Console games make list of 10 things you shouldn't buy new

The last time I bought used was Tekken 3. The sound was shit, and occasionally the screen would flicker.

I am forever wary of used games...No matter how good the deal is I can't stop thinking "Why was this returned?...Could I be getting another Lemon...? Not gonna find out"

Nowadays, I almost always buy used games. I dont understand who has the disposable income to afford games at $50 a pop!...and don't get me started on prices in Europe..

I admit I'm frugal sometimes, but I buy mostly new games for those titles that I know I will play the long haul and are a must buy triple A titles. I found myself lately bidding on games for the dreamcast, summer is really a drought for games.

Madden 2001 here I come!

Meh, I prefer my disc games to be new. I do not want to worry about a ton of scratches on the thing. If it is a hot selling game, just wait for the price to drop. Now cartridges, yeah, I will buy those used, since that is about the only way to get them anymore.

i usually buy games ive been looking forward to for a while, but the rest of the time i try and buy used or on offers, i managed to find eternal darkness for £2.50 about $5 last week

Never. EB gunks up their cases with about 30 stickers, they're usually in poor shape, and only about $5 cheaper. For a lot of "Greatest Hits" games that sell for $20 new, EB sells them for $17.99 used. They can shove their used games straight up their

Like I'm going to wait a year to play all of the current release games, just so I can save 25 bucks? Next thing you know they will telling you the top 10 grocery store items to never buy new. I love me some 10 cent moldy milk please!

Odd that this is coming from a Microsoft site. You know, those guys is Redmond that are trying to sell you XBox 360 games?

Anyway, I can think of two types of games that would normally be best purchased at release:

-those that have a strong online component, because the online userbase tends to taper off dramatically.

-sports games, because playing with last year's roster is lame.

I'm a big "wait until it's cheaper" shopper. Nearly all games hit the $20 price point fairly quickly. (I'm waiting for Tomb Raider Legend at the moment.) I also buy alot of used games at Gamestop. Older games are sometimes cheaper than a meal at McD's! I try to only get used games that are in good shape with the manuals, which isn't hard to do there.

Gamestop is pretty good for used games. I bought Metroid Prime 1+2 for a combined total of less then $10 dollars and they have no noticeable issues.

i don't mind getting my games used.. . if it can save me 5, 10 bucks.. hell, if it saves me a dollar, i'm down for doing that.. . i just don't want a greatest hit case or a caseless game.. . only type of game i would buy new would be a collectors edition of something, i.e. FF12 at gamestop .. .

other than that, bring on the used.. .

Since you generally can't sell games that you bought used, the question basically boils down to: Do you want your discount now or later? If you buy the game used, finish it, and decide you're not going to play it again, you can probably sell it back and make more than the $5 you would've saved at EBgames. It's pretty rare for a game to have less than a $5 sell-back value, and pretty rare to find a good game that's discounted for more than that amount. Keep tabs on the value of your games, and trade them in accordingly!

Usually I only buy cartridge based games used or if I can't buy it new anymore I'll get a disc. If I buy a newer game used I make sure it has it's box and instructions.

I usually only buy used games on one day of the year: Black Friday. It's the day EBGames has a sale where you buy two used games and get a third free. I can usually get three games for 35 dollars, which is pretty nice.

But the fact is, I hate that yellow Player's Choice thing. I hate it. If I don't buy the game new, it'll have that worthless yellow tag on it and mucks up my collection, just like it does in the picture you all showed. That's pretty much exactly what my forty Gamecube games look like on the shelf. Perfect line, alphabetical, but with those stupid yellow sections every so often.

That, and the boxes have these amazing dents in them that I'm sure had to have been brought about by throwing the case across several rooms by many three year olds. I'm amazed the game still plays half the time.

And don't get me started on those irremovable stickers they load up on that thing. The only good thing to ever come out of an EBGames in my collection is Ikaruga, and that's only because no retail store in their right mind would ever sell an actual good game.

I base my entertainment purchases on a dollar per hour basis
My baseline is 1 hour for every $1 I spend

A book is about 1:1
A movie is 1:$3
A comic is awful at .25:$3
MMO are the best at 5:1 (80:$15)

So I look at a game, and figure what it's worth on a 1:1 basis
Sports & racing games I'll spend less per game, about $20.
Shooters and platformers next. 30-40
RPGS the most 50-60 (less if its a short one like fable

Used Madden 2006 (20)
Used Riiiiidger Racer 6 (20)
New Oblivion (60+)

99 nights (20-30)
Ench Arms (40+)
Lego star wars 2 (30-40)
Ultimate marvel (30-40)


The only time when I break that rule is at launch, or when I run out of games.
(Which is right now)

I've pre-ordered Ench Arms, LS2 and Samuri
I'll wait to $20 for GRaw, Chromehounds, LotR:BFME and I'll buy them Used, new or Plat hits. Whetever

Oh, and I will not buy a used game just to save $5

It depends on how badly I want the game. If not playing it causes me great pain, I'll get it ASAP. If not, I will hold off on getting it until the prices drop.

"7. Odd that this is coming from a Microsoft site. You know, those guys is Redmond that are trying to sell you XBox 360 games?"

Some of these companies are just so big that the right hand doesn't know what the left is doing. sony does that a LOT when they tout the ps3 as a computer replacement, when they have a big line of computers...

I've stopped buying used games due to the "screw everyone over" factor, but since I picked up my Cube late this generation I can find lots of bargain prices on new games. This gives the publisher money, gives me cheap good entertainment, and avoids me feeling like a dick for buying used from EB games.

[sarcasm]Genius advice!![/sarcasm], if everybody waited for games to be half price then the industry would be destroyed.
I take that stance that only I only pay full price on the exceptional games, and the good to mediocre stuff I then wait till they're cheap.

i dunno what theyr thinking... used titles are $10 off tops.... maybe $15 if your lucky. Never more than half off unless the new game is only $10

Hey, Chessasaur stole my post!

You said it exactly as I would have. I buy used games all the time, rarely paying more than $15. (I just bought Sphynx and the cursed mummy for $6.99) I ask to see the disc and if it has scratches I just have them grab a different one. I only buy games with manuals and in most cases they have them. Surprisingly, many of the used games I buy have literally no scratches. I think alot of kids get games as gifts and trade them in after only playing them once if they aren't the "cool" thing. The only game I've paid full retail for this gen was Mario Kart: Double Dash because I waited like a year and the damn price just wouldn't drop and used was only about $5 cheaper. And of course 2 weeks after I bought it the price dropped!

I generally buy console games and occassionally PC games used. Thing with PC games though is that if you want to play MP you'll need a new copy with an unregistered CD key, making used versions useless.

However, try to predict if a game is likely to become low in numbers or rare in later life and buy it new, otherwise you'll be faced with the problem i had with getting hold of Symphony of the Night used, dealing out £70 for it ;)

Not a big fan of 2nd-hand games. I'd rather the instruction booklet didn't smell like someone had been drying their dog with it.

I tried going the used game route once with Gamestop, and I won't be doing it again.

Despite what the article implies, you only get about a $10 discount off retail prices when you buy used. I picked up San Andreas.

That night when I had time to play, I noticed load times were bad. Then, 10 minutes in, the game froze because of disc scratches. I also noticed that they included the manual, but not the map.

Next day, I returned to the store. They went through all of their used discs, and could only find one that didn't have obvious scratches. Then they argued with me that there was no map with San Andreas. After about ten minutes, they finally produced one.

Took the disc home that night, and after a while the game started skipping.

Two days later, I finally had time to return the game to the store. I wanted to return the used copy, and buy a new one. Now the clerks started arguing with me, telling me that I should continue to take home a used copy one at a time until I found one that works.

Now I was getting angry. Maybe if I was making $5/hr badgering customers at a GameStop, all this grief might be worth saving $10 off the retail price of a game. But I was not happy with these folks insisting that I should spend this much time going through these hoops so that they can clear a little extra profit on a used game sale.

They finally sold me the new game, which ended up working perfectly. Since then, I have always paid a small premium to know that I will be able to take home a game and play it that night.

I'll buy new but I won't buy at full price. Always hunting for deals.

I almost always try to buy new rather than used. I just don't like having the tacky yellow sticker on my games. I guess it might be a bit snobby or something, but I just love having the cases look clean and new.

I buy used about %90 of the time.

The only time I buy new is if I can't wait to play the game. In such a case, I'd generally reserve the game and get it on day one. The only upcoming releases I plan on doing such with or paying full price for are:

Enchant Arms
Xenosaga III
Final Fantasy XII and XIII
Gears of Wars
Halo 3
Metroid Prime 3

The dozens of other games I want can wait until they are cheap/used. Dead Rising, Fight Night Round 3, God of War 2, Twilight Princess, and Dirge of Cerberus are examples of games I can wait for.

I always buy my games used or after several price drops. I just picked up the whole Ratchet and Clank series (minus Deadlocked) for $25 and then I picked up the original Sly Cooper for another $8.

That and I've never had a used game act up on me.

i bought god of war new (after i rented it and beat it) for the greatest hits price and it wasnt in a greatest hits package.

I simply cannot afford to buy new, except for very few titles (Guitar hero, Elder scrolls). I am into too many genres. As it stands I still spend $500+ every month on games. If they were new it would probably be $1200 or more.

Cheers!

99.9% of the games I buy are either used or they've been on the market long enough that they're significantly reduced from the original release price.

The only time I can think of buying a full-price game right after it came out is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I just couldn't wait to play that game. And I ended up getting like 60-70 hours of play out of it, so it was definitely worth the $50.

Most of the games people are saying they get for cheap used ($5 or less) are Player's Choice titles that are new for $20 or less, or they're sleeper hits or average to above-average titles that, if you *could* buy them new, would cost you only about $15 to $20. Those are good buys used if you can find them, but they're really not saving people as much as you might think.

Personally, if I want a game, I'm not going to wait until I can find it used only to save $10 at most. I'd rather use the $10 and buy the game when it comes out, so I can enjoy it along with my friends and the rest of the Internet.

If you buy a console late in its lifespan, though, then used games are a great buy.

And I agree; I absolutely hate stores like EB that sticker their merchandise to crap. Don't they know that many people actually care about the shape of the case? Seeing the leftover gunk of a sticker or two makes the used game worth way less than what they're charging.

The problem with this article's theory is that the new games that retail for $49.99-$59.99 are only, on average, 10% less when purchased used. So you can get something that is perhaps in less than new condition for a savings of $5. Is it worth it?

However, if you're looking at the $20 and under games, like Platinum Hits, Player Choice, etc, you can often find some really good deals. Seems to be the more popular a game was, the lower the sale price tends to be. You can pick up Metroid Prime, Splinter Cell, etc for $5 or less. Probably because there are more used copies of those games floating around than AOL trial discs, but oh well!

Of course, you can also buy Suikoden II used for $50 there, more than it retailed for originally. Which is still probably a savings of $100 off of eBay prices.

All prices are from GameStop.

"Since you generally can't sell games that you bought used"

What are you talking about? I sell games that I bought used all the time.

For example, I got a used copy Mario Kart DS for $27 from GameStop and played it for a couple of months before deciding I didn't really like it. So I sold it back to GameStop for $16.50. So I basically rented it for two months for 10 bucks.

Shocked that no one has mentioned half.com -- its the best marketplace for used games - everything I've ever bought through the site has come in perfect condition - and the price is usually half would you would find at EBGames/Gamestop.

If you don't know - now you know.

Hundo

Valkyrie Profile...you costly sonavabeach. I want high quality but I can usually find that with used games at a better price.

ugh. I hate buying things old. If it doesn't have the fresh smell from the factory i don't want it!

heres a tip for all of you. if you want to remove sticker gunk of game cases all you need to do is put some WD40mon a paper towel and rub it on the sticker gunk. it should come off after a little while. hope that helps all of you.

I usually buy used titles to save the money. Never had a problem with a used title either, and every game store I've bought used titles from (whether franchised like Gamestop) or a mom & pop privately owned place always lets you exchange a disc if it doesn't work or gives a refund, so there's no problem there either. Safe bet though is to look over the disc before you leave the store in your car, that way if it's scratched you can exchange it then and there and avoid a second trip. Most game stores now won't take discs that aren't immaculate though, or at least that's been my experience lately. I just picked up Psychonauts for $24 the other day and it looks brand new.

As for the stickers/goo - buy a bottle of Goo Gone. $4, lasts forever, takes the leftover sticky crap right off.

I do agree about the stupid "greatest hits" tagging though; whether it's Microsoft with the obnoxious silver colored cases or Sony with the red bar/Nintendo with the yellow bar, I *will* go out of my way not to buy a game branded as a "greatest hits" title, whether that means I pick a different one at a used store or I shop on eBay/Craigslist to pick up one of the initial batches with the standard packaging on it. Am I picky? Sure. I don't care though, the different packaging design pisses me off.

I used to work at EB Games and believe me it is the biggest scam to get your money! They push you to sell used games so that the company makes more money and you lose. They will give you beans for your games and turnaround to sell them for almost full price, in which case they profit and you end up getting a scratched game, no booklet, a yellow case with now cover, stickers out the yin yang, and to top it off they make more money by offering you a warranty for an extra $4.00. EB Games wins again! You are better off selling your games to a pawnshop if EB doesn't give you what you want.

Software, huh? Guess I'll go buy a used OEM copy of XP to save a ton of money.

Oh wait, that won't work. Better check the EULAs before you go buying any used software.

"Buy used, and you'll pay half or less what the software cost new."

Where exactly did they get those prices? At my local GameStop, unless the games are really old, the used games are usually only marked down $5.

I generally wait to buy a lot of my games. I would say at least 70% of my console games collection is when it was marked down to $20 or so. When a site has a sale for old cheap games like buy 2 get a 3rd free, I'm all over it.

Be forewarned, popular used games have been known to go for $25-35 on the used game shelf when they can be found new for $19.99 on the new shelf in the form of "Best Of".

Dimple Records is the worst offender that i have found.

i like buying new because the money goes to the game studios, not the garage sale that is EBGames/Gamestop.

I highly resist buying new ESPECIALLY if I'm at EB Games/Gamestop/Gamecrazy.

Everytime I pay the "premium" of buying a "New" game there, it ends up being already opened and stickered with a >>>NEW

@copa
i know what you mean ive felt your pain
but the reason why they want you to buy a used game so bad is becuase that money goes to them only and not to developers
on new game sales most of the profits go straight to the developers

crap, that didn't come out right...

the point is, EB Games/Gamestop sells NEW games with USED quality, so why even bother.

I buy most games second hand from ebay - much cheaper than the second hand section in games shops. As long as you stick to people with good feedback you have nothing to worry about.

I'm so rediculously frugal that I don't buy consoles till teh end of the generation. I mean, I just got a PS2 to play god of war and finally got an Xbox within the last 5 months.