Consumer Guide to Buying Games Online (continued)
Besides this seemingly large discrepency in prices, it is important to look at the bigger picture, too. This includes the entire buying experience, such as ease of ordering, delivery speed, and other perks.
4CDs.com - While this store had the most expensive price, it had the most extensive catalog. If you need to find a game that no one else has, or find anything from flight stick peripherals or scenery for a flight sim game, 4CDs.com is your choice, hands down. They have partnered with many smaller companies to distribute products, such as Cockpit Collections line of keyboard control covers. I would check out their specials before buying, since there were some good values such as Comanche Gold for under $20 and a 3dfx Voodoo 3 AGP card for $99.99.
Beyond.com - I love their commercials! If you've heard Beyond.com's commercials they humorously stress ease of use. As promised, they deliver. It is much like the Amazon of software, with consumer reviews, recommendation lists, and dynamic pages that seem to suggest software based on what you've purchased in the past. While these features are helpful, you are paying for them. Prices were generally higher than Buy.com or EBWorld, though Beyond.com came in 3rd on the grand total list.
Buy.com - There must be an inverse relationship between pricing and availability, since Buy.com had the lowest prices but also had the highest percentage of unavailable games. Many new games, such as Apache Havoc, F-22 Lightning 3, and Fleet Command were not listed. Even Sim City 3000 was not available (I still can't believe this, so go check it out and prove me wrong). My best advice is to check them first for availability. Also be aware that prices at Buy.com change often. Usually, these changes benefit the consumer but even by the time I priced the games, one day later there were different prices.
Chips & Bits - The child of Computer Games Online magazine, Chips & Bits is well tied to the gaming community. Only one game was not available through them, puting them right behind 4CDs as the most extensive catalog. While C&B is not cheap, they are very easy to use and quick for delivery. Also, they had the lowest price for 3 of the 6 upcoming games, which means that pre-ordering through them is a good deal (though low cost leader Buy.com only allowed pre-ordering of 2 of 6 games).
Continue to the Third Page - More store reviews and conclusion
Back to the First Page - Study Design
Charts:
Past and Present Computer Games | Video card/Accelerators | Upcoming (Pre-ordered) Games
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