<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Grinding Down]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://grindingdown.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Paul]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://grindingdown.wordpress.com/author/mylifecomics/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[George Banks is saying no to indie videogame&nbsp;bundles]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="3564" data-permalink="https://grindingdown.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/george-banks-is-saying-no-to-indie-videogame-bundles/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit/" data-orig-file="https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg" data-orig-size="500,330" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="saying no to videogame bundles for a bit" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg?w=500" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3564" title="saying no to videogame bundles for a bit" src="https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg?w=500&#038;h=330" alt="" width="500" height="330" srcset="https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg 500w, https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg?w=150&amp;h=99 150w, https://grindingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/saying-no-to-videogame-bundles-for-a-bit.jpg?w=300&amp;h=198 300w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" /></p>
<p>To be honest, I&#8217;m pretty proud of myself. Over the course of two days, I said &#8220;no&#8221; to <em>two</em> entirely different videogame-based bundles. Packages that are light on price and heavy on material. Deals that truly should not be missed out on, some might even say. But I just can&#8217;t anymore. I have barely touched games for bundles I bought <em>last year. </em>So, no more&#8230;for now. But let&#8217;s take a look at what I am not adding to my backlog, and whether that&#8217;s a good or bad thing.</p>
<p>First, there was <a href="http://www.indieroyale.com/">the Spring Bundle from Indie Royale.</a> In this package, you can get the following: <strong>Unstoppable Gorg, Depths of Peril, Tobe&#8217;s Vertical Adventure, Inferno+, Slydris</strong>, and <strong>Ballistic</strong>. If you beat the minimal price, you also get some chiptune soundtracks. Upon initially reviewing what was being offered, I only recognized one game&#8211;<strong>Unstoppable Gorg</strong>&#8211;and that&#8217;s because Giant Bomb did a Quick Look of it. The majority looked uninteresting to me, with only <strong>Depths of Peril</strong> seeming appealing with its single player RPG elements. And that basically meant I&#8217;d be paying whatever price I chose for one game, as I might never touch anything else in this pocket. Not a complete waste of money, but a complete waste of my headspace and computer space, and so I am passing. No big loss. If, ultimately, I really do want to try out <strong>Depths of Peril</strong>, it&#8217;s available on Steam.</p>
<p>Then, the very next day, Humble Indie Bundle busts out a new collection for whatever you want to pay: <a href="http://www.humblebundle.com/">the Humble Botanicula Debut.</a> It&#8217;s tagline is &#8220;Pay what you want for <strong>Botanicula</strong> and save the rainforest,&#8221; which makes this extra hard to turn down. Way to heap on the guilt there. I actually fear that I&#8217;m going to go against myself before the weekend is over and snag a cheap copy, but for now, for the moment, I am saying no. I generally rush to buy these bundles, and <strong>Botanicula</strong> looks absolutely fantastic. The hurdle? This bundle holds four games (and a movie), and I already own <strong>Machinarium</strong> and <a href="https://grindingdown.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/review-samorost-2/"><strong>Samorost 2</strong>,</a> and am not interested at all in <strong>Windosill</strong> as there are enough puzzles in my life currently. So again, I&#8217;d be paying whatever I want for one game&#8211;granted, <strong>Botanicula</strong> is looking good, and I do like my unique adventure games as of late. But still, it just doesn&#8217;t seem necessary to do so right now.</p>
<p>Also, coming soon&#8230;<strong>Bundle in a Box</strong>. <a href="http://www.indiegamemag.com/spring-into-life-bundle-in-a-box-will-be-full-of-adventure-games/">Which has just been confirmed as an &#8220;adventure game&#8221; bundle.</a> And depending on who is involved and what the games look like, I might struggle with saying no. Though I am definitely saying it now, when it&#8217;s easy to do so.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m working on a big blog post. It&#8217;s a work in progress, truly. I am gathering up all the videogames currently in my collection that I&#8217;ve not yet played. It&#8217;s pretty scary, seeing the amount. I guess, at some point in the last few years, I became more of a collector than a player. That does make sense when you realize that I&#8217;m no longer carefree and 17. I am 28, married, with a job and a comics-related dream. I play when I can, but it&#8217;s never enough. Especially when it&#8217;s a session of <strong>Skyrim</strong> and three hours have gone by and all I&#8217;ve done is cleared a cave or two and sold some loot. Hopefully I&#8217;ll get that post wrapped up soon before I accidentally (or masochistically) acquire further titles.</p>
<p>But right now, I really don&#8217;t need <em>more</em> games. I have plenty still to do in the games I already got. I have assassinations and vehicles to acquire in <strong>Saints Row: The Third</strong>. I need to get married and put an end to the Civil War in <strong>Skyrim</strong>. I still need to link all the connections in episode two of <strong>Hector: Badge of Carnage</strong>. I need five or six more cubes to open that &#8220;32 cubes only&#8221; door in <strong>Fez</strong>. <a href="https://grindingdown.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/when-the-timing-is-right-a-fetch-quest-is-pure-delight/">I have a laundry list of fetch quests for <strong>Professor Layton&#8217;s London Life</strong></a>. I have to, uh, stop the bandits and mutants in <strong>Rage</strong>. I have work, and I really do need to work at whittling this voluminous list down. Wish me luck and give me strength as I say &#8220;no&#8221; to more and &#8220;yes&#8221; to what I already got under my wings.</p>
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