« | Main | »

RPG Deals for 3/8 – 3/14

By Russ | March 8, 2009 at 3:23 pm

Additional bang for your buck contained within.

There’s a tasty pie out there known as the used video game market. GameStop essentially owns it; the only reason there are still EB Games stores out there is to give the illusion of competition. There’s a few other places, like GameTraders or GameCrazy, but none of those exist near me so I cannot check them out to tell you about their practices.

But that pie – tasty and alluring – is attracting other retailers. Circuit City once tried it, and I have heard of some Best Buy stores giving it a shot. However, one chain failed and the other is either still testing the idea or flat out dropped the practice. Failure and discontinuation won’t stop Toys R Us or Amazon.com from trying to get a slice of that pie, though. Both retailers have started up a used video game trade system for store credit. They are also initiating harsher trade-in policies than GameStop. To be honest, that’s a good thing.

Toys R Us and Amazon’s policies require the original case, instruction manual, and a good-looking copy of the game in order for the product to be accepted. Speaking as someone who works for that large, aforementioned video game retail chain, typically having the case and manual go hand-in-hand with having a working copy of the game. The only thing left is for TRU and Amazon to do actual quality control on the games themselves. They don’t have to test every game, just make sure the games don’t have scratches on them. This is something most GameStop stores cannot do, and leads to problems.

By the way, Amazon.com’s trade-ins are a little different since they are an online store. You can read up on them here.

Not all TRU locations are accepting trades. But if they are, Toys R Us is offering 2 game for $30 on all games $19.99 and under. There’s some decent RPGs to be sought for that price; primarily those under the Greatest Hits or Platinum Hits banner. Heck, some TRU locations still have copies of Baten Kaitos Origins and Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube, both for around or under $20.

If none of the above retailers float your mental boat, Cheap Ass Gamer does have their own trade program. It’s literal trading though, and a bit at your own risk. I’d research it before trying it out. To be honest, I’ll always recommend selling games on your own via Craigslist, e-Bay, or your friends for better cash gain, but I do understand the convenience these places offer.

Also, for those interested in My World, My Way, Atlus’ offbeat RPG about pouting your way to victory, the title has been discontinued. If you are a collector or hunting for rare games, this one might be in your interest.

Have a nice week, and remember to hit up the forums if you have any deals to share. While not an RPG, World of Goo is available on Steam for $5. Steam will often put games on sale for low prices, so keep checking them for stuff you are interested in. Thanks goes out to Phil for contributing that one.

Disclaimer: Deals may not be available in all stores. Prices in each store may differ. You can try different stores to mitigate this, and always ask if a store has it before writing them off. You might be able to get a raincheck. A lot of these deals are in-store only, except where specified.

Topics: Uncategorized