Gaming on a Budget
Ok, so lets face it, some teens don’t have a whole lot of money to play video games from. Here’s a few tips on getting what you want (or need :)) without spending a lot of unnecessary money.
- “Used” doesn’t mean broken. You can buy used games for sometimes half the money as the New version. Many stores offer warranties on used games, so if it doesn’t work take it back. Also, some stores will let you try out the game first. One Game Frenzy actually set up a Nintendo GameCube for my brother so that he could try a game out before he bought it.
- Shop around. Don’t just grab the first version of the game you come across. Where a store specialized in games might have it, some supercenter like Wal-Mart may have it cheaper. There are many websites out there that offer games cheaper than in the stores with reasonable shipping.
- If you’re unsure about a game, look for a free trial for it. World of Warcraft (”WoW”) has trials available for 3$ at Wal-Mart. Try it before you buy it.
- Look for rebates. The base PSP (Play Station Portable) costs 199$ new. The used version costed 179$. I found a 20$ rebate on a new PSP which brought the price down the the price of the used system. This goes in with shopping around. Look for rebates online and most places advertise them.
- Trade games in. Many stores will trade in games either for store credit or new games. If there’s some game that’s been in the closet for two years and hasn’t been played, trade it in. Get something for it.
- Rent. This is a great way to try a game out before you buy. If you don’t like it then you’ve only spent a fraction of the full cost, and if you do like it, buy it.
While some of these may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people miss out on some really great deals, or don’t like what they bought. By following these simple steps, you’d be surprised what you can find.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Chiming in from a dad’s point-of-view, with dad being a programmer like Aaron is, don’t just copy a friend’s copy so you don’t have to buy your own. Not only is it unethical, it’s also illegal, and happens far too often than either Aaron or I probably like to mention.
January 27th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Oh, hey, buddy … this evening we went to the Frog Leg Inn with the Gardner’s and your cell phone came across the table. It seems you left it in their car last week. No, no, really, I promise not to use up all your minutes!
January 30th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
On the point of copying games, the programmers spend a ton of time and energy on these games and copying them doesn’t help get them paid so that they can make more games for us to play. Please don’t copy games.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:10 am
You forgot to mention OSS games. Many of which are available for free on Windows also.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:27 pm
If you’re using OSS as I think you are as Open Source Software, then you bring up an excelent point. Open Source Games are great because many of them come out for other Operating Systems (such as Linux and Mac). They are free and the author has put the source code out so that programmers can even make changes to them as they find bugs or just general enhancements.