Recession Gaming: Are You Guilty?

I was reading an article on The Escapist about saving money on games in the economic downturn. Basically, the writer said he tried to save money by not forking out so much on the latest releases and would instead only get games from clearance and sale racks. He ended up spending more than twice the amount he normally would have before when he was just buying new games.

Are any of you guilty of this? Link to the article is here.

I buy alot of second-hand games if that counts.

I NEVER pay 60 bucks for a video game. Just not worth it to me. 30 dollars is my limit. So I buy used and I buy older platium hits titles.

I rarely still buy games for the full $60. I'll buy a few here and there for the used prices, but since I'm only working on weekends and aren't getting nearly as much money as I used to, I have to put my money towards more important things.

Yeah I really never pay the full $60 on a game either. Last game I paid $60 for, was The Godfather 2 and what a let down. It should have been a $40 game when it came out in my book. So I traded in that and Far-Cry 2 for Batman. Both games plus 25% for the two trade in towards the reserve of Batman were $40. So I only paid $23 for Batman. I buy used and older new games off Amazon/Ebay for a cheaper price. I understand they need to make their money back on the games but a lot of games aren't worth $60 new. Exclusives and games they know that are going to be great ( like halo, MW 2, Forza 3, etc ) should be $60, others should be around $40-$50. It's to much to pay $60 each time a game comes out.

Yeah I really never pay the full $60 on a game either. Last game I paid $60 for, was The Godfather 2 and what a let down. It should have been a $40 game when it came out in my book. So I traded in that and Far-Cry 2 for Batman. Both games plus 25% for the two trade in towards the reserve of Batman were $40. So I only paid $23 for Batman. I buy used and older new games off Amazon/Ebay for a cheaper price. I understand they need to make their money back on the games but a lot of games aren't worth $60 new. Exclusives and games they know that are going to be great ( like halo, MW 2, Forza 3, etc ) should be $60, others should be around $40-$50. It's to much to pay $60 each time a game comes out.

rns1016

[QUOTE="rns1016"]

Yeah I really never pay the full $60 on a game either. Last game I paid $60 for, was The Godfather 2 and what a let down. It should have been a $40 game when it came out in my book. So I traded in that and Far-Cry 2 for Batman. Both games plus 25% for the two trade in towards the reserve of Batman were $40. So I only paid $23 for Batman. I buy used and older new games off Amazon/Ebay for a cheaper price. I understand they need to make their money back on the games but a lot of games aren't worth $60 new. Exclusives and games they know that are going to be great ( like halo, MW 2, Forza 3, etc ) should be $60, others should be around $40-$50. It's to much to pay $60 each time a game comes out.

billyd5301

yea, the only new game I bought sp far in 09 was UFC, everything elese was used.

I'm not trying to insult you, I just feel bad that you only have 1 game you like now instead of 3 for your cash, no matter where it came from. Here are some examples of what I do, maybe it can help someone out. But really it's just using good financial sense. I have a collection of a few hundred games, and I got to the point where I never trade anything in, though at rare times I will still Ebay some away if I really don't like them. I get to play everything I want to, and it costs MUCH less than trading anything in at Gamestop. Mass Effect - I know I wanted this game. I read previews of it for a few months, loved KoTOR, and was 99.9% it had lasting value to me and I would like it. I was very happy I bought it and still love it, so there is no chance I will trade this in. Fable 2 - I was curious on how good this game would be so I read a couple reviews the day it came out. Now I don't trust reviews for my buying decisions because they are mostly wrong in my opinion, however they can be useful to finding out key info on a game you are interested in. I read some forums and decided I would hold off on this game. About 2 months after release I found it for $20.00 at a local store and bought it. I think Fable 2 is a pretty good game. For the price I paid I think it is awesome. I will not trade this game in or sell it because it probably goes for about $15.00 used. Big deal. Too Human - Exact same as Fable 2 except for the fact that I think it sucks. Sure I could sell it for $10-15 bucks but big deal, no real loss. I only paid $20 for it, which don't get me wrong, is $20 gone, but had I went out and payed $60 for it I would have felt totally screwed. The moral of this story is: A. Don't pay full retail price for games that you are not very sure you are going to like. B. Read forums and reviews if you are really in doubt C. Remember, you can always pass up a game you are not sure about and buy another game you are not sure about that has been out for a couple months for about 1/3 the price. That is the best way to minimize your loss and still get something you can play. You could have bought 3 games easy for the price of Godfather II and odds are you would have really liked 1 of them if not all 3.billyd5301

So we all buy used games, but where are the guys that we bought them from.Where are the people who buy games on release day? I smell a conspiracy! :P

I only buy two kinds of games. Brandnew and really old.(like $5-$15) i don't buy too many games. Just the headlines.

i dont see why people need so many games, i mean seriously how do you have the time to play them all but on topic no I dont really spend that much on games or i wait until the new releases prices drop a bit. no guilty :)Bulkycheese

See this is my reasoning too. I really, really want to get every new game I want, but there is no way I can get around to playing them all as much as they are worth and as much as I paid for. I recently have purchased many new games, and Tiger Woods 10, Red Faction, Madden 10, and Resistence 1 are all suffering because I play too many other games. I rarely get around to them if at all. I still play CoD4 even though it is nearing 2 years old now.

TL;DR, Buying lots of games is a waste of money.

No I basically buy whatever I want whenever I want and it has been like that since I got my Xbox 360. Although 2009 has been pretty boring so far so I have just been saving up money for the games coming out in the next few months.

I barely buy games these days, when I do, I try and get the used copy.. It costs less. *thumbs up*

I have to say I don't usually buy games although I never really have that much money lol. I'm always looking in the shops for Used Games and such.

im planning on getting tales of vesperia and the last remenat for 30 buks this weekend so yeah im guitly i rarely buy things new anymore unless i really want it day 1. I save a ton of money that way and still get to play all the games i want eventually.

extremely guilty

If I buy a game, it's a full price game experience. Note, I only have 6 games.(Halo, COD, Gears, Forza) I'll support the developers by buying new.nate_c-12

I only buy full price games I really want, everything else is rental/used.

I was reading an article on The Escapist about saving money on games in the economic downturn. Basically, the writer said he tried to save money by not forking out so much on the latest releases and would instead only get games from clearance and sale racks. He ended up spending more than twice the amount he normally would have before when he was just buying new games.

Are any of you guilty of this? Link to the article is here.

I mix and match. The other day I bought Batman new, only because I read reviews, and I like Batman. However I also get used, like Farcry 2, really not worth $60, but a fun time filler. I tend to buy the 1st game, for example Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is coming out soon, so I bought number 1. Dirt 2, I just picked up Dirt1 for $15. Same games, just updated graphics. I looked at the videos for Marvel Alliance 2, and compared to #1, there was barely any difference.

I still buy new releases of the music games such as Rock Band etc. I can see problems where in GH5 you can use the code from World Tour and Greatest Hits to import those songs. Thus the used copies of those games are pretty useless. That's what I'll be doing, buying GH5, taking the codes from the previous games, using them, then trading them in.

I havent bought a new release since ive owned my 360. My first will probaly be left 4 dead 2.

Edit BF: 1943

The only games I buy new are the ones I know I'm going to play a lot. I think the last game I bought new was Red Faction Guerrilla and I probably won't buy any games until CoD MW2.

I believe the gaming industry is making far too much money off of impulse buys and what I consider false advertising. billyd5301

*cough* Star Wars Force Unleashed

i have bought and sold 3 ps3s, a 40, 60, and 80 gig, 2 wiis, and sold my first 360 but bought another one. i'm very OCD and have a tendency to buy a game, play it, dislike it, trade it in, then have seller's remorse for getting rid of it, so ill buy it again. (fallout 3, devil may cry 4, mass effect for example...)

so i'm very guilty.

also to the guy who said 19 y/o's are lying who say they buy 5 new games a month.... but when you lower your moral standards you can make a lot of money so dropping 200 at the video game store is no biggie =]

do you guys not realize the cost to make these games? how do you expect any company to produce anything of quality (which costs millions to make) then charge so little to the point where its not worth it to them.

what was the size of ps1 games? like 128 bit? and they charged 40$ for a NEW ps1 game.

we get 5 gigs(correct me if i'm wrong) for 60.

what you guys should be mad about is how they try to nickel and dime you (which is where they make their money, trust me i'm in business school for finance)

paying for standards features??? (cough re5 multiplayer cough) at what point do they stop making the main part of the game to focus on dlc that seems to come out RIGHT after some new releases?

Yes. I get Platinum Hits games like a fiend. I got a 360 late in the game, a Jasper Arcade this past April, so all these great games that I haven't played are dirt cheap. Some recent ones I purchased are Dead Rising,The Orange Box,Gears of War, and Mass Effect.

I tend to always end up with what I want when it comes to games (only thing that really does honestly), but I wouldn't say that I purchase but around 4 games or less a year depending on that years releases. An example is this year, I'm probably going to purchase Beatles Rock Band, Assassin's Creed II, and Call of Duty: MW2 and that'll be it. So I would say 'not guilty' to your original comment.

I buy alot of second-hand games if that counts.

miless