A Gamer's Buying Guide: Top Five Ways to Choose What Video Game You Should Buy Next

So many video games to choose from, yet so little funds. With video game prices they way they are, no one can possibly ever own all the games they desire unless they're millionaires -- or in debt up to their eyeballs. Besides just buying the newest, most popular game available, how do you choose which ones to spend your money on?

1. Purchase Games with Older Release Dates: Don't buy the newest game every time. In a few months after release or after the holidays, these prices usually fall, if only just a few dollars. There's no need to line the pockets of the manufacturers by playing into the "buy now, or we'll run out!" So far, that's really only happened with the Nintendo Wii. There's usually plenty of copies to go around for everything else. If you really can't wait to play Call of Duty: Black Ops, rent it from a video game rental instead.

2. Analyze the Gameplay Content: Don't factor in a gleaming, graphically-enhanced video game jacket. Just because it looks awesome to own doesn't mean you're going to get hours of fun gaming time. I've mistakenly thought some video games looked cool and was terribly disappointed at how little they had to offer in terms of action, weapons, plot, storyline and game length.

3. Pick Your Poison: Few video games are squeaky clean as far as adult content goes, and if they are, they're for little kids. Even little kids don't want to play little kid games. So figure out which vices are least favorable and choose your games from there.

For instance, if you don't mind behaving like a criminal, you might have no problem playing the Grand Theft Auto series. But if you just want a lot of shooting action without the cop-killing and girl-beating that goes with it, pick something like Uncharted or Call of Duty.

Some games, such as Heavy Rain and Red Dead Redemption, pack in everything - violence, language and sexual content. In some cases, you can skip the raunchy scenes and proceed with the shoot 'em up gaming. So that's something to keep in mind if those scenes are preventing you from purchasing the game.

4. Decide What You Really Want to Use that Controller for: Your friends are probably pressuring you into getting Call of Duty: Black Ops or Halo: Reach, but is that what you want to play? Think about it. If you're more of a sci-fi or superhero fan, perhaps you'd be better off paired with the Ratchet and Clank series or Batman: Arkham Asylum.

And it doesn't matter if you're male or female - sometimes, you just want to sing or dance, not go through scene after scene of boring climbing or intense fighting. In that case, think about getting SingStar for PS3 or Dance Dance Revolution for Nintendo Wii.

5. Will You Be Sharing? Oftentimes, you're not the only person who's going to play a video game. You might be sharing with friends, siblings or parents (those who are interested, that is). So if your budget is limited, think about buying games that will more or less satisfy all of you. And you might get some extra help buying those more expensive titles, too.

Hopefully this takes some of the strain off of picking video games. Use these tips for buying your own game or for gift-giving video games to someone else.