I probably spent less than $75 bucks last year, on about 12 classics. They were all sales or clearance items. Some from Target. Some from Gogamer. One from Circuit City. One from Half-Price Bookstore. Most of these deals were brought to my attention via the Hot Deals message boards. I still have not even opened a few of them, but will eventually get around to all of them.
I still laugh at the people paying $60 for just one game. Although 10+ years ago, I used to be one of you who bought games at full retail close to the release date, but I have learned my lessons since. But thanks to you for continuing to finance the gaming industry so I can continue to buy top-rated games for $2-$10 each. I can also avoid the dogs, since I can check the reviews, both from "professionals" in online e-magazines and from user submitted reviews in online gamer sites.
Another benefit for refusing to pay $60 for a newly released game, is the bugs have been worked out, both on the server side and on the client side (with downloadable patches). I figure if the game industry wants me to alpha test or beta test their game, they should pay me as opposed to me paying them.
