Christmas LooT Thread:

[disgaeniac]

Topic -

Talk about neat gifts given and/or received

and

Any interesting/funny Holiday stories/events

For my "gifts-received", the funniest/most notable thing would be that my g/f ended up treating me (read: re-imbursing me:) to ~25 assorted games, guides, and art books that I bought from & received from CranberryRiddles about a week ago...she took 'custody' of 'em all, wrapped each item individually, and..."made" me wait 'till today to open them all up

"Gifts-Given" is where it gets a bit more interesting & amusing...

Me & my little sister split my grandmother's (almost 90 years old) gift.

What we did was...start out w/ 50 $10 bills.

Then, starting w/ one "old-looking" $10 bill as the 'trunk' - w/ the other 49 (newer-looking) bills, I layed them out on a big piece of white cardboard...in the pattern of a BIG Christmas/evergreen tree (w/ assorted & cheesy witticisms about "money growing on trees", "tree(t) yourself to something nice", "not going out-on-a-limb/branching-out", etc)...she was in tears...*Priceless*; (she's the type that would Never ask for help financially...need it or not)!

AND

MY Winner For this year was:

I always buy a bunch of $1 - $5 scratch-off Lottery Tickets, and stick 1 or 2 in everyone's stocking...of course, nobody ever wins...anything  :'(

My niece is now ~1 1/2 years old.

I put a $5 and a $2 ticket in her stocking...

My brother-in-law scratches off the $5 one for her...

...$200.00 WINNER!

No way...he's reading it wrong - I check it, and it is indeed, a $200 winner!

While I'm verifying it, my little sister (who doesn't even understand how to read one/what is/is not a winner); is scratching off the $2 one...

..."Hey Kenny" (ME) - "Take a look at this for me & see if I won anything"...

I look at it...

No way...I'm missing something/reading it wrong...*Double-checks*

GET.

   THE.

      FUCK.

          OUT.

             OF.

               HERE...

$1,000.00 WINNER 

*College-Fund* Head-Started 

While kinda' bittersweet (most I've ever won on a scratch-off = $100)

It was a pretty awesome day all around!

[soera]

Those scratchers sound awesome!


Me personally, I do not have anything to add. Its been a disappointing year to be me in my household.

[jobocan]

I haven't scratched lottery ticket thingies since I was a kid, but that's a badass story Must have been fun.


As for me I got a couple things:
Cards Against Humanity with both expansions (If you never played this game BUY IT NOW... well, after they get it in stock again)
Some abstract board game called Pylos
A book called Dungeons & Desktops (a history of computer RPGs)
FLCL blu-ray
Welcome to the NHK complete series
ZombiU

Not a whole lot of stuff (my parents are a bit low on money right now), but it's all things I wanted. Gonna get a present from my sister in a few more days too. I am also happy that my parents were happy about their presents, I spent more than usual but of course it's worth it.

[disgaeniac]

Me personally, I do not have anything to add. Its been a disappointing year to be me in my household.

...Says the guy w/ recent additions of:

Suikoden,

Castlevania: SotN,

Misadventures of Tronne Bonne,

(+ more, etc)...

I call bullshit 

[soera]

Two of those were items I missed in my collection somehow. But it has nothing to do with gaming.

[burningdoom]

I got Resident Evil 6 and WWE '13 for Xbox 360. Two games I've really been wanting to play.

I also picked up Wings of Wor for Genesis, Test Drive 6 for Dreamcast, and Final Fantasy III for DS for myself.

And I got $150 cash which I haven't fully decided what I'm gonna spend it on. Right now I'm thinking about getting a 3DO and a few games, along with Bionic Commando for original Game Boy. Or maybe an Atari Lynx instead of the 3DO...hmmm, choices.

I also got this bad boy from my wife:


Outside of gaming I got:
-$12 Visa Cash Card (Work Secret Santa Gift, not sure why he decided on such an odd number as $12.)
-Batman Symbol T-Shirt
-Beanie Cap
-Comic Shop Gift Card - $25
-The Cover Girls of DC Comics Book
-Electric Beard Trimmer
-Gloves
-Hometown Buffet Gift Card - $40
-Long Johns
-Mad About Super-Heroes Book (Mad Magazine Hardcover)
-Marvel Super-Villains Framed Lithograph
-McDonald's Giftcard - $10
-Old Spice Cologne Gift Set
-Prometheus DVD
-Scratcher Ticket with a $5 Win, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
-Two Lunch Buffet Passes for Round Table Pizza
-Wooly Socks

[scott]

I managed to not get any gaming stuff for Christmas, other than 3 800 MS Points cards. But I did get:

Dominion: Intrigue card game set - It's an expansion to Dominion, which can be played w/ the base set or standalone. It's a pretty sweet game, fun and easy to learn.

The James Bond 50th Anniversary Blu-Ray collection - I'm actually a huge 007 movie fan and I saw this at the store and wanted it instantly. It's got all* the James Bond movies from the last 50 years in one package on Blu-Ray. It even has an extra slot in the case for Skyfall when that comes out. Pretty awesome. I can't wait to dig into this.

*It is missing Never Say Never Again though, since it was published by a different company. I was slightly disappointed by that, since it's one of my favorite Bond movies.

Star Wars Blu-Ray Collection - Been meaning to get this for awhile, but always missed out on the sales. I wasn't expecting to get this one either, total surprise.

Oh and I got a Nerf pistol in the $5 gift exchange, I was having fun w/ that all night. especially when I started seeing how close I could get to my cousin's heads.

[ffxik]

Not much to tell here just some cheap PS2 games.  It's a small amount some I wanted for a while others I have been curious about.  All in all I'm not going to complain.

God of War
God of War II
Oni
Rise of the Kasai
The Mark of Kri
Onimusha: 3 Demon Siege
Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams
Samurai Western
XGRA: Extreme G Racing Association
XGIII: Extreme G Racing
Genji: Dawn of the Samurai
Kessen II

Animal Crossing City Folk (for the wife)

[kingrat101]

Well I got my christmas gift at the end of November, Long story, and wasnt expecting anything for christmas, my mom pulls out a box for me with some clothes! Yay! On top of that my sister's boyfriend was/ kind of is a retro game collector, decided to give me his Sega Saturn Model 1 and Sega CD Model 1 totally unexpected and I was very excited. Both are in like mint condition.
My sister loves the Peppermint bark ghirardelli chocolate, thats only sold at christmas, last year she was alittle dissapointed cause her boyfriend ate it all while she was at work so I bought her a ton of it for the rest of the year, haha she ws pretty excited

[redblaze57]

only thing gaming related I got was a $50 gamestop gift card all I know that I'm going to get with it is the 3DS circle pad pro right now

otherwise I got
25th Anniversary Evil Dead 2 Hero Ash Figure
Dead Alive dvd
Vol 4 of batman TAS
The Dark Knight rises
Ted
the Hellsing anime
and A Dremel 3000 with a ton of bits for it

[disgaeniac]

Oh yeah - I also got a $50 GS card & a $25 Target one, too

I'm 1/2-thinking about buying one of the (b/c with Gamecube games) Wii's...questions:

- Can I tell just by looking (somehow) which ones are/aren't the b/c ones?

- Anyone know, off the top of their head, what the price difference should be between the b/c & non-b/c ones...AND...what you would now consider *good* prices for buying them (new) at?

(I've never owned/know nothing about Wii's);

Thanks!

[darko]

The only gaming related item I received this year was a Super EverDrive with an 8GB card. It's pretty freaking awesome. Nothing like playing translated roms on actual hardware

Not going to put brands, but non-gaming related items include:

$25 Visa gift card
A new wallet
A new pair of shoes
A new watch
A new pair of jeans
Some cash

As far as what I bought for everyone else:

Dad - Electric razor & new house shoes
Mom - 2 sweaters, 2 sets of gloves, Oklahoma on DVD (fitting, no?)
Mom+Dad - A new coffee maker (they get one every year because they break one every year right after Thanksgiving, no lie...it's ridiculous), some coffee to go with the coffee maker & Downton Abby season 1 & 2 on bluray
Grandma - 2 sweaters & some face powder
Friend (basically a brother) - A new putter
Friend's wife - a new watch
Psuedo niece - a box set of Goosebumps books, a Fijit (wow...what an annoying toy), & Dance Central 3 for the 360

Other random stuff for various people:

House shoes, a necklace, a wallet, & an electric wine opener.

Yeah...Christmas gets a little out of control in my world from time to time. We had to set price limits several years ago because it was just getting totally out of control. It's been a lot more fun the last couple of years It makes everyone have to put a little thought into what they're actually buying for everyone else instead of just going to the mall and spending as much as they can afford.

[darko]

Oh yeah - I also got a $50 GS card & a $25 Target one, too

I'm 1/2-thinking about buying one of the (b/c with Gamecube games) Wii's...questions:

- Can I tell just by looking (somehow) which ones are/aren't the b/c ones?

- Anyone know, off the top of their head, what the price difference should be between the b/c & non-b/c ones...AND...what you would now consider *good* prices for buying them (new) at?

(I've never owned/know nothing about Wii's);

Thanks!

The Wii's that play GC games have controller ports for GC controllers under a door on the top/side of the console. I wouldn't pay more than $75 for a used one if it came with 2 wiimotes and several decent games. I saw one on CL in OKC for $50 with one controller and a game the other day.

EDIT: Thinking about it a little...if I could find one complete & in the box in really nice shape I might pay a little more for it. Shouldn't be too difficult to do since there are so many out there. The only color you might have a problem getting for under $100 in that shape is a red one, but even then, I don't think I'd pay up just for the color red. I'd set my limit at $100 and shoot for one in pristine condition with a couple of extras included.

[disgaeniac]

The Wii's that play GC games have controller ports for GC controllers under a door on the top/side of the console. I wouldn't pay more than $75 for a used one if it came with 2 wiimotes and several decent games. I saw one on CL in OKC for $50 with one controller and a game the other day.

EDIT: Thinking about it a little...if I could find one complete & in the box in really nice shape I might pay a little more for it. Shouldn't be too difficult to do since there are so many out there. The only color you might have a problem getting for under $100 in that shape is a red one, but even then, I don't think I'd pay up just for the color red. I'd set my limit at $100 and shoot for one in pristine condition with a couple of extras included.

Thanks for the Wii-information; Darko!

After looking around (only quickly & locally); apparently, my only option for buying one of the Wii's that's b/c with the GC games...would be used (black or white, + controller, + wires & cables, and +2 games) @ right around $100 (after taxes).

I'm going to be a little *finicky* here, and hold-out/look around until I can find one that's new (it looks like (all of my local stores, at least) have long-since sold-out of their batch of these...and the only ones that they have/are selling NEW now are the ones that are NOT b/c with GC games), and, of course, the Wii-U; which, by the way, doesn't seem to be scarce/hard-to-find in the least around here...

Also, *Interestingly* enough - When I called & spoke w/ one of the GS *MANAGERS*...he informed me (a tad condescendingly:), no less, that *ALL* Wii's are (and always have been & always will be) b/c with GC games 

At any rate, I used the gift cards to pick-up (New) copies of Persona IV: Arena & GTA IV: the Complete Edition (both for PS3) -and- Heroes of Ruin & Adventure Time (both for the 3-DS)...

[burningdoom]

I got Resident Evil 6 and WWE '13 for Xbox 360. Two games I've really been wanting to play.

I also picked up Wings of Wor for Genesis, Test Drive 6 for Dreamcast, and Final Fantasy III for DS for myself.

And I got $150 cash which I haven't fully decided what I'm gonna spend it on. Right now I'm thinking about getting a 3DO and a few games, along with Bionic Commando for original Game Boy. Or maybe an Atari Lynx instead of the 3DO...hmmm, choices.

I also got this bad boy from my wife:


Outside of gaming I got:
-$12 Visa Cash Card (Work Secret Santa Gift, not sure why he decided on such an odd number as $12.)
-Batman Symbol T-Shirt
-Beanie Cap
-Comic Shop Gift Card - $25
-The Cover Girls of DC Comics Book
-Electric Beard Trimmer
-Gloves
-Hometown Buffet Gift Card - $40
-Long Johns
-Mad About Super-Heroes Book (Mad Magazine Hardcover)
-Marvel Super-Villains Framed Lithograph
-McDonald's Giftcard - $10
-Old Spice Cologne Gift Set
-Prometheus DVD
-Scratcher Ticket with a $5 Win, Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
-Two Lunch Buffet Passes for Round Table Pizza
-Wooly Socks

I used my Christmas cash already. I'm pretty happy with my purchases. Used it all exclusively on gaming, except for one comic issue I really wanted:

-1600 Point Microsoft Card (For the Dragonborn Skyrim expansion)
-Armored Core (PS1)
-Bionic Commando (Game Boy Original)
-Legend of Legaia (PS1)
-Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo DS)
-Parasite Eve (PS1)

I also got these 2 books I've been really wanting:



I was gonna get Wind Waker for Gamecube, but dang! I didn't realize how much that game has climbed in value. I never should have traded it.

If anyone was curious, this was the one comic issue I really wanted:



It's like the only original Crisis on Infinite Earths issue I needed (well, it's more like a sequel or maybe a flashback issue). I loved the original Crisis!