Online passes are here to stay, like it or not. Most of the big developers are on board… so don’t expect boycotting to change things. Although the online pass won’t kill the used console gaming market, it sure will put a damper on the spirits of some of the more value oriented gamers.
But fear not my frugal console gamers… you can still have all the free mltiplayer you want, and do it cheap, and legally! I just bought three AAA titles for 40$ last week. How did I do it? Read on…
The first step of being a frugal console gamer is to resist the hype. Battlefield 3 looks great doesn’t it? It is hard not to read a gaming news site these days without some imagery/reference to Battlefild 3. Why is that? Good marketing plain and simple! EA hypes the hell out of Battlefield 3 in attempt to get as many pre-orders and week one sales (at full retail price) as it can. When sales slump, and they always will, the price gets cut. I bought Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Ultimate edition) for 30$ this winter. Yup, I waited and got more game for less. You can get Fallout: New Vegas for 20$ new right now (minus most of the bugs that came on release day… another huge bonus that comes with waiting).
When buying games and saving money, timing is everything. There are two big times for game sales: the Christmas holidays and the Summer. With the holidays comes retailer competition for you cash. With the summer comes a slow period of gaming, and sales are spurred with good deals. If you watch and wait for these deals you can get some quality games for a very low price. Last week I got Bioshock 2 for 10$ new. Metal of Honor 10$ new. Assassins Creed: Brotherhood 20$ new. I did even better after Christmas. I saved money because I waited to buy the games when they went on sale, not when I initially wanted them (which would have cost me 180$, and Metal of Honor would not have been worth it for 60$…). I can assure you that I am enjoying all of those games just as much now as I would have 6 months to one year ago.
Waiting for Modern Warfare 3 to drop below the 30$ mark will likely take years (if MW2 is any indication), so how do you occupy yourself in the meantime? First, finish the games you own. If you are like me, your unfinished game shelf is almost as big as your finished game shelf. To top it off, get your trophies/achievements for your favorite games… it can be fun. By the time you finish the games you own, the games you wanted 6 months ago will be far cheaper to buy new.
I pride myself in getting good game deals. I may be a year behind in much of my gaming, but it saves me a lot of cash (which I use to buy my absolute favorite games/DLC at release day prices without guilt).  Plus, by the time I get around to buying most games, bugs are patched, and I know which over-hyped games are best passed over (although MOH at 10$ is hard to pass up). Plus, I get to feel all warm and fuzzy by supporting good games, and doing it legally.
My only problem is that I now have more AAA games than I have time to play.
