Watch Speedruns Live

Video game speedruns are not everyone's cup of coffee. Most never attempt one themselves, and many don't even like that people can rush through their favorite games. For most of us though I think it's fair to say they're fun to watch from time to time. It's amazing to watch people blast through games since chances are we've never accomplished such a feat ourselves.

Anyway, I bring up speedruns because Speed Demos Archive is having their annual speedrunning marathon right now. I've caught it for the past few years and it's a lot of fun to watch. It'll be live for a few days and they're accepting donations for charity (Organization for Autism Research). If you're interested in seeing what games they'll be playing here's a list.

I know I'm going to be tuning in for some Portal, Resident Evil, and Hitman: Blood Money.

67 - 50 Cent: Bulletproof

Genre: Action
Rating: M
Developer: Genuine Games
Publisher: VU Games
Platform: PS2 (Also: Xbox, PSP)
Release Year: 2005

50 Cent: Bulletproof is an odd game. If there were any way to describe it it would probably be the sort of thing that musical artists 50 Cent dreams about. I don't know how much he contributed to the project, but it definitely seems like a kind of game made to fulfill some wishes.

In the game you're 50 Cent, of course, and are simply living your life out in your hood until one of your homies is gunned down. Except he's not gunned down by a rival game but some sort of super soldier guys. 50 deduces that there's someone more on his tail than usual, assembles his crew, and sets off to destroy all those involved.

Gameplay is probably where 50 Cent: Bulletproof is the worst so many people have probably never even finished it. It's basically a very simple first/third person shooter but very little is thrown in to spice it up. That means you'll be awkwardly firing at hordes of racially stereotyped gangsters. The objectives, too, are a bit difficult to understand at times. You'll get them all posted to your cellphone but from there it's often hard to figure out where the trigger for them is.

If the gameplay is lacking then why would anyone other than an obsessive 50 Cent fan play? As odd as it sounds, the story is probably the best part of it. Although the first few minutes seem dull, after the catalyst of his homie getting killed, things quickly progress into stranger territory. There are some really odd characters in the cast and it was always interesting seeing what they were up to.

I wouldn't recommend the game to most people but there is something about it that kept me playing. Now I've got to get my hands on a copy of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand and see if it improves upon the foundation of Bulletproof.


Would I play again? No. Beat it.

Yay, Thrift Stores!

I wasn't expecting much when I went into my closest thrift store yesterday. Basically the one incredible score I made there once was a PlayStation 1 development system. That was at least a year ago now and since then the shift has been toward the mundane. Recently, there was an X-Arcade controller but someone grabbed and purchased it about a minute before I could.

Anyway, there isn't typically much here. However, today there was a big garbage bin filled up with boxed (most new) PC games. They weren't exactly recent games for the most part but they were complete games all the same. Each title was a paltry 99 cents. It seemed like a bargain to me so I snapped up a boatload of 'em.

After coming home with my haul I immediately set off to PriceCharting and eBay to see what my sealed games were worth. Unfortunately, most of them aren't worth anything since nobody is interested. However, a handful of the games seem to fetch $15-$25 so that's good to know. Of interest, the one game I almost didn't even see/pick up is worth the most of them all. The Movies: Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack for some reason goes for $35-$45 on average. And yes, that's actual final bids, not just people's wacky Buy It Now prices. I'm quite happy with this and don't mind parting with the game to make back all that was spent on the PC games to begin with (plus some). Besides, The Movies doesn't even work on my computer anymore so there's really no need for me to hold onto the expansion.

Every once in a while there are some great deals to be found at stores. Sometimes I can search for months to no avail, but these moments reinvigorate me. Have you ever found a great score at a thrift store? What was it?