I've had an ebay search running on this game for a few months now, and the prices have only trended upwards in that time (to ~$70 at auction and even higher for BIN).

I was looking at the free 30 day Gamefly trial as an alternative, with the assumption that the one rental will take up most of the month.

For those of us with a US Wii, are these two options (high price or Gamefly) pretty much the only options for obtaining/playing the game at this point, or are there others? I came back to console gaming earlier this year after a few years away and am still out of the loop on good rental/trading services or sites. Thanks!

I would rent it and beat it then take it back there's no way i would pay $80 for a game.

at least your not looking for system shock 2

@knitlife said:

I was looking at the free 30 day Gamefly trial as an alternative, with the assumption that the one rental will take up most of the month.

I was going to suggest that. You could use that Gamefly sub and use the "keep it" option. The "keep it" price on Gamefly right now shows as 54 bucks for me(I have an extra 10% off, though). Once you get the game and make sure it's not scratched up too bad or something, then you can keep it for that price and they will send you the case/manual. Then, you could use the rest of the free Gamefly month to rent some other stuff if you wanted. Or you could just rent that game for the month and not actually buy it. One of those seems to be the best option since the game is apparently hard to find now.

Right here, my good man.

EDIT: Nevermind, it says "currently unavailable". Maybe keep checking?

Pirate it

...$80? I should probably sell my copy...

$80 isn't that expensive. Just buy it.

@EVO said:

$80 isn't that expensive. Just buy it.

Maybe it isn't for you, but $80 is a lot of money for most people, especially for a video game. I have a hard enough time bringing myself to pay $60 for a game (which I don't do often anymore), and $80 is unthinkable.

EDIT: $80 USD.

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

I said 20$ OVER retail. Not that it was 20$.

@Ezakael said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

I said 20$ OVER retail. Not that it was 20$.

You have words in the wrong order. If you want to say what you mean, it's that the game costs over $20 at retail. If you say it costs $20 over retail, it makes it sound that the game costs $20.

Even if you pay $80 for it, you are going to get most of that back if you sell it after you are done with it.

I bought it the day it came out in case I wanted to play it; it's still sitting on the shelf wrapped and I have no idea if I'll ever get around to it.

Easest way - go back in time and buy it from nintendo ( I still have a sealed copy I intend to play... someday. )

@GrantHeaslip said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

I said 20$ OVER retail. Not that it was 20$.

You have words in the wrong order. If you want to say what you mean, it's that the game costs over $20 at retail. If you say it costs $20 over retail, it makes it sound that the game costs $20.

For what it's worth, I read "$20 over retail" as a shorthand for "$20 over the retail price." "Over $20 at retail" would mean "more than $20," which I don't think is what he meant.

Uh yeah, I took it that way too. Hal's taking the crazy pills atm :P

@PixelPrinny said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

I said 20$ OVER retail. Not that it was 20$.

You have words in the wrong order. If you want to say what you mean, it's that the game costs over $20 at retail. If you say it costs $20 over retail, it makes it sound that the game costs $20.

For what it's worth, I read "$20 over retail" as a shorthand for "$20 over the retail price." "Over $20 at retail" would mean "more than $20," which I don't think is what he meant.

Uh yeah, I took it that way too. Hal's taking the crazy pills atm :P

So I am, apparently. :P I just had a brainfart.

I finally got a copy new at Gamestop for $50. There were actually a few stores in my area that had a copy left. I'd keep checking with them.

The BEST way? Well, if you mean cheapest, then you can hack your Wii and just play it for free. If you mean legally cheapest, then just buy it used at Gamestop and return it within 7 days or try to find somewhere to rent it.

That Amazon price is kind of crazy though.

I bought a used copy at Gamestop for 45 USD last month. I'm thinking about buying some new copies to sell in a few years when this game becomes rare. The Amazon prices for used versions of the game cost more than the game does new at Gamestop, which is stupid.

Yep@Cubidog1 said:

I bought a used copy at Gamestop for 45 USD last month. I'm thinking about buying some new copies to sell in a few years when this game becomes rare. The Amazon prices for used versions of the game cost more than the game does new at Gamestop, which is stupid.

Yep, I got my copy of Xenoblade and my Gamecube version of Twilight Princess that should go for a decent amount in 5-10 years.

My local gamestop has like 10 copies of it.

@Hailinel said:

@PixelPrinny said:

@GrantHeaslip said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

@Hailinel said:

@Ezakael said:

Glad I got my copy on release. This is definitely a major downfall of physical media, games becoming rare and super expensive. I'd say get the game while it's still only 20$ over retail. It's a great game and it's incredibly long.

Where are you seeing it that it costs $20? The game has never been under $50 anywhere I've looked.

Also, Nintendo used to sell the game directly through their own website, but it appears that option is no longer available.

I said 20$ OVER retail. Not that it was 20$.

You have words in the wrong order. If you want to say what you mean, it's that the game costs over $20 at retail. If you say it costs $20 over retail, it makes it sound that the game costs $20.

For what it's worth, I read "$20 over retail" as a shorthand for "$20 over the retail price." "Over $20 at retail" would mean "more than $20," which I don't think is what he meant.

Uh yeah, I took it that way too. Hal's taking the crazy pills atm :P

So I am, apparently. :P I just had a brainfart.

I come back home to see a little debate about my grammar >_>. Glad to know it was resolved because I really didn't know how to reply to your initial post. I knew it made sense, at least to me.

I'm actually in the same boat as the OP. Didn't realize how rare this has become and forgot that it was a shitty ass Gamestop Exclusive (which almost makes me not want to buy it on principle). The cheapest a new copy goes for, on Ebay, is like $99. Amazon has copies for like well over $100.

Any other places I could pick this up?