the grunter

In November 2007, Mass Effect was released worldwide. A collector’s steel box edition was made in small quantities and available for online pre-orders only at certain retailers, as well as on shelf in selected stores in Europe.

Now this right here is a copy of the collector’s edition of Mass Effect sitting on my shelf of games.

Correction – this right here is an opened copy of the collector’s edition of Mass Effect sitting on my shelf of games.

Question: How much in value has this version of the game gone up over the mere 3 years of release?

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Before the winter holidays of 2010, EA Canada distributed a special production of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, the game with the highest metascore according to Metacritics among all the EA 2010 titles. This edition is not for personal orders by employees or available at the company store, one copy is reserved under the name of each full time EA employee, that was it.

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I am old enough (hence smart enough) not to go with the crowd and set up a list of resolutions for year 2011. I let 2010 go away quietly just the same way I welcomed 2011, which took place at a 24-hr Chinese restaurant called Number 9 with my good friend Derek and his Dad (aka Michael “Goon Man” Hui).

I don’t mean I have zero expectations for myself this year, but I would rather “develop habits” than “getting items checked off my list”. Other than keeping up with a workout habit after work each day (went for my 8th visit to the gym since the beginning of the year, not a bad start!), I wish to invest more time and effort on writing game reviews this year.

That idea eventually matured into somewhat of a mini self project: I am going to put together a master inventory of all the video games I own, from NES to Xbox 360. I will then save the list onto a spreadsheet and attach links to any reviews that I have written in the past. The ultimate goal is to fill up the entire list with reviews, because I believe that every game, no matter how ass or impossible it is, deserves a review. Whether or not the game is a black horse or a steaming pile, the world (i.e. the internet) deserves to know.

Initially, the title of this project was going to be “Every game deserves a play-through and a review” but then I don’t want to make promises that I cannot deliver (I do own some games that are some of the worst titles in the industry).

To make things even more interesting, I said to myself: I say this every year, to be more committed in this and that, but what’s a solid way to make sure it happens and stays happening throughout the year? Let’s do it this way – I will write and publish a review every week, and by the end of the year I will have at least 52 reviews on my spreadsheet.

I can do this, yes I can. And what’s a better way to start things off with my favorite game of 2010 – NBA JAM? Here’s the link (NBA JAM review), you can also find reviews by searching with the keyword “review” on my blog or check out my game list.

I tried my best to make it pretty, but the most important thing is to make updating it easy. So I used Google docs, and made some lists. Of course the version so far only covers consoles released within the past 10 years or so. Stay tuned for the full list with statuses and link to reviews filled in. And please, give suggestions!

My games