On January 12, 2013, a program kicks off not far from Newtown, Connecticut aimed at destroying "violent media", including (though not limited to) violent video games. Never mind the fact that destroying media is itself a violent act; it's all about the message, that message being that people need to sit down and talk to their kids about violent games. No one knows what about specifically; they apparently aren't intending to send the message that video games are responsible for violence, but it seems unlikely that they're intending for parents to sit down to provide their children with cheat codes. Anyway, it's really great that the discussion has reached this stage of passive-aggressive finger pointing and totally non-violent symbolic burning (because if there's one thing that screams "peace," it's the image of a bunch of books/movies/games being set ablaze to save our children from their corrupting influence) rather than actually focusing on the problem. Even more bizarre, they offer a 25 dollar voucher for providing the violent media. You'd never get that kind of trade-in value at a game shop, meaning that this is quite possibly the best way to trade in your old games.
With December came holiday sales. GOG started early, discounting most of their games by 50%, but quickly stumbled with their daily deal bundles, the vast majority of which were 75% off only when purchasing all of the games in the promo. This meant that gamers looking to get a good deal on a single game they were interested in were faced with the choice to either bite the bullet and pick up a bunch of games they have no interest in (for a price above what the individual game would have cost), or miss out on the 75% off discount. For those with backlogs and thus more than enough time to wait for a better deal, seeing the discount dive back down to 50% was enough to pass on the entire thing, especially with 60% becoming GOG's standard weekend promo discount. As per usual, they hyped up some super-secret thing that turned out to be nothing special at all—in this case, it was an "end of the world" sale that meant that all of their daily deal bundles (including future ones) were available at once, with a single exception. This led to the rest of the holiday sale being repeats, with the one exception being a Dungeons and Dragons bundle that was twice as expensive as a near-equivalent at Gamersgate, of all places.
Interplay, not content to simply make below-average games alone in a corner somewhere, resurrected the beloved Black Isle Studios awhile back without any of the people who actually made it good. The reason for this became clear recently: In order to use its name to hype a Kickstarter-esque campaign. Oh, but it has a twist—it's not actually using Kickstarter, and they take your money immediately. No refunds, by the way. Don't fret, though, because donating has its advantages. For example, did you know that donating earns you access to a forum? Truly, only the fanciest of the fancy pay for things that are usually free. Additionally, you totally get a spiffy forum badge for that forum. Donating also earns you the knowledge that you helped contribute to the maybe-upcoming, totally-not-a-ripoff-of-Fallout post-apocalyptic game, Project V13. If those rewards seem paltry, rest assured that it likely also comes with a first-class ticket to a fiery afterlife for supporting the shameless usage of Black Isle's good name to make some quick cash. Bravo, Interplay.
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