Poll: Where do you prefer to buy your games? And why?

[MeChaNiZ3D]

Online retailers for price. I live in Australia, so basically importing at all is 50% off, let alone looking around for a decent price. Local businesses are out of the question unless they have good deals on trade-ins. I went to GAME a few times just because they were happy to beat EB Games on price and had good customer service. Digital downloads for indie games, naturally, but other than that I often find them cheaper on eBay or similar.

 

[Estarc]

It depends on the platform. For PC games I prefer to use Steam or GOG.com, and for console games I prefer to use specialty stores, or in other words, EB Games since I live in Australia. I am not above using JB Hi-Fi though, which is in the major retailer option I think. So I didn't answer the poll.

 

[aozgolo]

Well I WORK for Amazon.com which means I get a discount, so if I'm ordering a console game, I'll go there first, though sometimes if the game is out for awhile I'll comparison shop between Gamestop's used prices and Amazon's.

For PC games which is the bulk of my purchases nowadays I usually go the online digital distribution nowadays simply because of it's simplicity. I'm a very lazy person and digging out CD Keys and going through tedious installation processes, especially for older games is enough to make me just go play something else. Steam has simplified that letting me easily access my games without the headache.

 

[nevarran]

It's like 50/50 between Amazon and Steam/GOG.

 

[TheMadScientist]

I usually or rather seem to always do my shopping on amazon, the only exception is if I want a good pc game then it is time to use the dependable steam. But yeah either amazon or steam is where I buy my games, I buy PS3 games on amazon though and that's about it.

 

[Aeshi]

I just check Amazon and either Steam or the PS3 Store (depending on platform) and choose whichever one sells the game for cheaper.

 

[Saelune]

Gamestop. Its close by, and its just games. Despite the bad rap, my local Gamestop is fine. If they don't have something, I will use Amazon (Pikmin 3) but otherwise, this.

And Steam for anything PC, but that should be obvious by now.

 

[Tropicaz]

On console;
Preorders, I use online. Shopto is a site in England (not sure if it's around elsewhere) where they have a policy of giving you £5 back if the game isnt with you on release day. Most of the time you end up getting it 1-2 days before release day.
Will use Amazon for next day deliveries of stuff that's out since I have prime.

On PC I will use Steam every time I can

 

[sc1arr1]

Honestly despite all of the hate it seems to get, I get a majority of my games from Gamestop. All of the people that work there are really nice and my friend and I usually end up just standing there and talking with them for a good twenty minutes.

(When it comes to PC games, I USUALLY get them off steam)

 

[Nokturos]

Almost exclusively digital distribution - I have enough crap lying around my room as it is.

 

[EHKOS]

Since the geniuses down at Intel R&D thought it would be a great idea if they put the GPU and CPU in the same chip, I can't play PC games anymore. I don't even have Steam installed on my laptop.

I usually buy from Amazon because I get a lot of options on price. I can get any game cheaper there than at a retailers.
Occasionally I will go to my local second-hand game store, but lately their variety in PS1 games has been less than favorable. I think the last interesting game I picked up there was Shadowman back in June. Their PS2 game prices were unbeatable, but their inventory isn't doing very well. So it's usually Amazon, especially if I want a certain game, I can find it right away.

 

[Gitty101]

Digital Distribution (more specifically GoG and Steam). Cheaper, more convenient and I'm pretty OCD about having my games collection all in one place.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

It's not so much I prefer using Gamestop as that's often the only choice I have for console games. Amazon is too expensive, since I need to pay for shipping, too, and there aren't any other shop around that have decent games.

PC games, I prefer GoG, but I also use Steam, although I'd much prefer getting a physical copy of the games (very rare since again Amazon is too expensive, Gamestop hardly has any and no other shop has any either).

 

[norashepard]

I go with digital distribution most of the time, simply because the kinds of games I like to buy are usually unavailable in physical form. This includes indie games, foreign games, and several games that are simply too old to be found anywhere else.

Back in the day though, I used to go to gamestop all the damn time to see what new wonders awaited. Unfortunately, they all seem to have stopped stocking any kind of reasonable PC selection, so I had to stop.

 

[smithy_2045]

It depends on the platform. For PC games I prefer to use Steam or GOG.com, and for console games I prefer to use specialty stores, or in other words, EB Games since I live in Australia. I am not above using JB Hi-Fi though, which is in the major retailer option I think. So I didn't answer the poll.

Why would you choose EB Games over JB HiFi? At a rough guess, 90-95% of the time JB are cheaper than EB, and there's no sacrifice in terms of range of games available. If anything JB generally has a better range than EB.

 

[JagermanXcell]

Once I join up with the PC Master Race I'll definitely look into GOG and Steam.
And I do get games of Amazon from time to time, they've got some neat sales on used games.
As for now my physical copies come from my local Gamestop, the people there see me often so they tend to shout out "Hey whats up!" when I enter. Really should get to know them by name one day... >_>

 

[babinro]

Digital Distribution: Humblebundle, Steam, and Origin pretty much in that order.

Why? Price.
humblebundle arguably offers the best pricing but also focuses on charity. Making it the clear cut best choice above any of the other options. Steam continues to offer fantastic deals and superior selection but I've had very negative experiences with the customer service. Origin offers a better service than Steam in my personal experience but their pricing is weak (albeit still better than retail in many cases).

Digital is ideal to me because it's convenient, doesn't take up space in my home, doesn't depend on the quality of a disk, doesn't use up my dvd drive and it's quieter to run. All I miss out on is physical 'swag' is not a benefit that outweighs the digital purchase. If price were the same and I could magically have the physical disc teleported into my hands I'd still go digital for the above reasons.

 

[McElroy]

My preference is price. That means Steam sales, online stores, and online auction sites.

 

[Maximum Bert]

For PC I use GOG and Amazon mostly or steam if I absolutely have to (as in I really want a game and cant get it elsewhere or at least at a reasonable cost.) I try and avoid Steam though as I dislike it and have been very successful in doing so.

For consoles I tend to use Amazon or Play or Shopto or indeed any online site I tend to shop around to get the best deals. Sometimes I use physical stores but they are pretty expensive around here and dont offer anything special usually having a pathetic selection. Occasionally I will use independent stores but there are none near here however they do tend to have a better selection in my experience for some reason or rather a more varied selection of games.

I suppose lately I have been buying from Amazon and GOG mostly.

 

[kasperbbs]

Local online retailers, i browse through all of them to find the best deal, buying a PC game in a store is pretty much impossible these days, last time i checked the inventory of one of the larger hardware stores they had wow, cod and sims3 on their shelves.