VGC, how do YOU decide what to buy?

[ZetaX1]

I don't mean to call you out here Dave, but given finite resources, how do you decide what to buy?  Things that come into my purchase decisions include:

 

Past experience:  Has this 'franchise' or type of game 'done it' for me in the past.

 

Price:  Do I think this game will give me X-dollars worth of enjoyment.

 

Word on the Street:  I look here, and to the 'mainstream' gaming media (IGN, 1UP, Gamespot, Metacritic) to see how they rate things.

 

Intangible:  Is this something new and/or different.  Does this game offer something I haven't quite seen before.

 

Some days, I'll walk into a game store and see something weird/different and give it a shot.  Some days, I want a reliable 'good buy'.  I guess it depends on the price.  A sub-20 dollar 'maybe' can be as good as a 40 dollar 'pretty darn good'.

 

Just curious.  I'm fortunate to be torn by the ability to buy more games, with the desire (and time) to play only the best.

 

- Mark

[ZetaX1]

Man, I just re-read my post, and that last sentence is about the most pretentious sounding wad-o-crap I could have come up with.  Kids, remember this equation:

 

Late Night + Cold Medicine = Douche-Bag Forum Postings

 

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress.

 

- Mark

[VideoGameCritic]

That's a good question.  It seems like there's really a glut of high-quality, inexpensive games in the market, and it's getting very tough to determine what to buy.  All of those points you made play a role in my decision.  Another thing for me is collectibility.  If I happen to own every Castlevania game ever produced, it's hard for me to resist snagging a new edition of the game.  I'm starting to balk at "cheap" games now, because they take up space and might not necessarily be the best way to spend your time.

[feilong801]

I agree with the Critic. There is a TON of product now... a simple puzzle game might have been great fun in 1993 is not totally passe now (unless you are a fan of the genre, I guess).

 

Back when I was a kid, and games were harder to come by, I could make myself kinda enjoy total CRAP like "Platoon" on the NES, just because I knew it would be months before I'd be able to land something new.

 

I try to balance playing new stuff and trying out older things I missed out on. I'm spending most of my console time playing Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance right now, even though there are a few titles that I really want to try.

 

-Rob

[Paul Campbell]

[QUOTE=feilong80] 

Back when I was a kid, and games were harder to come by, I could make myself kinda enjoy total CRAP like "Platoon" on the NES, just because I knew it would be months before I'd be able to land something new.

[/QUOTE]

Holy crap that is so true.  I am always amazed, when I get out an old system and a stack of my favorite games, at how hard it is to play so many of them for more than a few minutes.  Back when I got my NES, I had waited alot longer than some other kids to get one because my parents, thankfully, always made me earn the money to buy things I wanted when it wasn't Christmas or my birthday.  So by the time I got one and a couple of games, I would play the good AND the bad ones nonstop for months until I was able to get another one.  A good example of this is Elevator Action.  I used to love this game, but I got it out the other day and couldn't go much more than through the first level before I severely lost interest and moved on to something else. 

Of course, I had a much more active imagination at that age, so I was better at making something out of nothing.