Gaming on a student budget
Gaming on a college budget is tricky, let alone finding the time. New games go for $50 or more each, and consoles go for upward of a couple hundred dollars in most cases. It's always preferable to put your education first, but for those gamers around who still want to play some games while they're at Fanshawe, here's a stack of tips to get the most bang for your buck.
The first step is lowering your standards, not in terms of the quality of games you play, but specifically, their price. Used games are always $10 cheaper than new games, however most are usually $15-20 less. The title ‘used games' has never been accurate in itself; as software there's no kind of ware and tear involved in games that should drag down their second-hand value. That is unless you feel a spotless game case is worth the extra $20. Used games stores like EB Games won't sell used games with scratches anymore as well, and replace any they do accidentally sell.
Buying used is a pretty straight forward and a well-known way to save. On the console side, at EB Games a Playstation 3 runs for $300 used and up, depending on the size of the hard drive. A used Xbox 360 starts at $160, A used Wii is $250. PSPs go for $130 used and up, while DS Lites are $110 used. If you're looking for a great deal though, you can get a used Playstation 2 for $40. The Playstation 2 is still going strong with tons of games on the shelves, and lots still being developed.
However, buying every game you want to play, used or new, is a good way to drain your budget. The reason why stores like EB Games have so many used games is because gamers are buying games they end up not liking or playing. It's much more cost effective to rent games than to buy when you're uncertain. Rogers has the cheapest rates, at $7 to rent older games for seven days, and $8 to rent new games for five days. Blockbuster is pricier on the older games at $8 for seven days and $10 for new games for seven days. Although, it is important to note that Blockbuster does have no late charges up to a week after a game is due back, while Rogers charges $1 extra for every day a game is past-due.
To crunch that for you, technically you can rent a new game from Blockbuster for almost 14 days for $10, but only seven days for $10 at Rogers, which includes two days of late charges.
Now you can get month long subscriptions to rent games online as well. The Canadian website, GameAccess.ca, will mail you game rentals, and as long as you're a subscriber you can hold onto the game for as long as you like. You can only have one game out at any time on an $18/month subscription, but packages go up from there starting at $25/month for two games. The downfall is it usually takes two days or more to get the game to your door. Shipping however is included, each game coming with an envelope to mail it back with.
There is one area of buying games that many gamers fall prey to however, that being trading in games. Trading in any games to stores like EB Games is no way to save money. However, there are better ways to trade nowadays. Sites like Goozex.com allows people to trade games with one another indirectly. All games on the service are given a certain point value based on their popularity, so you can't trade Barbie's Pony Adventures for Gears of War 2, you would need a game of equal value. Put simply, users mail in their game to Gooxez, and receive points. From there users browse used games other people have sent Gooxez, and if they have enough points, they can purchase any used game with their points. Gooxez only charges $1 for the service per trade, but once again with any online solution, the wait time is the only drawback.
The best advice to consider however is replaying the games you already own, get your money's worth out of them. Borrow games from friends, or play them together. Many students do unfortunately end up pirating games however, which is only bad for game developers. Buy used, rent, or give online solutions a try. GameAccess.ca does offer a free one-month trial, just make sure to cancel before that month's over, or face the charges, pun intended.
Buying used is a pretty straight forward and a well-known way to save. On the console side, at EB Games a Playstation 3 runs for $300 used and up, depending on the size of the hard drive. A used Xbox 360 starts at $160, A used Wii is $250. PSPs go for $130 used and up, while DS Lites are $110 used. If you're looking for a great deal though, you can get a used Playstation 2 for $40. The Playstation 2 is still going strong with tons of games on the shelves, and lots still being developed.
However, buying every game you want to play, used or new, is a good way to drain your budget. The reason why stores like EB Games have so many used games is because gamers are buying games they end up not liking or playing. It's much more cost effective to rent games than to buy when you're uncertain. Rogers has the cheapest rates, at $7 to rent older games for seven days, and $8 to rent new games for five days. Blockbuster is pricier on the older games at $8 for seven days and $10 for new games for seven days. Although, it is important to note that Blockbuster does have no late charges up to a week after a game is due back, while Rogers charges $1 extra for every day a game is past-due.
To crunch that for you, technically you can rent a new game from Blockbuster for almost 14 days for $10, but only seven days for $10 at Rogers, which includes two days of late charges.
Now you can get month long subscriptions to rent games online as well. The Canadian website, GameAccess.ca, will mail you game rentals, and as long as you're a subscriber you can hold onto the game for as long as you like. You can only have one game out at any time on an $18/month subscription, but packages go up from there starting at $25/month for two games. The downfall is it usually takes two days or more to get the game to your door. Shipping however is included, each game coming with an envelope to mail it back with.
There is one area of buying games that many gamers fall prey to however, that being trading in games. Trading in any games to stores like EB Games is no way to save money. However, there are better ways to trade nowadays. Sites like Goozex.com allows people to trade games with one another indirectly. All games on the service are given a certain point value based on their popularity, so you can't trade Barbie's Pony Adventures for Gears of War 2, you would need a game of equal value. Put simply, users mail in their game to Gooxez, and receive points. From there users browse used games other people have sent Gooxez, and if they have enough points, they can purchase any used game with their points. Gooxez only charges $1 for the service per trade, but once again with any online solution, the wait time is the only drawback.
The best advice to consider however is replaying the games you already own, get your money's worth out of them. Borrow games from friends, or play them together. Many students do unfortunately end up pirating games however, which is only bad for game developers. Buy used, rent, or give online solutions a try. GameAccess.ca does offer a free one-month trial, just make sure to cancel before that month's over, or face the charges, pun intended.
