How will a cheap bastard (me) pay full price for PS4 and Xbox Infinity games ? It's against my nature

[WCP]

Ok, first off, I'll totally admit that this is a "swimming in a Lake Me" type post. I freely admit it. I'm just throwing this post out there, for the F it, so if it comes off as really pretentious, my bad. This is just something that I've been thinking about lately, and I'm just thinking out loud with this.



Here is my dilema: Since the days of the TG-16, Genesis and Super Nintendo, I've been a hardcore early adopter. I'm talking really hardcore. Like, buy almost every single system you can imagine on day 1 type hardcore. There is only a small handful of systems that I didn't buy on day one, and on those ones, I got the system within months of the launch. I'm always jumping on the bandwagon of the "latest and greatest". The PS4 is going to be coming to stores near you this November. I've bought the first 3 playstations on launch day. I'm not about to break my streak. As long as the PS4 is $499 or less I plan on jumping on the bandwagon. Like I always do.

Microsoft is going to drop their bomb in April. I've been calling it the Xbox Infinity, but I honestly have no freaking idea what they are going to call it. I got the first two Xboxes on launch day, and again, have no plans of stopping any time soon. I fully expect to buy a Xbox 3 on day one, barring some dramatic revelation that makes me change my mind. You know that both Sony and Microsoft are going to have some more huge game reveals between now and launch that are going to make both of those systems extremely tempting. I've already seen some stuff on PS4 that I'd love to play, and I'm sure MS will have a few exclusives that will blow me away as well.


Here's the problem... I'm going to buy both of these systems, no question about it (again, barring some shocking revelation), but the thing is, I've recently turned into Mr. Cheap ass Gamer. There is this guy that posts on the cheapassgamer forums. His name is iamthecheapestgamer or something like that. I feel like in the last 3 or 4 years, I've turned into this guy. The guy that hasn't paid $59.99 for a game since like 2009 or maybe even 2008. Seriously, it's been a long, long time since I've paid full pop. It's almost like a foreign concept right now. I built a gaming PC two years ago and have been buying most of my stuff via Steam and such for only 5 bucks each. Once in awhile I'll splurge a little bit and pay $7.50 for something.

I've got a Vita, and have been playing that, but I'm using PS+ and not buying any actual games. If I do buy a Vita game, I get it used for $15 or less. (Usually $12 or less if possible). My kids have Playstation plus on their Vitas, so we also get free games on the PS3. I also got a couple PS3 games for free when they had that hacking situation, and they offered people free games.


Anyways.... when new systems arise, you ain't getting any discounts. That shit isn't going to happen. Sure, there are some Wii U games that are selling for $29.99, but Wii U has been selling so horribly that it's hard to draw any conclusions about some of the Wii U game sales. Retailers are forced to do something to try to clear a bit of inventory. Also, while there are some Wii U discounts right now, we are in the month of March. So it's been about 4 months since launch, with a system that isn't selling well, and only now are we seeing some discounts. If the next Xbox and PS4 are much more successful in their launches, then you can bet that discounts on PS4 and Xbox games are going to be a long time in coming...

Also, what about the possibility of no used games on the Xbox ? Sony has said they will allow used games, but they haven't said how they are going to allow it. There is definitely some questions about whether there will be a re-activation fee on the PS4, or maybe on the new Xbox if they do even allow used games. If these situations come to pass, then you don't have much of a secondary market. There really isn't any incentive for retailers to go into a panic and drop prices.

I'm not sure how my early adopter self, is going to co-exist with my cheap ass gamer mentality. They are totally incompatible. I have no idea what the heck I'm going to do. I guess I'll just buy a single game for each system, and play the living crap out of that one game, and then see what I can do from that point... It's going to be so weird to have to pay the full $59.99, but I'm not going to have any other choice.