Tips For Your New Video Games
How to beat even the toughest titles
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 If you get stumped, look
online: plenty of sites contain
gaming hints, maps and more |
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January 16, 2004
Get Some Guidance. Are you stumped by a puzzle in Zelda or tired of getting trounced in Madden? You could buy a hint guide, but why pay when the best tips cost nothing? There are gamers far more obsessive than you who write point-by-point walkthroughs, illustrate maps, and compile lists of secret cheat-codes for any game you can think of and post them online for free at gamefaqs.com. For personal help, take your questions to the site's game-specific message boards.
Accessorize. Perhaps you've decided you should play your new racing game with one of those steering wheel game controllers or would like to invest in a carrying case for your Game Boy. Check out GameStop.com, which does the best job of organizing by category and allowing for comparison shopping.
Trade In and Trade Up. You solved Grand Theft Auto in a week. Now what? Most game retail chains, including the big two nationals, Electronics Boutique and GameStop, will buy back opened games for up to almost half of current retail price. Penny-pinchers may prefer using eBay, where bidders will happily pay full price, but only the stores will be willing to pay for your worst titles. Better still, the shops will let you trade up for games of equal value. Two or three duds can usually get you the best title on the shelf.
Get Online... By Any Means Possible. With all the hype about online gaming, you may be surprised at how many video games are still offline. The good news: there are ways to trick certain offline games into working online. Any LAN-compatible offline game, including Halo and Tony Hawk Underground, both for Xbox, along with Mario Kart and some others on GameCube, can be played online with the help of a PC and some software. Check out gamespyarcade.com for Xbox help and head over to WarpPipe.com to find out how to fool your GameCube.
Don't Miss the Deals. Experienced shoppers know the real Christmas sales occur after Christmas. Here are some of the best:
• Many stores are now bundling the newly released, highly-acclaimed but undersold Prince of Persia with a free copy of one of 2002's best, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
• In one of the fastest discounts for a holiday title ever, the price of Beyond Good and Evil, another highly-praised shelf-warmer, has been dropped in many places to as little as $10.
• The Zelda Collectors Disc, for GameCube only, plays most of the acclaimed Zelda titles ever made and can be obtained in several ways, one of which involves registering games you may already own. Check out Nintendo.com for more details.
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