Simple question, really. Do you just hop over to Gamestop for all your gaming needs? Best Buy? Walmart? Do you buy them online? Or do you shop wherever it's on sale? I mostly buy my games from Amazon since I live outside the city and it's kinda difficult for me to get to retail stores on release day. But if a store has a good sale on the game I'll get it from there - Best Buy and Toys R Us are both pretty good at having decent sales every now and then. Of course, Amazon will usually pricematch, so I'd say a great majority of my games just come from Amazon.
I live right by pretty much everything. I get most of my games at Gamestop because most other places don't have the same sort of selection. When I'm buying a game that's just come out and I know it'll be elsewhere, I guess I'll usually pick it up at another place for a bit cheaper. Now that pretty much any store will do preorders, it's not quite as imperative to go to Gamestop. I don't buy a looot of games online because Amazon.com doesn't always ship to Canada and Amazon.ca doesn't have the same kind of deals that the .com has. :(
Lately I've been getting all my games from Steam, I love being able to easily access my games on multiple computers. Otherwise I go to Gamestop or just order a game when I want to get one. Honestly though I don't buy many new games since I primarily play MMOs.
I never buy from Gamestop/EB Games. It's the most expensive place to buy games. It's cheaper at Best Buy or Future Shop to begin with. Plus I have a regular supply of gift cards to those retailers. Plus price matching. Plus reward points. I've bought Batman: Arkham Asylum from EBGames because they had a strange day of launch of $19 plus extra content special. And I traded in Wii Fit for Wii Fit Plus for free. And exchanged a broken GCN for a new one. But that's all. There's no point. I've purchased games from Amazon and even the Dell Store more often than I have EBGames or Gamestop. Great if you want used games, but for new stuff? Cheaper elsewhere
I honestly don't think about purchasing games at places other than Gamestop, I know I'd save a hell of a lot of money, but I'm far too impatient to wait for a game to arrive.
9 of my last 10 games came from GameStop. I'm sure if I shopped around I could get slightly better deals, if I ordered online I could get slightly better deals. But most games I buy are games I pre-order... and if I'm pre-ordering it then I want it launch day, and if I ordered online with 1 day shipping... it'll be around the same price. So why not just go into town and get it? So yea, most of my stuff is from GameStop.
Okay... read a couple of posts like this now. When did Gamestop/EB Games become the only source for games on launch day? Or for pre-orders? Yeah, if you order online you'll wait. But, other retailers have it on launch day too. That's why it's launch day. The games launches, you buy it... that's sort of how it works. They're not Gamestop exclusive on day-one. Pre-order it somewhere else that offers price matching (ie. Best Buy). Find the cheaper price online somewhere that offers free shipping (ie. Amazon). Come launch day, pick it up and price match it against the online price. Day one and cheaper. I sleep well at night. Yeah. .ca doesn't have that "Lightning Deals" thing. But around the holidays, both Amazon.ca and Dell.ca have a lot of games on sale. Even new releases. Most of the holiday release (or at least, post-September) games I've bought the last couple of years haven't been full price. I got the top version of The Beatles: Rock Band for the price of the lowest version. I got the collector's edition of AC: Brotherhood for the price of the normal copy. Save $10-$20 bucks on all the other games.
For the non-blockbusters, I find Best Buy and the like isn't guaranteed to have games on their release dates. So for RPGs and more niche titles, they don't always offer preorders nor do they always have the games. I remember stopping at several BBs and a Future Shop before finally getting KH Re:Chain of Memories at an EB Games. :/ Maybe they're better now but I still don't trust them. u_u; edit: And that's in Toronto, too. I'm pretty sure we're more likely to get shipments ~on time~ than places out in the middle of nowhere.
I usually just go to GameStop or G2K Games (Preferably the latter). I do go to Best Buy once in a blue moon, though.
I don't have a Best Buy around here so I can't say anything about that. But the way I look at it (this is me personally)... if you're buying from GameStop it's not a matter of "price" as it is them having the game. There has been times in the past where I'd go to Wal-Mart or Target looking for a game that launched that day and they don't have it. Go to GameStop and there it is. I want that game right away, so spending a little extra (more like not saving a few dollars) is well worth it. If it was about money then I'd wait awhile and see if the price drops somewhere.
