[Intrepid Homoludens]

Money well spent: Silent Hill 2, Deus Ex. Money wasted or not fully returned: The Watchmaker,
Unreal Tournament 2003.

I'm sitting here at my desk looking up at my bookshelf at the small game boxes neatly stacked - Broken Sword 3, No One Lives Forever 2, Uru, The Thing, Silent Hill 3, Jedi Knight II, Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb, Syberia, Silent Hill 2, Soldier Of Fortune II, Grand Theft Auto 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Hitman 2, Half-Life 2, Max Payne 2, Splinter Cell, Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time, and several others. Under a small table near the bookshelf, more games, but older ones in their 'vintage' size boxes - Thief, Thief II, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Half-Life, Max Payne, Deus Ex, Gabriel Knight 3, all topped by that big fat box my Xbox came in. I have only five Xbox games for now - Fable, KoTOR, KoTOR II, Jade Empire, and Psychonauts (I had a few more but I traded them in at Gamestop because I decided they weren't for me).

All in all, I actually have very few games compared to most of you. Many of you, as serious gamers, have at least dozens and dozens of games, perhaps over a hundred in your collection. What does this say about me, about us? For one thing, I'm very poor, working only freelance in the past few years and have a severely restrained budget for games. Therefore the value of each game I decide to buy is inextricably linked to my lack of expenditure - I would never buy a game on a whim or cold turkey. I can't afford it. Which is probably best for me, it filters my behaviour as a consumer, as a gamer who will only play games that I deem worthy of my money, my time. I'll only buy games that I have the gut feeling I'll play all the way to the end and thoroughly enjoy.

How discerning are you with your games? Can you afford to 'try out' a new game, at full price? There are advantages to that. Or do you prefer to be highly selective, which may have the con of you missing out on some potential gems often glossed over by the media and other gamers?

[Sage]

In the past, the only games I've paid "new release" full price for are those in the Myst series. I'll pay "bargain bin" full price ($5.99-$15.99) for games that look interesting or that I'm reasonably sure I'll like (The Crystal Key, Rhem, Physicus, various I Spy games). The majority of my games I find at thrift stores for $1-$3. Yes, I do have to go often and root through boxes and shelves of jewelcases to find anything I can use, but the thrill of the hunt adds to the experience for me...finding a good game amongst all the dreck is an adventure in itself.

ScottMate

[SoccerDude28]

I usually never buy a game new except if I have played the demo, rented it before, read lots of reviews about it, or just know that I will like it. For example I pre-ordered Psychonauts and freedom force vs the third reich, because I knew what kind of games they were and I had full confidence that I am going to love them.

That said, I buy tons of games at cheap prices from Ebay that I don't even have enough time to play. Currently I have on my queue of To Play games about 10 games that I own, and I keep buying new ones all the time.

[syntheticgerbil]

No Trep, I completely agree, I'm like you, if the game doesn't even seem like its something I would be comfortable with, I don't get it. Same with movies, DVDs, CDs, comics, and crap like that.

A couple of friends get really annoyed at how picky I am, but like you said, it really does help the wallet. I don't know if I have 100 games or not, a lot has been acquired in over 18 years time (my dad before me), but I do keep reselling games if they suck, even if they are adventure. GASP!

Only problem I have is, if I liked one game in a series, even if it was a long time ago, I have to compulsively buy the sequels. This leads me to have way too many Sonic and Zelda games. Which is alright gameplaywise, but pretty much if you played one you played them all. Sonic Adventure 2 was horrible though because it was too damn hard. I did buy Earthworm Jim 3D and I think I'm going to be extremely frugal to sequels without the orginal creators unless it really is worth it, which I find out through reviews and you guys and crap. Totally dodged the new Leisure Suit Larry game.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by Thrift Store Scott

Yes, I do have to go often and root through boxes and shelves of jewelcases to find anything I can use, but the thrill of the hunt adds to the experience for me...finding a good game amongst all the dreck is an adventure in itself.

I have the same habit, though I don't do that as often as I used to. I realized my game stack is just growing without me having enough time to play all of them, anyway.

I counted 66 games on my shelves, some of which are budget compilations of several titles, and the only ones I paid the full price for are Command & Conquer: Red Alert (the first game I ever bought and my only preorder so far), Diablo, Shadow of Memories, Silent Hill 3, Morrowind (though it's an edition that comes with Tribunal, but not Bloodmoon which I had to buy seperately), Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, Rayman 3 Collector's Edition (which I chose over the standard edition mostly so I could give a Rayman backpack that came with it to my girlfriend at the time) and Zanzarah: The Hidden Portal. None of them made me wish I waited for a budget release (most of them never got one, anyway), but I'd always thoroughly informed myself what each game was like before I decided to buy it.

Now, I do experiment with bargains and budget titles, but rarely, and I never ever buy I game I haven't even heard of.

[MDMaster]

Sometimes I buy games just cause I like the boxes, the fatter the box is, the more I can't resist. I was about to buy a 17 E Ultima Online just because it was in a lovely big box (and cause I could sell it on the italian eBay...), but hey I managed to stop myself. Unfortunately I didn't manage to stop myself from buying Hidden & Dangerous 2 in a very cool minibox. 9 E of useful carton, wow!

[Ninja Dodo]

I'm catching up on my classics, so when I spot an old LucasArts gem that I haven't played in the bargain bin I always get it. Apart from that I only really buy games that I know I'm going to love like Half-Life 2, Gothic 3 and Psychonauts... Occasionally I'll buy something just based on the ranting and raving on here though, like Beyond Good & Evil.

Thing is I don't really have time to play much at all. I have eight games gathering dust on my shelf that I haven't even started playing...

[Phantom]

More than 5 years ago, when the internet and warez wasn't wide-spread, you had no other choice but to buy games and hope they turn out well. Of course we (me and my father) read game magazines to get an idea, but in those days we bought quite a few games we never finished.

Right now, after more than 10 years and hundreds (thousands?) of games played, I pretty much know in advance if I will like a game and I rarely buy a game I won't finish. If in doubt, I use warez as my way to try the game out. I have no problem with doing that as I know for myself that I have the decency to buy the game if it's any good.

[Wormsie]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

How discerning are you with your games?

When I was a kid I used to go out and buy all sorts of junk I didn't really have any use for, even computer games. I remember I bought NHL '97 , and Tomb Raider just because I happened to be in a town where there was a PC game store. Tomb Raider was severely disappointing.

Can you afford to 'try out' a new game, at full price?

I can't afford doing that anymore, but when I lived with my parents, sure. I bought Discworld: Noir like that, just because I happened to see it in a store, and... I was disappointed, again. I had read the reviews, which wrere positive, but that game just wasn't good enough. It had potential, but it just wasn't good enough.

Or do you prefer to be highly selective, which may have the con of you missing out on some potential gems often glossed over by the media and other gamers?

I'm not interested in most games (or gaming in general) these days,so I buy very few games. After trying out the full version of Psychonauts (w4r3z), I found out that it wasn't the game for me. The demo wasn't extensive enough to show the general direction of the whole game...

[MDMaster]

Originally Posted by Wormsie

After trying out the full version of Psychonauts (w4r3z)

[SamandMax]

I hate paying full price for games. I paid $50 for Resident Evil 4, beat it in about 3 days, and haven't gone back to it since. That hardly seems worth the money.

[Kolzig]

These days I mostly buy used games (ebay etc.), and I only buy new games at full price if they seem extremely interesting to me.

Psychonauts, Still Life and Doom3 are quite rare examples.

[RLacey]

I buy tons of games, but over 90% of them were on sale in some manner when I bought them. I don't often by games on day of release unless I'm desperate to play them (Grim Fandango or Thief: Deadly Shadows, anyone?), and even then I hunt around for the best price.

Mind you, I still pay too much...

[Manhunter71]

When I was employed full-time in a job with a decent wage I wouldn't hesitate to buy games on their release date, but since I have become self-employed I have only bought (brand new) games that I definitely know I want to play!

I havent bought a new game for over a year - I now spend most of my time scouring ebay for new-ish games at bargain prices

So far I have done quite well - I got Legacyark Shadows for £3.99, TMOS for £10, Darkfall:The Journal for £5, Prince of Persia:The Sands of Time for £5.

I have bought some full price games (KOTOR, NWN, Manhunt, TLJ, BS3, GK3 + many others....) and they were all well worth it at the time, but now I think that new games are a waste of money - after all, you don't have to wait that long before a used copy is available on ebay or Amazon at a vastly reduced price

[AFGNCAAP]

Count me in. Unless a game in question feels very special to me for some reason (it happened last time almost one year and a half ago, and applies to possibly two of the upcoming releases), I avoid paying full price.

There is a downside to it, of course. Nobody from you guys mentioned it, so maybe I'm the only freak who suffers from it - but I hardly ever resist buying a game I wasn't really considering previously when I spot it attractively priced. That way, I do end up having a high to-play games stack, and - perhaps - spend just as much money in total as I would buying newly-released games, but being genuinely picky about them.

[Manhunter71]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

Count me in. Unless a game in question feels very special to me for some reason (it happened last time almost one year and a half ago, and applies to possibly two of the upcoming releases), I avoid paying full price.

There is a downside to it, of course. Nobody from you guys mentioned it, so maybe I'm the only freak who suffers from it - but I hardly ever resist buying a game I wasn't really considering previously when I spot it attractively priced. That way, I do end up having a high to-play games stack, and - perhaps - spend just as much money in total as I would buying newly-released games, but being genuinely picky about them.

I'm very similar in a way - if I go into town and venture into a game store I invariably am drawn to the new releases.
If I see a game I have been looking for, then I will buy it, no questions asked - I bought Shadowhearts for the outrageous sum of £39.99 and felt so guilty afterwards

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

I hardly ever resist buying a game I wasn't really considering previously when I spot it attractively priced.

And that is why I have so many games...

[Fairygdmther]

I'm not sure if I belong in this clique, but I'll tell you what I do. If I have the money when a highly anticipated game comes out, I will buy it right away, if not, then I'll wait till I do have the money. Now I came into this hobby, if you will, later than most - in 2001 as a true adv game fan, so I had/have a lot of catching up to do. Last year when I got my tax refund, I went onto eBay and did a two month blitz.

This is how I did it - I went through all the PC games (many are listed in the wrong category) whose auctions would be ending within the next 24 hours, and looked for games that had none or only 1 bid and were still cheap that I wanted. I bid very low and didn't exceed my original bid price if outbid. I did this daily for about two months, and it took about twenty minutes a day to keep up. I managed to get between 65-70 adv games for no more than $15 including shipping each. My best deal was for two games at 1 cent each with 99 cent shipping. Most were in the $3-8 range. Since then I've had to pay more for some of the less available games, but I won't pay over $20 for an old game, no matter how scarce it is.

FGM-Lyn

[feisar]

Hehe Im terrible, a total slave to the games industry. :/

I tend to buy anything and everything that interests me and I very rarely sell stuff on so I have way to many games. Im a total shoppaholic with games, dvds, books and going out and stuff when I really should be saving up.

There are lots of games Ive bought and then hardly played but there isnt really a pattern. Sometimes theres a game which Ive followed for a long time, through development and then buy and dont click and it just goes back on the shelf to play at a later date (which never comes. See Shemnue II, Viewtiful Joe or Red Dead Revolver). Then there are total random purchases which I for some fluke I buy and they turn out to be amazingly addictive and I play reguarly and the attraction never fades (Grabbed By The Ghoulies, Racing Gears Advance or Zoo Keeper).

[100ja a.k.a. mr_mitja]

I don't like spending a lot of money on games either. It helps a lot that my computer is now pretty outdated. Also, I have a bunch of friends, and we often exchange games, that's how I know my computer won't lay games like Riddick or Doom3 . If I really like a game, I'll buy it, but if I played a demo and seen that it isn't good at all, or that the reviews are bad, then what would I do with a game like that? Also, I get a game everytime I go abroad, it's like a geek gamer's souvenier .