Quote Originally Posted by Cornelius View Post
I know this is all tied in together in the discussion going on here, but I'd like to re-frame and/or focus the OP's question a little bit. If you know you are going to go for a full set on a current gen console, what's the best way to go about it? I suppose that could also read "what is the most economical way to go about it?" I know we have a couple people around that have this goal. DS is the only one I can think of right now, but I think someone is after Wii and another PS3. What say you?

I suspect the most economical is the wait on everything to purchase discounted or preferably used at the end of the console's life. That runs some pretty big risks, but the price tag of getting everything as it comes out (or even on sale) is so daunting to me that I couldn't even imagine going that route. Not to mention the cringe-inducing prospect of paying real money for so much of the libraries that are shovelware. Of course, the irony is that some of that shovelware will one day be the hardest stuff to find.
I think it really depends on your budget. Personally, I keep a list of stuff that I know I want for each modern console as games are announced (I literally check Gamestop.com and Amazon every few weeks for upcoming games and update my want list) and I try to pick up every title within a year or two of release unless there is some specific reason not to (i.e., I'm not ever in a rush to pick up sports titles as I know those are plentiful and easy to find at the end of a console cycle). Having said that, there are times when it becomes pretty clear early on that a title will be hard to find. Those titles are the ones where I may pay closer to MSRP for while I try to keep other titles in the under-$20 and hopefully under $10 purchase range. Admittedly, I have made some errors over time and overpaid and the days of rare Atlus or XSeed or big publisher titles seem long over. It will be interesting to see what happens with collector's edition values over time as things like Borderlands 2 Loot Chest and Witcher 2 CE sold out before or at launch so who knows how easy they will be to find and for what price long term.