Exactly. I got Assassin's Creed as a part of a "Buy 2 Used Games, Get 1 Free" deal at EB/Gamestop and it averaged out to cost about $12 and change. PoP falls in the same category, imo. The price will keep dropping.
Are there still games out there that you'd buy at release or do you simply wait for all games to drop in price? (A smart thing, if you ask me)
There are some that I'll get right away. Recently I picked up Fable 2, Left 4 Dead, and Gears of War 2 at release. But I still look for ways to offset costs even if a game is new. For example, when I was done with Fable 2 (for now...until I rebuy it at a lower price later), I got good trade in value for it which I applied to offset $33 of the cost of Left 4 Dead. I bought Gears 2 at Circuit City at release because it came with a 1600 MS points card ($20 value).
Best Buy or Circuit City had a deal on Fallout 3 about a week or 2 after release, charging $45 for it. Since it was so close to Christmas, I decided to hold off on it, but I've made that $45 amount the benchmark in my mind so as not to pay any more than that for a copy.
I've got all sorts of twisted logic about what I'm willing to pay/assign value for any given game.
Upcoming games I'm willling to pay full price on (assuming they live up to the hype) in 2009 are Alpha Protocol, Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams, and Dragon Age: Origins. Secondary possibilities include RE5, SF4, Halo Wars, Prototype, Halo 3: ODST, and Borderlands.