First Hand Experience

There were a couple of Gamecube games i was really looking forward to play when i got my Wii, one of them being Eternal Darkness. I always wanted to get a Gamecube but when Nintendo revealed what was then known as Revolution and many billed the new console as a 'Gamecube on steroids', I knew this was exactly what i was looking for to tide me over till the eventual leap to HD gaming.

Anyways after searching around for bit both on-line and off-line, i was having problems locating this game and decided to turn to any gamer's last resort....the second hand market. Just before you jump into any conclusion, i have nothing against pre-owned games, i think it's doing a lot of good to the gaming community and some of my most treasured pieces of my collection happened to be pre-owned copies too. But there's no two ways about it, among gamers you either love it or hate it when it comes to pre-owned games. Some love the idea of getting these older gems which you possibly can't find in the stores anymore at a much lower price compared with retail where else others loathe the idea of owning a game that's being used or having to pay with an arm and a leg for a game that deemed '"rare". i also happened to be quite picky when it comes to pre-owned games so i have set a couple of limits as to how far i would go to obtain that coveted game. Firstly, I prefer to buy from people i know or at least, games from their personal collection as i would have a rough idea what to expect. Secondly, the pre-owned copy has to come complete because even though the manual is not vital and would probably only be read once, i would still like to keep it. Unfortunately i broke the second rule of pre-owned shopping when i found a copy of Twin Snakes at a local auction and couldn't resist even though it was missing its' manual.

Yesterday i ventured into another unknown territory of the second hand market when the pre-owned copy of Eternal Darkness i bought (from the same seller btw) turns out to be an ex-rental copy! I was pretty dumbfound when i discover this as i absolutely detested the idea of owning a copy which everyone from your back neighbour to your barber probably have a "go" over the weekend for a small fee. To the seller's credit, apart from the disc spotting a few scratches, the box and manual is in pretty good shape. I guess I have something new to learn about the second hand market of games...