November is one of the biggest months for video game releases as publishers try to make their way onto holiday wish lists with big titles such as Gears of War 2, Mirrors Edge, Call of Duty, Brothers in Arms, Little big Planet and many many more. Even picky gamers can easily spend $300-$400 to snap up just the highest rated games, let alone any of the casual games set to invade store shelves in the next two months. With so many releases it is no wonder that the GeekDad at WIRED came up with 5 ways to stretch your gaming dollar this fall.

GeekDad offers the following 5 ways to save money on games this holiday season.

1. Know your release dates and what games you can wait to buy.
   
2. Read reviews to avoid the crud that many developers shovel out this time of year.
3. Play the demo; nothing helps you separate the wheat from the chaff quicker than hands on time.
4. Trade in and or buy used games, even new release used games are $5 cheaper.
   
5. Join a gaming community, which exist solely to help others find cheap video game deals.
   

These are some excellent ideas for saving on games. I've already prioritized my game purchases for the rest of the year, planning to pick up Mirrors Edge on launch day while waiting until after the holidays to snag a used copy of Gears of War 2. With the prevalence of demos and reviews these days there is no excuse for making an uninformed game purchase, even as a gift. While we are talking about gifts, let me be one of the first to say, "there is no shame in giving a used game as a gift, after all, used games play the same as new ones!"

SlickDeals reports that "Gamestop offers a Free Used Game withl your purchase of 2 used games (with code GSB2G1). The lowest price game will be the free one. This is valid in store and online both."

Another thing: if you like the idea of having a video game system but haven't wanted to spend the money, GameStop is also offering refurbished Nintendo GameCube systems for $30! You can get used games for under $10 and, with the coupon code, walk out with a GameCube and three games for less than one Ulysses S. Grant.

MidNightBox.com is offering EA Sports Plug and Play TV Games: Madden 95 and NHL 95 for $6 including shipping.

Yes, they're very, very old but, for $6, it's worth a try if you're desperate for a video game. And that 13 year old line-ups might bring back some memories -- remind you of athletes whose names you haven't heard in a decade. Product description:

With this EA Sports Controller, you plug one controller right into your TV, and two players can play head-to-head! Get back to the basics with RAW sports action with EA Sports 2-Player TV games. Throw passes in Madden Football and send pucks soaring in NHL Hockey -- all from the comfort of your own living room!

Includes two games in one controller - Madden Football 95 and NHL Hockey 95. The EA Sports Controller with Two TV Games features battery-powered gaming hardware in a self-contained controller. It conveniently plugs into any TV that features audio/video connectors. Requires 2 "AA" batteries (not included).

A lot of people have been complaining about the dumbing down of America's colleges, alleging that our great universities have turned into amusement parks where students drink and slack, learning very little of any value.

Others, including this blogger, have said that the current "student loan crisis" is a myth, asserting that many students are taking out loans instead of choosing less expensive schools or, heaven forbid, working more and spending less.

There's no better proof that both of these allegations are true than Amazon's latest sale: Off to College with Video Games.

What follows is a page of "bargains" on video games. NCAA Football 2009? $59.99, because intramural sports burn too many calories, and what would freshman year be without "the freshman 15." Guitar Hero Aerosmith Wireless Bundle? $99.99 because displaying the work ethic to actually learn an instrument is sooo 20th century.

We should have a rule: no one who blows money on video games should be allowed to whine about the rising cost of college. And if you're taking out student loans, that means that you can't afford to waste money on trash like this.

If you flip on the news, you'll hear a lot of talk about "the recession" and how "so many Americans are struggling" and how "high gas prices" are making "food insecurity" a more pressing problem. Heck, people are losing their homes!

Next time you see a woe is America story about how "cash-strapped" people are, keep this in mind: on average, we spent 37% more money in May of 2008 (compared to 2007) on stuff to plug into our televisions so we can control pixelated characters in our underwear while eating Doritos instead of working. Nintendo Wii led the charge with Playstation and Xbox second and third, respectively. Grand Theft Auto IV, a hit game where you get to steal cars and kill people, was the flagship product on the software side.

I wonder how many people bought Grand Theft Auto IV and still complain about how they can't afford high gas prices and credit card bills and mortgages. I've always thought of myself as a sympathetic person, but I have to tell you: I look around and see all the waste, the excess consumption, and I just don't feel bad for the average American. Of course: some people are having a tough time and doing everything they can to get by, but a lot of people just need to spend more time working and less time shopping.

Grand Theft Auto has been criticized for violence, and self-proclaimed pro-family advocates have long complained sexual imagery and blood in popular video games. Wait until they hear about this one.

A new Belgian video game called A Place to Pee allows you to play a skiing or space invaders game by urinating in special toilets that act as controllers.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

The other day I wrote about a fantastic freebie for kids: a violent video game courtesy of Uncle Sam.

On a more positive note, Practical Money Skills for Life -- a Visa-sponsored website devoted to financial literacy education -- is offering a pretty cool looking set of PC "games" designed to get your kids thinking about money in a positive way.

The list includes Financial Football, Financial Football Advanced Edition, and Practical Money Skills for Life, along with student workbook and a teacher's edition.

If you're a teacher, you can order many more copies and, if you're a parent, please forward this to your child's teacher if your school doesn't already have a financial literacy program in place.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

When I was younger, my mother complained frequently about the high cost of the video games my brother and I wanted to buy: "$40? What a waste! Do something constructive!"

In retrospect she was 100% right, and I'm glad she discouraged us from frittering away time and money on mindless entertainment.

But free video games? That's an entirely different story. And you'll be thrilled to know that your taxpayer dollars are being used to fund the effort. If you fill out this form on GoArmy.com, the Army's recruiting arm, they'll send you "more information on joining Army Special Forces, as well as your copy of the Special Forces game CD."

A word to all of you armchair tough guys out there: if you don't really want to join the army, don't give them your cell phone number -- you'll be getting a call from a recruiter. Maybe they'll be less likely to call you if you check the boxes saying that you have asthma and will definitely not join the military.

Want more free Army stuff? Fill out this form and get a free messenger bag.

So when I was a little kid, my family was always a "generation" behind the times in terms of video games. When everyone else had Nintendo, my brother and I had Atari 2600. When they got Super Nintendo, we had regular Nintendo. And guess what: I didn't care. I was 7 years old!

For those parents out there who are feeling pressure to buy their kids Nintendo Wii's or Playstations 3's, here's my rule of thumb: When your kids are mature enough to need the latest, greatest, coolest, video game system, they have hit the age where they are also cool enough to pay for it themselves ... with their own money.

Buying a 5-year old a $300 video game system is stupid. Do you really think he'll enjoy it any more than this $25.95 Nintendo 64 system, available used on Amazon? Of course not! Nintendo 64 was fun 10 years ago and it's fun now, gosh darnet. These days you can buy a lot of N64 games for a little more than 2 dollars apiece, and young kids have short attention spans so a wide variety is key.

A couple years ago, it would have been hard to convince me that video games and computer games were impacting the sales of more traditional board games. At the time, video games were being targeted at young men and were, with few exceptions too arcane, complex, or violent to appeal to more casual gamers.

Now it's very different. The Nintendo Wii has reached demographics that the industry hasn't targeted in more than 20 years, and games are more fun and require less tech-savvy than ever. The casual gamer is back -- and you have to wonder if board games are suffering for it. Now, the Wii is a huge hit in nursing homes across the country.

I stepped on at least a few toes with my thoughts about deferring video game gratification when it comes to our kids (see The high cost of video games). Still, though it shouldn't have, the vitriol of the few posts startled me. For some, this is sacred ground and dollars be damned.

So I was relieved in flipping through my most recent print edition of Time Magazine to find Lev Grossman's "Girl Meets Game." Lev, "a lifelong gamer and proud of it," thought twice when Lily, his 3-year-old daughter, not only shooed his hand away from the Teletubbies site but informed him that he, "could go now." The event prompted him to make a few phone calls and draw a few conclusions.

There are some troubling aspects to very young children and video games. Kids may not perceive them the way we think that they do.

Grossman drew a sensible conclusion. While he loved the idea of being a "cool" parent, he's decided that "there's a lot more to think about" than he thought there was. He'll limit Lily's playing time, and though he'd love to take advantage of that time for things like a shower, he's not going to let his 3-year-old daughter play video games alone. For now, he concludes that,"maybe it's a good idea for Daddy to stick around."

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Moore described (subscription required) his teenage sons "classic withdrawal symptoms" when limited in their video game use. He rejected his 6-year-old son's pleas for a PlayStation.

That's learning.

No one was prepared when the video game surge took over childhood. If American children could no longer play in the woods or in the neighborhood, they could be found exercising their fingers at the video game. By high school weekends, it could go on all night. Worst of all for our family was the online game Everquest -- referred to by those in the know as Evercrack. Designed to be highly addictive - players "level up" -- it was the first irrefutable indicator that our older son was carrying some addictive genes. In the backyard bunkhouse, he and his friends could be found any hour of the night, computers plugged in, an empty box of Krispy Kremes beside them. More than once, we found him asleep at the computer. "What's the worst thing I ever did, Mom?" he once asked "Stay online all night?"

Worried how your family will react when they don't get that coveted Wii under the tree? Nintendo of America super-chief Regis Fils-Aime announced recently that Nintendo feels your pain. Nintendo will offer rainchecks to those who pay for the popular game on December 20 and 21but don't actually score a system, according to our sister site, WiiFanboy. This raincheck apply to GameStop stores only.

They promise you'll have a unit in your waiting hands by January. The end of January.

Well, what are you gonna do? Nintendo's answer to Microsoft's XBox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, the Wii is a wireless home video game that has proven hugely popular, even among demographics not usually into video games. Perhaps this is why demand has outstripped supply in the U.S. and Britain since it was released in both markets in 2006.

It's a nice gesture, sure. But Wii fanboys have been skeptical in their commentary, citing experiences with retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart, who issued rainchecks for units bought in December that couldn't be redeemed until April or May.

Well, perhaps this will prove the old saying, all good things come to those who wait...

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive produced some results that might make you want to go buy your kid a violin, or at least a recorder, for Christmas: 83% of people who earn more than $150 thousand per year had some type of musical training as children. 86% of college graduates and 88% of those with higher degrees had music lessons as children.

Of course, there are some potential flaws. Kids from wealthier families are more likely to have access to musical education as children -- and go on to college.

But proponents of The Mozart Effect have to be pleased with this data.

Looking for some gifts to turn your, or someone else's, little Johnny into a musically-literate college grad earning $150 thousand per year? Here are a few ideas:

• Classical Music for Children: A Toddler's Introduction to Classical Music: At just $3.99 on Amazon with an average review of 5 stars, it's hard to argue with this choice.
• Beethoven Lives Upstairs: I remember this movie from my own childhood. I have no idea whether it's contributed to my earnings potential, but it's a very entertaining introduction to the work of Beethoven and the world of classical music.

However, the study did not specify training in classical music. So maybe you just buy them a copy of Dance Dance Revolution for whatever system they happen to have (if you've managed to resist societal pressures to buy your kids a video game system, more power to you).

As an aside, I got hoodwinked into playing Karaoke Revolution: American Idol for several hours with friends the other night. Definitely not my thing, but it's probably a good gift. And hey, maybe it'll help them get rich and support you during your golden years!