I've marked as a question only because I want to give someone some rep for taking the time to answer this, but I've suddenly realized that when it comes to buying games, even though I buy plenty of them, I'm a rookie. I doubt I ever get the best deal, and I shudder at how much that has cost me over time.

So, let's say there are two scenarios here, what would be your SOP for purchasing them, and for this purpose let's assume ALL such games have been out at least six months. So ignore new releases.

Scenario 1) You've just found out about a game that you had no idea existed, and it tickles your fancy so bad you've got to have it. You saw it Amazon.com, went to Steam and watched the trailer, and compared those two prices, but wonder if you can do any better. But you want this game TODAY.

Scenario 2) You've just found a game you're sure you would like, but it's not one you must have today. You're interested in getting a great deal, but you don't wait until a once a year thing like X-Mas to get it. You're willing to wait to get the best deal you can, but not forever.

How would you pros out there approach this? Me, I look at Steam, at GOG, and at Amazon (and sometimes I'll check Newegg although I go to Newegg more for hardware than software).

ADDED IN EDIT: I should clarify, I look at all of those places I mentioned above, but if GOG has it I too always buy it here, even if it's more than Steam or Amazon. I hates DRM and it's worth it. Besides, I've found the few times when GOG's price is a little higher, if I wait I'll catch it at equal to or less than the lower I found earlier. But yeah, if GOG has it, I buy it. It's no coincidence my GOG library has over 350 on the shelf and Steam has over 300 fewer. But I got Drakensang, (the complete saga) at Amazon for less than $15 and it's 100% DRM free. So had Drakensang been on GOG for $19.99 I probably would've got the Amazon copy at less than $15. Just being honest.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com

Let the community do the work for you.

If you are a heavy Steam user, use the Steam extender thing (someone will have a link, I can't remember where I got it) and it'll give you the lowest it's ever been and the lowest it is right now and where to get it.

I look at it on a time based scale. Firstly I assess my current backlog, and where this new game would fit into it. If for example I've played the demo and decided I want the game now, then it's a "now buy". At that point I look at the reviews and forums to check it's not in need of patching before becoming playable, if it is, it's deferred.

So we've got a "now buy", that's going to trump the backlog. I then see if it's on GOG (most likely I will already know that). If so, GOG regardless of price. Otherwise I look at Steam, as they are likely to be offering competitive prices, and it means I get it there and then (pending download). To me, if it's trumping the backlog, then availability trumps price.

If it's not a "now buy", then it's likely to be a long wait, and I'll either chuck into the "buy at £20 in sale" bin (which is what I did for games like AC3, which released in abou sept for £35, and were blatantly going to be £20 in december), or the firesale bin which is all DLC for a fiver.

So Bioshock Infinite, I was interested in, knew I would play, but had loads on. It went in the firesale bin. I picked it up for a fiver and absolutely loved it. If I'd had less on I'd have prioritised it, but unfortunately for them it was a cheap buy for me.

There are people that "support" publishers by buying the games full price. I'm not one of them, I believe that market forces rule. Which is why I bought SC2 and SC2:HotS for full price, because I wanted them and they weren't going to get much cheaper.

It all started with Direct2Drive, in an Internet Universe long, long ago… Well, GoG isn’t the only place I buy games, but I do limit myself to just a few sites.

I saved up a gaming budget, about 50 dollars, add to it when I can and I’ll go months without buying any games at all. In this way, I’m always ready for an unexpected sale or new release that pops up.

Any games that are every day priced at 10 dollars or less, I’ll buy without a sale, if I absolutely want a game now. Otherwise I’ll wait for a sale. The most I’ll spend on a game is 30 to 40 dollars, but it would have to be a physical copy of a game I really wanted. Most recently, Borderlands 2 GotY for 39.00 on sale.. :/

And I always pretend to talk myself out of buying games, stopping to question, do I really need or want this, will I ever get a chance to play it with the backlog I already have? If I stop to question long enough, the sale passes buy, and usually something better does some along.

Even when I buy on Impulse, I do extra research on a game, watching gameplay or let’s play videos (when available) and reading reviews, just to make sure that I don’t get a game I won’t ever play, or at the least experiment with just to satisfy a curiosity about design elements.

Enhanced Steam - http://www.enhancedsteam.com/

My way:

1. See what I want.
2. Click Buy
3. Download.
4. profit.

I have self imposed limits for games both price per-month and per game.

I read what I can about the game, if it still looks good then I rationalise how far down my back catalogue it will go. If it is next ~5 games then at full price (up to $10 download, $15 disk and $60 SE with soundtrack and a model). If not then I rationalise how much I feel it is worth and wait for it to reach said price, this can either be via a sale or in the case of DLC Quest and Super Hexagon their normal price for fist purchase. I would get them both here again, but only when they are roughly a dollar.

There are very few games that would be "instant buys" for me. In the last two years, most games I have purchased on release were GOG classics. Price for these is not an issue as most of them come at a low 5.99. I would say that I do not see the point waiting for these. Anyway, It's something like 10-12 games purchased over 24 months. There are also two exeptions, newer games I purchased upon release on GO , namely Battle for Kronos and Shadowruns returns ( and I finished most of these games , which is a good thing )

The only other type of games I buy unconditionnaly is the Total War series. But never at full price since I just rent them from Steam. So I wait till the rent drops down to 33% of the full price or so. I just rented Shogun II, Fall of the Samuraï. I also pay these games extensively.

I was once a great fan of Paradox Games, but now that they have enforced their Steam / myriad of dlcs business model, I'm not purchasing any of their newer games anymore. The last ones I purchased was "For the Glory" ( good Idea, great games, still spending game time on it ) and "Crusader King II (nion steam version)" ( Even if bought on sale, very very bad idea as they now forced users to swithch to Steam )

Aside from this I tend to wishlist things that tempt me. During sales, I usually determine a budget and purchase amongst those games, depênding on the rebate. I then usually aims at a 50% rebate on GOG, 75% on Steam. Most of my backlog comes from this category,

I'm a trader, so if I want something it doesn't actually cost me anything. Everything is off of the interest, rarely the principle. My GOG library is significantly smaller than my Steam because it's a bit more expensive to get what I want here. You have to buy a full collection of games to get a discount on the ones you want and the people I trust to do such transactions don't have any of them.

Also, if you use something like Bing Rewards (US residents only) you can get $5 a month amazon credit. So a couple of months of saving up and you might get that game for free or only have to spend $5-$10 on it compared to GOG's full price.

It's easy to figure out how to work every other system except GOG's, which is just direct cash. So unless the sale is high then it's usually cheaper elsewhere (especially if you have credit/tradables on those places like me) and just a matter of DRM preference.

Thanks a lot guys. Again.

I didn't know who to give the solution to, as I was torn between two or three answers that I thought were good. So I drew card between those three, and am happy with the result. I would've been happy with either of the three, as I thought they all three were great. I didn't really expect many to respond to this one, but am gonna +1 everyone else's answer too.

THANKS AGAIN. I've now got three places bookmarked I didn't have before, and that's gonna help me. THANKS

No problem, Thanks a lot for marking mine as the solution. I think this has been a very informative thread and I learned about a couple other places as well which I was unaware of so thanks to the other folks for their helpful responses. :)

Another site that I think hasn't been mentioned yet (and that I was recently reminded of by a fellow GOGer):
IsThereAnyDeal.com

It compares sale prices from all kinds of stores, including GOG, Steam, Amazon, GamersGate, Desura, Humble Store, GreenMan Gaming etc. etc., also listing the lowest recorded prices so far for the games in question, and I think if you create an account, you can also make a personal wishlist and set specific conditions for each game, e.g. "alert me when this is on sale for under $5". Apparantly it's also possible to import your Steam and GamersGate wishlist, as well as GOG mixes. And you can filter your search results, for example by hiding all DLCs.

In my opinion, this site is by far the most comprehensive and complete. Apart from the abundance of information accessible for each game, it also sources prices from a much wider range of retailers; including bundle sites, which seems to be unique to isthereanydeal. Plus, the search filtering system is by far the most nuanced.

Although, I still keep cheapshark bookmarked because they have that nifty deal rating which provides a quick overview of the best deals of the day :)

I can't give you an answer for situation 1, since I always wait for a deal, but here's how I handle my game buying:

How I Buy Games (as a Flowchart)