NationStates Jolt Archive

How do you balance the expense of playing a new game, watching a new movie, or buying a new CD when compared to the cost savings of waiting for the price to drop or the opportunity to buy used? What are your priorities in your entertainment spending?

Examples:

Pay $50 for a new game, or wait a few months and get it for $20 or less.
Watch the movie in the theater or rent it later
Buy the new CD, or wait for it to be available at you favorite used music store?

Or, of course, pirate any of the above for no cost (not advised...)

I bought my PS2 and most of my games at a pawn shop for far less than retail. On the other hand, I paid $70 for the Collector's Edition of Fallout 3 shortly after it was released in stores. I waited to buy Oblivion until the price dropped below $40 for the GOTY edition.

If it's something I would like to have, I will wait for it to get cheaper. If it's something I really want, I'll buy it at the moment.

When it comes to movies, I always try to watch them in theaters because I like the theater experience and I rarely watch movies at home.

It's cheaper in the long run than the expenses incurred by climbing a clock tower with a high powered rifle?

It does, of course, have to do with the hype surrounding a product and how much I want it. For example, I waited on line outside my local GameStop for several hours on the night of the release of Final Fantasy XII. Similarly, I went and saw Snakes on a Plane the night it came out, because I was very much excited due to all the hype and advertising that preceded it. However, this can also have the opposite effect if overdone: even though Quantum of Solace was heavily advertised worldwide, I still haven't seen it.

Depends on the movie some lend better to home viewing such as LOTR which is far too long to sit in a theater. Plus you can pause, get a beer, go to bathroom, etc. Some movies you want the audience. Games I usually go for bargain basement. Depends on the game rarely I get a new one if I get a gift card or something.

I'm a cheap whore for advertising. I buy games faster than the rate at which I finish them. Just because I might WANT to play them.

The price is the main factor with movie theater. 20$ just to get in. Plus parking. Plus snacks usually around 20$ as well. They need to bring the price down. The other is huge lineups.

Although I must say in the summer I discovered one of the last remaining drive in movie theaters in my area. I must say I love it. Prices are reasonable, snacks are fairly reasonable, movies are pretty good.

The price is the main factor with movie theater. 20$ just to get in. Plus parking. Plus snacks usually around 20$ as well. They need to bring the price down. The other is huge lineups.
Twenty bucks just to get in? Where the hell do you live? I live in a major city, and the highest I've ever seen is $10.50! Mind you, that's still pretty rough. Also, as a side note, your wallet (and your waistline) would probably thank you if you didn't purchase 20 bucks' worth of snacks every time you went to the movies.

The price is the main factor with movie theater. 20$ just to get in. Plus parking. Plus snacks usually around 20$ as well. They need to bring the price down. The other is huge lineups.

wtf? where do you watch movies. I only pay $6.99 at Empire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Theatres)

AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St.
New York, NY 10036-7215
Phone: (212) 398-3939

Taken right from Fandango

2 Adult: 2 x $12.50 = 25

Based on 2 people going.

2 popcorns not the huge one either medium and 2 medium drinks. Usually around 17 something. I know I need to move.

It depends on my monetary situation and the how much I want the item.

Example:

I really wanted Fallout 3 and bought it at full retail price of £38 as my financial situation allowed me to. It is now avaliable for £20.

I now also really want the White Lies album after I saw the live (for free in exchange for doing a review). However my finances have had some unexpected costs come into play, I needed a new laptop and phone altogether costing around £500. If I had not needed to get these items first then I would have already bought the White Lies album.

Unless I get vouchers or a CD or game for Christmas or Birthday, I download them from teh interwebs.

*puts on eyepatch, parrot lands on shoulder* Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, shiver me timbers!

I'll wait a while for video games, in the rare event that I ever buy one.

CD's, I usually just buy off itunes

Movies, depends. I'll usually try to catch them in the theater. I'll also usually buy instead of rent, in the off chance that I really like it and want to watch it again.

I pirate most of my music. If there's a band I like, I'll buy a token CD (generally their latest release). I figure it works out for the band (or label, whoever gets my $15), because I'd probably never have bought anything of the band's if I hadn't downloaded most of their catalog for free.
My largest entertainment expense is live music, as most New York venues are $10-$30 a ticket and I try to go to 2-3 a month (This month's being Slipknot (awesome. Even though it was in Madison Square Hellhole (ie, home of the $10 domestic beer), Murder By Death with Builders and Butchers (really awesome. It was in the very cozy Bowery Ballroom with reasonably priced drinks), and Flogging Molly).

Like an earlier poster, I have the misfortune to live around obscenely expensive theaters, so I don't go that often. If I do see a movie in the theater, I generally have to haul myself out of bed at like 8 AM on a Saturday to catch the $6 matinee. I get most of my movies via Netflix, which is less than $10 a month, or from the Campus library (which is a shit ton of money each year in tuition, but I figure that I'm paying it anyway).

Most people can find cheap cinemas nearby. People who live near expensive theatres often live in big cities which means they probably live near a great cinema.

Por ejemplo, I live in pricey London and I regularly pay £1.50 a pop at a simply brilliant place.

AMC Empire 25
234 West 42nd St.
New York, NY 10036-7215
Phone: (212) 398-3939

Taken right from Fandango

2 Adult: 2 x $12.50 = 25

Based on 2 people going.

2 popcorns not the huge one either medium and 2 medium drinks. Usually around 17 something. I know I need to move.
i hope you get sex for that (preferably later, at home)

i hope you get sex for that (preferably later, at home)

Why later?

My entertainment costs never change, since all of my entertainment is found online, in books (free, from the library) or on television.

I have a membership at a rep cinema, so I get cheap tickets to offbeat films that I wouldn't likely find in a video store. It does mean that when something good is in, I have to rush out to see it in the four or five days that it's playing. I rarely go to mainstream theatres, though; if there's something I want to see that's too mainstream for the Bytowne I'll pick it up on DVD.

Other than that I buy books pretty regularly. I'd like to get out to more live music, but I don't keep up with the Ottawa pub scene and I won't even bother with the bigger venues.

I download music first, buy their albums and go to their concerts only after I determined that they're worthy of my money. Thanks to the effects of the legal and financial crusade of the music industry, all bands start with a default negative score in my eyes and unless they make epic music, such as Therion, they're not worth the money their record labels are trying to extort.

As for movies, I regularly go to the pictures, mostly with my friends. It's a social event, but I never buy DVDs unless it's a complete series which would take too long to DL and (again,) is worth the money (e.g. anything by Monty Python) and lets me disregard the >10sec long unskippable threat on my screen.

I've never been particularly well-off financially, so I tend to go with the cheapest option. I don't see more than one or two movies in theaters most years, buy games secondhand, and shop used bookstores whenever possible.

If it's something I would like to have, I will wait for it to get cheaper. If it's something I really want, I'll buy it at the moment.

When it comes to movies, I always try to watch them in theaters because I like the theater experience and I rarely watch movies at home.

^^^This...although, to be honest, when I have no money, I resort to Pirating...

I've never been particularly well-off financially, so I tend to go with the cheapest option. I don't see more than one or two movies in theaters most years, buy games secondhand, and shop used bookstores whenever possible.

This...

...sharing helps too. I've got four games and two books at home that belong to friends.

It's cheaper in the long run than the expenses incurred by climbing a clock tower with a high powered rifle?

That is so out of style. Explosives are the in thing today.

Also, I'd rather wait for cheaper stuff usually. I'm too old for trying to impress all the kids on the block with the latest toy, which is what buying a lot of this stuff tends to be about, essentially.

"economics" is why "entertainment" is mostly crap.

I like to see movies at the theater, and so at least once a month I pick one and go. For video games I read up about them and can usually make up my mind as to it I want to play it or not; if I buy a game at full retail and play it through then decide I don't like it I just take it to the game store and trade i tin for store credit for when the next game I want comes out, I save a lot of money that way.

To be honest I don't really think about it. I'll never get the very first new electronic toy that comes out and always wait at least two years. But games, music, DVD's, books whatever, if I want it I'll just go buy it. Unless of course I don't have the cash, then I'll wait untill I do.

i hope you get sex for that (preferably later, at home)
Why later?
Agreed. Why wait? :D

Most people can find cheap cinemas nearby. People who live near expensive theatres often live in big cities which means they probably live near a great cinema.

Por ejemplo, I live in pricey London and I regularly pay £1.50 a pop at a simply brilliant place.

It's Peckham innit, yeah I go there!:D

Agreed. Why wait? :D

Seriously I failed to score more dates with a woman once because I didn't initiate a game of 'whats in the popcorn bag'.

I usually weight for video game prices to drop to $30 or less.

Seriously I failed to score more dates with a woman once because I didn't initiate a game of 'whats in the popcorn bag'.
Because you didn't? Hahaha...damn, sounds she would have been a real winner too...*ahem* :rolleyes:

Because you didn't? Hahaha...damn, sounds she would have been a real winner too...*ahem* :rolleyes:

Well, "This movie is stupid lets go home" translated to "This movie is stupid lets go home" to me. What it really meant was "Handjob; now!"

Well, "This movie is stupid lets go home" translated to "This movie is stupid lets go home" to me. What it really meant was "Handjob; now!"
Yes, how silly of you, to not assume off the bat that she'd want to perform acts on you in public... :rolleyes:

Yes, how silly of you, to not assume off the bat that she'd want to perform acts on you in public... :rolleyes:

Indubitably, how silly of me.

I should have expected a thread on entertainment media choices to devolve into a discussion of sex. :rolleyes:

Books: I live near an awesome little used book shop. Most of my books from the past few years were bought there. I rarely buy new books at the big chain stores. I bought The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul maybe 6 months ago, and that's about it.

I should have expected a thread on entertainment media choices to devolve into a discussion of sex. :rolleyes:

I'm going to make a big rubber stamp that says "This is NSG" and just post it in pretty much every thread ever created.

I'm going to make a big rubber stamp that says "This is NSG" and just post it in pretty much every thread ever created.

Just sig it.

I should have expected a thread on entertainment media choices to devolve into a discussion of sex. :rolleyes:

Books: I live near an awesome little used book shop. Most of my books from the past few years were bought there. I rarely buy new books at the big chain stores. I bought The Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul maybe 6 months ago, and that's about it.

It was about sex in a theater, totally on topic.

Most people can find cheap cinemas nearby. People who live near expensive theatres often live in big cities which means they probably live near a great cinema.

Por ejemplo, I live in pricey London and I regularly pay £1.50 a pop at a simply brilliant place.

Not true. Unless I want to drive all the way across the city to go to Doc Films (the U of C student film society) ticket prices are high everywhere. There are a couple of pretty fabulous rep theaters but they charge about $9 a ticket, which is the same as the first-runs. And Chicago's a pretty big city. The discount second-run/repertory cinema business model hasn't caught on everywhere. Which makes me sad, as I miss living around the corner from a $2 place.