I am not going to be on my Ivory tower and say I do not like video games. I might not play them as much as I used to play them, but it is perhaps one of the things that got me interested in electronics and Japan. If it was not for video games, I would probably know less about computers and electronics than I do now.
Video games to me are like a double edged sword: if you want to save money they can help you do so, but if you want to buy the "latest and greatest" then be prepared to pay. I own a Playstation 2 with over 100 PS1 and PS2 games (which I am slowly selling off). When I was growing up, playing games for me was one of my passions which kept me off the streets and it kept me from getting into trouble. The problem is playing them too much is what keeps people from obtaining their goals in life. So you need a since of balance in order to save money. Obviously as games hit the market and stay there they will devalue over a period of time. But people tend to get impatient with waiting for a their next Final Fantasy, Metal Gear or God of War.
Kratos can wait and quite frankly so can Snake. For those of you that lived in a bunker since information fallout (not to be associated with the game), there are games out there which are free to play. At http://www.ijji.com there are a bunch of online multi player games such as Gunz the Duel and Soldier Front which is a first person shooter. On Facebook, there are many new applications that get released every day which promote a healthier sporatic style of game play. On there, I play Dungeons and Dragons: Tiny Adventures and Mob Wars. There are also a few puzzle games like Bejeweled Blitz which is insanely hard to get a high score. Another site, which as a little bit of spam and adware is http://www.newgrounds.com. It has Flash made video games which are free to play.