Online Shopping for Games

Vic

Over here in the frigid northern lands, games are expensive and often released weeks after their release dates in the us. Thus, importing the games myself is a really attractive idea, and one I have already tried out once with great results.

I bet the service, reliability and prices differ widely though, so now I am asking you, what online shops would you recommend? What are your own experiences with online buying, both good and bad? Where can the best prices and rarest games be found, preferably without shipping costs?

elkatas

Vic wrote: »

I bet the service, reliability and prices differ widely though, so now I am asking you, what online shops would you recommend? What are your own experiences with online buying, both good and bad? Where can the best prices and rarest games be found, preferably without shipping costs?

Having imported stuff for very long time, here is most commonly used (and least expensive) shops.

http://www.videogameplus.ca - Dependable canadian import store. Great discount bin, reasonable shipping rates (around 8 CADs per game). They always mark packages with wrong prices so you don't need pay any customs.

http://www.dvdboxoffice.com - Okay canadian import store. Pretty much same prices as VGP, but no real discount bin. Free shipping. Poor customer service when it comes to products that are in limited quantities.

http://www.play-asia.com - One of the greatest Asian import stores, located in Hong Kong. 'tad expensive, but their selection is very good. Reasonable shipping prices. Marks your package's price down when asked. Doesn't sell PS3 or PSP products to Europe.

http://www.yesasia.com - Another great asian import store, located in Hong Kong. Prices lower than in Play-Asia, selection is narrower. Shipping costs OK. Currently has problems with shipping stuff, have been very dependable on past. Doesn't sell PS3 or PSP products to Europe.

http://www.ncsx.com/ -- Great selection. Expensive. Good customer service. Clumsy webpages. Marks packages price down when asked.

http://www.play.com - All games are PAL. Great discount bin for PS2 and Xbox . Marks prices correctly on packages, located in Jersey, so be careful when ordering something more expensive (price < 30 £). Free shipping.

http://www.cd-wow.com - Play's direct competitor. PAL games. Very limited selection, but sometimes very good bargains. Marks prices correctly on packages, located in Jersey, so be careful when ordering something more expensive (price < 30 £). Free shipping.

Shops to avoid

http://www.importmadness.com/ - Expensive, poor selection, poor customer service.

TychoCelchuuu

Steam.

Drez

Does Steam cater to all regions?

Deusfaux

Drez wrote: »

Does Steam cater to all religions?

No, it discriminates against Wiccans

Rook

Drez wrote: »

Does Steam cater to all regions?

The only game I've seen where it won't sell outside of North America was Outrun I think. I guess there must be a few others though.

Nev

Quite a few others. Well, mostly they just have different release dates, aswell as different prices.

DeadOnArrival

I have a question about importing a 360 to the UK from videogamesplus.ca. It looks like it might be beneficial to do so but I am not in the know when it comes to region locked games and such.

Amazon.co.uk has the Xbox 360 priced at £265 with no extras.
Amazon.co.uk 360


Videogamesplus.ca has it at £220 with 4 extra games.
Videogamesplus 360

So even with shipping on top it looks like I get the best deal from Videogamesplus, my question would be does that mean I can only order games from there as games here would be region locked against the console? Would I need any adapters for power cables/etc or would they come included?

Echo

Rook wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

Does Steam cater to all regions?

The only game I've seen where it won't sell outside of North America was Outrun I think. I guess there must be a few others though.

I wanted to buy Total War on Steam, but noooooo.

elkatas

DeadOnArrival wrote: »

So even with shipping on top it looks like I get the best deal from Videogamesplus, my question would be does that mean I can only order games from there as games here would be region locked against the console? Would I need any adapters for power cables/etc or would they come included?

Remember customs.... I don't know where in Europe you live, but you need to pay VAT for that big purchase. Furthermore, you would probably need stepdown convertor to adjust voltage. There is possibility that replacing external power source would be enough, but I'm not sure, so I need need to ask this from my friend. And yes, you could only order games from USA, but that isn't really that big dealie because lower prices, better discount bins and earlier release dates are worth of it in the longer run.

But did you know that some Xbox 360 games are actually region free? Both Videogameplus.ca and Play-Asia keep database of region free X360 games. Region free asian versions are especially worth watching, as they cost only 30 dollars in Play-Asia and usually have english text.

Play-Asia's compatibility list: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-00-3-xbox360_compatibility_guide-49-en.html
VGP's compatibility list: http://www.videogamesplus.ca/default.php?cPath=446_470

Willeth

DoA - I would really advise getting a UK 360. To start with, you won't have any trouble with warranty if it breaks down. If I were you, I'd make the savings on the games instead - check out http://www.shopto.net. Their console deals aren't always the best, but pretty much every single one of their games are at least £10 off RRP and if you preorder, they send it as soon as they get the stock. I got Crackdown more than a week before release, for example. And you're guaranteed each one is going to work.