Games on the cheap

Popper The Penguin

So, I'm gonna be very honest. Please don't flame me for being so.

I'm a 14 year old kid. I love games. My brother got me into them, and I just can't stop. However, being a 14 year old kid, I don't make much money. Basically my allowance and mowing lawns is all I can rake in. But now and then I want to buy a new game. Usually, however, I don't have the money I need to buy the game. So I was wondering, what upcoming games seem like they would be worth the price tag for someone who's probably only going to buy one or maybe two?

Tav

Go onto Gametap. It's like Steam, except they have some games up for free.

IIRC they have Psychonauts, Tomb Raider: Legend, Just Cause, Thief: Deadly Shadows and Second Sight up for free at the moment.

remlap13

If you have a semi-decent computer or a 360.. The Orange Box.. New it's about $50 or so, but contains 5 amazing games.. Better if you get it for the PC, as it is much better to play Team Fortress 2 on the computer than the 360.

Tav

remlap13 wrote: »

If you have a semi-decent computer or a 360.. The Orange Box.. New it's about $50 or so, but contains 5 amazing games.. Better if you get it for the PC, as it is much better to play Team Fortress 2 on the computer than the 360.

It's 30 on Steam.

remlap13

Tav wrote: »

remlap13 wrote: »

If you have a semi-decent computer or a 360.. The Orange Box.. New it's about $50 or so, but contains 5 amazing games.. Better if you get it for the PC, as it is much better to play Team Fortress 2 on the computer than the 360.

It's 30 on Steam.

Even better. I honestly couldn't remember as I bought it when it first came out for the 360. Full price up in Canada haha.

Bartholamue

yeah, it's $30 for a retail copy as well.

Popper The Penguin

I've got a pretty nice PC, and have the Orange Box already, but I'm looking for new games. I just received an, *uhm* advance (grade money) and am looking to buy something new.

elliotw2

What kinds of games do you like, and how new is new?

I'd say Dawn of War 2 if you like RTS's, or maybe Red Alert 3 if you like more macrocontrol

Taramoor

Is Gamefly beyond your means?

Raslin

You probably want to make extensive use of goozex.

darkenedwing

I would like to bring tradegamesnow.com to your attention.
It is a great game trading/buying/selling forum/community. I recently picked up a like new complete copy of halo 3 for $26 shipped and I got it in 2 days. You can usually find great deals there. if you need some help with the site just send me a PM on here.

Kuribo's Shoe

go to target and look in the clearance section. I got mercs 2 there for 10, fracture for 10, web of shadows for 15, too human for 10, etc etc etc.

Rhesus Positive

My advice would be get into roguelikes - free and with massive re-playability thanks to the randomly-generated nature of them.

What systems other than a PC do you have?

Mustachio Jones

Goozex and cheapassgamer.com are your two best friends.

Because of them, I feel wrong paying full price for pretty much anything now.

Fizban140

Is Goozex really a better deal then doing it all on ebay?

I hate to say this buy Gamestop had great deals on used games and if you do not like it you can return it within a week. That worked great for PoP and Assassins Creed.

Willeth

If you're in the UK, keep an eye on SavyGamer.co.uk

You can save a lot of money if you're not bothered about buying games at release. Most big titles will be available for half the price about a month after release.

LewieP

The PA Free Indie Game Thread is your friend. As are clearance sales.

Keep an eye on the digital distribution weekend specials, particularly Steam, GamersGate and GoodOldGames.

The Reverend Dr Galactus

Suddenly I'm getting all nostalgic about saving up for Starcraft in high school. Different times, man, different times... Though maybe not all that different.

Zombiemambo

Kuribo's Shoe wrote: »

go to target and look in the clearance section. I got mercs 2 there for 10, fracture for 10, web of shadows for 15, too human for 10, etc etc etc.

Woah wait, Too Human for $10? Shoot, don't think I can pass that up.

DeathPrawn

Fizban140 wrote: »

Is Goozex really a better deal then doing it all on ebay?.

Goozex is definitely easier than dealing with eBay; how good a deal it is depends on what you have to offer and what you want to get out of it.

Goozex is an absolutely phenomenal deal if you are looking to trade away new releases and get in return titles that are six months to a few years old.

Mustachio Jones

Goozex is also much easier to handle in terms of unsatisfaction. Since they deal with a very narrow range of things, as it were, it's much easier to control. As much as I hate the idea of spending money to buy a different kind of unique currency, the points system allows Goozex to be pretty liberal in how they handle returns and refunds, at least from what I've seen.

Tylerbroor

Since I came to college, I've bought all my games used from Amazon. Fantastic deals usually net you older games for less than 10$. I've never had a problem with quality, and if you buy enough at a time you don't have to worry about shipping.

Djiem

A very vital piece of information would be whether the OP has access to a credit card or not.

Fizban140

Djiem wrote: »

A very vital piece of information would be whether the OP has access to a credit card or not.

I am sure he could talk his parents into letting him use it on occasion.

Xaquin

quick question about gametap

under 'unlimited play' I see Thief: Deadly Shadows. Does this mean that when I DL it, I can play all the time? Or is it only unlimited for the week?

I just figured I'd try out the free membership.

Tav

Xaquin wrote: »

quick question about gametap

under 'unlimited play' I see Thief: Deadly Shadows. Does this mean that when I DL it, I can play all the time? Or is it only unlimited for the week?

I just figured I'd try out the free membership.

It changes from time to time.

It means that while it is free, you can play it as much as you want. However it might not be free forever.

Xaquin

Tav wrote: »

Xaquin wrote: »

quick question about gametap

under 'unlimited play' I see Thief: Deadly Shadows. Does this mean that when I DL it, I can play all the time? Or is it only unlimited for the week?

I just figured I'd try out the free membership.

It changes from time to time.

It means that while it is free, you can play it as much as you want. However it might not be free forever.

ah gotcha

thanks

Tzen

Thief: DS is great, so if you haven't played it, that's what you should be doing right now. I SAID RIGHT NOW!

Tav

The guy who designed Fort Frolic in Bioshock designed The Cradle in Thief: DS, easily one of the best levels in any game ever.

Xaquin

Tzen wrote: »

Thief: DS is great, so if you haven't played it, that's what you should be doing right now. I SAID RIGHT NOW!

if I could get it to work =/

Ninja Snarl P

Just to give a fair warning about Gametap, the new design is simply moronic. The last time I used Gametap, they had a nice, straightforward client and now they're trying to force some idiotic browser plugin crap on me. The site's a real mess compared to the straightforward setup they had before. While there's still a nice selection of free games, it's pretty annoying as-is.

Goozex is nice, but depending on the game you want or the games you're trying to get rid of, trades can take a while. One of the games I want probably won't be available for months, but a game I put in my Want list yesterday already has a match. It's rather inconsistent for anything but newer games. For newer games, though, it's an awesome deal. I absolutely hated Fable II for a number of reasons and checked out Goozex. Instead of getting ripped off by a Gamestop or the like, I got a full 1000 points (50 bucks) for the game instead getting half that or less for trading it in at a store.

If you've got a decent PC, check out Steam. There are some incredible deals for some really great games. I got the X-Com series for less than twenty bucks even though two of the games out of that series are worth that much to me on their own. STALKER:Shadow of Chernobyl is only a couple years old and it's on there for twenty bucks.

As long as you're willing to try out some older titles, a few bucks can go a looooong way.

EskimoDave

Mass Effect was selling for $9 used at Gamestop last weekend for the 360.

powersurge

As someone who is cutting back on cash spent www.cheapassgamer.com and www.gogamer.com have been awesome. I keep cheapassgamer on my RSS reader always good deals. Recently picked up Dawn of War 2 for $30 and battalion wars 2 for $15 thanks to cheapassgamer and I barely missed picking up Too Human for $12. Been trying to avoid buying right when a game comes out on a lot of titles because if you just wait a couple of months you can find great deals.

Tzen

To the OP: What systems do you have?

BahamutZERO

Tav wrote: »

Go onto Gametap. It's like Steam, except they have some games up for free.

IIRC they have Psychonauts, Tomb Raider: Legend, Just Cause, Thief: Deadly Shadows and Second Sight up for free at the moment.

Those 3 I bolded are fantastic games, try the gametap free trial thing or nearly free trial and play those. I forget if you need to pay like a dollar or something. The others could be fantastic too, but I've never played them.

Fashionist Pig

EskimoDave wrote: »

Mass Effect was selling for $9 used at Gamestop last weekend for the 360.

WHAT? I PAID 9.99 3 WEEKS AGO. DAMN YOU GAMESTOP!