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PACK-IN MAN

Once apon a time, there was the pack in. You knew that if you bought a system, you’d have at least one game to play. Then, during the 32-bit era, the pack-in went the way of the dodo. And now its all about bundles (which is the exact same thing except its got a different name).

I have an intention to purchase a new 360 at some point during the year (something with a bigger HDD and HDMI) and there is almost no way to buy one without a game being bundled in, even if it is only Sega Superstar Tennis. The Wii, with Wii Sport revitalised the value-added trend and now if you want a PS3, you usually get some first party colossal sales disappointment which is usually at least a half decent game.

I decided to look at the pack in titles I’ve gotten with systems over the years. These are basically the games I picked up with the system whether I wanted them or not so not every system I’ve bought is listed.

Gameboy (1992). Pack-in: Tetris.
The grand-daddy of pack-ins, Tetris is more addictive than crack, more dangerous than smack and almost as good in the sack. One of the hallmarks of the modern packin is that its usually not a great selling titles that either the retailer or the publisher wants to get rid of their excess inventory. The game is still great and one of the few titles where the lack of colour on the original GB is not a major issue.

Super NES (1993) Pack-in: Super Mario World
If there is at all a way that you haven’t played this game, then there is something wrong with you. Its probably my all-time favourite Mario game. Its one of the great 2D platformers, unhampered by the NES’ technical limitations without really taxing the SNES either. It holds surprisingly well up a decade and a half later. And so it should since it was re-released on GBA and now available on Virtual Console.

DREAMCAST (2000) Pack-in: Trickstyle
I’m not sure if this hover-boarding game was a retailer special or not but it was bundled with my DC. I never played it when it came out but after I played Criterion’s PS2 hoverboarding following Airblade, I decided to revisit Trickstyle. It lasted about 10 minutes.

XBOX (2002) Pack-in: Halo: Combat Evolved
So I bought a bundle with Halo in it. I was getting Halo anyway and the bundled represented a decent deal (basically a 6 month sub to Xbox mag, a sturdy xbox carry bad, a tshirt, a hat and a drinks holder for the same RRP as the launch price with the game.

Wii (2006) Pack-in: Wii Sports
The only time I ever play this is when people who don’t play games are about the house. They usually have grey hair and think games are just “monkey business.”

PS3 (2007) Pack-in: F.E.A.R.
The horror. This is the biggest pile of shit ever defecated out of the anus of Vivendi. And that’s a pretty gaping asshole to start with which makes the fecal nature of this pile of shite even more , er, spectacular. Its easily the worst PS3 game in my library (one I couldn’t give away, and I have tried). I tried the demo on PC when it originally came out and was amused for 5 minutes and played the 360 demo and was less amused but every time I think I’ll play it for 5 minutes, it lasts in the PS3 for less time than it takes to play the Pacman CE Demo.

PC gamers get the pack-in to, usually with Video cards. Sometimes, gamers even install these (as they are, in some cases at least, the only legit games in their collections). Over the years I’ve amassed 4 copies of Counterstrike Condition Zero that I’ve never installed but never anything cool like a CoD or Battlefield game.

What do you guys like about free games that come with the system?