OK, who here cringes at the money you have spent on video games on any format? Well, we all love gaming so giving it up is out of the question. ;) When the modern gamer spends hours looking at Ebay, Amazon, and other venders all over the net, you might guess he isn't one of those people who have huge 12 foot tall tv screens and surround sound and a video game seat that warms his butt. The modern serious gamer often is too young to have a job... or too busy with school to have a job, or school simply takes up all of his money and his time, or he is an adult that does have a job and does have time, but it's not like as soon as you're an adult you have gobs of money... and the thing is that you don't even need a lot of money to enjoy great games! Would you believe me if I said that great games can be found in the oldies/used games box at your local game shop? Or that you can get great simple, non-flashy (no bs), games for less than $5 on Amazon? When you think about it, you go, "zOMG! let's go out and get some games with this $20 bill I have in my wallet!" Not so fast buddy, don't forget that there are a lot of crappy games out there too. One doesn't just go out willy nilly and buy a really old game! No, if you do that you would end up with the dumbest game and you will cry for wasting your precious gaming time! Do a little shopping around... find out what you LIKE... with the absence of great, realistic, and life like graphics it is important that all of the other elements of the game are great or near perfect. But what makes a great game? Some of you casual gamers, who might play through a whole game every now and then if it takes less than 10 hours, really aren't sure what this means... this never ending battle us hardcore gamers obsess over; protecting the unawares from lame games, saving your money for the good games, and not wasting time that could have been spent playing through every nook and cranny in your favorite games! For those of you who don't want to break your bank you aren't limited in your choices.

There are colossal powers out there, waiting to be tapped, over looked and put down by visuals that entice the modern world ("Oh, shiny!" **runs to pick it up**). People, I give you, ps1, ps2, N64, NGC, and yes, believe it or not, the Xbox is a little fun too. All of these consoles are dirt cheap and have a treasure trove of beautiful and FUN games that are overlooked by people who simply never gave them a chance...

Video games are like music, it may be old, but it sounds the same as when it came out, and the once loved can still be loved now--to some people they can be loved more than they were before.

Ok, you know when you're in the movie theater and there is a part you see coming and you can't bare to watch because you know it's going to be gruesome? But then... you think, "nah, I won't turn away, chances are it'll cut out as soon as the lawn mower gets to him and it won't show anything!" Yeah, well, in "The Happening" it doesn't pay to call M. Night Shyamalan's bluffs as you see a lawn mower slowly make it's way to a man laying down on the ground...