Hey all. This little mini series that I have decided to create for myself. Basically, I will do my best to flesh out a topic on gaming each week that "gets my goat". For those not familiar with the expression, its basically what makes me angry in gaming today. But Without Further ado, let’s get to today’s topic.
This month has been a heavy hit for gamers of all kinds. From shooters to Rpgs to Quick time event-aholics, there seems to be a game for everyone. Just this month I myself have dropped serious coin to pick up Mass Effect 2, Heavy Rain, and NBA Live 2010. So it comes to no surprise, that I’m in a pit of a pinch for cash.
Before this month, I hadn’t bought a game for sticker price since November. My alternative; Renting. Game rentals have played a major part of my gaming career. It wouldn’t be far to say that I have rented 3 times as many games as I have owned. Being a teenager, renting is a very suitable alternative to buying full priced games.
But why do I rent? Is it really a budget crisis? Am I addicted to games and can’t go a month without playing? Not really. Simply, I rent because I feel like some games don’t deserve my cold hard $60. But the odd thing is, I still want to play them. Being a Reviewer, I can’t help but try to keep up with today’s big titles.
In my time of renting, I have gone through various games like Rouge Warrior or WET which made me more than glad to be a renter. However, whenever I approach the shelves at my local retailer, I have to avoid titles like Bioshock which I still want to get around to playing.
This puts me in a tough position. There’s a bunch of games I would like to rent, but I fear liking them too much. Case in point; Assassins Creed 1. I loved the game (despite its god awful sequel). But should I honestly buy it again even at half price just to have it sit on my shelves? A lot of people use renting to get a “taste of the game” to see if it’s worth a purchase. But like the same excuse used for pirating, because once I’ve had a taste there’s no way I’m going to stop till it’s done.
Thus, I rent stupid games like WET and Rogue Warrior simply because I need to avoid all the good games on the shelves I’m saving for an unspecified date. But the problem doesn’t stop there. Renting is a dieing; my place of choice Block Buster is slowly going out of business.
So I come to the cross roads of the gaming equivalent of a renting dilemma. Do I sign up for something like Gamefly, full knowing that it will almost fully halt the building of my game collection, but at the same time saving me cash? Or do I just avoid games not worth the $60 altogether?
So peoples,
