The $500 challenge.

[weemadando]

I've decided, based on my finances, serious gaming backlog and a discussion that I heard on Gamers With Jobs to give something a try:

For the next year (that is from Oct 1 this year, to Sep 30 next year), I am going to budget myself $500 for gaming.

That's five hundred Australian by the way. So that's 4 full priced retail games. Guess what my plan won't be.

Exclusions from this budget are:
XBox Live Subscription
Replacement hardware - in the unfortunate event of a console or PC dying, then a replacement will not count towards this.

Perhaps in a future challenge I'll try to include both those too.

So, from my starting $500, I've got:

MS Points to the value of $16.50
From that I picked up the two expansions to Toy Soldiers, a XBLA title that I adore.

Remaining:
$483.50

[wautd]

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero seems to be good value for money. Wich sucks because I found out about it after buying Dead Rising 2 (so I couldn't transfer my character)

[weemadando]

I got that a while ago. Like I said, I've got one hell of a backlog to work on.

[Steel]

AU$500 is enough to get 4 new releases?

That translates to over £300. I haven't ever bought a (PC) game near launch for over £30, (theres always somewhere selling it for £5 cheaper or something) how on earth do they justify those prices? Personally getting it shipped across the globe costs less than that 2.5 times price difference!

[JointStrikeFighter]

Buy games from EB and take them back 7 days later FFS ando

[Vendetta]

AU$500 is enough to get 4 new releases?

Videogames have to be shipped to Australia on rickety wooden rafts through shark infested waters, when they arrive most of the discs are eaten by crocodiles. It's not uncommon for a videogame to cost £70 in Australia, when it finally comes out three months after everywhere else.

If you're going to limit yourself that strictly, it may be worth looking more at indie games, stuff like Amnesia which you can get without paying Australia tax.

"Rent" full price releases if you have to have them on launch, otherwise snuffle around the second hand bins for bargains.

[adam_grif]

The only game I feel legitimately excited for is Deux Ex in Feb/March. I guess you'll probably want Gears 3 or something too. I'll be picking up a 3DS, but I get the feeling that eating 300-350 of your 500 straight off the bat isn't what you wanted.

[Stark]

Stop buying shit for reasons that aren't 'want to play them'. This excludes trophy nostalgia games from GOG and impulse buys from Steam.

Backlog? Gone.

Once you step back from the idea that there is some list of games you 'must' play, all your problems are over. In short, act like an adult and decide to spend time on games for valid reasons.

I don't think I've spent more than $500 a year on games in a decade. People who do so - and don't even play the games they buy - are fucking morons.

[weemadando]

Thanks to the QLDers for their valuable advice. The 7 day return thing is something I've only rarely been able to use, especially since having a kid.

And I don't buy shit because I don't want to play it. I ended up with my monster backlog after two events - a Dick Smith clearance that I picked up a bunch of cheap as chips 360 titles and the Steam holiday sales last year. I want to play them all, but it's just a matter of time.

That's pretty much my first "resolution" here. Is that I want to have at least a 5:1 ratio for "finishing/being finished with" existing titles before I consider something new. That should give my backlog a good clearing.

I'm also trying to get my wife's laptop up and running again and seeing if I can get some stuff working on that (namely TellTale games and the like).

[Stark]

You know, you can return things in 7 days and then just buy it again. Not having time to play games, trying to cut back on buying games, and buying games just because their cheap are not really compatible.

There comes a time in your life when you just have to realise you don't have time to buy rivers of shit games from sales. Some of the games you own probably aren't even worth your apparently valuable time, so just don't play them.

Its good that you are trying to get your impulse buying under control, but its nobodies fault but your own you're in this situation.

[MKSheppard]

Buy games from EB and take them back 7 days later FFS ando

And people wonder why it costs so goddamned much for games in Australia.

It's not because you're in the middle of nowhere; because even in the days of 3.5" disks, all they had to do was fly in the production masters for the disks and documentation and then have an australian company repro them. That's only a few bucks more to the overall price -- the game then costs $52 USD instead of $49 USD.

It's because the game stores and manufacturers have to fucking recoup their costs; because each time someone opens the game, treats it as a rental, then returns it; the game companies have to mark the returned game down as a piece of USED property; which reduces it's price; and they got $0 money from the first sale since you returned it.

So they have to jack the prices up to be able to make money, as well as concentrate inventory purchases on titles that will sell well enough to provide enough income to make up for the inevitable return spam from idiots like you.

[Stark]

No, it isn't. Please don't lecture people on things you know nothing about.

EDIT - actually, I guess your real point is that consumer protection laws are actually evil somehow?

Remember kids, in 1992, Altered Beast cost $100 because of MEGADRIVE CARTRIDGE PIRACY because of a policy held by a company that WON'T START TRADING IN AUSTRALIA FOR 5 YEARS.

[Oskuro]

I think Shep's point is that abusing return policies is as morally objectionable as abusive prices.

Or in other words, returning a game because you really don't like it is OK, returning a game after finishing it because of whatever excuse you come up with is morally objectionable since you've already "consumed" the product.

But advocating that people intentionally abuse the return period to purchase games they like, enjoy them, and then recover their money, resulting in financial loss for the retailers and publishers, is being a loophole abusing asshole that totally deserves all the draconian DRM and projects ten dollar thrown at them.

But hey, abusing the spirit of the law is only wrong when the big corporations do it.



As for the OP and his backlog, I sympathize. I personally try to buy only games I want to play, and refuse to pay full price for games not really worth it. Unfortunately, retailers slash prices when they want to get rid of their stock to free shelf space, and thus I end up buying a bunch of titles so I don't have to track them down through the internet later on (which sometimes leads to massive overpricing under the pretense of the game being a collector's item). But since that happens like once every new moon, I usually have time to keep up (unless RL fucks me over).

Still, I'd recommend a healthy dose of manning up and having some impulse control. Setting a yearly budget seems all fine and dandy, until you run over said budget, shrug, and keep spending.
Alternatively, having someone with authority (say, a SO) bitchslap you when you slip can help.

[Stark]

If a store offers a policy, how is it 'wrong' to use it? Who is being 'wronged'? The moon man? What does the 'law' have to do with store policies? They can just stop offering it you know. Except - uh oh - they know a statistically tiny portion of the population will ever use it, but offering it makes their store the store of choice for people who aren't 100% sure on titles (like, say, every parent in the world). Turns out it's actually basic marketing and exactly the same as any other 'satisfaction guarantee'?

Even if you buy games on cheap and can't play them, just re-assess later. If you have Cheapo Tanko Commi Blastgame from 2007, it's a good bet its not worth playing and just forget about it. One day you'll break your leg and be stuck at home wishing you had new games.

[Ford Prefect]

Haha, this is outrageous. Video games in Australia are expensive because of store return policies! Hilariously EB is almost certainly the most successful video games retailer in the entire country due to their price matching and returns policies: JB Hi-Fi will often have better prices, except they don't have the returns policy so ... why buy games from them again? The only reason I know people buy games from JB in Tasmania is their wider stock selection. Turns out that superb customer service nets sales. I only sell games at Target because I largely sell to parents who don't know any better, or through bundles.

I mean, when I was a kid I only ever had one game on my Super Nintendo, because they were simply too expensive for either of my parents to buy, years before EB opened in Australia.

[adam_grif]

So, FP, you're Tasmanian too? Or formerly? It must suck having to share a state with me.

The other reason nobody buys from JB is because EB also price matches. Price match + return policy = no brainer. The EB at Eastlands will even pricematch their online store, so even if it isn't in stock in JB physical stores...

[JointStrikeFighter]

The return policy doesn't even cost EB anything; they just send it back to the manufacturer who just rebox it.

[Stark]

It doesn't even cost them anything for games with unique serials (assuming head office is too dumb to put them on an exclusion list) - they just send them back and they get reboxed with a new code. Getting people into the store due to service and security (and differentiation) is more important than the five people in the country who return games.

Anyone who thinks there isn't a really simple cost/benefit analysis on a spreadsheet at EB Central Command regarding that policy is a complete spud.

[Oskuro]

Oh, so it is a store policy, not a standard regulation? Oh my, I wonder why I might have thought otherwise. Oh, wait:

EDIT - actually, I guess your real point is that consumer protection laws are actually evil somehow?

Still, that doesn't invalidate the point that abusing the retailer's courtesy to play games for free is an assholish move, one that is on par, no, actually worse than downloading the game off a torrent.

But hey, since the retailer is doing fine, it is perfectly OK to keep abusing the loophole. Fantastic moral compass there.


Incidentally, we get return policies around here too, but the shrink wrap must be intact, which effectively invalidates that strategy.


As for AU pricing, my bet is it has more to do with taxation on imports than anything else. Some countries have retarded taxation, maybe in an attempt to promote national business, or simply out of pure chauvinism.

One day you'll break your leg and be stuck at home wishing you had new games.

What are you smoking? If I'm stuck at home I can't buy new games, so having pre-bought games to spend time with is nice. Also, you seem to think the latest releases make previous games irrelevant. I'd agree for gameplay based games (like racing or sports games), but how is the latest Halo going to invalidate Hitman: Contracts' story line?

[General Zod]

Still, that doesn't invalidate the point that abusing the retailer's courtesy to play games for free is an assholish move, one that is on par, no, actually worse than downloading the game off a torrent.

But hey, since the retailer is doing fine, it is perfectly OK to keep abusing the loophole. Fantastic moral compass there.

How is using a policy exactly as described abuse of anything? Gamestop actually has this policy in the US, but only with used games. Most game stores don't actually make any profit from new games anyway regardless of geographics.

[Oskuro]

Unless I'm missing something, the "strategy" goes as follows:

1) Buy game
2) Play game during weekend
3) Return game for full refund

So this is not reselling an used game (which does not result in a full refund, but rather a partial refund), but a full return of the product.

Said policies are meant to allow people to change their minds if they don't like the product, yet, in this scenario, it is being used to enjoy the product (full playthrough) and then obtain a full refund. So, in essence, you've paid nothing for a game you have enjoyed.

Regardless of how that affects the retailer or how the policy was designed, it is a clear violation of the spirit of the rule.

It is also no different to software piracy, since no money is payed for enjoying the game, and even worse, there's a monetary cost incurred by the retailer when dealing with the used game.

[Zixinus]

Just curious: what is the point of the challenge? What are you trying to prove?

[General Zod]

Unless I'm missing something, the "strategy" goes as follows:

1) Buy game
2) Play game during weekend
3) Return game for full refund

So this is not reselling an used game (which does not result in a full refund, but rather a partial refund), but a full return of the product.

Said policies are meant to allow people to change their minds if they don't like the product, yet, in this scenario, it is being used to enjoy the product (full playthrough) and then obtain a full refund. So, in essence, you've paid nothing for a game you have enjoyed.

Regardless of how that affects the retailer or how the policy was designed, it is a clear violation of the spirit of the rule.

It is also no different to software piracy, since no money is payed for enjoying the game, and even worse, there's a monetary cost incurred by the retailer when dealing with the used game.

What is this "spirit" of the rule bullshit? It's using the rule exactly as fucking stated. Frankly your entire post comes off as sour grapes. The fact that you actually can beat a number of games in a single weekend and some people would be unhappy at paying so much for such a short game makes your point seem like pointless whining.

[weemadando]

Just curious: what is the point of the challenge? What are you trying to prove?

Its good that you are trying to get your impulse buying under control.

Still, I'd recommend a healthy dose of manning up and having some impulse control. Setting a yearly budget seems all fine and dandy, until you run over said budget, shrug, and keep spending.

That pretty much covers it - it's the Weight Watchers approach to budgeting. Make it public so that you're accountable. But as much as anything else it's also an experiment to see exactly how far that amount will get you.

[General Zod]

Why not just get a Blockbuster account and stay out of Gamestops? That seems the easy way to do it.