Top 10 Ways To Save Money on Games: Update 1

Amazon UK has posted some excellent ‘Half-Term Deals’. The offers include a few of the best videogames we’ve looked at in recent months. If you live in the UK, or nearby, Sims 3, Darksiders and Dragon Age: Origins are among the most heavily discounted titles.

We also noticed the first signs of discount prices for Bioshock 2 and Final Fantasy 13. Unfortunately, it isn’t half-term in the US, so we couldn’t find anything comparable for US players. The UK deals are here.

While we were on Amazon it seemed like a good idea to see if any of our money saving tips actually work. The prices given below are from earlier today. They show huge differences between making full cost retail purchases, buying at Amazon discount prices and buying from Amazon outlets.

To keep the results as clear as possible there is no consideration of the full retail cost of the titles when they were first released. We’ve also left out any account credit offers on Amazon and all delivery costs.

US (Retail)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $49.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $49.99
Darksiders (PS3) – $49.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $49.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $49.99

Total = $249.95

Amazon US (Discounted)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $39.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $44.99
Darksiders (PS3) – $39.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $44.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $44.99

Total = $214.95

Amazon US (Outlet)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – $34.00
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – $27.80
Darksiders (PS3) – $34.99
Dragon Age (PC) – $28.99
Sims 3 (PC) – $25.75

Total = $151.53

UK (Retail)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £38.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £29.99
Darksiders (PS3) – £39.99
Dragon Age (PC) – £34.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £39.99

Total = £183.95 / $288.8

Amazon UK (Discounted)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £35.73
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £24.99
Darksiders (PS3) – £24.71
Dragon Age (PC) – £14.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £24.70

Total = £125.12/ $196.44

Amazon UK (Outlet)

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3) – £25.99
Batman Arkham Asylum (XBox) – £14.49
Darksiders (PS3) – £23.49
Dragon Age (PC) – £13.99
Sims 3 (PC) – £24.00

Total = £101.96/ $160.08

The savings resulting from delaying purchases for just a few months, looking for bargains and buying used/ outlet titles are plain to see. A $100 saving on a total spend of roughly $250 seems a good return for a little patience.

The UK offers on Dragon Age: Origins and Darksiders look tempting. Modern Warfare ‘something or other’ and Dante’s Inferno are also on offer. The win option is Darksiders.