RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[sorophx]

Ctrl+F Baldur 0 of 0

 

So, I see nobody is talking about the hot news.

I just came home from training and what do i see?

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition is going to have new content for the game you love, made by some of the original team members

 

now all I need is a date

[Rostere]

So apparently Blizzard is selling Diablo 3 digital download for $60 in NA and

[Morgoth]

For some reason I get the sense from Diablo 3 that Blizzard just failed to tackle the "Diablo feeling". It just doesn't feel right when watching those videos. In the old days, Blizzard would have just canceled a project if they weren't happy with it. Now, well...

 

This needs a demo first...

[greylord]

So apparently Blizzard is selling Diablo 3 digital download for $60 in NA and

Edited March 15, 2012 by greylord

[Humanoid]

I feel weird defending regional pricing, but I imagine the EU price is VAT inclusive where the US one is not (because of the incredibly fragmented way states deal with sales tax)? Take off 20% VAT for example (I know it's not the same rate everywhere) and it's 50EUR which is ~65USD. Okay a little more but pricing it at 55EUR is technically selling it for less than the US release.

 

I don't actually know if US people have to pay sales tax on top of their list price for digitally distributed items though - I've only got the various news reports about Amazon's battle with the states over tax collection.

 

 

 

Of course my personal preference is always to purchase in the native currency. I pay no conversion fee so generally the credit card exchange rate is much better than the rate charged by the vendor-provided conversion, can be up to a 10% difference.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Humanoid

[Rostere]

I feel weird defending regional pricing, but I imagine the EU price is VAT inclusive where the US one is not (because of the incredibly fragmented way states deal with sales tax)? Take off 20% VAT for example (I know it's not the same rate everywhere) and it's 50EUR which is ~65USD. Okay a little more but pricing it at 55EUR is technically selling it for less than the US release.

 

Wait, the US has fragmented tax system compared to the EU? Dude, the EU is a group of entirely different countries. I have no idea how VAT works between states in the US, but I can say it's definitely not homogenous in the EU. The idea of Blizzard adding the same VAT to all of EU? Well, yeah, you get it...

 

Also, I don't know about your last sentence there...

[Humanoid]

It's fragmented because the US does not mandate listing tax-inclusive prices I believe. The base price is listed, and the originating state believe they should get a cut, and the destination state believes they should get a cut, that kind of thing. Here in Australia it's required by law to show the prices all-inclusive and I assumed it was the same in the EU.

 

But as far as I know the rules for cross-country transactions in Europe are fairly well defined in terms of who collects the tax, where it goes and such. Whereas it feels like in the US it's sort of an all-in melee involving lawsuits and constitutional brawls, etc. But yeah, it's an outsider's uneducated observations rather than analysis of fact.

[MacMichael]

By state? Our sales tax is by county. Buy something in Los Angeles, and you pay something different than San Fransisco or San Diego, never mind crossing a state-line. As far as online purchases, anything you would have paid sales tax for in state, whether online or even picking it up in person out of state, if sales tax wasn't paid there, it's supposed to be paid as use tax at the end of the year, though most people either don't know or don't care about use tax. At least here in California. And as mentioned, any US price displayed, isn't going to include tax, unless it specifically says it does.

[Rostere]

It's fragmented because the US does not mandate listing tax-inclusive prices I believe. The base price is listed, and the originating state believe they should get a cut, and the destination state believes they should get a cut, that kind of thing. Here in Australia it's required by law to show the prices all-inclusive and I assumed it was the same in the EU.

 

But as far as I know the rules for cross-country transactions in Europe are fairly well defined in terms of who collects the tax, where it goes and such. Whereas it feels like in the US it's sort of an all-in melee involving lawsuits and constitutional brawls, etc. But yeah, it's an outsider's uneducated observations rather than analysis of fact.

 

That doesn't make sense. I'm still intrigued about how you believe Blizzard could somehow charge all EU customers an extra $18 when there are different taxes in every country. A quick search shows that for digital services supplied from outside the EU and bought within the EU, local VAT is levied. VAT is between 15% and 25% in most member countries, so how could they just charge $18 (30%)?

[Humanoid]

I'm not following. Is the 60EUR price VAT exclusive? As Actiblizzard have European offices I assumed the price was all inclusive:

 

My take is this:

 

US price: $60 + any applicable tax from potentially hundreds of different rates depending which county you live in

 

EU price : 60EUR all inclusive. At in the worst case scenario of 15% VAT you are paying 52.17EUR to Blizzard which xe.com tells me is 68.11USD as I type this. In the best case scenario of 25% the cut Blizzard receives is 48EUR or 62.67USD.

 

US = $60 + local sales tax

EU = ~$63-$68 + VAT

 

So yes, it's marginally more expensive in Europe, true, but not as massive as the headline figure would suggest - it's 5-13% more expensive.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Humanoid

[Nepenthe]

I'm not following. Is the 60EUR price VAT exclusive? As Actiblizzard have European offices I assumed the price was all inclusive:

 

My take is this:

 

US price: $60 + any applicable tax from potentially hundreds of different rates depending which county you live in

 

EU price : 60EUR all inclusive. At in the worst case scenario of 15% VAT you are paying 52.17EUR to Blizzard which xe.com tells me is 68.11USD as I type this. In the best case scenario of 25% the cut Blizzard receives is 48EUR or 62.67USD.

 

US = $60 + local sales tax

EU = ~$63-$68 + VAT

 

So yes, it's marginally more expensive in Europe, true, but not as massive as the headline figure would suggest - it's 5-13% more expensive.

It's VAT inclusive and your initial arguments are correct. The VAT levels vary, but that just means that Swedes with their 25 % VAT get it actually for less than other people. ie. Actiblizzard takes the hit for differing VAT rates. Or, dependig on your viewpoint, if the average price becomes higher ex-vat, everybody else outside Sweden takes the hit for them

 

IIRC that's also the reason why, say, Steam can't allow you to buy games outside your area. Since their sales to a European countries exceed a certain threshold, they have to charge VAT for that country. Kind of like when I order stuff from Amazon UK, they charge Finnish VAT (at Finnish rates) from me, because they also exceed this threshold.

[Humanoid]

Ironically I guess it means the Diablo 3 CE is *technically* cheaper in Sweden than the US since it's 90EUR -> 72VAT excl VAT = ~94USD. The US base price is $100USD.

 

 

Fortunately for me the Australian government can't be bothered collecting VAT on anything under $1000 so I can pick and choose and get the best of both worlds. I just bought a Kenwood bench mixer from Germany for ~$320 delivered all up - the local price here is $700 with maybe $100 off at most during sales.

Edited March 16, 2012 by Humanoid

[213374U]

IIRC that's also the reason why, say, Steam can't allow you to buy games outside your area. Since their sales to a European countries exceed a certain threshold, they have to charge VAT for that country. Kind of like when I order stuff from Amazon UK, they charge Finnish VAT (at Finnish rates) from me, because they also exceed this threshold.

Explain, please, for the fiscally illiterate.

 

What sense does it make that I pay local VAT for a foreign-produced good or service? Is that a side-effect of tax evading prevention measures for int'l commerce or what?

[Humanoid]

I imagine it's because VAT is by nature a consumption tax, so by definition it's applied to the end consumer. The producer I assume pays their national company tax which is a completely separate affair, hence place of production has no effect on the levying of VAT.

 

 

The only exception I guess is where the cost of collecting VAT exceeds the potential revenue, which may occur with low-value imports. This is why there's generally a lower threshold import value under which no VAT is charged.

[MacMichael]

Also, if a country/state doesn't apply the tax to out-of-country/state goods, if puts local businesses at a competitive disadvantage as far as pricing, in many situations.

[Nepenthe]

IIRC that's also the reason why, say, Steam can't allow you to buy games outside your area. Since their sales to a European countries exceed a certain threshold, they have to charge VAT for that country. Kind of like when I order stuff from Amazon UK, they charge Finnish VAT (at Finnish rates) from me, because they also exceed this threshold.

Explain, please, for the fiscally illiterate.

 

What sense does it make that I pay local VAT for a foreign-produced good or service? Is that a side-effect of tax evading prevention measures for int'l commerce or what?

Doing a million things at once, so not gonna be an excellent explanation, but:

 

This is within EU, so it's not "foreign" in the classic sense any longer. Customs union and all that. And it doesn't apply to every mom and pop shop, but to major players like Amazon UK and Steam (and even in the case of Steam I'm assuming, but evidence fits theory, to quote Mordin). Just means that if you do a significant amount of business from one EU country to another, it sort of counts as being established there for those customers.

 

In the case of Amazon UK, it also means that the actual sale prices vary.

[funcroc]

Jordan Mechner announcing The Last Express for iOS Edited March 16, 2012 by funcroc

[Bendu]

Nice read: The Developer-Publisher Model

[Raithe]

For a slight amusement value:

 

Warren Spector on Deus Ex Human Revolution

 

Spector remarked, "You know I've tried to stay out of that discussion since the game came out... It was one of the few games I finished, and I know the guys on the team and I know how dedicated they were and how respectful of the original they were; their hearts were in the right place and they did a wonderful job."

 

He continued, "And I'm not just saying that. It really captured the spirit of Deus Ex; I mean the moment I booted the game up it sounded like Deus Ex, and they understood the importance of how the game sounded. It had a lot of the sort of gray of the original game where nothing is right and wrong - I really like that a lot. It made me feel like I was making decisions that revealed more about me than it did about my character, which I loved."

 

"The interesting thing was - and we don't have time to get into this right now, even if even if I were ready to get into it - my wife will tell you, I screamed at the television as I played this game. I loved the game, at the end of the day, but I screamed constantly because there were two, three, four things they did where I just said 'Nooooo, why did you this? Noooo!' and, and it wasn't that it was right or wrong, it was different than what I [expected]," Spector noted.

 

And for the challenge:

And some day, either I'm going to write an article about that, or somebody who is getting their master's degree at MIT or someplace, is going to write a master's thesis about the systemic differences, the game system differences between Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Human Revolution."

Edited March 16, 2012 by Raithe

[Lexx]

I want someone to write more DLC for it.

[entrerix]

i just want human revolution 2, and for it to be good

[HoonDing]

There's talk about a Betrayal at Krondor remake. Would prefer a true sequel to Betrayal at Krondor, though, but the problem is Activision holds the IP.

[pmp10]

There's talk about a Betrayal at Krondor remake. Would prefer a true sequel to Betrayal at Krondor, though, but the problem is Activision holds the IP.

There was Return to Krondor and Betrayal at Antara.

And as much as I love BaK I doubt you can make a remake work as modern wrpg.

It simply had no place for the choice and customization that (supposedly) are essential today.

[HoonDing]

There's talk about a Betrayal at Krondor remake. Would prefer a true sequel to Betrayal at Krondor, though, but the problem is Activision holds the IP.

There was Return to Krondor and Betrayal at Antara.

And as much as I love BaK I doubt you can make a remake work as modern wrpg.

It simply had no place for the choice and customization that (supposedly) are essential today.

Betrayal in Antara takes place in another world, Return to Krondor takes place in Midkemia but is not a true sequel either.

 

The true BaK sequel was actually in development, called "Thief of Dreams", continuing the story of Owyn. Sierra wanted to make quick money, canceled this project and went for Betrayal in Antara (a good game, but hardly a BaK). Neal Hallford and John Cutter left long before Betrayal in Antara was out.

 

As for Return to Krondor, same story. Sierra wanting to make a quick buck and rushed the game out of the door. Halford and Cutter actually worked as consultants for this game, but hardly any of their material was even used.

 

So basically, even in the "golden era of video games" publishers screwed developers over.

Edited March 17, 2012 by virumor

[Nepenthe]

i just want human revolution 2, and for it to be good

If it's not being developed right now, I don't know what is.