Retail games on your big platforms (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) generally retail for around 60 bucks, more if you decide to get all collector’s edition happy. Now, in the grand scheme of things that’s not really that much. If you figure that even poorly paid people make 60 bucks a day, the amount of time the average game will net you in enjoyment is probably more than that. But why pay 60 when you can exercise a little patience, do a little homework, and get the same game for half the price and sometimes less?

How do I this, Snarkasaur? How do I become as wise as thee? It’s simple my friends. The internetz are a wonderful place, and often you can even go beyond the limits of these crazy tubes and find real stores with cheap games, too! So let’s get started with something that may shock you.

Oh my god. He didn’t. He did not mention every HARDCORE gamer’s hated HATED store. C’mon people. Gamestop isn’t so bad. Yes, they have a very poor trade in system in regards to what they’ll give you versus how much they sell your trade-in for. Yes, they’re as corporate as you’re going to find. But, they often have good prices on used games, and a whole bunch o’ deals if you’re smart. For instance, for the low, low price of 15 dollars you can purchase an Edge card (or !!EDGE!! card). Not only does this sound incredibly cool (it won’t kill people, at least not quickly), but it comes with a subscription to Game Informer, which is probably the best paper gaming magazine you can get nowadays. But what does this card do? Aside from the inherent awesome factor? It gives you 10% discount on every used game you buy is what it does. Its membership also nets you coupons in your e-mail inbox which are often even better than the plain old 10% on its own. The coupons are generally pretty standard. They seem to have a rotating schedule for each platform. One week they’ll sell used Wii games at 20% off (with a limit of three), and the next week or a couple weeks later it’ll be used PS3 games. They also often (as in nearly once a month) have buy ‘2 used games get 1 free’ deal on weekends. And that 10% discount your Edge card nets you stacks with any of these coupons. It makes for some pretty great savings.

Their used games are in nice shape (this is fairly subjective and may vary by store). I have only had one game that did not work, and thankfully it was Gun for the PS2 and they had about fifty other copies ready for me to swap it with. I did not have my receipt and I ended up taking the game back about four months after I’d bought it, but they still replaced it with another copy with no fuss. The only thing I don’t recommend when considering their used game section is purchasing the many games that didn’t make it to the shelves with real cases. Not only do the Gamestop cases look atrocious, but you usually don’t get a manual or anything. This might be a nitpick thing. I’m a collector and like my collection looking pretty.

This site is a haven for cheapskate/gamer combinations. It’s a constantly updating forum / database for both used and new games, though it tends to put an emphasis on new. It tracks a number of popular gaming and retail stores, including GameStop, Amazon, GameCrazy, Best Buy, etc. Basically if a store sells video games, you’ll find it somewhere on this site. The presentation is top notch. I wish more websites looked and navigated as well, to be honest. It’s simple, but effective. The search function allows you to type in even partial phrases and it’ll fill in the blanks for you. Type in Castlevania and you literally get every Castlevania game ever made in your list. Another great feature is the notification system. If you register with the site and give them a proper e-mail address, you can have them track game prices for you and send you an email when a game gets to the price you want to pay for it. Say you want Street Fighter IV for 10 bucks, you can make it notify you when any of the sites on its hit radius have Street Fighter IV for 10 bucks. Good luck with that.

The site is not without its flaws. The notification system, for instance, doesn’t seem to differentiate between imports and U.S. releases. I had Avalon Code on my tracker for 15 bucks, and was sent a notification of an import version for 15. The U.S. version remained at a much higher price from the same store. On the flip side, some people might even appreciate knowing an import is available that cheap. It also doesn’t track used prices, which is understandable given the multitude of used games floating around on the internet. If it were even possible, it probably wouldn’t be helpful. The CAG community is fantastic, with an ever-updating forum of cheap ass gamers on the lookout for hot deals and completely willing to pass them on to their fellows.

If you’re more in the market for a free form trading of games between you and your internet peers, Goozex might be more up your alley. This is a fantastic site for people who don’t like hanging onto games, but like playing new ones. It runs on a point system. You send in a game, you get points in which to buy games from others. They take a modest 1 dollar per transaction, and that makes for some pretty cheap gaming. You can even buy points straight up if you feel like holding on to your own games, but getting decent deals on others. Their system isn’t perfect. Many of their games are way overpriced. But it’s an ever-evolving organism, and game prices are often difficult to track considering rarity and reprints.

Amazon, Gamestop, and a few other retailers have similar trade in systems, but Goozex tends to have the best scheme in place.

The lovely Molotov recently interviewed Mark Nebesky, CMO of Goozex if you’re interested in some quality Q and A about how the business works.

GoGamer is another site devoted purely to selling video games. What GoGamer is semi-famous for is these massive sales they have called 48-hour madness where they basically just take a big group of random crap and slash the price down to ridiculous numbers. Most of what they slash down can generally be considered sub-par, but that’s certainly not always the case. They are also one of the few sites that seem to put PC games on an equal footing with console stuff in regards to exposure. You can often find PC games at ridiculously cheap prices if you’re the legitimate type.

Oh Amazon, how much money have I given you? And have I ever regretted it once? No. You and I share a love that only exists in romance novels and porn. Not only is Amazon a great place for every day game shopping (even their full retail prices are always lower than what you can find on the shelf), but they have an entire section devoted purely to gaming. And the best feature of this section? The video game deal of the day. This is bookmark worthy. Every single day at midnight PST, they will offer up a new game at basically half the retail price, sometimes a bit more and sometimes even less. This makes for some boss savings. Last week they had Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon for 15 bucks. I made out with Persona 4 about two weeks after release for 25 bucks. It’s just a beautiful daily ritual to check the DOTD and find that game you want for a stupidly low price, and brand spanking new no less. To add to this deliciousness of savings, you have the gold box deals that Amazon offers up every day. You might be thinking, I’ve seen those, they’re usually just regular products. Yes, except on those days when their gold box is entirely video game related! What!? No its true. Recently they had a pure PS3 gold box with some fairly high profile titles (Fallout 3 collector’s edition half off, etc.). To add to these savings, they also offer just about every title you can imagine in a used format. These aren’t officially sold by Amazon though. Instead you’d be getting your games from one of the approved used dealers that they allow use of their site to. The deals aren’t as fantastic in this instance for a few reasons. Used games online is a risk, for one, as you never know what the condition is going to be like. You also don’t get good shipping deals when buying through these vendors like you do with Amazon.

A couple more things worth noting about Amazon. You can net free shipping on just about everything if you sign up for their Prime service. This requires you to buy many many things to actually take advantage of it, however, as its 79 bucks a year. If you seriously haul in a ton of games, it might be worth it. They also have a trial period where you can use the service for a month for free. A free month of free shipping is pretty win, especially in high release seasons. Another Amazon advantage is the ECA discount (Entertainment Consumers Association). This nets you a 10% discount on all games bought on Amazon, and it’s only 20 bucks. Considering this includes new games, it’s probably an even better deal than Gamestop’s Edge card. Don’t ask me why I haven’t relented and purchased the ECA membership because I know it would have paid for itself in my case already.

I will use eBay on occassion. I don’t like it. I feel like when I enter an eBay auction that I’m throwing the dice and hoping to roll a seven. And the dice feel weighted. And greasy from the hands of that fat guy who just lost ten grand and is probably strangling himself in the bathroom. Nevertheless, I have had several very good transactions through the auction site, and it would be silly not to mention a place where you can get some of the best deals possible. Even new games can sometimes be found slashed like a Friday the 13th teenager. Unfortunately, you often have to compete with other deal hunters, a process which can often be vicious and very cutthroat.

This may be the place most people buy games to begin with, but there’s also an oft overlooked aspect to big chain retail stores that you won’t find in many other places. That overlooked aspect is the clearance shelf. Retail stores have this complicated system of item history and sales data. Basically if they have many copies of something that’s relatively dated, they’ll mark it down to a ridiculous price and throw it in some box for you to pick up cheap. You can find 60 dollar games for 10 bucks this way. The obvious problem here is that there can be franchise-wide discounts or store specific discounts. For instance, recently the PS3 game Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction dropped to 15 dollars at Target stores nationwide, assumingly in preparation for the Greatest Hits copies that would soon be getting shipped. A sale like that is simple enough. However, most of the time games are only marked down in a specific location. I once saw Folklore cut to 10 dollars at a Sears, but everywhere else I saw it after that, even in different Sears, it was near retail price. Sites like the aforementioned Cheapassgamer.com have entire forum threads dedicated to following these deals in specific areas, but it’s a tough thing to gauge and probably just something to keep an eye out for when you happen to be in these stores to begin with. Your Mileage May Vary, a term you may become familiar with after exploring those forums.

This is probably a pretty brief overview of the world of cheap games, but it’s also a good starter guide if you’re out looking to get games at discount. What do you sacrifice? In the end, not much. Your time, obviously. If its more worth it to you to save on all this hassle and just buy games for retail price, then more power to you. I wish I had that kind of money. You also sacrifice the ability to play the latest and greatest. You may find a brand new game ten bucks off, but if you’re looking for that 50% slash, you may be waiting months or even years. Used games can also be a touchy subject. Some people love them, some people have had bad experiences. I personally suggest avoiding used games online, but I also know people who swear by and love that entire process. Goozex makes its living that way after all (though you generally won’t find used game dealers online to be as reputable as Goozex). Regardless of your used/new persuasions, deals are out there and just waiting for your money. You don’t have to play flash games to be a recession gamer. Good luck!

       

Tags: Cheap Games, Deals, Discounts, Sales

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 12th, 2009 at 11:40 am and is filed under Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.