I am in a pickle.
This week alone Fable 3, WWE 2011, AND Force Unleashed 2 come out. Next week it's the two new James Bond games. Hundreds of dollars will be spent.
But that's me. and considering where I work and what I do with my life, it's a necessary evil.
You should not do the same. Now, I don't want this to become an anti-pre-order blog. I'm... on the fence about pre-ordering. There will probably be a podcast on pre-ordering pros and cons one day. Suffice it to say, I preorder games to make use of the layaway system more than anything. Paying progressively when I have the cash, and having the games paid off when I come to pick them up. But more and more, that's becoming a rare thing. Here's the dealie-o.... people are selling back games the week after they are released.
On average, when a game comes out it's $63 with sales tax. Ok, when the game is sold used, it's only $56 ish. Give it another month or so, it'll drop another $10.
So pre-order "benefits" aside (if you can even call them that) what causes people to have to have the game in-hand when it's released? Well, that's not that simple. There's a stigma that's quickly fading about being the "very first" person to play a game. Nowadays, people are realizing that it doesn't mean much, people are playing the games first in different timezones and the such. The idea still stands, but midnight launches are sorta losing their luster, the excitement of being one of the first to play the game fades when you're well aware you're not even close to numero uno.
Multiplayer? Aha! There we are. Being one of the first to play the game online allows you more time to get better at the game, allows you to rank up faster and get more practice and field time.
Seriously? Seriously. I've asked at every FPS midnight launch for the last 2 years, and it's always the same answer time and time again. What about when Black-ops is released? What happens to the ranks of MW2 that you worked so hard for? Look, I'm strongly opposed to multiplay shooters. Stan is the big fps buff here, not me. I think they detract from actual gaming and I could go on and one. That's not the point of the blog here.
Do you honestly need the game first? No. Even if you preorder it, the money will still be there later on. No need to rush out at midnight, or that next morning. Especially considering some lucky bastard will save $10 just by waiting a week. That week that you were unable to wait for some reason.
This ties right back into my PS3 rants. I'm going back and playing the older games I missed. I haven't even considered the newer games coming out. I'll do that when I finish the backlog, which is never ending since new games come out constantly, so I'll never catch up. But I'm fine with that. I'm much happier spending $9 for Metal Gear Solid 4 (that's right, $9.) as opposed to the $63 it cost when it was released.
If there's a game you've been dying to get, and you have the cash, buy it the day it comes out. Just remember, waiting for a used game 10 different times gives you enough extra scratch to buy another game. The gaming companies know you can't wait, and the stores enjoy it. So they'll charge a little more just because you're impatient. Now, I have Fable 3 paid off, as well as Smackdown and the 007 games. Force Unleashed? It'll wait until I see it used. You can't play more than one game at a time, and even then, do you honestly have enough time in your day to justify spending $10 more to get it sooner?
Undoubtedly there will be a line this Tuesday morning, and I'll see my regulars come in and pick up there games. I'll also see the crowd that comes in to buy the new game that morning, in a rush because they have to go to work. I've put about 8 hours into Fallout:NV, even though I got it the day it came out. I've easily put twice that into Killzone 2 and Mafia 2 since Fallout has been released.
One game at a time, just keep repeating it, one game at a time.
*HINT ALERT*
What the gaming stores also don't want you to know is if you trade in your old games for a new game you get bonus credit. So if a new game is coming out that you want, trade in some of your old stuff for it. Buy the new game and sit on it until a store has a used copy of the new game (literally it'll only take about 3 days). Return the new game (unwrapped) and use that credit to buy the "new" game, only the used copy, and you save some extra money. I've done this before to realize that I wasn't as excited to get the new game as I thought I was, so I just got the store credit and sat on it until something good came around.
Waiting for a used copy, or the price to drop, just makes sense. You'll get to hear more about the game, see actual gameplay footage to see if it's for you, it gives you time to try it in a store or rent it maybe, and saves you some money. Gaming doesn't have to be expensive if you can keep from getting caught in the hype.
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