Game Prices.

[gossi the dog]

someone on gamesradar posted a link to gbastore.com after having successfully recieved there own copy of ALttP that they ordered from the same site. I've had a look and the prices are fairly decent, just as a test I put in all the games I'm looking to get for the GBA: Wario Ware, Advance Wars 1 and 2, Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis and Mario & Luigi: Superstar saga. In total it came to about ?53 including shipping costs as well. I've never used them before or even heard of them so I'm not sure how good they are.

Chances are they're going to be pirate copies. If you want cheaer GBA games buy them from the US.

[Pacman555]

Blatantly they'll just be written to cheap Chinese flash carts. Probably owned by the same backroom outfit as PSGame .

[jpred88]

...I could not justify the ?35 I used to pay for GBA games originally or the ?45+ N64 titles used to cost me.

*remembers paying ?59.99 for Conker's Bad Fur Day on lauch day*

[Molloy]

2nd hand sales and heavy discounting by retailers are a wonderful thing. Games have been too expensive for too long.

I can see games dropping to DVD type prices eventually and then we'll see the market broaden substantially. Once you get below ?20 it becomes impulse purchase territory.

I welcome smaller, cheaper to develop games at a reasonable price. At the moment the market it full of bloated epics to try and justify the ?40 retail price. I don't want bloody epics. I want something that over in an hour or two like a music album or movie, something I dig out every month and blaze through in an afternoon. Most games at the moment aren't interesting enough to justify my spending weeks on them. Never had to do that on the Mega Drive even with the RPGs.

[nips]

The issue with that, Molloy, is that unless sales increase greatly the medium would not be able to support itself at that price. I do believe that certain items are to expensive, just look at the continued NTSC->PAL price discrepancies... however, irrespective of a games length, unless game development is further homogonised through middleware, price of development will increase greater than the market.

[Robster]

I agree GBA games are still bloomin expensive - maybe with psp & DS the price will drop a bit.

Imo, I still boke at the thought of paying ?39.99 for a new game I think that price is a rip off. I would rather wait until it comes down or get it 2nd hand( even at that if its 2nd hand I would only buy it just after the realease date as 2nd hadn prices are a bit of a joke too).


The only time I pay top pound for a game is from import which I dont have a problem with as its always realeased erlier and in glorious 60 Hz.

[ryodi]

*remembers paying ?59.99 for Conker's Bad Fur Day on lauch day*

I paid ?44.99 for my copy in the GAME sale. I still can't believe I paid ?49.99 for Perfect Dark and Majora's Mask, I would never dream of spending that much money on a game now. But a nice weighty cart or huge GD-ROM casing like the Shenmue games does make the money fell more worth it compared to a generic dvd in case combo you see these days.

[dc-arena]

Obviously nobody buys **** games here (right?), so a ?40 game is no issue. I paid ?60 for SNES Street Fighter II, and I still play it now and again now. Its 2005 in a few days time. Thats purty good value. I still play my NTSC N64 often too.

As long as you get enjoyment out of it, and have exhausted it/completed it/keep playing it, then I don't think it really matters. PGR2? I played easily 600hours on that game - well worth ?40.00. Same goes for GBA games. They are ?30 or whatever, thats one night on the piss in town, and now you have a game for life. Its really not that much when you think about it. Take Advance Wars for example. ?30. How long, on average does it last? 15 - 20 hours? Maybe more, it did for me. Thats worth ?30 in my eyes, and you can always sell it on afterwards.

Imports used to be stupid expensive, but since the internet has come good, times have changed. No more paying ?70 for PlayStation2 games... And they were worth it. GT3.. How many hours did you play of that? 100s, literally.



Basically, don't buy **** games, and you'll get your moneys worth.

[razu]

**** games you say?

[dc-arena]

They Must Die.

[nekroxide]

I'm sure Turok was ?70 when it first came out. I remember Dixons had this random "all games half price" sale in the run up to Christmas, so I got that and Lylat Wars. I felt good.

[Resonance]

Agreed, I think games prices are pretty much bang on at the moment. I can recall the dark days of the Megadrive and SNES when the average price for a game was ?44.99 - and prices didn't drop within months like they do now. These days you can get new titles for under ?20 only a couple of weeks after release. For example, Blockbuster are doing KOF 00/01 and Metal Slug 3 in a two for ?20 offer - the games have only been out for a few months. The low cost of CD-ROM/DVD-ROM production obviously helps.

There's really never been a better time to be a gamer when it comes to prices.

ditto.

[RobN]

Most I ever paid for a game was ?65 for Super Streetfighter II on the snes. When I got it home i found out my converter cart was now obsolete. Had to buy another cart at a cost of ?20 just to play the game. I think it was the last game I ever bought for snes so really the game cost me ?85. As great as it was, I had already played the original and Turbo versions to death. Unfortuantly the new charecters weren't all that great and I certainly never got my monies worth. Most I've paid for a GC game is ?37 for SMS in local store.

[buster_broon]

think on import the most i paid was ?70 and that was splatterhouse 3 for the megadrive

bought it from dream machines 2

to be honest importers would still be asking that huge mark up they did years ago if it wasnt for companies like VG+ and play asia

they now have to compete for business and now i would rather import viewtiful joe (with bonus clock) for ?21 rather than give a uk importer ?40 before shipping

[Molloy]

The issue with that, Molloy, is that unless sales increase greatly the medium would not be able to support itself at that price. I do believe that certain items are to expensive, just look at the continued NTSC->PAL price discrepancies... however, irrespective of a games length, unless game development is further homogonised through middleware, price of development will increase greater than the market.

I don't see this overblown publisher model being sustainable for much longer anyway. Music, movies and film are going to just get cheaper and cheaper. In 5 years time all mobile phones will probably come with 10+ gig harddrives. You'll just be able to point it at your buddy and swap you're entire collection in a matter of minutes.

Cheap and short indie gaming is the way to go. It's a bit of a contradiction but the more money/people you throw at next gen development the more problems you create.