The Great Gift Card Debate of 2008

So I’ve managed to receive various gift cards for Christmas (and one from a few years back that I’d forgotten about, but still has its original balance on it). This happens most years, and I usually use the cards to buy up some old, cheap PC games. So cheap that I often get my money’s worth just skimming the manual or playing the tutorial. Plus the games in the price range that I usually consider have been around for a while, proving their worth to some degree. But, this holiday I’ve ended up with a bit more to spend (and I might as well spend it, otherwise these companies just get to sit on my money and make interest on me), so I’m considering a few of the more expensive games. Or I could wait until prices drop a bit more as newer games come out.

I haven’t completely picked out all of the possible games, but here’s a sampling of what I’m considering at the moment and the various prices I’ve dug up so far. It’s interesting to see how some of the games have such a wide variation in pricing across the various stores. I’ll most likely be using the Amazon gift certificate for books (especially with the 4-for-3 deal they’ve got on paperbacks still going), but I thought I’d include the prices that for comparison’s sake.