I'm a budget minded gamer, a few games i buy right away others i wait. Sadly fallout 4 is being added to my very long wait list. I'm running a computer that is 5 ish years old. A good running 8800 xfx with an impresive 512mb of ram, no where enough to run fallout 4. Now i could get a better card, but i only have a 500watt power supply then there's ram only 5gb. I don't exacly have 800 dollars sitting around to build a half decent computer (done the homework).Plus my computer works fine, i don't have a huge desire to upgrade. Now the cost is insane a hundred dollars for Fallout 4. I did buy fallout 3 multiple times. Mind you i did trade in gears of war two for fallout three (360) then traded it in for fallout 3 (pc) So i didn't spend much for Fallout 3 Gaming is becoming a very expensive hobby, one i might just have to back out of.

Once you get your computer upgraded it only costs a few hundred dollars every so often to buy the next level component. For me, my next round is full restart with motherboard - RAM - CPU (carrying over the PSU, case/fans, GPU and SSD/drives from current build). Basically just have to keep cycling through components every so often to keep the computer game-ready.

It isn't cheap, but I think it's rewarding - my computer always handles games well.

The trick is to buy quality components and look towards the future so the components will all work together for quite some time ahead.

I'm afraid the answer is yes.

Yeah, that's what I do (actually my MB burned off along with the CPU not too long ago, so that was an "upgrade" right there =). Just be mindful of cycling through and upgrading when you have the funds/need.

$100 for Fallout 4? You're shopping in the wrong place my friend =)

Fallout 4 is $60. And if you want all the DLC it's another $30.

I have to agree the price is getting high. There are games that come out now that I intentionally wait a year or two and then buy the Deluxe Edition on sale. I have made a killing on some games, buying them a year or two later on a STEAM sale. Comparing the hours played to the price, golden.

Unfortunately there are several $60 games out there now that I know I would never get $60 worth of game-play out of (subjective I know), while there are others that I know I'll get my monies worth but would rather wait for a sale ... and then there are those that I pull the trigger on immediately. Skyrim I pulled the trigger and never regretted it. Pre-ordered months in advance. FO4 is becoming more of a wait and see title. I need to see something that makes me really want to play right now. Currently I feel more like just watching people's Let's Plays and waiting on a sale.

I doubt it's $100. Even if it was, the amount of time playing it would be well worth it.

I mean, I spent about 8 hours on my current save in Skyrim and I only did a few side quests and barely started the Dark Brotherhood.

Even in a previous 80 hour save, I didn't even finish the main quest.

Gaming is relatively expensive, but then so are most other hobbies as well. Fallout 4 price (PC) has however surprised me too. Usually new games go for 45€ here but the cheapest FO4 retailer I found was 50€ but the store had pretty bad reviews. Paid 52,5€ plus 2,5€ postage for my copy from a reputable retailer. It's not THAT much more than average but still considering the fact they probably haven't included a proper manual (annoyingly increasing practice). 100$ is very high though.
Granted Bethesda games do have the best euro-time played -ratio for me. 2k hours spent on Skyrim (so far) says much!

I've found that one can save big bucks buying pc components second hand. I don't know how those markets are in other countries though. As far as component reliability goes, only hdds/ssds are what I wouldn't recommend buying second hand. Never had any issues with any other second hand parts, and never gotten any complaints about the components I've sold either.

I preordered mine from a respectable webshop for 40euro's, screw you Steam and your 60euro's pricetag! I'll get a steam code in my inbox on november 10th.

Shopping around pays off, Steam is often one of the more expensive places to get your games when they aren't doing heavy discounts.

Out of all the hobbies you could have i find gaming to be one of the least expensive. I know people who'd go out every weekend, they'd burn through enough money for 4 triple-A release titles in an evening. Going to the movies is like 18,- for two hours of entertainment with no snacks.

To each there own of course, but gaming is one of the most affordable things you could spend your time on. It does kind of require you to invest a bit of money every once in a while to keep your hardware up to date.

I always find it funny when people talk about how expensive games are getting. Games have stayed super-low compared to inflation.

Most new games in the 1980s cost $80 - in 1980s money. New RPGs on the SNES in the 90s were regularly $80-90 dollars. I paid $89.99 for Chrono Trigger on release day. Accounting for inflation, that would be like paying $140 for a game today. Games have actually gotten continuously cheaper over time compared to the value of the dollar. I get that gamers don't always have a lot of money, but it seems silly to me to complain about a $60 game you know will include dozens if not hundreds of hours of gameplay.

It is, I don't even have a next-gen system.

Speaking from a console standpoint, it isn't too bad. I mean sure, every few years I have to shell out for the latest console and maybe an extra controller or two, but other than that it's pretty easy on the budget.

But yes, I can see how it could get pretty expensive for PC users.

First It doesn't cost that much, there's in a range of 55-70 euros here in Europe even cheaper in America.
Second, the game is the cheapest game you could buy in a while. Tell me another game with same customization, replay value more than 400 hours of a playthrough and overall quality.

Cod and shooters everywhere offering only 10 hours of gameplay in single campaign and cost almost the same. Offering crappy day one dlc from over pricing weapon skins. It has more content Fallout in customization that all games you could imagine since Skyrim.

Expensive!!! You couldn't imagine how expensive is made a masterpiece of this category. If there were so easy and overpriced all companies would do same policy and not launching each year same game franchise over and over again.

Fallout 3 was 50 dollar if i recall correctly, each DLC go from 10-15 dollars. so u end spending around 100 or more

While that may be true, the cost of everything else has gone up. My total percentage of 'expendable' income after bills gets smaller every year, especially true now that both of my kids are in college. So, while I could just get the game now, and I would if I was just so hyped that I MUST HAVE IT NOW, right now FO4 isn't so important to me that I can't just wait and see. IMO Todd has not done a very good job with the hype train this time around.

Better the prices go up instead of them adding micro transactions to make money..imo..[censored] that.

I wait until the price goes down for almost all games I buy. Elder Scrolls and Fallout games are the sole exception ... if it's out, I have to have it. Everything else is what Steam sales are for.

I did manage to hold off for a sale on Skyrim DLC, but at the end of the day that was more because I was ticked off over the XBox timed exclusive and refused to pay full price for content that others had been playing for weeks than it was my objecting to the price. I'll probably get the season pass when the first DLC comes out since there are no exclusives this time around.

It would've been 90$.

But that's not really a good way of looking at dlc, as if it is an essentialy must-have part of the core game and you are locked into buying it regardless. They are seperate products that each have their own relative value.

For example i got Skyrim on launch, full price. I got so many hours of fun out of it, it was totally worth the price. Then came dlc's, and with Heartfire i wasn't sure if it was going to give me enough fun and content to make it worth it. So i did not buy it.

Evaluate the game and the dlc on their own is what i'm trying to say.

People complained about the hype train last time around, and this time around they are complaining that there isn't a hype train.

Not everyone will be completely happy with their approach. Personally if I could have all of their future games follow this type of marketing plan, I would do it (baring that its even my decision to make that decision in the first place).

As for games they haven't really gotten more expensive, they have just added more things that you can spend your money on. DLC, seasonpasses, in game lolmarkets, and everyone's favorite buzzword micro-transactions.

These are the new "added" costs of gaming however the games themselves have stayed the same price for quite some time.

The DLC will be an essential must-have product for me. Using mods to tweak and transform my game are one of my great pleasures with Bethesda titles, and some of the best mods will have the DLC as prerequisites. So even if the DLC doesn't interest me, odds are it's assets will be needed for a mod that does.

I don't think it's gotten any more expensive from back in the day. When I was a tiny nerd, an NES cartridge ran easily for 50$ new in 1990. N64 games at times would set you back 70$. Now we're paying, at standard 59.99$ for a game fresh on the rack.

Handheld games can set you back between 30-40$ for the 3DS. No idea how that fairs for PS Vita users...the Vita is still a thing right?

PC users got it easy, as a lot of good games run about 20$...if they are not Triple A titles.

I say we are breaking even of gaming being a...well, it's an expensive hobby. It always has been...Between the pricey hardware and pricey software...

Not to sound like a d*@# but your pc is a potato lil'fella, time to either upgrade or move to console as that might be your cheapest option.

You know what got me on Skyrim? Salmon. Yeah seeing that footage and seeing Salmon jumping up the river, and know that I could jump in and catch them. BOOM, Skyrim is a day-one must buy. And the first thing I did while being led to Riverwood was jump in the river as soon as I could and catch some fish. Hell I still pause to watch the fish jumping sometimes.

So it really doesn't take a lot. For me it was showing something about the game world that made it seem real. So far all we've really seen of FO4 is stupid dress-up and unrealistic combat, well that and how to instantly build a shanty house.

As I console gamer I don't think many games are worth $60 which why I get them at a price drop or when the GOTY version is released. That said Bethesda is one of three developers I think have games worth $60.

They showed some of the pre-war era and how you end at the vault

They showed a lot of the combat changes, i'd say almost all of them if you dissect the footage and there are a lot of them

They showed perks and how the new system will work

They showed the new crafting changes, and how extensive you an mod your weapon

They showed the changes to the Power Armor

They showed changes to the VATs (bullet time + execute critical)

They showed us settlement building

They teased several pieces of clothing and armor

They teased various locations and settings

They showed us the changes to the physics (enemies moving with the weight of attacks, terrain response to explosives, etc)

Maybe it's not all to your liking, but i'd say they showed us more than "unrealistic combat" and "dress-up". That's just disingeneous to state.

Fix that for ya