Your game purchasing strategy

[E-mantheseeker]

What decisions/strategy do you take when deciding to buy a game?

Me, I look at gameplay videos as soon as they become available to judge whether I feel I can enjoy playing it myself. I don't take the words of reviewers as complete truth, but I do take into account when most reviews lean toward negative or positive.

Also, I almost never buy a game on the release day, I usually wait a week to a month to gauge the public's view on the game. My only exceptions are sequels to games I enjoyed thoroughly.

 

[malestrithe]

I tend to look at the box art and purchase what looks cool. I never buy by popularity.

 

[Sevre]

Go for the GOTY edition.

 

[lostclause]

Wait for the price to drop. I'm about a year behind everyone else.

 

[HardRockSamurai]

I only buy new, full priced games if, and ONLY IF, they come with shitload of content: in other words, games that I will keep playing for ages (ex: Fallout 3, Modern Warfare 2, etc)

For other games that don't meet that criteria (ex: Assassin's Creed 2), I'll wait for a price drop, or buy it used online.

And of course, I simply don't buy shitty games.

 

[Sacman]

I just follow what yahtzee says...

 

[Kajt]

I try to spoil as little as possible, which means that I barely watch any gameplay videos and trailers at all.

 

[Legion]

I tend to only pick games that hold a particular interest, I never go by popularity or reviews because they are usually either a load of BS written to get into the developers good books or idiotic drivel blindly praising the game or needlessly picking at it.

As for what catches my attention, that varies. Both Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 looked bad when I first caught a glimpse and I am extremely glad to have bought them. Bioshock sounded boring when a friend described it to me and it's one of my favourite games of all times; I honestly cannot say what draws me to certain games.

I just follow what yahtzee says...

Please tell me that's a joke...please?

 

[Sacman]

I tend to only pick games that hold a particular interest, I never go by popularity or reviews because they are usually either a load of BS written to get into the developers good books or idiotic drivel blindly praising the game or needlessly picking at it.

As for what catches my attention, that varies. Both Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3 looked bad when I first caught a glimpse and I am extremely glad to have bought them. Bioshock sounded boring when a friend described it to me and it's one of my favourite games of all times; I honestly cannot say what draws me to certain games.

I just follow what yahtzee says...

Please tell me that's a joke...please?

yeah it's a joke. I'm just making fun of people who don't take a crap unless its rated above a 9 on GT...

 

[Hollock]

I do everything i can to find out wether or not ill be wasting my money buying somthing

 

[HT_Black]

Always buy used, trust in the word-of-mouth (unless it comes from the employees of a store). I watch gameplay videos, look at screenshots, and compare reviews.

That is, unless I'm really looking forward to something-- in which case I'll buy it on day one and lie to muself about how much fun it is. It might not be the most respectable strategy, but at the end of the day I'm still a happy customer.

 

[Julianking93]

I look at user reviews and how long a game is.

If a game gets good reviews, I wait for the price to go down to match how long it is.

Say a game is 15 hours long, but I can get 30 hours of entertainment out of it, take 30, multiply it by 7, then that's how much I usually end up paying for it.

Same goes for any game.

 

[Jack Of Herts]

I don't trust trailers and I am always unsure of wheather a gameplay video is showing me the typical experience in this game, so I check out someones playthrough videos on youtube, pick one at random and deside based on that...seems to work pretty well for me.

 

[Aesir23]

I rent it and if I like it enough, I buy it.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Go for the GOTY edition.

That avatar is too awesome for me to be able to focus on the thread O___O

*shakes out of it* Where am I? Oh, yeah.

OT: I read a ton of reviews, take them all with a grain of salt, compares to what genre I usually like, as well as see what game will satisfy me the longest. Then I buy it, finish it, get all the trophies, sell it back to the store, and use the money combined with my pocket change to buy something else, often that results to buying used games from 2008 or something. Rinse and repeat until I get enough money from my parents at the end of the month to buy a new title.

 

[Scumpernickle]

Wait a year for the games to hit $20 so I can buy 3 awesome games instead of 1 new game.

 

[E-mantheseeker]

I look at user reviews and how long a game is.

If a game gets good reviews, I wait for the price to go down to match how long it is.

Say a game is 15 hours long, but I can get 30 hours of entertainment out of it, take 30, multiply it by 7, then that's how much I usually end up paying for it.

Same goes for any game.

Perhaps I'm missing the point entirely but... 30x7=210. You're not talking about dollars I'm sure, are you talking about stretching the game out to 210 hours? Even that doesn't sound right to me

 

[DazZ.]

I usually have discussed games here with other gamers before purchase, or talk to friends that own it.

I keep my eye out for games and know enough about them before they release to know if they would suit my preference, I'll then play a demo or borrow it before I buy it, unless I know I'm going to like it. (Dragons Age for example)