jeffbase34

Infamous is finally here. This game has been on my radar for some time, it is getting awesome reviews, must buy. I want to buy it, but I shouldn't, and i am determined not to buy it this week.

IT's time for me to face the fact that I am just addicted to buying video games. I enjoy getting excited about a release and finally owning it. The actual playing part usually comes much later due to a lack of time commitment.

Frankly, I am just tired of getting burned by the rapid depreciation of video game prices. The last new release that I bought was Riddick. Paid $62 bucks. A week later, the price had dropped to $40 bucks. For a logical standpoint, it just makes no sense to pay full price for a game anymore.

I certainly don't need the game. I have a huge backlog of titles already. I finally got around to cracking into Oblivion this weekend. Fallout 3 remains sealed in my collection. I even have several titles from last gen that remain sealed because I never had the time to play them. I was dismayed to see that my Xbox 1 collection that I spent hundreds on is now worth only pennies, and the entertainment value is questionable due to the outdated graphics.

So hopefully, I can find the willpower to resist Infamous. June won't be easy either. lol

RichC2

Nope. Really, I have nothing to add, but not so addicted to buying new games.

Back when I had a PS2, I bought several games upfront, and they are still sealed (Final Fantasy XII comes to mind) today (to its credit, the first week it was available it was on sale for $35 at TRU.)

I sort of laid off buying new games after Halo 3 came out... and I've yet to play more than an hour of it.

K&AJones

I'm picky as $60 is allot to me. ANd since the wife just got laid off (2nd time this year) I have to be more cautious. Right now I'm set on only two, Red Faction and Ghostbusters. I'd love to grab Damnation, Fuel and UFC but just gota watch the $$$$.

Chew

You suffer from the same thing I do: collector's mentality.

I had the bug with DVDs and comic books, both of which I've only recently been able to "free" myself from.

Unfortunately, they were replaced with Blu-Rays and videogames.

boogieman03

Yup. If you're gonna have the collector's mentality, the best thing to do (for your wallet) is to wait out the hype and pick up the game once they've dropped in price.

It's what I had to start doing. It made no sense to me to keep buying games at full price if I wasn't going to be able to play them right away.

I'll admit, the 1st week a new game is released is the hardest.

Gideon68

I am, but I can usually wait until it's dropped down to $30 or less so you can say I'm addicted to buying cheap games.

rabbit77

I have a collector's mentality since I don't want to trade in or sell any of my old games but am very picky about what I buy. This year I've only bought one game (punch-out), but borrowed a few 360 games from my childless unmarried cousin.

jeffbase34

Yeah when everyone is talking about how great the game is, it is hard to resist! I don't like renting because if I only put an hour or two into it, I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. I do enjoy looking over my collection and reveling in the fact that I have enough games to keep me busy for the next 10 years.

orangecrush

I don't personally, but I do see the appeal. One thing you can do to help, is to focus on actually finishing games you do own. I found myself less likely to focus on the games I don't own when I am playing the games I do. Also, I am trying to keep my average price below $10, so that means I only buy new games on clearance.

jdpatri

I choose to look at it as being addicted to having an overwhelming number of options.

thelwig14

I was a collector up until this past year or so. 12 systems (Top Loader NES, Model 2 Super NES, Model 3 Genesis, etc..) all hooked up to one tv. But then I just realized all that value was not being used and all I pretty much played was RB and COD on my 360. Sold it all and don't regret it since.

And as far as games, I pretty much have stopped buying games even if they get great reviews. Why buy KZ 2 or BF 2 when COD is far superior, etc...

When I do buy, it is always on release day and always at Best Buy. I have yet to not be able to pricematch a game I have bought new within 30 days.

maingon

Theres just a few games I pick up the day it comes out, because I know if I wait a couple week the price will be down.

FuQ

I rarely buy games anymore, I just rent them. I will buy Modern Warefare 2 and I have Fight Night 4 pre-ordered. When Gears 3 comes out that will be bought as well but I just don't feel the need to buy games and movies anymore.

Rob V

I refuse to pay full price anymore -- regardless of the title or how great the reviews are. If I can't save at least $10, I won't buy it. But like a poster above said, I used to have a serious addiction to DVD's... I also got heavy into Etopps but was able to "break free".

Maxflier

I have been getting a little bit better about it recently and shown some willpower to not get stuff right away, but I do indeed suffer from the same "get it now" mentality for games anad DVD's.
I can't count how many DVD's I own that I bought release week and are still sitting on my shelf unopened (sometimes years later) and can be had dirt cheap now. Same for video games.

PopcornTreeCt

Depends. It's a harder to find a good game than it a good movie. But I've lucked out with trade ins.

chess

I hardly ever buy games new. My son usually gets a few newish ones for Xmas and his birthday, and I'll buy a newish game that I really want on a $30-$40 sale.

But I usually wait for the $20-$30 price point and still have a healthy backlog.

If anything, I have the same "collector mentality" and I buy (and keep) too many games.

M Polo

I'm a sucker I guess because I get excited as well and end up buying day one. Right now I have at least 10 games pre-ordered.

Oh well, I can afford it so I tend to splurge a little.

murray731

Same. In the last 3 or 4 years, I can only think of two games I've bought for full price, and even then I used gift cards to defray the out of pocket cost a little. If it's a game I *really* want or if I'm going to play multi with friends, I can stomach a max of $40. Otherwise, I wait until about $20.

DVDChris

I'm more about addicted to buying new games...on sale. I've been waiting for a price drop before I spend my hard earned money.

boredsilly

I think, more than the collectors mentality, you have that "newness is the shit" disease that many suffer from. I'm the same way with books. It's not exactly the same, because they're free, but I'm much more likely to read a book I got from the library because it's new, versus a book I've owned for 5 years that I've never read.

It makes no sense, the the promise of the new thing is really alluring.

When it comes to games though, I'm almost allergic to full price. I don't game much at all these days, finding that just playing demos and shit scratches my itch for a lot of stuff. I've only bought 1 full priced game this gen, Street Fighter 4, and that was definitely worth it. The other games I own, Ultimate Alliance and Crackdown, I bought for less than $15 a pop, and the next game I'm eying, Lost Planet, is around the same price range. I find that I'm much more likely to enjoy a game when I know I didn't sink $60 into it. Something about that MSRP is too off putting to me, even though I can afford it.

nickdawgy

If a game comes out I want, I buy it. If money is tight at the moment, I will trade some old games in to get it.

I never buy a game and then put it on a backlog. I have games I need to finish, but there's never a pile of unopened/unplayed games.

Blu-Ray's are another story. I have about 25 sealed BRD's on my shelf, but most of those are movies I have seen before anyway.

Mopower

It's called Gamefly. Since I'd never play 95% of the games I buy again I just rent them. If I really think it's great and has multiplayer or replay value I'll buy it after I rent it.

fujishig

After having compiled a huge backlog of games over multiple console generations, I thought I kicked the bug, and only paid or preordered new those games that were smaller titles that I wasn't sure I'd see later on down the line. Seriously, single-player titles with no multiplayer will drop in price relatively quickly these days. Multiplayer games are only a must-get early on if you want to play with the new community right away and not be really, really behind. But the time I have to play games these days is dwindling, so I've been far more into portable games, mainly DS.

However, buying Amazon Prime this year and then getting the ECA discount is really putting a damper on that. I preordered Infamous, a game I was excited about but that I probably could have waited on, because it had a preorder discount, amazon prime release day shipping, and an ECA discount. Argh.

superfro

I don't feel the need to own a game unless I'm going to be spending significant time with it, or playing it over and over. Rock Band, Fallout, Left 4 Dead, Burnout....these are games I can justify spending $60 on. But gaming is my main spare time hobby, so I'm fully capable of renting a game and blowing through it in 6-12 hours over a weekend. Games like that I have no need to own as my experience is done most of the time once I'm finished.