gaming on a budget...

It's entirely possible to game on a budget if you're smart about how you purchase stuff. Never purchase on release because it'll be full price, be full of bugs or never live up to the hype. Never purchase consoles on release either. By waiting it out a bit the prices will lower on the retail end, there will be second hand sales all over the place thanks to people who make the mistake of purchasing pre-release or at release, bugs will be fixed by then and you can get a good gauge of the game through reviews. For consoles- generally 1st Gen will be the most expensive and has a higher chance of manufacturing issues with their hardware because they're essentially the first run. Gen 2 consoles tend to be cheaper and more stable because said manufacturing processes have been refined and modified. For example look at the 360- 1st Gen was a nightmare but Gen 2 onwards was fine.

Overall though, best bang for your buck will be PC games over consoles. Steam has sales all the time and same with HumbleBundle which offers games for cheap. Ridiculously so at times. Not only that but PC games generally have a strong modding community which adds another layer of depth to pre-existing games. Skyrim was released years ago and people are still playing it 500+ hours later thanks to said modding community. Then the indie game market has some good titles out there that offer amazing bang for your buck. MMO's can also be a good avenue for free/cheap entertainment since most have gone free to play or pay for base game with no subscription. Generally the ones with pay for base game tend to have more options and little to no pay to win scenarios than most of the free to play.

As for kids who do want the latest and greatest, it's generally best to sit down with them and talk to them. Generally they're really understanding of circumstances and appreciate honesty and having a situation explained to them. Also today's library of games is incredibly vast compared to when I was growing up so there's always plenty of cheap and even free options for them to enjoy while waiting on AAA game prices to drop or get second hand.
 
pwarbi said:
I agree that if your willing to wait for a game to come out then you can get some of the games at sale price. For me, that IS what I do, but when you've got kids, and I have, they want the latest game when it comes out and I can see why to be honest. But if I don't buy it them, there's no chance they can save up themselves no matter what jobs they do to try and earn it.

When I was younger, I had a paper round and also worked at a car wash on a Saturday morning and everything I made, I saved and bought the latest game I wanted. These days kids can't do that due to the cost, that's all I'm saying.
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Well, thanks for your point of view. I guess you know better on this than me, since I do not have children. It might also be entirely a matter of location, too. Game prices have changed more in some place than in others. I think that, for example, in the US there hasn't been much of a change but European countries and such get screwed a bit more.
 
Shoobie de la Doggo said:
Well, thanks for your point of view. I guess you know better on this than me, since I do not have children. It might also be entirely a matter of location, too. Game prices have changed more in some place than in others. I think that, for example, in the US there hasn't been much of a change but European countries and such get screwed a bit more.
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I wouldn't say I know more about it than you just because I have children and yiu don't, I was just giving my opinion, and theirs.

As for the games changing price, Europe is always a strange one to work out as even though the Euro is the dominant currency, I'm in the UK so we still work out the prices in pound sterling, and it can be hard to know if you are getting screwed or not.
 
pwarbi said:
I wouldn't say I know more about it than you just because I have children and yiu don't, I was just giving my opinion, and theirs.

As for the games changing price, Europe is always a strange one to work out as even though the Euro is the dominant currency, I'm in the UK so we still work out the prices in pound sterling, and it can be hard to know if you are getting screwed or not.
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Even with Euro, Europeans always seem to get the short end of the stick compared to USA. It's not rare to see a game that costs $60 in USA costs 60 Euro in Europe, even though the Euro is worth more than US dollars!
 
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pwarbi said:
I wouldn't say I know more about it than you just because I have children and yiu don't, I was just giving my opinion, and theirs.

As for the games changing price, Europe is always a strange one to work out as even though the Euro is the dominant currency, I'm in the UK so we still work out the prices in pound sterling, and it can be hard to know if you are getting screwed or not.
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Even with Euro, Europeans always seem to get the short end of the stick compared to USA. It's not rare to see a game that costs $60 in USA costs 60 Euro in Europe, even though the Euro is worth more than US dollars!
 
Well to be fair your extra cost and whatnot is on something that's a luxury, that and your money works for you guys in the form of actual social benefits. Yes I know your system isn't perfect but gads it's so much better than what we have here. US may have 'cheaper' priced consumer goods but that's honestly one of very few good things about the country. Meanwhile we sacrifice social benefits for cheap luxury goods. The number one reason why Americans go bankrupt is because of medical care costs if that says anything about the state of our nation. I mean it's a double edged sword honestly. Cheaper luxury items and crappier quality of life or slightly more expensive luxury item and better quality of life?
 
Well in the UK we have the NHS providing free healthcare for everyone so does that mean it's only fair we have to pay more for video games and other luxury items? I'm not really seeing the link to be honest.

The game that's released in the US is the exact same game released here, but we're paying nearly double the price. I dint see why that should be, but...it is what it us and people seem happy enough to pay it, them that can afford it anyway, so I've no doubt it will continue.
 
Your prices are higher due to importation fees, tariffs and taxes- generally VAT since most AAA games are produced and created in the US and Europe has a higher average wage than the States. AAA games in the states are $60 before taxes. The state I live in has a sales tax on average of 8.5% so I end up paying $65.10 at the checkout. Plus 2% extra if I use a credit card to pay due to processing fees or if I'm purchasing online whatever processing fee is on it. But at the end of the day my $5.10 that I paid in taxes doesn't go to benefit my health or secondary education.
 
There's a lot of free games out there, I Wanna Be The Guy has thousands of fan games dedicated to it so if kids want difficult games they have those.

There's also a ton of free games on steam that have low minimum requirements.

Used game stores also make gaming on a budget easier than it used to be. It's probably easier than it was, people just need to learn to scrounge around better.
 
That's why I always wait for sales and reviews. I can't justify paying so much for a new game and newer console. It's like the iPhones, they always make upgrades and I hate that.
 
Game consoles are way too expensive for me to consider purchasing at the time of release now. When I was younger it was different, as I had a job but not financial responsibilities whatsoever. Now that I have rent payments, student loans, food costs, beer, etc. I don't have much money to have fun, let alone buy shiny new console or gaming PC.

I'm happy with my XBox 360 however, I just stick to the games I already have and occasionally buy a new one of the XBox Live Marketplace. I got Fallout: New Vegas for like $5 a few months ago. Best purchase ever.
 
Cereus said:
Your prices are higher due to importation fees, tariffs and taxes- generally VAT since most AAA games are produced and created in the US and Europe has a higher average wage than the States. AAA games in the states are $60 before taxes. The state I live in has a sales tax on average of 8.5% so I end up paying $65.10 at the checkout. Plus 2% extra if I use a credit card to pay due to processing fees or if I'm purchasing online whatever processing fee is on it. But at the end of the day my $5.10 that I paid in taxes doesn't go to benefit my health or secondary education.
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Well that explains it then. In that case I'm more than happy to pay over the odds for a game that others are buying for a lot less, simply because it's made in America.

And the tax I pay on games doesn't go into the health service either by the way, that's a secondary tax that we have to pay for our 'not so free after all' health service.
 
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