Any downside to buying second hand video games?

In my experience no, and in fact that’s almost exclusively how I buy them. I only ever buy a brand new game if it’s something I’m really looking forward too (once a year or less).

Just make sure you’re getting it from a reliable source (game stop, an amazon seller, etc), or check that the game works before you purchase it.

Some people will argue that by purchasing used games you’re hurting the industry as a whole because you’re giving money to game retailers and not game developers.

Personally I’m with @tedd almost always have bought used through gamestop, never had an issue and if I did they have a solid return policy. in fact you can exploit their return policy to get free rentals

edit: also if you’re purchasing games for online multiplayer, some games require a one time use ‘online pass’ which comes free with a new copy. So to access that online content you’ll have to buy a pass key which is usually 10 bucks.

@NuclearWessels Yah I’ve heard that argument, but the industry sucks to be quite frank. They rarely come up with an original idea, so much as repackage the same crap with new items/characters. How many Medal of Honor games are there now? I’d have no problem buying new games from the industry if they had me excited enough to want to buy them right away. But that happens once or twice a year at most anymore.

As a huge fan of vintage video games, it really saddens me quite a lot to see what the industry has become and is becoming.

@tedd and @NuclearWessels Thanks guys for your helpful answers. Since this is still on topic I guess, hope you don’t mind me asking if you’ve ever played either Portal 2 or Combat Ace Assault Horizon? Quite interested in some feedback. Thanks.

They’re called pre-owned around these parts & there’s no definable difference other than the lower price.

@mazingerz88 Ace Combat Assault Horizon (360) is a good game. Note: I only had this game for 7 days

The single player campaign offers a nice mix of different style missions. The fighter missions get intense with the new DFM lock (dogfight mode) which brings you into a chase perspective – metal and oil will spew all over your windshield as you take apart the enemy plane with your guns.
The AC-130 mission was enjoyable and flying the stealth bomber through a radar net gave it a nice change of pace. The negative aspects of the single player campaign are the helicopter missions which seem out of place, too long and the controls are off.

This game is more arcade shooter than realistic flight sim. The story is stale with forgettable characters, sound design is above average and thumbs up for nice visuals. Replayability is lacking in my opinion, however I only played 2 matches of online multiplayer. Whether this game is worth a buy is questionable, but definitely worth a rental.

The one thinkg that some companies are doing today, is supplying a multiplayer “code.” Once used, it is linked to your account and cannot be used again. If you want to play online, it will cost you an additional 5 or 10 dollars. Mortal Kombat did this, and so did the new battlefield.

Just be on the lookout for that.

Unless the place you’re getting them from really doesn’t take care of them, or they buy products from people without checking to see if the discs are badly scratched up, then there’s no problem. I’ve bought a lot of used games, and seldom had any problems. Only once I got a pretty badly scratched disc, but otherwise I’ve been happy with all my used game purchases.

As @mowens mentions though, be on the lookout for games that come with special codes and stuff. For used games, you’ll likely not have the free code. (extra levels, weapons, costumes, DLC’s for free, wtv)

@mazingerz88 Portal 2 is fantastic, but you should probably play Portal 1 first, as there’s a lot of background introduced.