like it, despite it being a very hard game to play.

I am looking forward to playing the first and second Rainbow Six games. I'm just not sure when I'll get around to it.

Point Drop Round Up

It’s time for another addition of Point Drop Round Up. This is the feature of The Goozex Report that lets you know which of the top games are dropping in value on Goozex. These are the games you should wait to finish dropping in value before requesting. Otherwise, you run the risk of buying high and selling low.

Just like last week, Grand Theft Auto IV is taking center stage. Now valued at 900 points, GTA IV did not rebound like CoD4 (even though CoD4 did drop back down to 950 points, it has the potential to go back up to 1000). It seems like gamers have grown tired of waiting for GTA's long-promised DLC to be released and are letting their copies go.

Happy Gaming to you.

• Burnout Paradise
• Don King Presents: Prizefighter
• Fight Night Round 3
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Halo 3
• NHL 07 and 08
• NHL 2K7
• Orange Box
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Grand Theft Auto IV Drops in Value

It's time for another Point Drop Roundup. The biggest news is that Grand Theft Auto IV has dropped in value. That’s right kids, the critics favorite has started dropping in value. It will be interesting to see if it rebounds like Call of Duty 4.

It might be time to request Madden NFL 08. It has not dropped in value since the end of August and 400 points is pretty cheap for a game with a Metacritic score of 85.

Here's a list of games to hold out for because they are dropping in value week-after-week:

• Burnout Paradise
  
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
  
• Gears of War
  
• Halo 3
  
• Orange Box
  
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 2
  

Here's a list of games that have dropped marginally in value:

• DiRT
  
• Don King Presents Prizefighter (I wouldn’t be surprised if this one starts dropping value week-after-week)
  
• Elder Scrolls: Shivering Isles
  
• Fight Night Round 3
  
• NHL 07
  
• NHL 2K6, 2K7, and 2K8
  
• Tom Clancy’s GRAW (I’m currently playing this one, and it’s HARD)
  
• Viking: Battle for Asgard

Point Drop Weekend

Some people call it Labor Day weekend, I’m calling it Point Drop weekend. Of all the games that I’m following, eight of them experienced point drops. A couple games went up in value, like my all time favorite CoD4 (I’m happy it’s worth 1000 points because I still have not traded it yet). Perfect Dark Zero also went up in value; probably because it’s been on the Top 10 lists.

The most notable games that have dropped in value are Madden’s NFL 08 and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

NFL 08 is now worth 400 points. It was worth 550 back on August 13. This game is dropping and it’s dropping quick. It received an 85 from Metacritic, so it might be worth checking out if you don’t mind outdated rosters. My advice is to wait for the game to stop dropping in points before you request it.

While CoD4 is still worth 1000 points, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is dropping like a rock. It’s now worth 700 points and appears to drop in value every week. Stay tuned on this one. I still haven’t played the first Rainbow game, so by the time I’m ready for it, Vegas 2 should be pretty cheap.

Here’s the list of games (that I’m tracking) that dropped 50 points over the weekend:

• BioShock
  
• Burnout Paradise
  
• Eternal Sonata
  
• Gears of War
  
• Orange Box
  
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (dropped 100 points)

The Goozex Report Starts Reporting

If you're an Xbox 360 gamer, who enjoys playing games but does not enjoy paying full price, then Goozex is for you. I started using Goozex earlier this year and I've already played over $600 worth of games for very little cash. I mostly trade my games in for other games.

I take Goozex a step further than most other people. I keep a spreadsheet detailing the game point changes. I want to know when a game starts dropping in value, so I can get it on the cheap. Why spend 700 points on a game when next week it will be worth 600?

In the short amount of time that I've been tracking Goozex, I've already noticed trends. For example, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is now worth 750 points; it started dropping in points on July 22. I'll probably request this one after it stops falling in value. If you continue to read this blog, then you too will know when the best time is to request a new game.

Let's get started:

• Call of Duty 4 has dropped to 950 points. This is the first time Infinity Ward's Game of the Year has dropped in value since it was released. If it's like Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, then it has potential to start dropping 50 points every eight days. I made my copy of CoD4 available back on July 24 and it had a long wait, it's been a month, and I'm now #45 in the queue.
• Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is now worth 750, it was worth 1000 back on July 11, so the mighty are falling.
• Madden NFL '08 has dropped from 550 points on August 13 to 450 points on August 25. I'm guessing all the Madden fans with '09 are finding their copies of '08 are now useless to them. I might get '08 once I see the points hit a low point or start to hold steady.
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 is also starting to drop and is now worth 650.
  

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