Buying games and accesories online or buying it from a store

Ever since I found out gamestop powerup rewards is nothing but a rip off it has had me in a confliction of thought. I'm starting to think about Switching over to buying games online. With Amazon and its no taxing and free shipping it makes it very cost effective to do it this way. The only problem I got with it is I have to wait to get my items (which isnt really a con more like im impatient). I do wonder that if I preorder it do I have to wait to get it AFTER the release date or do I get it the day of.

So which method do you guys buy your games? Out the store or online? And what is your reason for pick said method.

I generally buy used online because its generally cheaper and i don't mind waiting. As far as New goes, if its a must have day one purchase or if the online price is about the same as the retail price, i would go to the store.

It depends on the game. I live in Australia, so not only do games come out here later compared to the rest of the world, we also pay a shitload more for them as well. The average DS/PSP game is 60-80 dollars, and the average PS3 game is 80-110 dollars (COD:BO is currently selling at 115 instore). Now, why the hell should I pay prices like that, when I can go to ebay, find a top rated game seller, and then get it imported for half price? Example, I brought P3P from a US seller recently. It cost me 32.60, including delivery, when in store here the game costs 70. Screw that, for me Online>Instore.

I never saw a single jRPG in stores here in Finland *at least in average sized towns* all i saw is mainstream bullshit, now that i can, i'm trying to use eBay.

Not to mention that games for ps3 and 360 on release cost about 70 Eur.

i buy online because it is cheaper and tax free but the only part that sucks is having to wait for it via mail. but pretty much i buy from the store atleast for new hot titles like MK9 even though amazon would give me a 10 doller gift card for my purchase i got it from gamestop because i wanted it the sameday. but right now i start to buy my stuff from online,for starters a wider section of items to buy

jRPG aside like The Last Remnant / FF series, don't get released in Finland afaik.
I tend to purchase my games from the store unless it's a cheap game on steam (like 10€ or less during those sale weekends or w/e).
The games I really want will be bought from stores, since most of the time I go for a Collector's edition or a Limited edition (Shogun 2 Total War's Collectors edition for example)

And games that I'm unsure of should I buy them, ends up being pirated to test them out first and see if they're worth the cash.

OT: Didn't expect to see other people from Finland here.

Being the cheap bastard I am, if I want a newly released game that I'm not sure if I'll like, I'll wait two weeks to a month so that Gamestop has a few used copies so I can return it if I don't like it or beat it too quickly. Other than that, if I'm feeling impatient about a new game I know I'll like, like the Dragon Quest games for instance, I'll usually pre-order it at Gamestop since it's convenient and while I'm there I'll flip through the used games, especially the PS2 section since I've found a few jewels there for $5 or less. Other than that, I prefer Amazon and Ebay for the most part, both in terms of price and the ability to find games I'd never be able to find here in town like Way of the Samurai 1+2 for the PS2 for $20.

I'm not a fan of digital downloads for games I can buy physical copies of mostly because I like having the instruction manual in hand for a lot of games... although anymore some games don't come with any instructions beyond what you could find out through a game review and the in game menu, especially FPS games like CoD and Battlefield. I have bought a couple games that are digital download only like Magicka, Crimsonland, and of course Minecraft.

I miss the days when you'd open up the box for a new PC game and pull out a 100-200+ page instruction manual like Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, and if I remember correctly, Planescape: Torment.

I don't like to pirate games from the current generation of systems, or any system that still has games being developed for it (the PS2 for example). I don't have any qualms about emulating PSX/N64 games and older though since the developers don't make any money off of used game sales and a lot of the games are hard to find, expensive and some of the best ones weren't even released outside of Japan. If it weren't for sites like Romhacking.net I'd have never played a lot of great games, RPGs especially. A few notable examples for the SNES alone would be Bahamut Lagoon, Treasure Hunter G, Dark Lord: Meaning of Death, Brandish II, Dragon Quest III, Magical Pop'n, Star Ocean, Tales of Phantasia and Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun. Which is somewhat similar to River City Ransom, but you gain experience with every fight and gain Ki Abilities [spells] that let you heal yourself or increase one of your stats. On top of that, you can equip different "linings" [clothes], gloves and shoes to increase your abilities, though some of the equipment you find is cursed and can produce various negative effects. One unfortunate change is that enemies no longer drop money when you kill them, you just find a rare Cash Card now and then to use at the different vending machines and arcade machines. The best equipment is found using the crane game in the Arcade, but without abusing save states you'll need hundreds of Cash Cards to get anything worthwhile out of it.

Seems that was more than a few examples, heh.

Until i moved to Finland from Russia i didn't even know that games had instruction manuals or any other kind of *stuff* aside from the game disc itself. When i was buying games there, it was just a...

I actually do a little bit of both. Can't stand going to my local Gamestop, unless there is a game I really want (they act like there the only game store in my town).

Most of the time I can find some pretty cheap games on Amazon, but it really depends on the title. If I want something older like on the ps1, ps2, or even DS (which I can get on the cheap) I do then use Amazon. However, there was one other store online I used before that had games for cheap,even on the newer consoles. The shipping was sort of slow though (but free); shame I can't remember the name. If it something newer, I usually go into the store akin to /or Gamestop (play and trade, etc); since I can usually get the game used and less expensive.

@pozertron: You have Dungeon Siege? God, I used to love that game. Wish I could find my copy :O

Typically in a store, GameStop is close by so I don't waste much gas, and I buy used so I can return it if it sucks, but online is nice for hard to find game.

I usually buy everything online. I used to order games from a national game store, but now I found a better alternative in the UK (play.com), so I'll be using that from now on for new games.

Used games I generally go for ebay.

Whenever i try to order something from play.com it always say that there's been *insert problem name* and we cannot do anything about it blah blah, i been declined a sh*tload of times...

My choice has been game.co.uk - cheaper than any store here, and at least at the time I started using it, the only online shop that actually delivered games here as well (by now others have finally realized we're part of the EU as well). Never had any problems there.

Why dont you just rent them? i rented from gamelfy, great sevice only 25 a month taxes and shipping costs included. i dont rent anymore because im in school.damn i sure miss it.

It all depends, new games I tend to buy from various places, in-store/online(amazon,publishers website etc.)
As for accessories I get from anywhere, mostly any place that sells electronics, I am not picky.
Same goes for used games, I recall saying this once...


Now that I think about it most games/accessories etc I get, maybe 30% come/came from Gamestop and similar type stores.

Mostly on Amazon in my case. Most of the time is cheaper, free shipping and tax free in my region. I don't mind waiting for it to arrive since most of the time I can only play on the weekends, if I'm not busy with other stuff. However, if for some reason I can't wait to play a game, I have no choice but to resort to Gamestop, though it doesn't happen that often...

I've been buying games online a lot recently. Its more convenient for me than going to the store.