Since we talked yesterday about the price of the just-announced Nintendo DSi, it seems prudent to discus other matters of price today. To be specific, we're curious as to whether or not your gaming spending habits have taken a hit due to the economic issues currently plaguing most of the globe. Are you buying fewer games, or considering it? Taking a break from buying anything to save up for the holidays, or planning to hit up friends and family for more gaming gifts?
DS Daily: Feeling the squeeze?
Since we talked yesterday about the price of the just-announced Nintendo DSi, it seems prudent to discus other matters of price today. To be specific, we're curious as to whether or not your gaming spending habits have taken a hit due to the economic issues currently plaguing most of the globe. Are you buying fewer games, or considering it? Taking a break from buying anything to save up for the holidays, or planning to hit up friends and family for more gaming gifts?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-10-2008 @ 9:10AM
Brandisis said...
I am changing my gaming spending habits but that's only because I have so many games in my "backlog" that I either haven't finished playing or, in a very few cases, haven't really played at all.
That might change when some new games I'm excited about come out.
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10-10-2008 @ 9:20AM
Nigeria said...
Yeah, but I wouldn't say it's just suddenly occurred, you know. I started feeling it at the beginning of this year: a regular trip to the store would be 10-15% more than usual. Since then it's got worse and worse.
As I like to import the weakening pound is really making me re-think my priorities. I see 5/6 games I would love to buy for the DS but I'm only planning on buying 2, and that will be my lot for the year. Plus, like the above poster, I have a backlog, so I guess it's better to cut back.
I don't even want to think about christmas and buying gifts for others, and all that: call me Mr Scrooge.
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10-10-2008 @ 9:39AM
MowDownJoe said...
Well, I certainly have less money to buy games. Unemployment sucks.
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10-10-2008 @ 9:45AM
Praesil said...
I smell an increase in Piracy in the near future...
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10-10-2008 @ 10:13AM
Stephen M said...
I haven't felt the crunch of the economy yet. A few months ago I would purchase a game every few weeks or so, nothing big -- but I am moving across the country in a couple months so I am trying to save all my money. I sold all my DS games on eBay save for a couple I haven't beaten yet. I hope I can land on my feet after the move, get settled in, and have enough scratch to buy Dragon Quest IV and Chrono Trigger.
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10-10-2008 @ 10:16AM
oog said...
Good thing my family doesn't celebrate any holiday so no worries about giving gifts. But yes, I am cutting way back on my game spending habits and have only pre-ordered one of 15 desired games on my list. I don't plan on buying the rest of the year. I'm using a trading site instead (goozex) even though I am so impatient and I want to buy buy buy. I'm kinda of angry about the whole DSi thing...I just bought my first DS lite this year..and already a newer version is coming out next year. That always happens to me! Ahhh.
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10-10-2008 @ 10:44AM
Josh said...
The only change I'm noticing is that in North America, we're starting to get Japanese games after Europe, or not even get them at all. And that makes me a saaad panda...
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10-10-2008 @ 10:51AM
Cameron DS said...
Yea, I can't afford games anymore. Struggling just to make ends meat.
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10-10-2008 @ 11:01AM
Dante G said...
I won't be buying any games for the rest of the year, unless there's a big sale or something. In my case it's not the economy. It's just that my first daughter is coming in a couple of weeks, and with my job and a new born I don't think I'll have the time to finish all the games I already bought. I think I have 10 games still unopened (3 gamecube, 3 Wii and 4 DS)... so that will do :)
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10-10-2008 @ 11:13AM
Mr Khan said...
In my case, i haven't seen the affects trickle down, except like what Josh said, about us getting screwed out of quite a few new games due to economic concerns (if NoA's so worried, just do a low-circulation printing, something like what Atlus or XSeed does. If demand rises, do a re-release)
Otherwise, i still have the money i made from my summer jobs, as well as a few donations from family well-wishers who want to see me have fun in college, so i'm more or less set.
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10-10-2008 @ 12:41PM
Pixel-One said...
There's a recession?
Luckily, I won't have to worry much about purchasing gifts for Christmas while at basic training. :D
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10-10-2008 @ 1:21PM
SephFinale said...
Hmmm...may I should join the military...at least it's assured I'd get money...
10-10-2008 @ 1:21PM
SephFinale said...
Hmmm...maybe I should join the military...at least it's assured I'd get money...
10-10-2008 @ 1:33PM
ecco6t9 said...
Thanks to pre-orders and a 30% bonus on trade ins my games are paid off for the rest of the year and 3 months into the next.
With the exception of Exit,Prey The Stars and Tornado.
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10-10-2008 @ 1:41PM
Jacksons said...
I haven't bought a DS game in quite a while, but it's only because nothing has caught my interest as of late.
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10-10-2008 @ 1:53PM
InvisibleMan said...
Because of pre-orders and an unbelievable amount of unfinished games in my library, I'm practically freezing my video game purchases for the next nine months or so...
(I'm not 100% sure I'll be able to stick to follow up on that, though.)
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10-10-2008 @ 2:02PM
SephFinale said...
Haha, everyone that keeps talking about "I have a backlog, I'm not buying games"...well...I have a backlog too, but if I don't buy a game as soon as possible, who knows if it will still be there once I've finished my backlog? And this is a backlog of like, 20 games.
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10-11-2008 @ 12:12AM
aj said...
I know, it really sucks that there are so many greedy douchbags out there who will, for instance, go buy every copy of new Atlus games they can, wait a month, then slap them on eBay for twice the retail price just because it's "rare". So as an RPG fan, you basically have to pre-order anything otherwise you'll never, ever, ever find it again for a reasonable price.
And if people would just stop buying games for retarded prices, the whole thing would collapse and games would stay on the shelf for a lot longer, and gamers could game. But greed always wins, and now we have used video game shops that will just cut out the middle man and put up new games for double the price because "someone else will do it anyway". Urgh.
10-10-2008 @ 6:44PM
Gewurz Man just wasted 200 Wii points said...
2008 has got to be the year I've spent the most amount of money on games. Ever. Nevertheless, I always think twice and agonize over every game purchase I make, so the situation of the economy doesn't make me think thrice (so to speak) as much as it justifies the fact that I always think twice.
Of course, some games are simply "must haves" and I don't hold back in that regard. GHWT is one of them; I'm just trying to determine how many instrument controllers I want to get along with it.
As for the DSi, that's a definite no for now. I'm in no rush and perfectly happy with currently available DS software.
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10-10-2008 @ 11:03PM
raindog said...
I've had a backlog of unplayed games for a while now, but this is the first time in a few years that I actually have a backlog of titles that I wanted to buy on launch day but couldn't justify it in my budget: Strongbad Episode 2, de Blob, and Sam & Max (or so I thought; Wikipedia has it coming out last Tuesday but Gamestop has it coming out next Tuesday.)
I still plan to buy a 360 now that I can get a hard disk version for 300 bucks, mostly for XBLA, but I can't justify that until I'm a little more caught up with all these Wii games.
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