As much as I wanted to play Condemned 2, something niggled at me about spending £35 on what could potentially be another 7 chapter, 4-6 hour pipe-weilding hobo-fest. And while I quite enjoyed everything else in that spectrum, the short amount of time it lasts was not satisfactory for the price point.

While that would be a perfectly logical argument, my brain instead screamed as loud as it could that for £35, I could get 3 games from Play.com, making for more points than just Condemned 2. While objectively, points should never be a deciding factor in a purchase, once you’ve started, you just can’t stop.

Here’s where the sometimes (but not oft) beneficial advantage to points steps in, for those who are hopelessly addicted to them at least. They lead you to play games you would otherwise ignore which can teach you some things about yourself, and even lead you to new enjoyable experiences, and no, this doesnt mean you should play Vampire Rain, no matter how morbidly curious you are.

So for the same price as Condemned 2, I picked up Star Trek: Legacy, Tomb Raider: Anniversary and Call of Juarez, with enough dosh leftover for a poster, so now Nero resides on my wall, with his shiney devil arm pointed accusingly.

Ok, so while Condemned is no Bioshock or Portal, it’s fair to say it’s definately a good game, whereas these 3 are mediocre at best. But having said that, once they were given a chance all 3 offered enjoyable experiences that matched up well with their associated pricetags, and offered more than 5 times the longevity I am predicting for Condemned 2. Which made me happy with the purchase.

But when I actually though about what compelled me to buy those games, instead of the immidiete answer being budget price point balanced against quality, instead I found myself thinking “Points”. Points had influenced me to buy, and then play, and *gasp* enjoy 3 games I would never have otherwise given 2 flying farts about before.

I think it’s fair to say that for those of us hovering around dangerously hooked on points (We won’t go into my 50 hour GTA IV marathon.) they can legitimately cause a purchase reaction. In short.

Points are Crack Cocaine.

 Being an Achievement Whore is not something you would instantly associate with gaming on a tight budget. It’s two things i have to constantly juggle when spending/wasting my money.

A lot of games for the aspiring achievement whore can not only be cheap to pick up, but reasonably good too, or at least playable. Games like NBA 2k6, NHL 2k6 and King Kong fall under this catagory. Ok, so they aren’t Devil May Cry 4 or Bioshock, but they are at least playable and, some might even say fun.

But some of the things achievement whores have to go through, I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy. For example, recently I have been gifted with an Australian copy of Cabela’s Alaskan Adventures. Thankfully, the game was never released in Europe, just NA and AUS. And I can see why, it’s a menace to society.

Just how far will you go for 1000 points? Kill over half a million zombies? No problem. Play Bullet Witch for 15 hours? Easy. Spend actual money on Avatar? Ok, getting a little rediculous now. But playing through Cabela’s Alaskan Adventure? I would rather pay full price for Vampire Rain and then be forced to sit through it’s 1000 points. At least Vampire Rain has Vampires, and so i’ve heard, Rain.

While Alaskan Adventure is not the worst game you can play, neither technicly nor in its gameplay, but it is so rediculously mind numbingly boring that you really will not only find it a chore to play, but be actively thinking of ways your Xbox 360 could spontaneously fault so that you can find an excuse to stop playing. You’ll find yourself creeping clumsily through the bushes as the aweful controls completely negate any stealthy approach to your prey, while in the back of your mind you are secretly wishing the 360 will spread wings and simply fly out the precariously open window of it’s own accord.

You can’t even occupy yourself by staring at the pretty graphics to sate your boredom like you would in Oblivion, because they are hideous. They look worse than the early 2k sports games, worse still than Vampire Rain or Dynasty Warriors 5. Heck, even Hitman: Blood Money is leaps ahead of Alaskan Adventures graphically.

This is a warning to all you other achievement whores out there, save yourself and go spend £39.99 on Avatar or Vampire Rain before you bother with any of the Cabela games. If you STILL think you want to sit through them for the points, watch The Deer Hunter, and imagine yourself in De Niro’s shoes, this game will ruin your life.

Many gamers these days, especially students, are on very tight budgets and as a result need to make the best use of their cash. Here are a few quick tips to get you thinking about making better gaming purchases. As we all know, gaming can be a VERY expensive hobby, but it doesnt always have to be that way.

#10 Shop Around Town

This one might seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised the number of times i’ve seen people stick with one store because it’s ‘usually’ the cheapest. Get your prices from at least 3 different places before you make a big purchase, especially if you’re not in any great hurry and you’re not dealing with a pre-order. Sure, you may not save a huge amount in a single purchase, but it all adds up, if you save £2 on that game, that’s another drink at the bar, or some change towards another game in the future.

#9 Look For Value For Money

While value for money may not be directly linked to actually saving money, it will help. If you can only buy a game once a month, or even more sparsely than that, then squeezing as many hours as you can out of a single title is paramount. Don’t buy a game that has a reputation for being short, it might be a great game, but unless you want to sit and play the multiplayer for a month, you will play the campaign in an evening and then end up itching for something else instead.

 
#8 Microtransactions are the Devil
 

They will draw you in whether you like it or not, everybody gets suckerpunched by nostalgia, or some other shortlived emphatuation leaving you 400msp, or £3.75 lighter in the wallet. While some PSN and XBLA etc games are geniunely good purchases, a vast majority such as horse armor, or extra costumes and weapons are not, and after just three or four songs, or extra costumes, you will be left wishing you had simply spent the cash at the second hand store and picked up an entire game for that money instead.

#7 Don’t be afraid of Second Hand Games.

 
If shopping around still doesn’t satisfy your wallet, then you may be better off tracking down a second hand copy of your game of choice. However, this method is not always best used for new releases, not only can second hand copies be hard to find soon after a release, they can often be as expensive as the new game. Sometimes more, in the case of highly anticipated releases. This method also lends itself to being patient, if you wait a year, all of last years good releases will have likely halved in price, or more.

#6 Trade ‘n’ Save

 
If you’re not a fan of hoarding your games, and can bear to part with them after finishing the game, then go to your local store and trade it in. Many stores offer a higher part exchange value than they do for simply cashing in. But again, shop around, some stores will give better trade values than others. Prices can often depend on the popularity or rarity of a game. For example, shortly after the release of a highly anticipated sell-out release, some stores may even offer as much as the retail value of the game.

#5 eBay

If shopping around wasn’t good enough, and the second hand store was a big waste of time, turn to eBay. Quite often you can get games factory sealed for much less than the retail price. A lot of eBay dealers are reliable and easy to deal with despite the scare stories you see scattered around the internet. But to get the best experience, always use paypal, and always check the sellers feedback.

#4 Be Patient…

Patience is a virtue, as they say. Sometimes you don’t have to wait very long for a new game to drop in price, most games will drop somewhere between £5 and £10 in the first month or so. If you want to wait even longer than that you can fish things out of clearance bins, or get them in 2 for 1offers, or other special offers. This is especially prevelent with PC games, as sometimes even as soon as a month after release games will end up in in the 2 for £15 deal at your local store.

#3 Wait even longer than that

A large amount of retro games can be obtained very cheaply. While some of the rarer and more popular ones may fetch a large price, more obscure or common classics can come in dirt cheap, for the same price as a new Xbox 360 game at RRP, you can pick up a box of anywhere between 50 and 100 Atari 2600 games. Or box lots of NES, SNES, Mega Drive and other games. You can get them a lot cheaper if your willing to hunt around car boots or garage sales, or browse specialist collector sites. eBay will often have you pay through the nose for this sort of thing, claiming anything and everything as ‘rare’ or ‘collectable’.

#2 Haggle

Beleive it or not, you really can haggle in a lot of shops these days. While branches of larger companies will often be very very resistant to haggling, usually because the minimum wager behind the counter doesnt remember the procedure for discounts, or isn’t authorised to give them. But in smaller independtant stores haggling is quite often a good way to get a better price. If you’ve shopped around and found a better price for a product, bring a written quotation, or an internet printout and see if you can get the store to match or beat the price. Haggling usually works better when purchasing bundles of retro and second hand games however, as shopkeepers usually just want rid of them, but try it anyway, you never know just how easy you might get a few quid off.

#1 Dive into the Pool

Housemates and friends can be a great asset. Unless you want to play system link coop, you don’t need 2 copies of a game in the same household. If you live with housemates, or have a number of friends who are gamers, you can borrow, lend and even trade games with them. Quite often this can save you a huge amount of money, especially if you are the kind of person who plays a game to completion, and never looks at it again. However, be careful and make sure you know and trust these people, lending and borrowing can just as easily cost you money if a friend breaks, loses or lends your game to someone else.

Bonus Tip: Pre-Ordering

 
A lot of stores often offer an incentive for pre-ordering. Those that offer some kind of points/rewards scheme usually pay out best, but unfortunately, usually don’t charge less than full retail price. However, shopping around always pays, and when these stores do offer something you want at a good price, pre-ordering it will often net you extra reward points which can get you money off of other products in the future. But don’t go pre-ordering like crazy, only do it when it benefits you. You don’t want packs of stickers, or a duffel bag, or Halo 3 Mountain Dew, you want those reward points. Also try to avoid stores who want a cash deposit for your pre-order, those stores are usually more interested in the downpayment than actually serving the customer. Online is usually the best place to pre-order, as the large majority of sites defer payment until the item has been dispatched, leaving you free to cancel the order at any point without fear of losing your deposit. 

These are just some general purpose tips that might already seem common sense to most people, but you’d be surprised how many people just don’t think of some things, and end up wasting money left and right.

And so on this day, begins the blogging.

This is a placeholder blog for now, but get ready for some budget videogame and personal opinion based blogging very soon!

Peace out.