I'm a Budget Gamer

[Grubby]

I slightly "envy" those of you who pre order every new title you want. Pay a full $60.00 on a piece of sound and graphics wedged together that will basically waste your time and life other than for entertainment.

I have a limited personal budget, and most importantly I'm limited in time.

So as much as I love gaming as a hobby, I can only afford to go for cheap thrills and games with true value.

I have no time and money to buy games that are only fun one playthrough.

In fact the only game I purchased last year was Gears of War 2, and I even regretted that.

So you guys buy your Batman: Arkham Asylums, etc. games that won't last you many years (unless you really love that game, I doubt you'll be playing that game as long as you would play Counter Strike or CoD4)

I even skipped the whole 6th generation because it was too costly and waited for this 7th gen with the 360. Even then I only played freeware games and a few RTS games like Starcraft and Age of Empires to quench my gaming "thirst".

The most important aspect about a game is the replayability factor.

That's why I say most Real Time Strategy games and many fighting games are very great investments. Plus most mainstream games like Halo offer you a lot of replayabillity in the long run.

My budget gaming title of honor:

Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne - tons of custom games like DotA, great campaign, amazing multiplayer

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - every match in CoD4 feels like my first match in terms of how excited I am, a highly replayable game

Battlefield 2 / Project Reality - even vanilla was hugely replayable, but Project Reality is endless fun

Fallout 3 - too much things to do, nuff said

Day of Defeat: Source - for $5.00, amazing graphics and gameplay

Street Fighter 4 - no matter how many times you play Ryu vs Ken in the same setting, the mechanism of this game and most fighting game keeps it fresh for a long time

any MMORPG - though I don't play an MMO's anymore, most free ones kept me entertained for a long time like Maplestory and Runescape

Halo: Combat Evolved - Halo: Custom Edition, lots and lots and lots of mods

Halo 3 - for a console FPS, there forge mode, tons of custom games, and co op campaign, lots of replayabillity here, plus its the most played game on XBL

Simcity 3000 - never gets old

Caesar 3 - never gets old

Zeus - never gets old

Doom 2 - never gets old, especially with WADS

Starcraft - same reason for Warcraft 3

that's why I'm only getting Modern Warfare 2 this year, and maybe Halo 3 ODST

[tom641]

You poor, poor, soul.

[squidly]

You're doing it wrong, there are TONS of games that have good replayability that you are missing because of your ignorance to the fact. The 6th gen had a ton of great classics, and there are a ton of experiences you will NEVER have because of your so called "budget," for crying out loud, enjoy these years, will ya?

[milinko959]

I have a similar strategy for gaming. Granted, I haven't bought a console game in many years since all I play are PC games, but even so, cheap games are often much more fun than new games, plus much cheaper. A game like CS:S, which I bought for $10 has given me hundreds of hours of play.

Never preordered a game in my life, I am happy to say.

[silentwings100]

At 9/20/09 03:12 PM, Grubby wrote: Fallout 3 - too much things to do, nuff said

I never viewed lots of things to do in a game a bad thing. I thought it would make a game last longer.

[Obvious-M]

Are you the black guy who has that sword?

[JingoJoe14]

If your a budget gamer, then I highly suggest investing in the Orange Box for the PC. You get five great games and tons of re-playability for only $29.99. If $30 is still too much for you, then I suggest you pick up TF2 for $19.99. The developers are still adding gametypes, maps, and weapons into the game, so I'm sure it'd satisfy your gaming thirst for years to come (NOTE: only the PC version gets these free updates).

Still, I highly suggest purchasing the whole Orange Box package. You'd only be saving $10.00, and you'd be missing out on 4 other great games.

[ChaosProdigy]

At 9/20/09 04:37 PM, JingoJoe14 wrote: If your a budget gamer, then I highly suggest investing in the Orange Box for the PC.

I second that. The Orange Box is really great for the budget gamer, and has 5 high quality games (when you count the HL episodes by themselves). As long as you like the pacing and physics-oriented puzzles in the Half-Life series, you'll enjoy most of it already. TF2 is highly balanced on the PC, although it somewhat of a steep learning curve (not too steep though). And Portal is just a great addition as long as you like more physics-oriented puzzles.

Also, you should get yourself Deus Ex if you enjoy an FPS with elements of RPG. The game has a great replay value for the first three playthroughs, and the total conversions and other mods add on to the replay value.

[puddinN64]

Ha, it must suck not having loving parents.

[Rape-bot]

I'm a budget gamer, and stick mostly to scrunging through the bargain bins at Game Stop.
I picked up Call of Duty 2, 3, and The Orange Box for < $50 altogether, using my Edge card last year. :D

[Grubby]

At 9/20/09 06:30 PM, puddinN64 wrote: Ha, it must suck not having loving parents.

Because they are loving parents they don't give me too much money to waste MORE of my time on video games. Video games are a fun hobby though.

[puddinN64]

At 9/20/09 07:09 PM, Grubby wrote:

At 9/20/09 06:30 PM, puddinN64 wrote: Ha, it must suck not having loving parents.

Because they are loving parents they don't give me too much money to waste MORE of my time on video games. Video games are a fun hobby though.

Don't play the moral card here. It's not my fault that your parents give you about 32$ on average every year.

[Blaze-Heatnix]

I'll be over here not being a tightwad.

[Mendou]

Cool story, bro.

[Gustavos]

Thanks to trophies and Achievements, Games that are otherwise 7 out of 10 in greatness or lower now DO have replay value. And it's ok to be all high and mighty saying "oh, I don't do that, I'm a statwhore". It's your game, you bought/rented it. You play how you want to play. Just know that it's usually all in good fun.

[Obsessed117]

Just get one source engine game and you get a whole fuckton of free game modifications that might as well be their own standalone games.

So that 5 bucks you laid down for DoD goes a lot further than you think ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sou rce_engine_mods

[BenelliM4]

You should pick up a Gamecube. They're only $30, and they've got a pretty good library of games, most of which you can get for under $10.

[zimzap]

All you have to do is buy games six months to a year after they are released and they virtually all drop to below $30 new, or far lower used.

Playing video games in excess of two hours a week is not a great habbit to get into anyway, as they are a waste of time. Do something to enhance your knowledge

Read a book

[Obsessed117]

At 10/4/09 11:13 AM, zimzap wrote: Playing video games in excess of two hours a week is not a great habbit to get into anyway, as they are a waste of time. Do something to enhance your knowledge

Read a book

Same with posting on the BBS and getting near 3k posts and getting a level 34 NG account, but thats besides the point ;)

although you are from '02 so I guess your stats can be excused.

[HollowGrave]

You forgot Diablo 2.... sure it's a bit repetative, but it never gets old either.

[LTmatt]

At 9/20/09 07:09 PM, Grubby wrote:

At 9/20/09 06:30 PM, puddinN64 wrote: Ha, it must suck not having loving parents.

Because they are loving parents they don't give me too much money to waste MORE of my time on video games. Video games are a fun hobby though.

It must suck being poor, then.

[PaperBagMask]

I myself am a bit of a budget gamer.
I mainly restrict myself to online games, they yield the most hours played and I get the best bang for my buck.
Most games I buy for under $40 AUD, which usually means I have to wait a couple of years to get some gems for a good price.
I also find this highly relevant.

[therealanimator]

budget gaming..hmm it has its upsides and its downsides. you get to play some great classics but you miss the graphics of today.

[Racoonmario]

I'm a budget gamer too, I get most of my games from ebay and various flea markets. Paying 60 bucks for a single game? lol, no. You can get them waaay cheaper after a while.

[Jackho]

Haha, you're poor.

[Jerkapotamus]

At 9/20/09 03:12 PM, Grubby wrote: Pay a full $60.00 on a piece of sound and graphics wedged together that will basically waste your time and life other than for entertainment.
At 9/20/09 07:09 PM, Grubby wrote: Because they are loving parents they don't give me too much money to waste MORE of my time on video games.

I think your views on videogames are a bit depressing. To me, videogames are a heck of a lot more than wasteful entertainment. The games with the most replayability oftentimes are, which is probably why you have that impression, but the games that I play usually interest me from a technical, intellectual, or emotional perspective. Now, I certainly do play some of those "mindless fun" sort of games like COD's multiplayer, but it's really not what I enjoy most or what I spend the majority of my time playing. The replayability of games like COD and Halo really don't mean much to me; the mindless nature of those games gets old really fast and I move onto something different. In a sense the more replayability a game has, the less I play it. That's not true for all games, of course. Deep RPG's especially are replayable for different reasons, and can hold my interest for quite awhile.

We all play games for different reasons I suppose.

[psychomilkman]

I only bought WoW this year. Once I get a job this summer I am so screwing over this 'budget gaming' and buying my self the next console to come.

[xscoot]

You should buy digital media and rent longer retail games.

Seems like a good idea to me.

[Maverick-Alex]

:At 10/4/09 02:14 AM, Blaze-Heatnix wrote:

I'll be over here not being a tightwad.

:At 10/4/09 12:58 PM, Jackho wrote:

Haha, you're poor.

:At 10/4/09 12:14 PM, LTmatt wrote:

It must suck being poor, then.

:At 9/20/09 06:30 PM, puddinN64 wrote:

Ha, it must suck not having loving parents.

I'll be over here not being a spoiled brat, unless one of you parasites has a job then feel free to correct me.

I often feel the need to indulge myself with a full priced game and I even preorder when I want games badly (Like Assasain's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2), but paying 60 for all my games, fuck that shit, and is even worse when you have your parents doing it.

My budget is around the $40-$20 mark.

Grubby has kind of the right idea, but missing out games of the current gen it's kind of the other extreme of the rope.

[puddinN64]

At 10/4/09 09:23 PM, Maverick-Alex wrote:

I'll be over here not being a spoiled brat, unless one of you parasites has a job then feel free to correct me.

I have a job. I umpire baseball games and work shifts at a local gas station.