Goozex Trade Credit Sale

Kube00 Says: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Goozex is cutting their prices on trade credits by 50%. What is a better gift for your loved one on Valentine’s Day than credits!

Trade credits are used to get games from Goozex. Trade credits are worth a dollar. You give them to Goozex in exchange for using their wonderful, reasonable, and fast trading system. For example, say you are in line to get that copy of Resident Evil 4; currently that will cost you 200 points plus a trade credit. That’s a good deal, at retail, most copies are still $9.99-$14.99.

Spring and summer are rapidly approaching and that means more new releases are coming soon. The summer is a great time to game and you can find great deals. The sale is an excellent opportunity to stock up on credits for all your summer trading.

Also, The Goozex Report is looking for more writers. If you want to write for us, drop us a note.

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The Influence Factor of Splatterhouse

Kube00 Says: I was poking through Game Informer when I noticed they had a piece about a new 3D looking Splatterhouse game coming to the PS3/360 this summer. I thought this was article worthy. For those of you who don’t know, Splatterhouse was an arcade action-adventure game made by Namco in the late 80’s. This so-called new Splatterhouse is a remake of the original 1980’s arcade version.

The original was later ported to the PC and TurboGrafx-16 systems; who even owned a TurboGrafx-16? Remakes of Splatterhouse 1 for TurboGrafx-16 and 2 for Sega Genesis have come to the Wii’s Virtual Console for a very reasonable amount of Goozex points. A third Splatterhouse was also developed in 1993 and debuted on the Sega Genesis.

Splatterhouse follows the story of Rick who, with his girlfriend Jennifer, seeks shelter in a mansion from a storm. Rick is knocked unconscious and Jennifer is mauled and kidnapped. Rick, while searching for Jennifer, finds the “terror/hell mask” and he puts it on. The mask grants him incredible strength. He then crushes monsters and tries to rescue Jennifer. It’s not that deep of a story, and by today’s graphics, the game looks simple. The sequels were more or less the same with updated abilities, weapons, and gore. The modern-day remake sticks to a similar plot but focuses on combos and getting makeshift weapons.

So what gaming genre is Splatterhouse? Is it an action game? Is it survival horror? Sega-16.com (a wonderful site with lots of 16-bit gaming goodness) states that it was directly influenced from 80’s horror movies. The violence and gore in the original was leaps and bounds above and ahead of Mortal Kombat and succeeded in getting Splatterhouse banned in many kid-friendly U.S. arcades. When the series came to the Genesis there was a warning label about the themes and the violence. In 1993, the game became part of the Senator Lieberman’s witch-hunt, joining games such as Night Trap and Mortal Kombat. In response, a Splatterhouse ad read, “Splatterhouse 3 for the Sega Genesis is the kind of game rating systems were invented for.” By the time the third game came out, the game was more or less a full-fledged beat ‘em up much like Final Fight.

After going back and re-playing a few levels of number 2, I’ll have to say it does feel like a 1980’s horror flick. And although I would love to say it was the predecessor to Survival Horror games like Resident Evil, I’m not so certain. Although, there are a few things in the game that might have inspired some of the games we enjoy today. Splatterhouse had creepy, eerie music and sound effects, creating the terrifying atmosphere, and the feeling of hopelessness and loneliness. Will you reach Jennifer in time? When you’re a 12-year-old kid playing this, and the in-game walls are oozing and two headed monsters are chasing you, you start to sweat a little. All of this is replaced with the grim satisfaction of smashing monster’s heads in. Most of the time you feel overwhelmed by enemies, and although there are no puzzles, you still have to find your way around the Mansion.

Let’s do a quick comparison to Resident Evil 1:

• Creepy music and sound effects aka the moans of Zombies: Check
• Navigating a Mansion: Check
• Feeling great after blasting a monster with shotgun: Check

The similarities end there though, as Resident Evil has an interesting and twisted plot, lots of sequels, weapons, puzzles, multiple characters, etc. People say Alone in the Dark was more of an influence. But what can I say if you’re looking for a different 2D side scroller action game then look no further, as Splatterhouse still has a few punches to throw.

I Just Want to Play the Game, Not Sell It…

Kube00 Says: It’s funny how eBay becomes the dumping ground for a lot of older “rare” games. Most of these games I enjoyed playing as a kid, and eventually, I gave away to my neighbors. DOH!

A good example is Final Fantasy VII which fetches anywhere from $50-$70 or more if the game is sealed. I guess I should have held onto my copy for a few more years.

I’ll admit, after getting rid of my own copy many years ago, I’ve found and sold several FFVII’s. But honestly, the game is not that rare, outside of eBay, it’s cheap to find and there are plenty of copies available. It is a great game and one of the best Final Fantasy’s out there.

Wanna save yourself a few bucks? Go with the PC version, its $30 on eBay and only 650 points on Goozex, although it’s not available right now.

Another more recent example of a “rare” game is Gripshift for the PSP. I’ll be the first to say that it is a terrible game. In fact, less than a year ago, copies were less than $5 in the clearance bins at most retailers. But within the last few weeks eBay has seen prices go as high as $120 for a single copy, although since then, the market has been flooded and the price has come down to $30-$40. Without going into too much detail, Gripshift is needed for PSP 3000’s. But unlike FFVII, where most people want to have it to complete their collection or to play, no one wants Gripshift because it is an “epic” game. This just goes to show that the value of something can change rapidly even if it sucks.

I can understand how older cartridge games are rare. Most of these will never be printed again; some may come out on the Virtual Console or Xbox Marketplace, which only seems to drive their value up even further. How does that work? You can play it again, so why the sudden value jump? Some of the Super Nintendo games are worth a few bucks here and there; just don’t expect your copy of “Super Adventure Island” to be worth anything more than a few dollars.

But the point is why do we as consumers feel the need to have the original sealed copy of a game if we are never going to play it? Wouldn’t it be nice to have something that was cheaper to obtain just so we could play it?

This is where Goozex shines. Goozex is one of the only places I can find decent copies of older games to play. A good example is Twisted Metal 2 for Playstation 1. It’s hard to find on eBay and most Brick and Mortar stores consider it a “rare” game and won’t sell it to me for less than $30. Well, on Goozex it’s readily available for 150 points with lots of copies. So next time you want to play that last gen game that is nowhere to be found and eBay is price gouging, check Goozex, you might be pleasantly surprised.