One of the worst mistakes people make is buying a PC game at full price. Games on the computer are always going on sale on sites like Steam and GOG. More of the deals will be on Steam and even a month after release the game that you wanted to badly could already be 50% off for a day. I learned this lesson the hard way when I bought Serious Sam 3 for $40 when it was released in late October. In Early December Serious Sam 3 was put on sale for $10.19! I was so furious that I was not patient enough to wait to get the game! Patience is key when it comes to saving money this way. You may want the game SO badly but you can save so much money by waiting a mere month. Remember when it comes to PC games, Don't Pay FULL!
I have to admit that having patience while waiting for items to go on sale is really tough. I have found that visiting CNET.COM allows me to find FREE games in their "download" section. I just type in "games" in the search bar and it comes up with several thousands - but most are for sale. On the left of the screen are options such as checking off "Free" or "For Windows 7" OPS. Over 2000 free games came up! You can sort by game "popularity" or "editor's rating" or "user rating" if you want that information. You can also select only "action / adventure" games or cards, boards, or arcade games. Again, all free if you used the checkbox on the left of the screen. You will be able to see a screen shot so you will know what the game looks like as well. Sometimes YouTube will have demos of games so I research the game further on their web site. Some older versions of games will also have "patches" or "fixes" listed for free on CNET; so if your game has glitched out, remember a fix may be listed on CNET.COM. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
It's difficult waiting for games to go on sale but sometimes it's better to do so. I have purchased so many games at full price then just a few days later, they're on sale!
This has happened to me many times... I went to my local GameStop one day, and bought a game. The VERY NEXT DAY, it was on sale for $20 off of what I bought it for... So I took the game I bought back, with the receipt, got my in store credit, and bought the game again at the discounted price... ;D The clerk was quite confused.
I don't buy them at full price most of the time. I go to Gamestop for my console games and always get them used whenever possible. It just comes down to how badly I want it right then. For instance, World of Warcraft expansions. There was NO WAY I was waiting for them to go on sale. I was a competitive raider in that game and it would have killed our raiding team.
Console games are never as bad as PC sales. There are so many websites that can offer digital downloads at any price but with console games the companies have to physically ship everything and that adds to the cost by a lot. BonnyC I don't blame you on the World of Warcraft add-on because that is something that will probably never really go on sale.
Its almost impossible to pay full price on PC games, even on release or preorder you'd have to be silly to not find a couple of $5-10 off deals, if not more. With the interwebs these days it takes all of 2 minutes to check half a dozen stores to see which ones have the best deals. I'll keep buying games on release/preorder like I have in the past.
I agree! I also do this with movies. I just wait a few weeks and then it goes to the local $2 theater. I can't bring myself t pay $14 when I can wait a bit and pay $2. I know that Amazon also sells PC games for less too. Yikes! $40 for Sims? I feel for you!
Yeah, unless I'm really anticipating a game (In which case I preorder to get any extra bonuses), I don't pay full price for games. Steam and Amazon are currently having sales where you can get games for up to 80 percent off. I've picked up a bunch of stuff to play at great prices. If I would have bought all of these games at full prices, I'd be out thousands of dollars.
It's something that I'm sure has happened to most people, including myself. Bought L4D 1 and 2 for their full price just to realise that Steam sells them for $5 during sales. Now that I've learnt a good lesson, I ALWAYS wait for sales to buy a game, unless it's a game that I really wanted to play. Currently I'm itching for Guild Wars Trilogy, but sadly the recent Steam Summer Sales didn't have them on discounts. But don't let it stop you from playing a game you are yearning for, if you want it that much, your money will be well spent.
Yes that is true about all games over time their lose their value but i like to get games right away so i can play with my friends so waiting just doesn't work for me but yes the steam sales are very good indeed.
I agree. I couldn't tell you how much I have spent on NEW games over the years. The worst you can do is buy a new Limited or Collector's edition. Even cheap used games will work fine, most of the time. I'm pretty sure that it's legal to use a No-CD crack in case the disc becomes too scratched to read. Why pay $60 for something when you can get it for as low as $19.99 elsewhere? Video games are not computer components.
I agree. The same applies to PS3 and xbox games as well. Pre-orders and collectors' editions have been the most expensive buys for me in this genre. 'Played once' used games purchased off ebay and waiting for a few days for the game's popularity to dwindle have turned out to be much more economical.
I am frugal so I do not mind waiting for the price to decrease for PC games. I tend to wait until the game is at least 40-60% off before I purchase it.
I would be very happy if I can get Mists of Pandaria at a discount. However that is just a fantasy. I am already saving up to buy it as soon as it's released. Which should be sometime next month. It's only about 40usd. Well worth the price.
I always wait for sales and prices to drop before I purchase games. One of the best places I get pre-owned games from is gamestation.com. It's a great site with amazing deals.
I have always visited cnet.com when I download anti virus software, but it never occurred to me that they also carry popular games. I hope that they have a full game version of any popular pc game. I tried to search for free, full versions of GTA, I found the 2D version, but I don't know if it's the full version. They also have some GTA San Andreas software over there, but there's no full version, which is understandable.
