Game Junker

Cash for the Quest

2008-09-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

So, I've set myself a quest, a Quest for the Ultimate Gaming Set-up, Ultimate in the way that I'll own all the current consoles and the equipment to fully enjoy it.

The one aspect I don't think I've touched upon in describing my quest is how exactly I'm going to make all this money online. So I thought I'd telly up all my current online earnings along with descriptions of the programs I use and how I use them. I actually really suck at making money online and I can only imagine what people with real talent could possibly earn online.

My total online earnings, what I used to earn it and how I earned it.

Google AdSense - Total Paid $866.69 - Currently 0wed $98.43.
The perfect all rounder, got a site, a blog, add AdSense to it, generate traffic to the sites and you should earn something, all a visitor needs to do is click on an ad and you'll earn some money.

King of Swords - Currently Owed $56.95.
Pick products to promote and generate targeted traffic to your affiliate links, 10% starting commission per sale.

AffiliateFuture - Currently Owed $ 76.00.
Pick products and services to promote, there's quite a few "lead" opportunities available, such as email submit programs, a visitor to your site submits their email and you get paid $1 a pop.

Chitika - Total Paid $47.68 - Currently Owed $5.09.
A lot like AdSense but there's a lot of other options available. Set it and forget it for the most part, works best on product related sites.

Amazon - Total Paid $116.42 - Currently Owed $94.95.
Pick from thousands of products to promote, generate targeted traffic and hopefully send them a buyer, starting commission 4%.

WidgetBucks - Total Paid $51.20 - Currently Owed $1.41.
Kind of like AdSense and Chitika, set it and forget it, works best on product related sites.

PayU2blog - Total Paid $715.
A payed to blog service, they pay me $5 to make a blog post, most of the assignments deal with Real Estate, drug rehab and sinks, great money earner if you're not to worried about selling your sole.

Revver - Total Paid $133.93 - Currently Owed $ 5.43.
A video sharing site that shares it's earnings with its users.

Payperpost - Total Paid $200.00.
Just like PayU2blog, only the payments vary per post based on the status of your site.

Text Link Ads - Total Paid $325.54 - Currently Owned $36.90.
Sell links on you site for a monthly fee, just keeps ticking over and I have no idea how to stop it.

Misc Stuff - $260

Total paid out so far: $2456.46, most of this has already been spent, so it doesn't count towards the quest.
Total owed to me: $635.16, this amount will go towards the quest.

So I've actually got enough for a PS3, but I think I'll hold off until I have enough for an HD-TV. There are loads of other ways to make cash online, it is possible, all this money I've earned for the most part is not from Game Junker but other blogs and sites I work on. It's all about web estate, create some blogs, let them mature and grow and eventually your earnings will as well, it's a little bit more involved than that, but if you can get the traffic you'll make the cash.

Will Little Big Planet be as big as Youtube?

2008-09-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

Can anyone else see this happening? The tools are there for the insomniac geniuses to create marvelous creations and to garner evangelical followers, while the rest of us browse through a myriad of crappy levels only to return to the stars. Once in awhile a level will appear that's the hot shit, everyone will have to play through it, share it, but once everyone's had their fill it'll be onto the next hot thing.

Stars will rise and fall, cliques will form and eventually everyone will be rude as fuck.

Judging by the reactions of the recent beta release, Little Big Planet looks to be a solid and polished game, all it needs now is the no-life creation stations and it'll be set to be as big as Youtube.

I'm Aiming for a PS3 Next

2008-09-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

Seeing that I now own at least one gaming system, the Sony PSP, I think I'll set my sites a Playstation 3 next. The only thing with choosing a nex-gen console like that beast is I'm going to need a beast of a TV to fully enjoy it, so I guess I'm aiming for a PS3 and a nice HDTV.

So all up I need to earn me about $3000 online, convert that from U.S to NZ dollars and it should be more than enough.

How am I going to do this, well if you're interested in buying a PS3 or an HDTV as well, why not head over to Amazon using the links below and buy em, I'll get a commission if you do and I'll be that little bit closer to my gaming bliss.

Faze one of the ultimate gaming quest complete

2008-09-03T04:34:00.000-07:00

So if you're still following Game Junker (haven't posted in awhile and probably never had any followers) you may remember that I was on a quest to own the ultimate gaming set-up by the end of 2007 using only money I managed to earn online, well that date rolled on by and I had nothing to show for it, no PS3, no 360, dang I didn't even have a T.V.

What had happened was my priorities changed and I used that money to go on a Christmas vacation, I had earned enough online to buy at least a 360 and PS3, or a nice HD-TV.

So after failing it I just plum forgot about it, until a few weeks ago when I got an online payment and used that money to buy a PSP, didn't even occur to me until now that I had completed faze one of my quest, at least now I own a gaming platform.

So after that realization I now know My Quest is On again.

So lets go over the Specs:

What I want:

*Prices are subject to come down and are quoted in $NZ and remember I want to buy this stuff only with money I earn online.

Playstation 3 80Gb - $799
Xbox 360 - Average price $600
Wii - Around $500
Nintendo DS - About $200
HD LCD TV - Around $2000 give or take some.
Gaming PC - Maybe $5000
Furniture for comfort, cabinet and chair - Maybe another $2000

Holy crap that's a lot, comes in at just over $11,000, so I'm gonna need some time to make it happen or I could just work harder online, time to get into affiliate marketing. So I'm gonna give myself a year to get to job done.

Wish me luck,

Rand

Quest for the ultimate gaming set-up resurrected

Connectivity, the downfall of the Xbox

2008-04-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought... this really is the year of the PlayStation 3. With sales up across the board for the PS3, with Microsoft seemingly fumbling with every step they take, who would have thought.

It makes me think what is Microsoft really up to? was the 360 just a spanner in the works of Sony's plans, are they trying to buy time to usher in the age of digital distribution. What is it? because frankly the Xbox 360 seems almost dead.

I feel it would be a huge mistake for Microsoft to dismiss connectivity, their HD-DVD player was an add-on for crumpets sake. The direction Sony is going in is all about connectivity and perfecting it, their PSPs hook up with PS3s, PSPs hook up with Blu-ray recorders, their PS3s will hook up with cell phones, PS3s will record Live T.V, Cameras, memory cards, Wi-Fi, the list goes on.

And who will be ready for Digital Distribution? Sony will. Microsoft has missed a step and forgotten all about where people will store their downloads.

Microsoft on their console, Sony everywhere.

Chad Warden back online eating sushi in new video

2008-04-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

So this is what happend to Chad Warden, is it really him though? Anyway this is for you dude, for you!!!

Chad Warden eats wasabi - NEW VIDEO

Here's the old pstriple video if you forgot who he is.

Why PS3 is better than the Wii and 360

Dead Fantasy 2

2008-03-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is part two of the great Dead Fantasy Video, a fan made movie putting the characters of Final Fantasy up against the characters of Dead or Alive.

Why aren't some video games as awesomely action packed as Dead Fantasy.

Master Chief fighting his way through UT3

2008-03-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

So Halo did make it on to the PS3 as seen in these videos of the Master Chief Character mod fighting his way through some Unreal Tournament 3 maps.

UT3: Char Mods: Master Chief vs Marcus Fenix vs Cloud

Unreal Tournament 3 - PS3

Prototype Developer Diary

2008-02-19T07:49:00.000-08:00

These guys look like they mean business, the production art shown throughout this Prototype, Developer Diary video is amazing, though the game itself doesn't look quite like them, I guess it's early days still.

What I like most about is the flow the city has, in these open world games I like to just sometimes just look, watch as the world passes me by, I like doing that in real life to.

The man responsible for the red ring of death

2008-02-15T05:09:00.000-08:00

You know it's gotta be something like this.

The man responsible for xbox 360 failing (red ring of death)

Metal Gear Solid 3, Say Cheese

2008-02-13T02:48:00.000-08:00

Some dude goes through Metal Gear Solid 3 setting up NPCs to take some pretty wacky photos.

メタルギアソリッド３　本職忘れて敵を撮る！

Grand Theft Auto, Kiwi Styles

2008-02-05T18:26:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered what actually being in a Grand Theft Auto game would be like? well here's your chance to see one guy do just that.

Well not really, just a cool vid. The guys on T.V down here in NZ, or was, not sure, can't get reception for the channel he's on in my area.

Grand Theft Auto

Second Skin Documentary Trailer

2008-01-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

Second Skin looks like a pretty interesting film, it takes a look at the lives of some video gamers who spend a lot of time playing MMOs, bellow is the trailer.

I can relate to it, I spent a lot of time back in the day playing Runescape, eventually moving onto bigger MMOs like Lineage 1 then Asheron's Call 2.

I spent a lot of time playing First Person Shooters as well, thankfully on some level I no longer have the equipment to play any of these to a satisfactory level.

Maybe this is why I blog, it's like a game, except I expect to be making huge change by doing it and hopefully buy a suit of armor with the profits.

Crysis physics demo, 3,000 Barrels

2008-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

Crysis looks awesome, but no where in the near future do I see myself owning a system that can handle it.

This is awesome, I see I'm a little late but that doesn't make it not cool. The video is of some guy playing around with loads of barrels in crysis.

Crysis Physic Demo - 3'000 Barrel Explosion

Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay video

2008-01-24T06:09:00.000-08:00

Seeing that I don't get to play many games these days I end up watching a lot of videos like this one over at gamersyde.com. I asked to my brother if I could borrow his 360 the other day as it's just gathering dust on top of his dresser, that made him pause for a good excuse not to lend it to me, so I just said fuck it.

This is a long gameplay video of Metal Gear Solid 4, 21 minutes long, looks like my kind of game, I can take it slow if I like, I usually like to explore every nook and cranny in games.

Metal Gear Solid 4 gameplay

Prototype Gameplay Footage

2008-01-22T17:22:00.000-08:00

Never heard of this game before and never heard of the show the gameplay footage was featured on.

Prototype looks like one hell of a destructive game, the footage of a 20% build and it still looks pretty awesome.

To me it looks like GTA crossed with Assassins Creed, I just hope it's not all about destruction.

First look at the Far Cry 2 Engine

2008-01-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

I played Far Cry 1 a lot so I was interested to see what 2 would be like, looks OK.

Bioshock Halloween Costume

2007-12-21T22:07:00.000-08:00

A little late but pretty cool, some dude made a Bioshock what do you call them things costume for the past Halloween.

Bioshock halloween

Final Fantasy XIII Trailer

2007-12-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

Below is the latest updated Final Fantasy XIII Trailer, bit old in posting this though, but don't y'all feel it's time for something juicier, it's been long enough.

Even though it's really hard to tell there must be some real game play footage in it, I'm also hoping the cameras aren't fixed and that it's fully 3D.

Final Fantasy XIII

Especially judging by the developers video below, looks like it's going to be an amazing game.

FINAL FANTASY XIII development spot

Assassins Creed Glitch

2007-12-12T17:51:00.000-08:00

Horses are horses of course of course a part from when they're in Assassins Creed.

Assassins Creed BUG!! Strange horse

Why is Microsoft all up in Blu-Rays Business?

2007-12-11T04:51:00.000-08:00

Which one do you support, Blu-Ray or HD-DVD and why?

Well I'm going to have to choose a side here, as far as game related I'm going with Blu-Ray.

I'd rather go with the one that's not an add on and doesn't seem to be here just to piss people off. That is Blu-Ray my friends, sure you don't need all that space if you're not worried about the best possible experience available.

If you take the Wii for example, you don't need the most powerful or even the system with the best graphics to succeed, production costs are down and you make more money. This is were I think Microsoft wants to be, making games at lower cost and eventually delivering them all through digital means, cutting out physical production of disks and packaging, means more bling bling for them.

So why the idea that the blu-ray is wasted space? maybe a game at 40GB would be a pain in the ass to download, maybe filling 40GB worth of compressed game would take ages for developers to produce, if you don't have a product to sell then you ain't making money are you. Quick turn around is where the moneys at and making the most advanced games possible just ain't going to hack it.

Though why is Microsoft with their Xbox 360 dipping its toes where it really doesn't belong, you can't even play HD-DVDs on it without an add-on, why? because they want Blu-Ray to fail. A game on Blu-Ray has the potential to be fully uncompressed, compression of audio, textures etc reduces quality. With a mint entertainment set-up I would want every bit of audio and imagery to be at its fullest, not compressed.

If Blu-Ray fails that means MS doesn't have to go all out in producing top notch audio and graphics, games will be smaller in file size, smaller games means quicker turn around, which means more product to sell. Also with the way they want to deliver games digitally, smaller file size means more people willing to download the games.

Another reason at this point in time is that they don't have digital delivery set-up for large scale games, I really don't think people would be willing to download 10 GB files onto a hard drive that would only hold 12 such titles.

That's why I'm going with Blu-Ray, it's the right format for this point in time, it doesn't over reach what it can handle and has oodles of potential left in it.

Sure the Xbox 360 has loads more quality titles than the PS3, but I feel you can only compress so much before you come to a halt and nothing advances. Blu-Ray is still in the shallow end of its potential with a flood to come.

I just hate that Microsoft is all up in its business with no real benefit to its own console, coz you know their next machine probably won't even have a disk tray.

Anyway if you read this far, remember this is a rant that went well unfocused and went from HD-DVD vs Blu-Ray to 360 vs PS3.

New Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer

2007-12-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Looks pretty good, graphics look great, though the trailer looks comprised mostly of all cut scene footage, I want to see some game play.

Grand Theft Auto IV Trailer

PS3 Firmware 2.0 features video

2007-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Below is a video from the Sony blog which shows some of the features in the upcoming 2.0 firmware update.

I've always wondered why Sony didn't wait an extra year before releasing the PlayStation 3, could have had some of these features right out of the box, I also have the feeling that because some of these features are kind of ground breaking and new to consoles, for example the remote play feature with the PSP, that Sony needs to release them slowly, kind of testing them as they go.

I only just realized that I could be half way around the world with a PSP and stream movies and junk from a PS3 at home, interact with my PC and I just heard that with the PlayStation Eye I could use it as a security camera in conjunction with remote play and a PSP, though just a rumor me thinks.

PS3 for great, ground breaking features, to be released slowly.

PlayStation 3 Firmware 2.0 Demo

The Polystation 3

2007-10-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

The video below is a review of the Polystation 3, which is a cheap handheld game housed in the body of an imitation PS3. Nice video and pretty funny.

PolyStation 3 Review

Now the video got me thinking, I remember in the Atari days there were cheap imitations that tried to cash in on the image of Atari and it has happened with nearly every successful gaming platform I can remember, the Gameboy, the PSOne etc.

Now most of the places you can find this junk are funnily enough in the imitation $1 shops like the 1,2,3 dollar shop or the Buck Fifty shop (made up for the most part, but you catch my drift), we got loads of these types of shops around here that sell knockoff clothing and products and I gotta say some of the the products are ridiculous and really funny at the same time.

I guess keep checking out Game Junker because these products are cheap and plenty available so I may just make some posts about them.

Dirty Dancing The Game

2007-10-16T05:42:00.000-07:00

I've had the time of my life and I... well if your over 25 you'll probably remember the classic hit movie Dirty Dancing that starred the lovely Jennifer Grey and the dreamy Patrick Swayze... hang on that movie is 20 years old and they're just only now bringing out a game, I mean WTF why? with that much time they could have made something a little more imaginative than what is shown in the video below, they could have actually put some Dirty Dancing into it.

Dirty Dancing the Game