Monday, September 12, 2011

To buy right away, or wait?

More and more games are coming out these days with additional content that can be purchased after the fact. As such, many players who buy their games brand new sometimes feel jilted by the publishing companies by having to drop a decent amount of cash just to get a "complete" game, with some of those items merely being an unlock code to allow the owner the ability to access the added content on the disc.

This isn't entirely a problem, until you look at the fact that many of these games are coming out with an updated version of the game or a Game Of The Year edition that includes all the DLC, all for a reduced price.

Here are a few examples:
  1. Borderlands - I paid $9.99 for the GOTY edition. Had I gotten the game itself, it would have cost me $15, then $10 each for the four pieces of DLC.
  2. SoulCalibur IV - I got this for the XBox 360 and had Yoda included with it as a MS exclusive. Several months later, I had to pay $5 for an unlock code to get Vader, who until that time was an exclusive on the PS3.
  3. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - Bought this brand new since I fucking loved the previous two games. Now they're releasing Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 just a bare six months after the original was released. New fighters are included, including the DLC from the first.
  4. Street Fighter IV - Same as above, but I was at least smart enough to wait for Super Street Fighter IV to come out and got that version.
Honestly, I'm drawn on this. I understand that there is a price to pay for being an early adopter in purchasing a game and playing it at release, especially if this game is an online multiplayer game. But if one is patient, you can get the game and all the content for a cheaper price after the game has been out for a while.

What are your thoughts on this?

2 comments:

  1. I'll typically only buy right away for one of two reasons.

    1. It's a title I've been looking forward to or following for awhile.

    2. It's a online focused game that you either need to adopt early in order to not "get left behind" or I've wanted to play it, but I don't think it will have that strong of legs and will die out so I want to get my playtime in before that happens.

    Otherwise, I'll wait to buy it, or borrow it from my usual lender.

    -BroodFather

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  2. Yeah, the games that I'm seeing causing problems with my not buying them right away are the online MP games, primarily the Call Of Duty ones. If I don't start playing the MP component right away, I find myself quickly left behind and not truly able to compete or level up.

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