Xbox Live's Games on Demand

A Good Value?

Microsoft has recently launched a new service cleverly named "Games On Demand" which offers downloadable versions of Xbox 360 games (complete with manuals- although they are not guaranteed to be for the proper system) . Unfortunately when compared to what you would pay for a new hard copy of a game these titles seem more and more unattractive.

For example, Assassin's Creed sells for $29.99 on the service when it can be found on eBay brand-new for $20 shipped. For that price you get a hard copy that you can resell later. I can see where $10 might be worth the convenience of being able to play it without the disc and without waiting for it to arrive in the mail, but this isn't the worst example.

I bought Bioshock for $20 new, once again it is only $10 right? Wrong, that was all the way back in November. You can find it for $15 new on eBay now... not to mention you can buy it in a bundle with Oblivion (another $29.99 title) for $40 in a retail store or $35 on eBay.

How about Call of Duty 2? You can get that game for $10 used on eBay and for $20 new... the only reason you can't get it cheaper new is it is so old new copies are rare.

Maybe Rainbow Six Vegas will be a better deal... Considering I'm having trouble selling the 2nd one for more than $10 I doubt it. Seems I was right and it can be had for $10.95 on eBay... a whopping 1/3 off the on demand price.

How about DDR Universe? Oh, never mind I see no one cares... even if someone did care who would buy a DDR game without the pad?

From looking at the list the only games I see as a good deal are Mass Effect which is selling for $20 at most stores new (you could do way better used online though) and Bad Company which seems like a very good deal but I'm not sure about the amount of online users right now.

Basically, before you buy do your research and realize that the more people buy the more likely they will keep the prices the same as they are. If we only buy the games that are a decent value- they will eventually try to make more games decent values.