Used – used used to be quite cheap, but these days used games are getting too expensive. At some places the used of recently released games are more than competitors new prices. And here in a small city the used range is fairly limited. I have bought a few used games, but only when they were particularly cheap/something I was after – and i’ve had absolutely no problems with them, the discs have been in good nick and worked fine.

New – these days I refuse to pay full price, so I look around – some shops consistently have new releases 10-20% off – e.g. LBP could easily be found for $89, vs $109 rrp on day 0 (not fantastic, but it’s ok), or just wait until discounts. For the more limited release games there’s always the risk you miss out, but if I really wanted I could order OS.

I have huge respect and sympathy for game developers so I like to support them, but relying on good will is never a good busines model. Can you imagine if electric bills or phone bills or gas stations relied on their customers’ good will to receive payment? They would go bankrupt.

Sure, most people would happily pay another $5 to get a freshly minted disc and case, but if the difference is like $20 or more, most people will deal with a used disc, and the small possibility of scratches or dirt or whatever.

I also always buy new to support the vg industry but I often wait for the price to go down before buying.

I rent DVDs from LoveFilm (previously Amazon), and that’s what puts me off renting or buying pre-owned for my PS3. I won’t even rent Blu-rays from LoveFilm. Some of the DVDs I get are in a terrible state; if a rental game/Blu-ray was in a similarly poor condition, I simply would not put them in my PS3.

I often wonder just what people do with a rented disc. Considering that you transfer the disc from the cover to the player and back again, the amount of fingerprints, scratches and dirt is unreal! I even received a disc once which had what appeared to be strawberry jam on it!

Games now take such an enormous amount of resources and time, and if I think a game looks great, I’m going to damn-well buy it because I want them to be able to create more great games in the future(as well as support the ones they already put out).

I’ve got friends in the game development industry and it’s a harsh and fluid world, and I think we need to keep that in mind.

1) I want to support the developer for a really good game.
2) I want a game soonest.

I buy used games when:

1) I can wait for the price of used games to come down.
2) I’m short on cash.
3) The game isn’t an A-list game, but I want to try it anyway.