This is interesting (honest)

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

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Sounds very familiar but I dont think i've played it yet.

[kirottu]

capitalism works in every instance that it is implemented

 

taks

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Taks true nature. "

 

Edit: No flame intended, only humor.

Edited March 30, 2005 by kirottu

[Arkan]

Higher game prices don't really affect me...not anymore, at least.

 

I used to buy games when they hit the shelves...back when I had no other expenses. Now-a-days, I wait till the price drops and all the kinks are (in theory) worked out. If the price remains high, big whoop. It's not the end of the world. I'll borrow it from someone or whatever.

 

Console games are a different story. 15-20 dollars a month can get you any game you desire for as long as you want to play it (hey, you can always mod your system to play haxxored games, or whatever) with Gamefly or a similar service. The only thing to really consider is the price of the console in question.

[Azarkon]

MMORPGs solve the problem of stagnant game prices by having a industry-standard up-front cost followed by a long-term investment. Take EQ, for instance: the box price is only $50, but five years of subscription comes out to be ~$720. And that's assuming expansions are considered separate games.

 

They are the only games that I can imagine publishers really throwing out the $$$ for, especially given the latest success of WoW. Of course, successful MMORPGs are also fairly rare, and the ones that don't succeed often bomb hard.

[Loof]

yeah but I don't think any significant precentage of game buying people would play the same game for 5 years running.

 

I think the increasing development costs without increasing game costs mainly comes down to games on average selling more units hence the induvidual gameprice can stay "low".

This is good in some ways but bad in others, good in that a lower price means its more afordable to buy multiple games and hence sample different offerings. Bad in that since each title has to sell more units, they tend to be more of a "safe bet" which inhibits inovation.

 

So win some lose some I guess...

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

Bad in that since each title has to sell more units, they tend to be more of a "safe bet" which inhibits inovation.

 

So win some lose some I guess...

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insightful.

[Yst]

20 years ago, games were a little cheaper, but not in inflation adjusted dollars.  however, 20 years ago, the only people that had computers used them for gaming (C64 had one purpose, as did the atari 2600).

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Absolutely, categorically false. Look at computer magazines, publications and books from 20 years ago and compare them to today's computer enthusiasts publications and you'll see that exactly the opposite of what you state was the case.

 

Furthermore, the Atari 2600 was not a computer at all, nor was it marketed as one; it was a video game console, and was sold as such. This might be a reason for your confusion regarding the state of computers 20 years ago.

 

Anyway, games are far more prominently the focus of computer enthusiast fandom today than they were 20 years ago. 20 years ago, there still remained a focus on the computer for its own sake, as a platform for creative invention through coding. And that really did still constitute the chief focus of the community who claimed computers as their hobby. Video game consoles like the Odyssey and the 2600 are a completely different topic.

 

Coding still remained the uniting interest of computer culture at that point. Sure, people had always been writing games and trading games, since the advent of the S100 bus systems and the Apple II in the '70s, but the core functionality of computers between the late seventies and up to the mid eighties was their support for BASIC and/or other programming languages.

[Drakron]

Sounds very familiar but I dont think i've played it yet.

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I dont think you will if you are european.

 

Besides looking at some reviews it looks its 180 hours because you spend more time being killed that moving on the story.

[Azarkon]

yeah but I don't think any significant precentage of game buying people would play the same game for 5 years running.

 

No, but through the life time of a MMORPG, new players enter and old players leave. It mostly averages out. For instance, Everquest, before World of Warcraft stole its thunder, averaged about 300,000 paying accounts for 3-4 years. That's quite a long profit retention rate - though, as you say, it probably wasn't always from the same people.

[BlueNinja]

As for time spent... I put in 180 hours into a console RPG once Now that's value.

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That's a lot of leveling-up time! Though given the sheer number of times I've played them, I'm sure that Torment, Master of Orion 2, and Final Fantasy 6 have each racked up that many hours of my time.

 

I'd buy more games for $50 if I saw more games that were worth it. The only game I bought upon release in the last two years was Thief: Deadly Shadows. Well worth it. I suspect my wife will buy Bloodlines as soon as I return it to my friend.

[Child of Flame]

As for time spent... I put in 180 hours into a console RPG once Now that's value.

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That's a lot of leveling-up time! Though given the sheer number of times I've played them, I'm sure that Torment, Master of Orion 2, and Final Fantasy 6 have each racked up that many hours of my time.

 

I'd buy more games for $50 if I saw more games that were worth it. The only game I bought upon release in the last two years was Thief: Deadly Shadows. Well worth it. I suspect my wife will buy Bloodlines as soon as I return it to my friend.

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BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL!!!

 

That game was worth $70...easy.

[Zach Morris]

I find that the prices are pretty reasonable. I like Best Buy for usually having a sale the first week a computer game comes out. Instead of 49.99 it's 39.99. And sometimes lower. Also bargain bin is a great way to find cheap games. So if a game is too much and it is on PC then just wait a couple of months and it should drop down in price.

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL!!!

 

That game was worth $70...easy.

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Too short not much point in replaying. I took it back to GAME to trade and was informed that since it was within 10 days I could have a full refund

[Invoker]

I don't know what all this means, but someone might be able to draw some conclusions from my numbers

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I feel like PC games have been at around 450 SEK for ages... but my numeric memory isnt very good.

 

 

I do remember that my 386sx 33mHz with 4mb RAM cost my father around 10000 SEK in 1993

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They're more expensive now. You will be hard pressed to find a new PC game below the 499SEK mark. That's what KotOR2 cost me. It's even more expensive on the XBox. Around a 100SEK more. (No, I did not buy it on the SexBox. Why should I?)

 

It appears that there's a rule on how the price tag is set on XBox games here in Sweden. Any new PC-game's price + 100SEK = Brand spanking new Xbox game.

 

Yeah. My first computer was also a 386SX 33mhz with 4mb RAM and 512k GFx-memory. I inherited it from my aunt who coughed up 12,000SEK for it. It's amazing how technology has advanced from way back when ...

[Kaftan Barlast]

Depends on where you buy them http://www.webhallen.com has the best prices Ive come across. I got K2 for 399SEK, but the "Xbox games cost 100kr more for no reason at all" rule still applies though.

 

 

512k GFx memory? Hmm, I dont remember the graphics card having memory at all.. it was just EGA, CGA, VGA and S-VGA

[Volourn]

If games are just an 'indulgence' as MC points out and not a neccessary than the prices should be whatever the amrket can bear which right now is pparantly 'high prices'. Afterall, the game industry tends to make as much money as Hollywood does.

 

If prices are too high for you then don't buy them. Afterall, games are not food. You'll survive without them.

 

R00fles!

[Invoker]

Depends on where you buy them http://www.webhallen.com has the best prices Ive come across. I got K2 for 399SEK, but the "Xbox games cost 100kr more for no reason at all" rule still applies though.

 

 

512k GFx memory? Hmm, I dont remember the graphics card having memory at all.. it was just EGA, CGA, VGA and S-VGA

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Yeah, I could've bought it from Webhallen, that is true. But since I was downtown anyways I figured I just pick it up there instead of waiting. Yes, I was lazy.

 

True. But you still had some form of graphic memory. Mostly a small ugly chip on the motherboard.

[Darque]

As for time spent... I put in 180 hours into a console RPG once Now that's value.

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That's a lot of leveling-up time! Though given the sheer number of times I've played them, I'm sure that Torment, Master of Orion 2, and Final Fantasy 6 have each racked up that many hours of my time.

 

I'd buy more games for $50 if I saw more games that were worth it. The only game I bought upon release in the last two years was Thief: Deadly Shadows. Well worth it. I suspect my wife will buy Bloodlines as soon as I return it to my friend.

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I made sure I did "everything" and unlocked "everything"

 

Percentage wise there wasn't that much leveling time used... I just didn't hurry

[ShadowPaladin V1.0]

True, there is a huge different between finishing a JRPG and completing one.

 

The celestial weapons in FFX were a big time sink. But I stuck it out. Except for Kimari's could never do the butterflies.

 

And the sun crest was a case of do until you get lucky.

[Darque]

I managed to get and powerup Auron's and Yuna's by playing normally... that was good enough for me

 

After SMT:N I will most likely never do "everything" in a game again

 

Well except survival horror games

[Drakron]

You might want to check "Haunted Mansion" Darque, I read some people saying its how Clock Tower 3 sould been.

[Darque]

You might want to check "Haunted Mansion" Darque, I read some people saying its how Clock Tower 3 sould been.

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Does this game have guns in it?

[Kaftan Barlast]

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL!!!

 

That game was worth $70...easy.

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Isnt that some form of action/modern platform/puzzle thing?

[Tanuvein]

BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL!!!

 

That game was worth $70...easy.

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Isnt that some form of action/modern platform/puzzle thing?

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No platforming, if I remember right. Its a console style action/adventure game.

[mkreku]

A bit off-topic, but..

 

I once spent 100$ on a single game. Expensive? Not really. I used to play this mud (www.medievia.com) and if you "donated" money to them, you got these two great items that were strangely well-balanced (I played for two years without them, and four years with them). During that time I logged an amazing 5600 hours in the game! How's that for value? 100$ seemed expensive at the time, but thinking about it now, it was a bargain.