Recent Buys: Episode 1 - Saints Row: The Third, iCore Arcade Stick, digital Capcom fighting games

Here we are in the new year and I thought I'd start things off by sharing what my recent gaming purchases are for this week/month/part of the month.

Let's start with the intangible stuff. So I got a "loan" on a $20 PSN card, it was supposed to be on $10 but due to some unexplored complications with Sony limiting shared accounts to only 2 users from 5 it left my friend being unable to access the remaining $10. This was sort of an impulse due to a sudden sale of of Marvel vs Capcom 2 and the character DLCs for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 on PSN. Both were half-off so it was really hard to resist. Not too long after that Sony announced the 12 for 12 sale which included Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition so I had to jump on that. So that's two Capcom fighting games and a DLC character for another Capcom fighting game. Damn.

On to the disc based stuff. I got Saints Row: The Third brand new and was mildly disappointed that the Asian release of the game didn't give you a free digital copy of Saints Row 2, it is only available in Canada, America and Mexico. shoulda read that fine print. Saltyness aside, the game is pretty neat. Not as stupidly awesome as I was expecting it to be but good fun nonetheless. The best description of the game I could tell you is that it's basically GTA on crack. Still not satisfied? How bout if I told you that you can get a dildo bat that's called "The Penetrator" as a melee weapon?

Last but not least I caved and got an arcade stick. The iCore Arcade Stick is not the greatest arcade stick out there but for a budget stick, it certainly feels better than I expected. The buttons are responsive and feel pretty good and the stick has the little micro-switches so it does those delicious clicking noises when you move it around. The performance of the stick is not the best in the world as I find myself having to jam a motion as hard as I can before my in-game character does the desired move but maybe that's just me not being used to using an arcade stick. The PS Home button on mine is a bit faulty so I'm going to have it replaced within the week.

Watch my poor performance in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition while I was testing out the arcade stick.