Gaming on a budget!

[Luseth]

I've been thinking about this the past few weeks. Having read various articles and spoken to a number of friends. (Can't find a thread elsewhere).

 

How easy / difficult would it be for you to game on a real strict budget? As in you could no longer buy the latest games.

 

I've read people's comments and posts in other places of how they game on a 6/7 year old mid-range laptop (at the time). Not being able to afford top games they play a lot of free to play games or games that seem to have a really long lifespan i.e. Counter Strike. 

 

I have a number of latest release games but I am considering trying to give myself a £10 budget each month for the year. I generally spend a fortune on games and if I could do it would save myself a lot of money. 

 

Could you do it? You would consider more variables I guess should you stick to a budget like that. You would certainly want the most gaming time you can for your money as well as it still being enjoyable. Would you go back to xbox original / PS2 gen games? Or do you hope that games simply don't take off the way they should have i.e. Battleborn?

 

Does anyone here genuinely game on a relatively strict budget? How do you go about selecting what games you get? Do you make sure you complete a game 110% before you move on? 

 

Asking out of curiosity but I am genuinely thinking of trying it. Maybe work out how much I spent last year and using the difference putting some of it towards charity or something?

 

[snowbind]

Everyone games on a budget. You might not be aware of the budget, but everyone does ...

[robdood]

Well I've set myself a mission to not spend anything on gaming or anything geek-related for a whole 12 months to see how I get on.  It shouldn't be too hard as I literally cannot afford it (we've recently become a single-income household) and I also have a giant pile of shame / plenty of stuff already  to mess about with.   

 

I was tempted to start a blog/vlog/chronicle of my journey but I don't think I have time tbh!

[Illyria]

I don't spend a lot of money on games and I still don't know how to play all those I own. It's a huge catalogue of older games mind you. I wish I could always buy the new releases but that's impossible. I really wanted Overwatch, Rise of Tomb Raider, Titanfall 2, but it's just not in my budget. And my PC is way too old! I've been playing lots of smaller indie games, or old ones. I still enjoy L4D2 for example. Just now @VN1X @Sie and I started playing the F2P Ghost in the Shell, which isn't too bad! 

[peeveen]

I hardly ever buy the latest titles. Most of the games I have on the go at any one time are at least a year old.

If I was actually strapped for cash (but still had a console), then I'd be fine with just an XBL Gold subscription. Not ALL of the games you get for free are good, but you'd have to be a right picky git not to be able to find something decent to play ...

[Fry Crayola]

It's an absolute piece of piss if you're not wedded to playing the latest titles.

[Mr Cochese]

When Dishonored 2 came out I remembered that I'd not played Dishonored yet and briefly considered it, as it was on sale for 8 quid or something. Couldn't be arsed though.

[Mr Do 71]

12 minutes ago, Mr Cochese said:

When Dishonored 2 came out I remembered that I'd not played Dishonored yet and briefly considered it, as it was on sale for 8 quid or something. Couldn't be arsed though.

 

Got Dishonored Definitive Edition digital code for Xbox One, for £7? If you've got an Xbox, of course.

[Mr Cochese]

When I bought my Gamecube, the guy in the shop kept trying to get me buy an Xbox instead, the tool. That's the closest I ever came.

[Herbalizer]

I'm not buying any new releases this year. Ive got over 100 games to play on Steam.  Easily got a years worth of gaming to get through. 

 

 

[gospvg]

I have a limit of 5 retail games at any one time (this is almost always broken around xmas time because of the stupid deals), I don't buy anything digital because I like to either trade my games or sell them on once completed to fund the next purchase. On release I will only buy a maximum of 5 games per year (last year it was Ratchet & Clank, No Man's Sky, Deus Ex, XCom 2 & Dragon Quest Builders) which I think for 2017 so far could be Ni No Kuni 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Mass Effect Andromeda & Destiny 2.

 

I ignore the PS+ games in my budget, impulse purchase is my biggest issue under £25 is the sweet spot for me I don't mind leaving a game sat on a shelf at that price because I know I can get £10 to £15 whenever I have completed it.

 

So basically set yourself a set number of retail games, I would say 3 or 5 is best you don't want it to be too high. Currently I have World of Final Fantasy, XCom2, Bioshock Collection, WatchDogs 2 & Mafia 3. I do have a set of games which I play with a group of friends every week & that list is currently The Division, Elder Scrolls Online, Dying Light, EDF & Battleborn.

 

Sticking to a budget is fairly easy, you don't need to buy everything on release. I will be buying Titanfall2 & Final Fantasy XV but waiting either until I have completed a few of the games I own or if I can purchase either of them around the £20 mark.

 

I will be spending more this year than last year because I will be buying a PS4 Pro at some point this year & Nintendo Switch probably on release.

 

 

[T Pot]

51 minutes ago, Luseth said:

I have a number of latest release games but I am considering trying to give myself a £10 budget each month for the year. 

 

I could do that pretty easily. Count that as about £35 for two AAA games, £20 for EA Access and £30 for Live gold. £120 bang on the nose.

 

My main problem is I impulse buy a lot of games that I barely touch, even if I enjoy them.

[stefcha]

Picking 2015 (just because it's got the almost on hardware or other fluff to filter out) I spent under £180 on 71 games, none of which were particularly ancient although there were some relative obscurities I'd never tried on PS3/360 that are maybe getting on for 10 years old now. Making choice picks in sales (not as good as they were a couple of years back in general, but still pretty good) and it'd be an absolute piece of piss to game on a tenner a month if you fancied, the only thing you miss is brand new games on release but you could still grab a couple.

[mechamonkey]

I'm sticking to my pile of shame for as long as I can this year, with Scorpio and the Switch it might change but I'm going to try and spend as little as possible.
With GwG and PS+ (which are both paid up for a couple of years already) I'll still have a steady influx.

[Camel]

56 minutes ago, Luseth said:

How easy / difficult would it be for you to game on a real strict budget? As in you could no longer buy the latest games.

 

I don't buy the latest games anyway.  I have a pile of shame like you wouldn't believe and as I'm currently completely skint, this works out just fine.  Currently playing Shadow Complex.

[Corranga]

There was a 'fail list' thread on here a few years back (might still be) where people listed games they had bought and sold.  At the time, I didn't game on a budget so much as I reduced my spend through buying, playing and selling.  I don't do that so much now, but then, I don't game as much either.  I'm actually just getting back into gaming now, and trying to restrict myself, in a couple of ways, to stop me buying a ton of stuff I won't get around to playing.  Currently, not buying the latest titles is working well for me.

 

I stopped gaming (except Nintendo) about a month after the PS4 release - that's when I sold my launch PS4, and concentrated on other hobbies, like buying too many cars

I bought another ps4 last month when GAME cocked up and sold them with Fifa for £150.

I'm currently playing Watchdogs on it, and enjoying it.  Not the sequel, the I bought it from GAME preowned for £1 (£5 minus 10% voucher and £4 of reward points from my ps4 purchase.)  I bought Drive Club in the same way, so drop in and out of that too.

In my waiting to play list is what I hope are some games I'll enjoy that all cost about a tenner new:

Star Wars Battlefront.

Shadow Of Mordor.

Tearaway.

 

I'm a ps+ member, and though I spend some time playing the plus games, I feel I need some big titles too and for ps4, they don't seem to be very forthcoming.

I did however really enjoy PS+ on the Vita, and only bought proper bargain basement games for it as a result - and a big memory stick (I tend not to play RPGs as I cannot commit the time nowadays...)

 

I'm not missing having the latest titles at all, except possibly PSVR which interests me.

 

I've moved on from my 360 / ps3 pile of shame (as in, I still have it, and it's still sealed / a pile of shame!)

 

My fondest memories of gaming were when I started with the SNES.  Being a school kid, I had little money, so I bought wisely, and actually played all the games LOTS.  I'd love it to be like that again, but I can't find a way to replicate it now that I have money...

 

I said except Nintendo because I continued to purchase some of the exclusive / 1st / 3rd party titles for my 3DS and Wii U.  This is a different kind of gaming, you can't really rely on picking up Nintendo 1st party games a year or 2 later for a fiver, so pre-ordering and having at launch doesn't work financially  

[b00dles]

I could and should do this really but the Switch will be out this year, so instead I'm going to eat less.

[Opinionated Ham Scarecrow]

I could never do this, cos I am a weak consumer who needs all the shiny new games to feel better about my sad little life.

[Salsa Party Animal]

We need to learn to stick to 10 games a year limit for buying. 

[Luseth]

5 minutes ago, Salsa Party Animal said:

We need to learn to stick to 10 games a year limit for buying. 

 

That could be very vague. You could buy all of these 10 games as there fanciest special editions at over £100 a time

 

 

[MikeBeaver]

I hardly ever get new releases, unless (A) Sainsbury's are doing their double up Nectar points thing, in which case, twice a year I get a new X1 game, finish it and sell it quickly, or (B) it's from Nintendo, and I don't actually play it, it just sits on the shelf, all sealed and looking nice

[dataDave]

I can't remember the last time I bought a game.

I bought TF:Devastation in the Steam sales over Christmas, as well as Rage. I spent about 12 quid on both of those. Before then I honestly can't remember the last game I bought, maybe Starfox for the WiiU? It might have been FO3 GOTY in the Steam sales for about 3 quid.

 

Digital sales and the lack of a worthwhile physical product have introduced me to piracy where I've CFW'd my Wii with a USB loader and got everything running beautifully with official case art and all that - I've got everything worth ever owning for both the Gamecube and Wii on there, as well as the SD card choc full of ripped off VC stuff. Bingo!

 

With that, Skyrim, Bayonetta, and everything from the 8 and 16 bit eras emulated to perfection I think I could comfortably last the rest of my life without buying another game. My gaming laptop is also coming up to six years old, but, it can play Skyrim Special Edition at 60fps which is something the PS4 Pro cannot do.

In summary, Bayonetta costs about £2 from CEX, and Steam do FO3 and Skyrim GOTY editions for about £3 each every time there's a sale. There is easily over 2,000 hours of gaming to be had from those three alone.

[gospvg]

2 minutes ago, MikeBeaver said:

I hardly ever get new releases, unless (A) Sainsbury's are doing their double up Nectar points thing, in which case, twice a year I get a new X1 game, finish it and sell it quickly, or (B) it's from Nintendo, and I don't actually play it, it just sits on the shelf, all sealed and looking nice

 

lol, joking aside I did that for a lot of Nintendo Gamecube releases & sold them recently for in excess of £100 each. Video gaming really is a good investment.

[MikeBeaver]

4 minutes ago, gospvg said:

 

lol, joking aside I did that for a lot of Nintendo Gamecube releases & sold them recently for in excess of £100 each. Video gaming really is a good investment.

Managed to find a UK PAL Res Evil 2 for GC a few months back on eBay, seal is lightly torn, but £20 was a steal

 

[Mike1812]

My problem is less buying games on release, which I rarely do these days, but when games are on sale I can't resist buying them. 'I'll play them some time', I tell myself. I don't. 

[BBBBBB]

I game about 4-5 years behind now, with the odd exception where I use somebody else's fancy new console.

Done all PS3 stuff, currently clearing out Wii/360 stuff, thinking about getting a 3DS next.

Everything second-hand, usually about a fiver, no subscriptions to any online services. Cheap.

[Kevvy Metal]

9 minutes ago, dataDave said:

I can't remember the last time I bought a game.

I bought TF:Devastation in the Steam sales over Christmas, as well as Rage. I spent about 12 quid on both of those.

 

You seemed to remember really quickly there!

[dataDave]

6 minutes ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

You seemed to remember really quickly there!

 

Yeah, I wasn't really going to include them as I was thinking more along the lines of full-priced retail releases.

 

Once the Switch comes out I'll break that fast with two or three games in one day, most likely.

I've still got Mario Galaxy 2 and Skyward Sword to start, so I am feeling somewhat hesitant deep inside to jump on new offerings. The problem with stuff like Bayo and Skyrim is that they leave you with a big appetite for MORE Bayo and Skyrim! I really don't feel like playing much else, as wonderful as Galaxy 2 obviously is.

I won't lie; I'm looking forward more to being a part of the overall forum buzz and excitement of the Switch launch rather than actually sitting down and consuming the games.

[gospvg]

7 minutes ago, MikeBeaver said:

Managed to find a UK PAL Res Evil 2 for GC a few months back on eBay, seal is lightly torn, but £20 was a steal

 

I've given up with ebay searching, I get quite a bit now from a bunch of car boot buyers who will sell in bulk that I can cherry pick to keep & flog the rest on ebay BIN auctions.

Otherwise I'm slowly shrinking my collection to a more manageable level (keeping handhelds & one console each with a bunch of games).

 

[Fry Crayola]

22 minutes ago, dataDave said:

 

I can't remember the last time I bought a game.

I bought TF:Devastation in the Steam sales over Christmas

 

 

Now I don't know what to believe.

 

Oh cack, this has been picked up on.