Game Price Hunter

Hello there,

This is the first of hopefully many sporadic outpourings of nonsense from a full time GamerDad.

As a GamerDad, I’m very enthusiastic about games and gaming in general, but ultimately have to work within limited time and cash budgets.
So, expect me to be discovering and enthusing about ‘new gems’ which may well be a couple of years old to most of you, but are new to me nonetheless.  The best part of being a couple of years behind the curve is that I rarely pay much more than £15 per game and that my PC Hardware is now at a state where I can play them with almost everything turned up to 11.

So let’s start with a couple of fresh new discoveries…  Minesweeper and Solitaire!

It’s ok, I’m not quite senile yet.  There’s a madness to my methods!  We’ve probably all played Minesweeper and Solitaire at some point, but I’m guessing that most of you used a mouse.  Well, I’ve just found out that the Xbox 360 controller works with most of the freebie games which come with Vista (and presumably Windows 7).

Wozza mentions the 360 pad in a recent article about Fuel - why not check it out?

Better than that though, I’m using the pad to improve my enjoyment of a few cheapy classics I’ve picked up:

The main thing I wanted the pad for was the racing games.  I’ve dug up Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box and Race Driver: GRID (under £30 for the pair too at the time!)
Wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s pretty much like playing on the 360.  Both games adjust automatically when they detect the presence of the controller and menus etc are updated with the A,B,X,Y buttons etc.  PC Gaming has never been easier. 

I also gave it a spin on a few other Games for Windows titles (I think 360 controller support is now mandatory for these games).  I had a crack at Fallout 3, Bioshock and Oblivion.
Fallout 3 and Bioshock both spotted the pad and worked like a charm.  I must admit I had a nightmare of a time trying to get my atrophied synapses to adjust to NOT using the keyboard/mouse combo which has served me well over the years but managed well enough with a little practice.

Oblivion support is a little trickier; this was to be expected I guess as it was an early title for the 360.  It can be made to work if you have follow the instructions laid out on the official site.  Still a great game anyway! 

While I’m on the subject, if you’ve not played either of Oblivion or Bioshock they’re both about to appear in a bundle together on PC and 360.