I have been a religious PC gamer since I bought my first computer. I only succumb to buying game consoles years after they came out and have dropped to a reasonable price. Recently, however, I took the plunge and decided to buy and Xbox 360.
I did some research and decided to go with a Xbox 360. There were more games I was interested in playing available for the Xbox than the PS3 and the Xbox was also more affordable. I bought a newer version of the Xbox 360 Arcade for less than $100 used from Amazon.com. It works great and looks brand new. I also purchased a 60BG hard drive for about $30.
I have been very happy with my Xbox (aside for having to pay $50 for an "Gold" membership if I want to play games online) but I needed some games. I had a list of around 40+ games I wanted to play and at a price of $20-$60 each there was no way I was going to get them all. To solve my problem I signed up with GameFly. I was already a Netflix member and have been very happy with that service, so I figured renting games online was the next logical step.
GameFly is great, for $22.95 a month you can get two games out at a time (I recommend this plan so you always have at least one game while you are waiting for the next to arrive). Do the math and you will see that GameFly will most likely end up saving you money.
Here is the breakdown:
If you rent two games a month from GameFly rather than buying two at $60 you just saved $100! Also, it's not just about the money you can save but how many more games you can afford to play. A one year subscription to GameFly (two games out at a time) will cost you $253 (minus your first month free). That works out to be about the same price as buying four new games. If you plan on buying four games or more over the next year GameFly will save you money!
The only drawback to renting games vs buying, that I can think of, is not being able to play them again after you return them, but you can always keep your saved games on your console and rent them again later.
Games ship out fast and will take about two or three days to arrive. The GameFly site is very user friendly, just search for the games you want and add them to your game queue. When you return a game and GameFly receives it they will send out the next game on your list.
Sign up for GameFly using my referral link and you can get one month free!
Sign up here!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Play games (or work) on your desktop computer from the comfort of your living room
I have always been more of a PC gamer than a console gamer, who can afford to keep up with all the new consoles coming out every year? I finally got tired of sneaking off to my office every time I wanted to play games. I started coming up with ideas on how I could play games from my computer in my living room. It was easier that I expected. It really comes down to the distance between your computer and your tv. In my case it was about 20'.
Here is what you need:
Video cable - I recommend an SVGA cable if your tv has an RGB channel. If not you could always use RCA cables the quality just isnt as good.
Audio cable - Use either RCA or 3.5mm cable (headphone extention cable) depending on what jacks you have. I have an adapter that goes from 3.5mm cable (I plug this end into my computer) to RCA (I plug this end into my tv).
Keyboard and Mouse - This is where you can run into problems. When I was researching this I was told by multiple people that you can not have a USB extention cable longer than 12" or else you will start to run into problems (missed clicks or keyboard strokes). I have only had this happen occasianally and it wanst a big deal. I have expiremented with wirelss and non-wirelss keyboards and mice and had luck with both. If you are going wirelss it depends on how good your keyboard and mouse is. I get the best results when I hook the wirless receiver to the end of my USB extention cable and have it sitting close to me.
I also use the wired Xbox controller to play most games. (im not sure if the wireless one works)
My office shares a wall with my living room. I lucked out, all I had to do was cut a small hole in the wall and run cables from one side to the other. If your office is further away from your living room tv then mine, there are lots of ways to hide your cables if you have to run them down a hallway, etc.
Here is some of the gear I used on Amazon:
(Take your time and search around and you should be able to get most of these cables for under $1 each)
Here is what you need:
Video cable - I recommend an SVGA cable if your tv has an RGB channel. If not you could always use RCA cables the quality just isnt as good.
Audio cable - Use either RCA or 3.5mm cable (headphone extention cable) depending on what jacks you have. I have an adapter that goes from 3.5mm cable (I plug this end into my computer) to RCA (I plug this end into my tv).
Keyboard and Mouse - This is where you can run into problems. When I was researching this I was told by multiple people that you can not have a USB extention cable longer than 12" or else you will start to run into problems (missed clicks or keyboard strokes). I have only had this happen occasianally and it wanst a big deal. I have expiremented with wirelss and non-wirelss keyboards and mice and had luck with both. If you are going wirelss it depends on how good your keyboard and mouse is. I get the best results when I hook the wirless receiver to the end of my USB extention cable and have it sitting close to me.
I also use the wired Xbox controller to play most games. (im not sure if the wireless one works)
My office shares a wall with my living room. I lucked out, all I had to do was cut a small hole in the wall and run cables from one side to the other. If your office is further away from your living room tv then mine, there are lots of ways to hide your cables if you have to run them down a hallway, etc.
Here is some of the gear I used on Amazon:
(Take your time and search around and you should be able to get most of these cables for under $1 each)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Search & Win, Free Gift Cards, and Cool Prizes!
95% of the stuff I buy online is from Amazon.com. I started thinking if there was a way to win free Amazon gift cards online I should definitely give it a shot. I did a quick web search and found a few sites right off that bat. I have been trying them out for about a week and these are the ones that I think are worth the time.
Swagbucks: Swagbucks is great! There are so many ways to win points you will be able to swap them in for something cool really fast. I estimate you should be able to make around 1,300-1,500 points a month easily if not more. Hey, that's an extra $15 in Amazon gift cards every month!
Here are some Swagbucks tips:
1. Install the Swagbucks toolbar. You get points everyday just for having it installed.
2. keep an eye out for Swag Codes in the blog, newsletter, Twitter feed, Facebook, and the widget
3. Set Swagbucks to your default search engine and win random point for searches.
4. Click through the daily no obligation offers. All you have to do is skip through a few of them to get points.
5. Get your friends to sign up and get extra points.
iRazoo: I like iRazoo because it is simple.iRazoo doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Swagbucks has, but I think that works in its favor. All you have to do to win points at iRazoo is log on and do a couple web searched using their search engine. It seems to work best for me if I log on first thing in the morning and do a couple searches and I always win 75 points. You can log in again in the evening and win another 75. iRazoo also puts Treasure codes out that let you win more points. You can also get your friends to sign up and get extra points. At 150+ points a day you should e able to get at least one $5 Amazon.com gift card a month.
simpleGPT: simpleGPT is a little different than the first two sites I mentioned. You win points by completing offers and surveys. I suggest logging on everyday and doing the Daily Clicks and you can easily get around 25 points a day just by clicking on links.
Here is how you do it:
Go to simpleGPT.com, log in, click on "view offers," where is says "browse categories" select "daily clicks." Now hold your Ctrl button down and left click on the name of each offer, then the blue submit button for each offer. You dont even have to look at the pages and you will get points instantly.
More to come soon!
If you have any questions please let me know
travismanley@hotmail.com
***UPDATE***
It has been a little over a month since I signed up at these sites that let you earn free gift cards and I thought I would post a little update on my experience with these sites.
Of the three sites I sighed up with I have earned the most at simpleGPT.com. I earned three $5 Amazon.com gift cards my first month. Alternatively, I could have cashed out my earnings for $15 at Paypal, or got gift cards to other stores. I earned all these points from just doing the Daily Clicks and then signing up for the paid emails. I have already earned $11 so far this month and can easily see earning around $30-$40. It might not sound like much, but it only takes me about 5-10 minutes a day to do.
I earned two free gift cards at Swagbucks in my first month. I really like Swagbucks, but it takes a little longer to earn points. There are more ways to win points, but it seems like it takes up more of my time during the day than other sites. The good thing about Swagbucks is you can easily win at least ten Swagbucks three or four times a day just from searching with their search engine.
Swagbucks Search and Win Tips:
Rather than just searching for random things to try and win points, I win most often by searching for websites I am going to go to rather than typing the url into my address bar. If I'm going to check my email, I type in "hotmail" into the search page (or toolbar). I do this will all the sites I check regularly and I win three or four times a day.
In my experience I usually win twice in the morning (if I start around 6:30), once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. Sometimes I win less, but most times this is how it works for me.
iRazoo: Things got off to a great start for me at iRazoo and I was very close to earning my first gift card and my account got banned. I made the mistake of letting my wife sign up for an account too before reading that it was against the rules to have more than one account per household. I emailed them and they made it sound like they were going to fix my account and it has been several weeks and I still am not able to access my account.
Swagbucks: Swagbucks is great! There are so many ways to win points you will be able to swap them in for something cool really fast. I estimate you should be able to make around 1,300-1,500 points a month easily if not more. Hey, that's an extra $15 in Amazon gift cards every month!
Here are some Swagbucks tips:
1. Install the Swagbucks toolbar. You get points everyday just for having it installed.
2. keep an eye out for Swag Codes in the blog, newsletter, Twitter feed, Facebook, and the widget
3. Set Swagbucks to your default search engine and win random point for searches.
4. Click through the daily no obligation offers. All you have to do is skip through a few of them to get points.
5. Get your friends to sign up and get extra points.
iRazoo: I like iRazoo because it is simple.iRazoo doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Swagbucks has, but I think that works in its favor. All you have to do to win points at iRazoo is log on and do a couple web searched using their search engine. It seems to work best for me if I log on first thing in the morning and do a couple searches and I always win 75 points. You can log in again in the evening and win another 75. iRazoo also puts Treasure codes out that let you win more points. You can also get your friends to sign up and get extra points. At 150+ points a day you should e able to get at least one $5 Amazon.com gift card a month.
simpleGPT: simpleGPT is a little different than the first two sites I mentioned. You win points by completing offers and surveys. I suggest logging on everyday and doing the Daily Clicks and you can easily get around 25 points a day just by clicking on links.
Here is how you do it:
Go to simpleGPT.com, log in, click on "view offers," where is says "browse categories" select "daily clicks." Now hold your Ctrl button down and left click on the name of each offer, then the blue submit button for each offer. You dont even have to look at the pages and you will get points instantly.
More to come soon!
If you have any questions please let me know
travismanley@hotmail.com
***UPDATE***
It has been a little over a month since I signed up at these sites that let you earn free gift cards and I thought I would post a little update on my experience with these sites.
Of the three sites I sighed up with I have earned the most at simpleGPT.com. I earned three $5 Amazon.com gift cards my first month. Alternatively, I could have cashed out my earnings for $15 at Paypal, or got gift cards to other stores. I earned all these points from just doing the Daily Clicks and then signing up for the paid emails. I have already earned $11 so far this month and can easily see earning around $30-$40. It might not sound like much, but it only takes me about 5-10 minutes a day to do.
I earned two free gift cards at Swagbucks in my first month. I really like Swagbucks, but it takes a little longer to earn points. There are more ways to win points, but it seems like it takes up more of my time during the day than other sites. The good thing about Swagbucks is you can easily win at least ten Swagbucks three or four times a day just from searching with their search engine.
Swagbucks Search and Win Tips:
Rather than just searching for random things to try and win points, I win most often by searching for websites I am going to go to rather than typing the url into my address bar. If I'm going to check my email, I type in "hotmail" into the search page (or toolbar). I do this will all the sites I check regularly and I win three or four times a day.
In my experience I usually win twice in the morning (if I start around 6:30), once in the afternoon, and once in the evening. Sometimes I win less, but most times this is how it works for me.
iRazoo: Things got off to a great start for me at iRazoo and I was very close to earning my first gift card and my account got banned. I made the mistake of letting my wife sign up for an account too before reading that it was against the rules to have more than one account per household. I emailed them and they made it sound like they were going to fix my account and it has been several weeks and I still am not able to access my account.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Time to get this thing off the ground
I am currently working on getting this blog up and running. Choosing what widgets to move over from my other blogs and then the process of actually pasting them all in and arranging them so they look alright is a major pain in the butt!
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