I almost never get games when they are brand-new unless it's a gift from someone else. Otherwise, I just wait a few months for the price to come down. I'm almost always behind everyone else, but I spend significantly less money this way and still get to play the same games (eventually).

I always wait until a game is around $20 or so unless I really want it. Still, I have a huge backlog going. Crisis Core GOW Chains of Olympus Shining Force (GBA Remake) Odin Sphere Killer 7 Final Fantasy 12 Final Fantasy 7 FFTactics War of the Lions And thats only all the things I own that I WANT to play. I still feel obligated to play things like Dirge of Cerberus and The Xenosaga games just because I've bought them, even though I've heard bad things about them.

I am just like Jay and Alex. I wait for most game to go down in price. That said, I also still buy the odd game Day One - like Brutal Legend, Demon's Souls, and the God of War Collection. MY Backlog of "full priced" games consists of: Fallout 3 Killzone 2 inFamous Gears of War 2 Halo 3: ODST

I'm in the habit of waiting now, but like Lance, there are certain games I buy on day one.

I used to more or less keep up with all the new releases that I was interested in, but then I started dating someone and getting more involved in work and noticed that by the time I finally got around to playing the games that I'd paid full price for, they'd been discounted. Now I actually keep a Word document saved on my computer with a list of all the games that I want to get (which is handy to print out and take to the store to see what's on sale). I'd say I'm about five or six months behind the new releases right now. (My most recent purchase was the Wii remake of Klonoa, which came out in May.) It does make the hobby a lot cheaper, and for single-player games, I don't really know why it makes a difference when you play it. I do feel bad that I end up buying a lot of used games, but I'm just not financially in a place right now to spend extra money out of some ideological desire to support developers.

I buy old games. In some cases, they are really old, but there are old games that are brilliant. If you are willing to go back a generation (or two), you can find titles that offer more entertainment than current games, yet cost less than ten bucks. Often the most popular games are the ones that are available used for cheap, because everyone bought them back in the day. For perspective, here is what I am currently playing: Metroid Prime Half-Life 2 Halo 2 BioShock Psychonauts Kingdom Hearts II Crackdown And on portable systems (hang on to your hats for this one): The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (yes, it’s a Game Boy Color game. Still really, really good!) Patapon New Super Mario Bros. The World Ends with You Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords Drawn to Life Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trauma Center: Under the Knife Rhythm Heaven