Getting Videogames on the Cheap
The official first shopping day of the winter holiday season (also known as "Black Friday") has come and gone. In recent years the stores have been opening as early as 6 a.m. and telling consumers that if they arrive before noon they can get some products for super cheap deals that expire at noon. Well, this new holiday tradition of opening early in the morning with super cheap bargans has produced this really disgusting story about how a 41-year-old Florida woman who was at the front of the line of a mob of Wal-Mart shoppers scrambling for $29 DVD players was knocked to the ground, trampled, and suffered a seizure. What's worse is that while a few shoppers tried to help the prone woman, most people were drawn to the aisles and cash registers and didn't even notice her.
So a woman landed in the hospital for a $29 DVD player. Of course the story doesn't say which brand of DVD player it was but I wouldn't be suprised if it was some no-name brand that will suffer a massive break-down the day after the warranty expires. That's what happened to me a number of years ago when I bought my first CD player for $99 that was manufactured by some company called Crown Electronics that I had never heard of before. Shortly after the warranty expired the CD player began to malfunction so badly that we ended up buying a more expensive Yamaha CD player that still works to this day.
This is also the time of the year when people buy videogames as gifts for their loved ones. Videogames are the one consumer item where it can begin to depreciate in value the moment you play them for the first time. How bad does it depreciate? Not so long ago, I saw a person in a local videogame store attempt to trade in SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals for the new SOCOM 2 sequel. When the cashier told him that he would only earn $5 due to the fact that SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals has recently gone down in price in response to the release of the newer game, the guy turned it down because he originally bought that game new for around $50 and he would've suffered a $45 loss if he had traded it in.
Let's face it, videogames can be expensive. The newest and hottest videogames can run as high as $50 (and that's for domestic releases--I've seen Japanese imports that start at $70). However, I've managed to amass a decent videogame library while rarely spending $50 per videogame or dealing with the hassle of trading in a videogame that I didn't like for a lower price than what I originally paid for it. Here are some tips (all of which are legal) on how to amass a decent videogame collection without paying more than $20 per game:
1. Get a friend, relative, or sweetheart to buy you that $50 game as a birthday/Valentine's/Easter/Eid/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa present. If the game turns out to be a major disappointment, you can take heart that someone else spent $50 on that game. What's more, you can always trade in that present at a local videogame store for another game. Here's a rule of thumb with this suggestion: Unless you know for sure that the gift-giver is loaded, don't ask for more than two $50 videogames per gift-giver because that'll put a financial hardship on the gift-giver plus you'll be perceived as greedy and materialistic. The last thing you want to do is to get on the bad side of the gift-giver. If you want three or more videogames, ask two or more gift-givers for each videogame that you want.
2. Borrow the game from someone else. If you have a friend or relative who already has that game, ask if you can come over to his/her house to play it. You can get enough of a feel for the game to decide whether you really want it without having to pay anything.
3. Rent the game. If you don't know anyone who already owns the game you're interested in, renting it is the next best thing. Many of the same video stores that rent tapes and DVDs also rent the latest videogames. For around $5 you can play with the game for a few days to see if you like it. If you don't like the game, you are out only $5 and you can return the game to the store. That's a better option than spending $50 on a game that you end up not liking and having to deal with the hassle of getting rid of it. Thanks to this rental option, I was able to discover Crazy Taxi, a kick-ass game that I loved so much that I actually bought it. Thanks to this option, I also discovered that there is no way in hell I would ever want to own Frogger: The Great Quest, a mediocre adventure game based extremely loosely on the original arcade classic.
4. Buy used. It's pretty easy to find places where you can buy used games. The big chain stores like GameStop, FYE, and Electronics Boutique all sell used games. Many video stores that rent games also sell used games (mainly because they need to clear the shelves in order to make room for the latest games that people can rent). You can also find used games at thrift stores and pawn shops. eBay and Amazon.com's Marketplace are other sources for used games, although you should check the seller's feedback before bidding on anything in order to protect yourself against fraud. The main advantage of buying used is that previously-owned games are cheaper than buying something that was recently shipped directly from the factory. The only disadvantage is that sometimes the used game may not come with a manual. Sometimes you can figure the game out without a manual. If you can't, the good news is that GameFAQs.com have manuals to many games on many different platforms that you can download for free.
5. Wait six months or more before buying the game. Most new games tend to be more expensive when they first come out. Once a few months pass by, the prices will gradually start to drop to $40. After a few more months, the prices will drop to around $30. If you wait long enough, you'll see the prices drop to $20 or lower. If you can't wait six months or more to play the game, re-read Tips 1-3.
6. If the game in question is the latest in a series, try buying a previous version of that game. As of this writing, SSX 3: Out of Bounds costs $50 but SSX Tricky costs $20. You can buy at least two older Final Fantasy games for the price of the latest Final Fantasy installment. If you love football games in general but aren't a stickler for getting the latest team roster, you can buy Madden Football 2002 or 2001 or earlier at a fraction of the cost of buying this year's Madden Football game.
7. Buy domestic. Like I wrote earlier, Japanese imports start at $70. On top of that you have to worry about getting a mod chip for your console just so you can play that game. (A dirty secret is that all the consoles released in the U.S. can play only games released in the U.S. You have to somehow get a mod chip installed in order to play any game that's imported from any country. That's easier said than done since the mainstream chain stores that sell consoles will not offer that service. You have to look for a small local mom-and-pop anime videogame store that offers this service or do a search on the Internet for a reputable site that will do such an installation. Mod chips are a murky legal issue since console manufacturers hate them as much as the music industry hates peer-to-peer file swapping.) Many Japanese import games will eventually make their way as domestic releases if you are patient enough to wait. I get amused by reading the message boards on DDR Freak about how people will go through the expensive effort to buy the Japanese import version of the latest Dance Dance Revolution game only to see a U.S. version get released a few months later and the domestic version have many of the same songs as on the Japanese import.
8. Buy an obsolete console system. For less than $40 you can buy either a Nintendo 64 or a Sega Dreamcast and still be able to play games with 3-D graphics, many of which cost less than $20 each. On the Nintendo 64 you can buy games like Namco Museum 64, Mario Kart 64, or Mario Party for a low cost. For less than $10 you can even buy the once-controversial Conker's Bad Fur Day, a game that definitely challenged the Nintendo 64's child-friendly image. On the Sega Dreamcast you can buy Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi, or House of the Dead 2 for equally low prices. The only disadvantage of going with an obsolete console system is that no new state-of-the-art games will be released for that system. But if you're the kind of person who can care less about Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or could be easily contented with playing the original Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast instead of the recently released Soul Calibur 2 sequel on the newer consoles, going with an obsolete system is a great option.
9. Buy a game system that has backward compatibility. If you like the idea of playing the newer games in addition to playing older ones, this is a great alternative to buying an obsolete console system. On the console side, the Playstation 2 is a great choice. Playstation 2 is backwardly compatible with a large library of older Playstation 1 games. And many Playstation 1 games have come down in price to the point where many new PS 1 games are priced as low as $10. (Recently Sony has announced that the future Playstation 3 console will be compatible with both PS 1 and PS 2 games. Sweet!) On the portable side, the Game Boy Advance is the perfect choice. Game Boy Advance is backwardly compatible with both the Game Boy Color and the original early 1990's Game Boy games so you have the option of buying a whole bunch of older cheaper games.
That's it for cheap videogame alternatives. Just remember that while playing videogames can be fun, it's much sweeter if you are having fun with a game that you either got as a present or bought for a low price.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is based on one person's biased opinions of which videogames should be considered to be classics and why. It is not meant to provide a complete history of the videogame industry, the latest videogame news, technical support, or hints on how to play a certain videogame. None of the videogame manufacturers or programmers mentioned here have endorsed or supported this blog in any way, shape, or form.
NOTE: If there are any errors or updates to what I have written about this entry, please send an e-mail to [link=mailto:kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com]kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com[/link] (remember to remove the capital letters from my mailing address before sending or else it will get rejected) and I'll edit this piece when time permits.<
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