Students Vs Video Games

Sup!!

This was my first article for the student newspaper I write for. I'm the Games Editor don't you know! It's all about what students can do in order to combat the rising costs of video games. Let me know what you think!

Students Vs Video Games

It is no secret that Students aren’t typically made of money. Unfortunately, I expect the freshers among us will be soon finding this out. With this in mind, I put forward the question; Are video games becoming too expensive? New games for the present-generation consoles (Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii) have typically found price tags ranging from £40 to £50 depending on the retailer, platform and game itself. I remember in the heyday of the Playstation One where new games entered the market at a RRP of about £30, and even then, I would rarely ever spend that much on a game. However, this Summer I have been keeping an eye on high profile Autumn releases and their prices

Activision have made a bold move with their release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in November this year, by placing their RRP at £55. This is the highest RRP for a non-peripheral video game in the history of the sector. It would be worth noting that there is also a special edition of the game including, among other things, a pair of night vision goggles, retailing for around £115. Also coming in the final quarter of this year are a bunch of peripheral-based games: Rock Band: The Beatles, Band Hero, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk:Ride will all be sold with various plastic instruments used as controllers for their respective games, (except of course for Tony Hawk:Ride which will require a plastic Skateboard for play). Most of these games will have a triple digit price tag.

So, is there anything that you can do to avoid paying such astronomical prices for these games? Surely you can’t be expected to pay half a months rent just so you can bash a few plastic drums? Thankfully, there are a few handy tips I can share. Firstly, use the fact that you are a student to your advantage. Everywhere you go, always be sure to ask if there are any student discounts available. One shop that I am aware of that do give a 10% student discount is HMV. Unfortunately though, in the past they have only been able to hand out Student discount cards in certain outlets throughout the country. This meant that I had to make a special trip and a day out in Bath to pick one up. The savings you can get though are fantastic, so if you can, it would be worth getting hold of one of these.

Just as there are price comparison sites for insurance that I’m sure you’re all aware of, there are also a select few websites that allow users to post any games deals that they may come across while shopping on the internet or in towns and publish these in a nifty feed (no meerkats to be found here though). The most helpful I’ve found is www.cheaparsegamer.com Thanks to this site I have managed to find several high profile games going for less than half price!

Another useful tip is to subscribe to mailing lists. www.zavvi.co.uk provide a ‘Monday Madness’ deal to all members of their mailing list database (which is completely free). This deal involves certain items being slashed in price for 24 hours, but make sure to act quickly if there’s something you like. Often if there is a popular item, it will sell out in next to no time!

Finally, be patient. Give a game a few months to fall in price if you can resist the urge to buy it straight away. I have seen the Band Bundle for Guitar Hero: World Tour going for £89.99 which is a fantastic price considering that its original release price was £150.

I hope that this manages to help at least a few people! Happy gaming.

Eugene