There are times when you just can’t play a game at release, as money is tight or time is being wasted doing less important things. Well, good things come to those who wait. These are games that won’t hurt your wallet, and offer hours of entertainment. It’s a little something I like to call Thrillhouse’s Cheap(er) Picks:

Game: Locoroco

You can get this cute game on the PSP. Sadly the PSN version has very little in common with the original.

Price: 20 bucks at Wal-Mart

Locoroco is a game which doesn’t take itself too seriously, and considering what it is, that’s a very good thing. The premise behind it is almost laughable: You tilt the world and guide these fluid-like creatures (the Locos) downhill. You’ll guide them through windmills, down ramps, through tunnels. It sounds ludicrous on paper, but actuality translates to a lot of saccarine induced fun. Think of this:

Now imagine yourself tilting the world, with devilishly catchy music playing in the background. This game is coated with so many layers of sugary goodness it’ll make you sick. You might as well consider it an interactive form of “happy pills”. And since each maze is only a couple minutes long, it translates perfectly to the PSP’s quick pick up and play nature. 

How they managed to screw up the PSN version is beyond me. This game was taylor made for the sixaxis. At least you can pick up the original for a very tempting 20 bucks. How can you play this game and not smile? Highly reccomended. If you hate this game, I’m pretty sure you’re a bad person.

Bootleggers, pirates, and internet thieves,

I bring news that will make you yell “Finally!”,

For those movies you download without paying a fee,

Yes, even your favorite pornography,

Will be perfectly playable on your Playstation 3.

The divx format, currently the most popular for television and movie illegal downloads, will soon be recognized by the PS3. Good thing? Or great thing? Or maybe the greatest thing ever?

I wonder if this will have any effect on the whole BD vs HD spat, since you can now download HD versions of your favorite movies, which I’ve been “told” look quite nice on an HDTV. With next gen DVD prices in the 25-35 dollar range, simply downloading your favorite movie, in near perfect HD quality, and running it off your PS3 may be a popular alternative.

My thoughts: F you Mike Bay. I’ll be seeing Transformers on my PS3 despite you.

I’ll admit that sadly Warhawk, a game I truly love, hasn’t been getting much of my time. Within the span of 3 months we’ve been bombarded with quality online shooters (Halo 3, Team Fortress 2, COD4), not to mention a plethora of excellent single player experiences, so sadly Warhawk has fallen into my “I’ll get back to that when I’ve got time” pile.

Recently a friend of mine took the plunge and got himself the mighty PS3. The price had dropped enough to be right, and there were finally titles out, and coming out, to justify it. We get home, unpack that sucker, and the first thing I do is re-download Warhawk to show him the game I’ve been talking about (but sadly not playing) for the past couple weeks.

Download done, profile entered, user agreement accepted, and game finally booted up and ready to go. A notice flashes on the screen saying, “You’ve been promoted because you’re awesome”, or something to that affect, and “New skins are now unlocked”. Who doesn’t like getting free stuff, and being rewarded for doing nothing? Me, that’s who. I then scroll over and marvel at my new wardrobe (and some of the new skins are, in fact, quite nice), and notice that not only has everything been unlocked for me, but I’ve been promoted to the penultimate rank.Whom should I thank for this gift? Reaching this rank would have taken me hundreds of legitimate hours of “work”. Now, I can just relax, play for fun, and enjoy other people’s delicious tears of jealousy, as they turn green looking at my exclusive armor. That is, until I try and enter a ranked Sony hosted server:

“Your rank is too high for this room.”

Uh, what? I scroll down the list, check each one, even filter the search to find a room I’m eligible for, but no luck: I’m officially too good to play Warhawk.

How does something like this happen? I understand the need to keep certain rooms restricted to certain ranks, as the most daunting aspect of any online multiplayer shooter is entering a room in which you’re vastly out skilled, but not having any rooms available for higher classed players seems like a foolish oversight. What if I had legitimately reached this rank? Would I then have officially beaten Warhawk? It really is too bad that this game yet again suffers from server side problems. When it first launched, it seemed that almost everyone had some sort of stat tracking issue. Then people started complaining that they couldn’t join matches, and would randomly get booted from games. Now this, being forced into early retirement. This was supposed to be the premier online game for the PS3, the reason to look and say “Why am I paying for Xbox Live?”, yet it has suffered one glitch after another.

Yes the solution to this problem is simple: Open up more rooms, or remove ranking caps altogether. The problem is that it might be too little too late. As I’ve mentioned, there is no shortage of online shooters, and as good as Warhawk is (and I really do love it), I just don’t have the patience to wait, or to fire it up and see if the problem is solved. Hopefully it will be when the first batch of DLC arrives, because at some point I do hope to play it.

There are times when you just can’t play a game at release, as money is tight or time is being wasted doing less important things. Well, good things come to those who wait. These are games that won’t hurt your wallet, and offer hours of entertainment. It’s a little something I like to call Thrillhouse’s Cheap(er) Picks:

Game: The Darkness

The Xbox 360 version has sharper textures and less jaggies, but the PS3 version takes advantage of the extra blu-ray space and offers hours more in-game TV viewing content.

Price: 30 bucks at Gamestop

You might have missed this when it was originally released, and now is a great time to go find it. Gamestop currently has it on sale for 30 bucks, and at that price it really is worth a look.

I reviewed this over here, but in short:

The Darkness offers solid FPS gameplay, interesting and entertaining super power abilities, a great and well told story, and interactive heart eating (How many games can say they offer that? You can’t get enough heart eating.).

You play as Jackie, a mob hit man infected with the darkness, and are on a quest for revenge. It sounds typical, and in a way it is, but the game manages to disguise its averageness behind a think wall of style. The voice acting is top notch, the digital actors look great (especially Jackie during the loading scenes), and the whole of New York (and others) are just covered in deep murky darkness. It really succeeds at creating a gritty atmosphere.

The shooting is fun, the darkness powers entertaining (Try impaling a man, and holding him over a barrel. When he catches fire I dare you not to smile.), and you really feel like a powerful monster in the night.

Sadly the multiplayer is broken, and won’t hold your attention, but the single player story weighs in from 10-12 hours. But for 30 bucks, you really can’t complain, as it’s an excellent title.

The joys of being back home. While I love the fact I can once again see family and friends, coming back home, and once again being a “guest” in my parents house, means having to forego certain luxuries I’ve grown accustomed to. Specifically my beloved HDTV and high speed internet (I’m currently writing this on what must be 2 tin cans connected by yarn, it is s..l..o..w..). Since I refuse to play on a normal SD set (not that I could, since my PS3 was too hefty to take home with me, and my 360 is awaiting its Microsoft First Class Customer Service Package For Occasional Red Light Repair Concerns box to arrive) I’ve take advantage of this opportunity to dive back into older libraries, drag out dusty non-HD consoles, and hit up different game stores searching for deals on great games I’ve missed.

So over the next couple weeks I’ll share what I’ve managed to find, what I’ve missed, and what you might want to check out. If you’re willing to prioritize solid gameplay over graphics, then these are games you’ll have fun with. As if there weren’t enough games coming out this holiday season, right?

 So view these as little treats, as potential stocking stuffers, as titles you might have missed due to time and money.  They’ve dropped significantly in price yet retain a certain charm, and are worth looking into. Consider it holiday gaming on a budget.