Score new video games for under $20 apiece
I won't spend $50 to $60 on a video game. Just can't do it. Even $40 feels like too much. But $20? That definitely satisfies my cheapskate tendencies. So imagine my delight at learning that Walmart currently has nearly 1,500 video games priced at $20 or less.
As you might expect, these aren't the latest and greatest titles, but they're not all bargain-bin rejects, either. For example, you can get the Wii versions of Lego Indiana Jones and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for $19.82 apiece.
Games that once sold for $40 to $50 are now available for under $20.
(Credit: Walmart)Xbox 360 owners can snap up Call of Duty 2: Game of the Year Edition for $16.82, Half-Life 2 Orange Box for $19.82, and Medal of Honor: Airborne for $14.74.
On the PlayStation 3 front there's Fracture for $19.82, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga for $19.82, and Burnout Paradise for, you guessed it, $19.82.
The store also has less-than-$20 deals for Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, Sony PS2, and even the good old PC.
Most of the titles are available online and/or in-store, and in some cases you can get free site-to-store shipping (though you'll still have to pay sales tax).
Sorry if this comes across as a big fat plug for Walmart, a store I know many of you dislike. If you'd rather shop elsewhere, you can find many of the same deals at GameStop--or even get them cheaper by opting for used versions.
Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog. 
This is why. If you are buying DVDs at 20 dollars and they are around 3 hours (pretty much max length for a movie) you are getting 6.6 repeated dollar per hour entertainment. If you are buying a 60 dollar game that lasts 9 hours you are getting the exact same price per dollar enjoyment.
There are a lot of games that are more entertainment than 9 hours at 60 dollars. I can understand that money is limited, but ONLY buying games when they become cheap really doesn't do anything for good games. Game companies don't make millions and billions of dollars off of when it is in like a cinemax, etc... Then you have dvds being released at 20-25 dollars, pay-per-views, liscensing, etc... then you are not being fair.
Now there are a lot of companies that do release games at budget price, and certainly if you are going to be buying DLC for the game get it for the absolute lowest price you can even if it's a used game (meaning the creators get no money from the game) Burnout Paradise if you can get it for 10 dollars and plan on buying the DLC knock yourself out.
I'm not arguing that you are wrong for getting games at low prices, but I do want to remind you that the quality of games we are able to play, is correlated by the profit that a company makes. If a company doesn't make enough profit off of a game, then free updates, bug fixes, etc.. are very unlikely. Also with games like Heavenly Sword, who knows if some of these games will EVER be 20 dollars or less and (while short) it is a great game that you are missing out on.
I tend to pre-order games and buy them day 1 if a game seems like a guarenteed great game. I research the games to the point that I'm almost never wrong. I bought Disgaea 3 for 40 dollars used but bought 60 dollars worth of DLC over the span of a year. They are also releasing new content for it for free before too much longer. If everyone waits for the 20 dollar price point, we won't be getting many games.
BTW fracture is a crappy game. It dropped to low price so soon for a reason.
Plus games frankly aren't worth $50+ or $40+ dollars. If you're arguing use, you can buy a football for $15 and it'll be there for thousands of hours of entertainment. Any game without PvP won't even hit 30 hours playtime, since most story modes are pretty quick (especially shooters like BioShock and RE, which last like 5 or 6 hours...) unless you're not sure of what to do next or got hung-up in an area. Not to mention that despite paying $50-60 for a damn game, you aren't even getting the full thing since many devs deliberately withold DLC so they can charge for it later.
- by sneakysnake128 June 18, 2009 1:56 AM PDT
- All those games are old (COD2, Orange Box, and Okami) or crappy (Fracture and SW: Force Unleashed Wii Edition). Also, Burnout is $20 everywhere and has been for months. Why GameFAQs would provide a link to unworthwhile news is beyond me.
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