Christmas approaches and we all get ready to spend our hard earned money on the things we love (games) and fuel the industry that loves us…

However, for some of us this is more of an issue than others. I for one am a student who likes to be able to eat food to live and thus cannot afford to be throwing cash around, especially during the current economic crisis the world seems to be suffering. Luckily I was born into a family of cheap skates and bargain hunters so I thought it might be nice to share some money saving advice that I have picked up over the years of budget gaming. For starters a tip for the younger kids: milk Christmas dry. It gets harder when you’re older, trust me.

Dos:

• Buy pre-owned games. Sure there has been some kerfuffle of late as developers are upset that they get no money from pre-owned games sales, which is understandable. But if I have to choose between them or me I know who the clear winner will be every time. When buying pre-owned it is advisable to ask to see the disk or when available to see it running. I bought a very old pre-owned copy of Halo:CE a while back and asked to see the disk, the sales assistant shot me a look to suggest I had just broken into her house on Christmas and pissed on her kids but it was worth it; no way the shit she handed me would have run on any machine. She handed me another pre-owned copy which was in sufficiently better condition and all was well and all I spent was £4. Remember that a scratched disk will still work fine so long as the damage is not too extensive.You can often get pre-owned games days after a game’s release date so keep an eye out and ASK ABOUT IT. It is unreasonable for a store to display pre-owned releases days after it has been released but they will not turn away the chance to cash in on the resale value when one is traded in. If a store doesn’t have it, ask if they can check the other nearby stores of the same chain to see if they have any copies. The chance of them actually doing that depends on the kind of people working there. But as my mum would say “shy bairns get nowt”.

• Borrow games from friends and family. And be prepared to lend out your games. Having a network of owed favours is always a good thing so long as no one gets their fingers broken and no one wakes up with a horse’s head. This little tip is very sensible and easy to follow. If you live with other gamers you can decide to each buy a certain game and then trade when you have finished or grown bored of it, halving the amount of money spent. However before lending anything out try to establish a reasonable time to get things back. A person that I went to middle school with and whom I haven’t seen in upwards of five years still has my copy of Final Fantasy X. No way in hell am I getting that back now.

• Rent games. This is a good option of you are the kind of gamer who plays a game once and then never touches it again. It is also good for achievement whores but that is a whole other avenue of discussion. If the local rental shop is too far away or charges ridiculous rates and late return charges then a very good alternative method is to use an online services such as lovefilm.com or gamefly.com which have excellent monthly prices for their various plans and services if you’re willing to wait for some short delivery and return times.

• Look for games in unusual places such as super markets and electronics shops. Just the other day I picked up CoD:WaW from ASDA for a shocking £27. On a similar note keep an eye out for small ‘mom and pop’ game shops, they won’t get many games on release days but they will usually charge a lot less and if they do trade-ins they’re likely to have better rates then larger shops. Their prices are much more flexible too and if you’re confident enough, just lie through your teeth and sweet talk them to try and get a few pounds off a game.

• Buy online. There are hundreds and hundreds of online stores that sell games and many great game price comparison sites for you to use to sift through the rubbish. I have GoW2 being delivered brand spanking new for a spiffing £28.99 from a site that uses some clever importing shenanigans to save money and then pass the savings on to us, the customers. Many online stores offer a small discount from buying in-store as they cut out the middle men of having to pay for retail shops and staff to sell them and instead deliver straight to you from the warehouses. Buying online also gives you very easy access to coupon codes. They aren’t very hard to find on the internet. Google is your friend. But you should be using any real life offers and coupons anyway when available, that shouldn’t even need saying.

Don’ts:

• Settle for the first price you find. Look fucking hard. I like to try and find a good five at least before committing myself to a purchase. Shop around and see what you can find and feel free to use those shop’s prices against each other and see if they won’t price match. Nine out of ten of them won’t but it’s always worth a try to save even a little. Remember, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.

• Buy on release date. Try and resist the urge to buy a game the instant it is released as you can save a bit when prices come down after the buzz of a new release wears off. After all if a game is decidedly good it will still have replay value and your friends will still be playing it right? It also stands to reason that if a game defies previewer’s predictions and turns out to be not so great you will have dodged a bullet by hearing of all the flaws of a game and the journey of pain and misery it provides without having had to purchase it and be disappointed yourself.

• Buy limited editions. Unless you’re treating yourself (which is naughty!) you will want to avoid limited editions at all costs as they cost an extortionate amount for something that will get used once and then sit on a shelf or in a case gathering dust forever. And besides how much do you really need to know about the concept artwork of a game. And that plastic chainsaw-laden beast will just get in the way.

Another good tip is to make friends inside the industry such as store managers and employees. Before the days of Myspace and Facebook this is what ‘networking’ meant and if you get good at it many things will come easily to you. Not just cheap games.

Does anyone have any other money saving tips for us? Share the love.