Your gaming habits?

[BorisDawg]

I've been wondering about this a bit lately, so how do you choose and purchase the games you buy? What was the biggest 'leap' you've made in buying a game?

Personally, I rely a lot on reviews from friends and family as well as occasionally browsing websites like IGN and GameSpot. Sometimes though, a game just grabs my attention (such as AFL Live, purely because it was an AFL title) and I'll give it a go.

When it comes to actually buying a game, I try and stay away from places like EB and GAME, simply because of their prices. I have resorted to them rarely when everywhere else simply doesn't have what I'm looking for in stock or if (as EB does) there's a sale on. My favourite place to buy games is www.game-lane.com.au.

The only genres I used to play were FPS, sports and racing games. Titles like the first few CoDs, Doom, Half-Life, NBA Live and FIFA were very prominent at home. That is, until I made what I consider the biggest 'leap' (for lack of a better term) and got Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the advice of a friend. That opened me up to the world of RPGs and now they make up a very large proportion of what I play (Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age etc).

EDIT - Yes, I could've thought of a better way to word the poll options - my mind's blank ATM.

 

[fake tyrone]

When I got bored of the game I was playing at home I would go to a shop (EB, JB Hi-Fi) and browse the titles and buy whatever appealed to me. Now I just play the same games over and over, with the exception of BORDERLANDS 2, bought that because my mates ordered me to do so

 

[Xtreme]

90's: Video Games Heaven, Target & K-Mart

2000 - 2003/4: Target & K-Mart

3004 - 2007: EB Games

2007 - 2010: GAME, still shopped there on rare occasions after April 2010 (not at my local store though as i refused to step foot in the store when they had idiot sales people working there).

2007 - 2010: Harvey Norman (still shop there occasionally, but not as often as i used to).

JB Hifi has been an on and off store to buy games from since 2005, i rarely shop there as 1) they are not always the cheapest price (when my local Harvey Norman beat their price by $1 - $30 per game and sold the games SEALED, there was little point in sticking with JB).

I started buying games online in 2010, anywhere from dstore (cheapest AU/PAL games online at a time), ozgameshop, play-asia etc. Have not done it for almost a year though, since 2012 i have not purchased games that often (well i'll still chip in and buy the occasional cheapie from Steam for my pc gaming fix). Over the years i would buy anywhere from 1 to 5 or sometimes 10 ps2, ps3 or 360 games per week. Over the last 12 months this has slowed to maybe 1 game every couple of months. This has gone out the window over the last few weeks, i purchased Fifa 13 a few weeks ago, Resident Evil 2 weekends ago and NBA 2K13 last weekend.I plan on buying the pc version of NBA 2K13 next week as well.

I purchased Darksiders 1 & 2 + Warhammer: Space Marine via Steam earlier today

Steam is the site i goto for online pc games.

 

[PP34]

I tend to buy NBA 2K every year and FIFA if it's supposed to be good. As for the rest of the games, trailers on the internet and TV will get me interested in a game and I also visit IGN occasionally.

 

[HBK619]

I've been wondering about this a bit lately, so how do you choose and purchase the games you buy? What was the biggest 'leap' you've made in buying a game?

Personally, I rely a lot on reviews from friends and family as well as occasionally browsing websites like IGN and GameSpot. Sometimes though, a game just grabs my attention (such as AFL Live, purely because it was an AFL title) and I'll give it a go.

Personally the choice to buy a game for me comes from the months of anticipation leading up to a games release. I'll generally watch a good amount of the trailers, try and find some gameplay trailers/footage and hopefully watch a GiantBomb Quick Look as well either before or just after release. That's the best way I can get a good gauge of exactly what a game is offering. Written previews just don't do anything like that for me. And reviews can often be hard to gauge as well if you don't know the reviewers personal preferences and game likes and dislikes.

I can't exactly mention a 'big leap' game that I've purchased mainly because I feel like when I get a game it's either because it's cheap enough that if it's a dud I won't feel robbed of my money or I've done enough research to know it's going to be quality (obviously sometimes that doesn't work out though).

HOWEVER, Deus Ex: Human Revolution was probably my biggest leap in terms of giving a game a go.It was free for PS+ a few months ago and although I had gone close to purchasing the game for around about $20 in sales a number of times I never really expected the game to be any good or I'd either play the gamer for an hour or two and get bored by the length of time it would take to complete the title.

What I got was one of the most fun games I've played this gen. The game harkened back to my Hitman days from the PS2, a title I put a HEAP of hours into, and I really enjoyed it basically as much as I could've. I even went and bought the $5 DLC before finishing the game I was enjoying it that much.

So while the game was free with PS+, I didn't expect it to be my thing at all and what I got was an incredible surprise. So, I guess that tentatively answers your question.

When it comes to actually buying a game, I try and stay away from places like EB and GAME, simply because of their prices. I have resorted to them rarely when everywhere else simply doesn't have what I'm looking for in stock or if (as EB does) there's a sale on. My favourite place to buy games is www.game-lane.com.au.

The only genres I used to play were FPS, sports and racing games. Titles like the first few CoDs, Doom, Half-Life, NBA Live and FIFA were very prominent at home. That is, until I made what I consider the biggest 'leap' (for lack of a better term) and got Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on the advice of a friend. That opened me up to the world of RPGs and now they make up a very large proportion of what I play (Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Skyrim, the Mass Effect series, Dragon Age etc).

EDIT - Yes, I could've thought of a better way to word the poll options - my mind's blank ATM.

In terms of purchasing games. I generally go for 3 options.

EB, JB and Online. Online obviously covers a lot of places, but I don't really have any one stop shop that I go to, to grab my games as I tend to use www.gamecafe.com.au to compare prices from a shitton of online stores and generally go for the cheapest option there.

EB and JB I tend to swap who I go to there. I like a fresh copy of the game from EB (as JB tend to just pick the one behind the counter which is often not sealed), but if JB have some pre-order bonus and the game is already cheaper than EB then I'll go to JB (as I did with Borderlands 2 & FIFA 13 and will for Hitman & Far Cry 3).

I also purchase from Steam when the sales period is on as I'm not a big PC gamer at all, but like the huge collection I've got.

 

[grrofunger]

call of duty

and maybe NBA

at EB games

and thats it

 

[Freakie]

Steam is the biggest pile of s**t I've ever seen. Was part of the reason I don't game on PC anymore (along with the rampant hacking of ever online game).

 

[Jabso]

Steam is the biggest pile of s**t I've ever seen. Was part of the reason I don't game on PC anymore (along with the rampant hacking of ever online game).

Steam is awesome, why don't you like it?

 

[Freakie]

Steam is awesome, why don't you like it?

Use to crash every second time I tried to play MW2, my games would magically disappear from it and I was banned for accessing a secret game type on MW2 (they called it hacking, I called it accessing something I paid for). Steam can go lick my proverbial balls.

I usually buy my games from EB because I'm lazy. I did D/l Borderlands 2 from the PS store though

 

[Cory]

Usually if my mates rate it highly i'll buy it, Or if they haven't played it i'll watch gameplay or look at reviews.

I'm a sucker for FPS games mainly COD.

 

[RoosterLad]

I rarely buy anywhere but JB.

 

[The Big Sauce]

When it's a pre planned purchase I go online so much cheaper, plus in some cases it arrives before it's officially released here (I got MGS HD Collection over a month early).

Something more spur of the moment is a JB style thing. My most recent purchase was Borderlands 2 for $68 at JB.

 

[Feraligatr]

I usually read all the gaming sites and get gameinformer every month and that usually gives me enough information to know what games I want to buy.

99 percent of the time I buy my games at Gametraders because I get a discount and I like my local store. The other 1 percent are places like EB or JB. I don't really shop online unless its for rare ps1/ps2 games or games that were never released in PAL.

 

[kaysee]

I often buy in JB... the ocassional title off OzGameShop if I can wait 5-9 days. Every now and then from EB if the price is good... but I hate buying games from there.

Biggest "leap"... not sure. Maybe ST:KOTR or Mass Effect. The same thing happened with each title: got them due to reputation/reviews, played them for about an hour before getting bored, put them down for 6 months before giving them "another go", and fell in love with both on the 2nd attempt.

 

[dexter_]

Steam, PS+ and XBLA have been my sources for games this year. Haven't bought a retail game in yonks.

 

[Glenno23]

I generally* shop at EB Games I selected the option of in store gaming specific at EB/GAME

A bit odd that you put GAME in there though......

*always

 

[smiths]

All of my EA sports games this year I downloaded from US PSN store mainly to get it a few days early than what its released here.

For everything else EB and price match because they are just down the road.

 

[Elixuh]

Don't buy many games nowdays - maybe one or two every year (one of which is usually COD). If I want it right away i'll buy it from JB but if I don't mind waiting up to 2 / 3 weeks then ill buy it off ozgameshop.

 

[funk44]

only buy 2-3 games a year but when i do i try to buy from dungeon crawl an independent game store around the corner from my apartment on elizabeth st, otherwise jb

 

[caMoGFC]

only buy 2-3 games a year but when i do i try to buy from dungeon crawl an independent game store around the corner from my apartment on elizabeth st, otherwise jb

haha love your avatar

as for the question i buy 90+% of my disc based games from jb hi fi....the rest are downloadable titles on the psn

 

[Donakebab]

Will only use something other than Steam or JB if I know they are fair cheaper and I cbf making the effort (http://www.greenmangaming.com/ is worth hitting up for games which can still be used authentically via Steam)

I've been playing basically every genre of games since the NES, so I don't really consider anything a leap. Only thing of late I could call a leap of sorts was giving Guild Wars 2 a go. I'd avoided mmo's like the plague since escaping WoW. The world looked amazing, the game play was decent, but instances seemed like massive grinds and I kinda just stopped playing. Might give it another whirl soon.

 

[Elixuh]

escaping WoW.

Remember when I was younger I used to play footy in the park with the kid next door. One day he got WoW...literally did not see him after that...in a six month period I think I saw him once (getting ice cream from those vans).

 

[Bastians]

Used to be JB, EB and to a lesser extent, Game.

Last couple of years its been mainly ozgameshop. Good prices, good delivery times, good customer service and a site rep is active on whirlpool. More recently ive been finding myself going to JB only for new releases, seeing how they have a lot for $69, but if its a game that i dont mind waiting a week for, generally still ozgameshop.

 

[Feraligatr]

only buy 2-3 games a year but when i do i try to buy from dungeon crawl an independent game store around the corner from my apartment on elizabeth st, otherwise jb

I forgot about Dungeon Crawl, I really love that shop.

 

[Cynic]

Used to buy 3 or so games a month so used eBay almost exclusively unless there was an excellent price advertised in one of the retail stores like KMart or Target.

These days I buy maybe 1 game every 6 months or so and just buy it where I see it regardless of the price.