The Annual TRU Sale

It's that time of year again; the time for gamers to flock to their nearest Toys R Us to take advantage of the annual "Buy 2 Get the Third Free" videogame sale. The sale started Sunday and runs through this coming Saturday, but you better get there quick, as the pickings are getting a bit slim.

I was going to head down to the Bellevue TRU yesterday but wanted to make sure they received Tony Hawk's Proving Ground so I waited until today (the game released yesterday). I quickly grabbed copies of both THPG and Project Gotham Racing 4 despite having already played through both games over a month ago for work, and then I stood in place and stared at the shelving for what seemed to be at least 20 minutes. Nothing interested me. Initially, I was hoping to pick up a copy of The Orange Box, but they were sold out of it, as well as BioShock, which I may have purchased despite having already played through it 3 times back in July. I wasn't interested in getting Halo 3, even if it was going to be free and while I thought about picking up The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, I know that I'm not going play it for long. It's one of those games that I love the concept of and wish I had the time to spend playing, but really don't have much interest in the actual playing of it.

So I stood and stared at the selection. Finally my decision came down to the new Crash Bandicoot game, Crash of the Titans; the cartoony action shooter, Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal; and the amusement park builder game, ThrillVille: Off the Rails. I really wanted to get the Looney Tunes game but according to the back of the box, it doesn't support online multiplayer which was the key reason I would have wanted it. My love of the ancient Roller Coaster Tycoon games welled up inside me and before I knew it, I was walking out the door with a skateboard game, a racing game, and a game about building roller coasters and, according to the box art, "befriending my park guests to solve a mystery together."

I used to head to the TRU sale and struggle to not come home with 6 or 9 games. But now that I got rid of all of my other games consoles and only play my Xbox 360, it has been much harder to find stuff I want. As it is, there are several games I'm looking forward to that aren't out yet and those that are were already sold out. I might just have to head down there on Day One of the sale next year.