Are You an Impulse Game Buyer?

Not anymore. I don't buy anything without trying it first anymore(burned on a couple of impulse buys). I also have more patience now and have no need to have the latest thing. So I can buy down market affordable hardware to play older games and have them fly. I save on hardware and games.

Still playing NWN (I bought a lot of Bioware, BG, BG2, NWN+Exp, KOTOR) and I am looking forward to Dragon Age.

But I still won't go near Dragon Age without trying it out first and finding out what scummy thing EA will do with activations etc. I may pass on this entirely. There are still lots of NWN modules to play.
 
Switching topics!

Off the top of your head, what is the impulse buy or buys that you regret the most?

Easy for me, Far Cry 2. I gave it a chance, a real chance, eight hours or so, and MAN did it keep on sucking. I dunno, it really really isn't for me. Shame too, I blew $50 on it on Steam. I see it in my Games tab and I get so mad, haha.
 
Digital distribution, broadband, and a steady income stream proved to be too powerful a combination to resist becoming an impulse game buyer. Heck, at this point my pile of games that I haven't played is probably larger that the games I have played.
 
On Steam, especially when there are sales on mainstream games that range between $5-20, yes. At B&M stores... hardly, unless it's $5-10 and looks sufficiently interesting. I've been burned one too many times impulse-buying games that turned out to be crap. So far I've only had two successful impulse purchases at B&Ms: Homeworld (the original) and Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising.
 
Lets see if you're a impulse game buyer.

#1 You don't read user reviews of the game.

#2 You pre-order a game, even though you know nothing about it.

#3 Do box covers look pretty to you?

#4 Even though you thought it was a good game, you never play it a second time.

#5 Do you sell the game after you beat it?

#6 You were too impatient to try the demo of the game.

If answered yes to all of the above, congratulations for people a tool of the game industry. You are a impulse game buyer, and are slowly destroying video games.
 
I used to only buy games after hours and hours of research, reading reviews, and whatnot. Over the past years though that has changed. With Steam, Impulse, and GoG (the three main ways I'll buy my games nowadays) now I'll impulsively buy a game that's under $10 and looks good pretty much right on the spot, even if I had it already just so I could have the digital version in case I lose my CDs. Case in point, about 6 months ago there was a huge sale on Steam for Civilization 3 Complete. It was only $10. I bought it. Now the funny thing is that I bought Civ3 Gold Edition about 6 years ago. So the only thing I didn't have was the newer Conquests expansion pack. But for the convenience of digital download through steam and not having to install from multiple CD's.... I bought it.
 
I think the best impulse buy for me was Baldurs Gate original, before Tales of the Sword Coast. I played that till my eyes were burning, on a school night...

That whole series was one of the most influential games to me as a gamer. Of course I don't make purchases if the case looks nice anymore. I play the demo, read reviews & watch video. Kinda takes the fun out of racing home to install it when you know exactly what it will be like before you even walk into the store.
 
I am. I tried to get rid of my collection before I moved. I pass the second hand game shop every other day and go in there at least 4 days a week.
 
I would be if I had Steam installed, every time I see one of those 50% off deals or crazy specials advertised on forums I get the urge to buy it even though I don't have the time to play those games.
 
I'm not sure I would call myself impulsive. I research the games I buy quite a bit before buying them. The thing is though, I find it almost impossible to pass up a good deal on a game, something that's getting harder and harder to avoid as more and more of the online storefronts copy STEAM's weakly sales model.
 
Serpico said:
Switching topics!

Off the top of your head, what is the impulse buy or buys that you regret the most?

Easy for me, Far Cry 2. I gave it a chance, a real chance, eight hours or so, and MAN did it keep on sucking. I dunno, it really really isn't for me. Shame too, I blew $50 on it on Steam. I see it in my Games tab and I get so mad, haha.
Click to expand...

I feel you on that man. I bought it when it was on sale for 39.99 I believe and I definitely could have saved my money. The game wouldn't have been so bad to me if not for the re-spawning guards at the road check points.
 
I still have not purchased a console. When I read about the red ring of death I waited. The wii was not for mee so I waited. The ps3 didn't quite convince me so I waited. I have purchased computer games. Intros, trailers, genera, and graphic pull me in. From the trailers I try to tell if I like the game play. equal opportunity ass kicking is important to me too.

The makers of stalker shadows of something something said that they did not put in women in the game. The reason was they were trying to make it realistic and if they put women in it rape would have to be addressed. I guess I understood why they did it, but I did not buy the game.

I want to see girls kicking ass, and getting their asses kicked right along with the men, and I support that with my dollars lol.
 
+1 for steam making me an impulse buyer. They've got the business model down.
 
I think it's safe to assume that if you don't want to become an impulse PC game buyer, then you should stay away from Steam, Stardock Impulse, or whatever your digital distribution system of choice is. That or go back to dial-up.

I might've been able to buy a PC game on impulse years ago in B&M stores, but the shrinking shelves and severe lack of anything but popular titles makes it almost impossible to do now. Console games are a different matter, though I'm an almost PC-exclusive guy anyway.
 
Serpico said:
Switching topics!

Off the top of your head, what is the impulse buy or buys that you regret the most?

Easy for me, Far Cry 2. I gave it a chance, a real chance, eight hours or so, and MAN did it keep on sucking. I dunno, it really really isn't for me. Shame too, I blew $50 on it on Steam. I see it in my Games tab and I get so mad, haha.
Click to expand...

Oh man, Far Cry 2 is the classic example I like to give to defend my practice of "trying before I buy." All that hype around it, but I decided to try first anyway, and it was positively TERRIBLE. Saved myself $50.
 
I'm all about previews. If a game looks great in previews I'll buy it. I remember I decided to buy Fallout 3 when I saw the first commercial. If a game looks good to me, I'll probably buy it no matter what reviews say.
 
I buy games on Impulse all the time. Ever since Galactic Civilizations I have been a big fan of Stardock.
 
$29 or less will buy if it looks good for sure.
$39 or less maybe.
49 up wont buy.
example still waiting for fallout 3 to come down. Same goes for ps games. I am mostly a pc gamer I have a ps2 but that is the only console I have.

I am a bit old school rarely buy on steam. I like that old fashond box/cd/book in my hands.
 
Seiuchi said:
I am a bit old school rarely buy on steam. I like that old fashond box/cd/book in my hands.
Click to expand...

I think I'd put myself firmly in the old-school category, I had the shareware discs for Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Rise Of The Triad, my first RTS was Dune 2, loved the hell out of the early Sierra adventure games, and I fully embrace digital download. Maybe its because I'm not a very sentimental person but IMO all those boxes and manuals just take up space. :)

Hell, the only reason I'm not all digital with movies is because all that space in Blu Ray gets you significantly better image and audio quality relative to an HD download. If it was the same difference then I'd be 100% digital at this point. With games, eh, doesn't matter, you're not sacrificing anything in terms of quality, just the discs and boxes. But that's just me. :)
 
LostInRehab said:
I feel you on that man. I bought it when it was on sale for 39.99 I believe and I definitely could have saved my money. The game wouldn't have been so bad to me if not for the re-spawning guards at the road check points.
Click to expand...

You know what, I did get it for $40 also, not $50. I was still ripped off. :mad:

And you nailed it, the respawning guards at checkpoints were such shit. FC2 is trying to give the illusion of this persistent world and there is stupid crap like that which completely breaks immersion.

FC2 could have been great but there is a huge laundry list of tweaks that the game needed, that's what really sucks. So close but unfortunately it missed the mark completely, not just by a little bit.
 
InorganicMatter said:
Oh man, Far Cry 2 is the classic example I like to give to defend my practice of "trying before I buy." All that hype around it, but I decided to try first anyway, and it was positively TERRIBLE. Saved myself $50.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is that the first 2-3 hours were GREAT. The problem is that as you play all of these problems start showing up. And then they continue to pile on. And on. And on. :)

Such a shame.
 
The only games I've been buying lately have been games that I played when I was younger. All those classics collections really help out a lot there.
 
definitely not. =). i'm careful and methodical =P.

i just bought age of empire 1&2+its expansions for $10 delivered =). w/my 4890 1GB, they should be 5billion fps ;)

oh and pong is 5trillion fps, that rox =P
 
I'm only an impulse buyer for games $20 and under. Anything else I have to have either read a bunch of previews, or be from a developer or a franchise I like.
 
Ask me after my Star Trek red shirt arrives (XXL Deluxe 2009 movie version $12 at Walmart, though I'm only an XL, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen BD for $20 BB after rewards zone or 3x iPhone data cables for $3 each). Mostly bargains, and not finding anything entertaining to read online so I end up browsing Techbargains.com and slickdeals.net to kill time and my bank account.
 
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