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Is gaming prohibitvely expensive for anyone else?

N

Nerdom4eva

Member
As a full time student I find it very difficult to fund my hobby. Going out to eat and a movie once a week seems to suck down most of my free cash, so games are hard to buy. I am getting Phonix Wright, Kirby's Canvas Curse, and Animal for crossing, rented Half-life 2 on giftcard, and find the idea of a next-gen console too good to think of (I have a gamecube and xbox now.) Anyone else feel my pain, and if so, what do you do. ebay and time are my friends.
 
Certainly with Next Gen the hierarchy of haves and have-nots is going to become more established.

But all is not lost.

Rentals. Borrow. Sign up for a service like GameFly. Play the new games cheaply and buy them later on once they drop to $20 (which happens so fast these days anyway).

Maybe you didn't save up for a 360. Start putting away money for the PS3 now *grin*
 
Yes. I'm currently saving for MGS Subsistence and Zelda after getting Colossus upon it's release. That's how it goes for me.

However, I could put a bit more money toward gaming if I gave up other things I enjoyed. Gaming is not my life though, it is a hobby. So so much for that. I am thinking of dropping it all together though because during the dry spells I think about it a lot sometimes and that just doesn't do any good.
 
I quit console games when I was in high school and college for this reason [among others]. It can be a very expensive hobby especially if you have multiple systems. Even now that I have a real job I keep myself on a tight game budget. I also love the PS2's gigantic $20 game library.
 
It's all about waiting for price drops too. Price drops happen so quickly now...for instance, DQ8 is supposedly going on sale for $29.99 at Gamecrazy in a couple days. The game has been out for barely a month and you can already save $20.

If you don't mind having to wait a month or three to play the GAF flavor of the week, just wait for the price drops...you'll always have something to play
 
I've been 2 or 3 PC games for the past year. Come join us.





When I say us, I mean the 10 people still playing pc games :(
 
It used to be. But then I figured out that you can really game for quite a small amount of money if you're not dead set on getting the latest and greatest stuff. Yeah it stinks being late to every freaking gaming party, but not breaking your bank account to attend: priceless.
 
Just put yourself on a budget. Get only the games that you plan on playing at the moment. If you think a game is gonna get stuck on your "backlog" of games, put off buying it now and wait until you've got time for it. Chances are it'll be cheaper then anyways. Also, bargain shop. Actively look for those better deals.

Another thing to keep in mind. "You can't have everything!" Keep telling yourself that. Sure it sucks that you have to miss out on some gaming experiences, but believe me, it's better in the long run.
 
Laguna X said:
Just put yourself on a budget.
Click to expand...

This is what I do. I have a very strict budget for gameing related things during the year, and I can't go past it. The problem becomes when switching to a new generation. Because the additional cost of systems is vast, and that severely cuts into my gaming budget. PS3 and 360 both being probably 400, and Rev being 150-250, I'm trying to find ways to squeeze these things in and it's difficult :P
 
Amir0x said:
This is what I do. I have a very strict budget for gameing related things during the year, and I can't go past it. The problem becomes when switching to a new generation. Because the additional cost of systems is vast, and that severely cuts into my gaming budget. PS3 and 360 both being probably 400, and Rev being 150-250, I'm trying to find ways to squeeze these things in and it's difficult :P
Click to expand...
Ami, I hear ya man, but that is why I say "You can't have everything". Just buy enough to get you by. Sure you'll miss a lot of good gaming, but you'll be better off. Quite frankly, I have problems just trying to find the time to game as much as I would like. I just buy enough to satisfy my cravings and it's usually is a lot more than I have time for anyway.
 
Laguna X said:
Ami, I hear ya man, but that is why I say "You can't have everything". Just buy enough to get you by. Sure you'll miss a lot of good gaming, but you'll be better off. Quite frankly, I have problems just trying to find the time to game as much as I would like. I just buy enough to satisfy my cravings and it's usually is a lot more than I have time for anyway.
Click to expand...

The problem is when switching over to next-gen systems, I can barely get "just enough".

And to be frank, there are some games I -cannot- be without :P
 
the year 20XX said:
And how many video cards?

As for me, I rely on gift money/cards and CAG. I do all right.
Click to expand...


1 video card (x700 for 199 dollars) in the past 5 years.


Nice try.

----------


Another problem with PC gaming is there is so much available for FREE (legit). Right now I am splitting my time between (http://www.shot-online.com/) Shot-Online, a free golf MMORPG. Also a free MMORPG, sort of Jade Empire meets WOW .. its called Silk Road (http://www.silkroadonline.net/) I could easily spend 100's of hours on those free games ...
 
ToxicAdam said:
1 video card (x700 for 199 dollars) in the past 5 years.


Nice try.
Click to expand...

No video card will last 5 years. A video card will last 2 years at most, after that you are playing at low detail.
 
Yup.

Buying $50 games is painful and a rarity for me. Nowadays I turn to $30-$35 handheld games (the $35 hurts a bit, and $40 = No). Even turned to a few used games recently. $25~ Ikaruga and GCN Beyond Good and Evil for $12 from a GS.
 
Just say no to Sly 3 and We Love Katamari.

Don't buy something you essentially already own. Avoid sequels and knockoffs that don't improve upon previous games. You'll save yourself money and (if enough people do the same) publishers will give us more original games.
 
Pimpbaa said:
No video card will last 5 years. A video card will last 2 years at most, after that you are playing at low detail.
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My HP computer I bought in 2001 had a video card on it. It lasted until last year, when I bought the x700 for 200 dollars.
 
ToxicAdam said:
My HP computer I bought in 2001 had a video card on it. It lasted until last year, when I bought the x700 for 200 dollars.
Click to expand...

And the games looked like shit until then.
 
Considering I got Metroid Zero Mission for $10, F-Zero GX for the same price, and Pikmin 2 for $20, no, I can't say it is. Ronito knows what's up.
 
SKOPE said:
Just say no to Sly 3 and We Love Katamari.

Don't buy something you essentially already own. Avoid sequels and knockoffs that don't improve upon previous games. You'll save yourself money and (if enough people do the same) publishers will give us more original games.
Click to expand...
We Love Katamari was f*cking made FOR the fans. The original was a very unique game with no real equal so having a sequel created in its image is hardly exploiting us gamers.

I mean, with all the games you could have chosen, what on earth made you suggest something like that?
 
dark10x said:
We Love Katamari was f*cking made FOR the fans. The original was a very unique game with no real equal so having a sequel created in its image is hardly exploiting us gamers.

I mean, with all the games you could have chosen, what on earth made you suggest something like that?
Click to expand...

Not to mention that We <3 Katamari is vastly superior to the limited original in every possible way sans music.
 
ToxicAdam said:
Still better than PS2 games. Thanks again for the laugh.
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Better than PS2? That's debatable. And I'm the one that's laughin, cause you bought a HP computer and the fact you wasted more money by buying a new video card for it.
 
There's pretty much no way you can argue that the PC is a bad platform for games. Being the multi-gen thang that it is, there's so much good on it. Anybody that completely avoids PC games is insane. I mean, I can understand not wanting to drop the money to upgrade, but no matter the hardware, there's a large amount of good that can run on it.
 
you should save your pennies for a ps2 and wait out next gen. no console bias shit, it just has a vast, vast library of cheap games. you could go for years on titles less than $20.
 
Tain said:
There's pretty much no way you can argue that the PC is a bad platform for games. Being the multi-gen thang that it is, there's so much good on it. I don't understand how anyone could completely avoid PC games.
Click to expand...

It's pretty easy to do if you don't like the 3 genres that comprise PC games as of late. If it wasn't for online rpgs, I wouldn't be doing pc gaming at all.
 
I'm a full time student w/ a part-time (work study at that) job, and I do just fine


Don't buy books and you can afford all the games your heart desires
 
Pimpbaa said:
Better than PS2? That's debatable. And I'm the one that's laughin, cause you bought a HP computer and the fact you wasted more money by buying a new video card for it.
Click to expand...


Yea, spending 200 dollars to play HL2, BF2 and Rome Total War the past year was a real waste of my time. Not to mention all the other emu's, abandonware, mods, maps, and free mmorpg games available.

Plus all the music, movie, a picture editing features. Free voice chat, free matchmaking, and 100's of communities to choose from.



It's been a horrible investment. Thanks again for the laughs.
 
dark10x said:
We Love Katamari was f*cking made FOR the fans. The original was a very unique game with no real equal so having a sequel created in its image is hardly exploiting us gamers.

I mean, with all the games you could have chosen, what on earth made you suggest something like that?
Click to expand...
For the fans or not, We Love Katamari is the same game people played a year prior. If you're content with that, fine, but I want my $30 back.

And it's something Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi apologized for doing.
 
I make enough money to buy pretty much whatever I want so its not getting prohibitively more expense for me, but it is getting harder and harder to justify spending $50-$60+ for games like CoD 2 for Xbox360 when it wipes out about 15 hours worth of work due to a save bug and won't let me progress any further. I didn't think most games last generation were worth a full $50, much less the $60 for Xbox360 games and probably at least that much for forthcoming PS3 games. The games seem to get more expensive, but the quality assurance seems to get worse and these companies that make and publish these games refuse to patch them in a timely manner, or they don't even bother to respond at all.
 
I feel your pain. I was a gamer in college and very broke. I sometimes waited years for SNES games to drop in price. I haunted the used section at Blockbuster back then, can't say how good that'll work now.

I remember the day I sold my PS1 (along with my guitar, action figures, etc.) to make rent. Depressing.

The good news is that you'll eventually be able to afford the gaming hobby.
 
Not me, I usually wait until the price comes down on games I'm interested, but can wait for. I only pay full price for games I can't go without.
 
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