Xbox Live Market Place - General Discussion Thread 1

[Skull Commander]

I'll be getting that for sure. Thats one thing I don't mind paying the 1200 for. Two great games with optional extras and online/offline co-op. Bargain.

[Charlie]

Mmm. I hate the way an increasing number of XBLA games cost 1200 points and blame all those who rushed out to buy Braid and Castle Crashers. I do love R-Type though so maybe this time I'll stand in line and let Microsoft milk me...

[Brats]

You can blame me if you like, but I have zero problem with spending 1,200 points on games as good as Braid and Castle Crashers. If R-Type plays as good as it looks, that'll be another 1,200 points spent too .

[Skull Commander]

I did regret the 1200 on Castle Crashers. Especially in the buggy mess it arrived in and the unacceptable wait for the patching of it.

[toythatkills]

I happily spent 1200 on Braid because it's a new, original game, and at the time it was a one-off.

When 1200 becomes the standard for ports and remakes (however good) things are getting rubbish.

If Outrun is 1200 I'm going to be really, really pissed off. But all signs seem to point to it. It's a game with less casual appeal that the hardcore are desperate for: MICROSOFT ARBITRARY PRICE HIKE ACTIVATE.

I'll wait five years for them to reduce it.

[Charlie]

I'm not innocent either; I bought Super SFII HD Remix for 1200 points. I do wonder though might MS have priced it at 800 points had more folk rejected the first wave of 1200 point games? Guess we'll never know.

[Skull Commander]

Maybe I'm imagining this but hasn't the price that most shops sell microsoft points also crept up by a pound or so?

I always source cheap points so it doesn't apply to me, but not so fair if that is the case, especially in conjunction with the 1200 trend for newer titles.

[Brats]

I'm not innocent either; I bought Super SFII HD Remix for 1200 points. I do wonder though might MS have priced it at 800 points had more folk rejected the first wave of 1200 point games? Guess we'll never know.

True. You could apply that logic to almost anything though - e.g. I blame the people who kept on buying the Independent newspaper after they increased the price recently.

Obviously enough people consider a number of the titles at 1,200 points as good value (myself included).

[toythatkills]

Maybe 1200 points is good value for the occasional game, but when 800 points has been the standard for three years it's hard to understand why all of a sudden it's been hiked to 1200 (but only on games that aren't inherently casual, as if they know the hardcore are perfectly willing to bend over). Has there been 50% inflation in three years? Or 200% when you consider that ports and remakes used to cost 400 points (remember those days?)

It's like if Microsoft suddenly decided that the RRP on new games should actually be £75. Would you happily accept that too? I don't care how good a game is, I ain't spending £75 on every disk.

[Charlie]

That's how I look at it too. Some argue the difference between 800 points and 1200 points is only £4 (which, of course, is true)) but it's all relative and, all said and done, there's no getting away from the fact it's a 50% increase in price, a 50% increase in price that can seldom be justified.

[Brats]

I'm going slightly off topic here, but percentages price increases/decreases skew the perception of 'value'. The question is whether these games are worth the extra ?4, not whether they are worth another 50%.

I'll show you an example of the way percentages skew things. Say a local shop within walking distance was selling a bag of fruit at ?10. Tesco's a short drive away are selling it for ?5. Most people will think a 50% saving is huge and go to Tescos.

Bear with me here. Say you want to buy a HDTV. The local shop is selling it for ?1,205, whereas Tescos are selling it for ?1,200. Assume everything else is equal (delivery, service, guarantee, etc) most people will consider that the extra trip to Tescos for a tiny percentage difference isn't worth it....and yet the saving on the TV is exactly the same as the saving on the fruit. If it's worth ?5 of your time to drive to Tescos for one item, why not another?

That's how percentages skew things. I've seen people count the pennies when it comes to buying small ticket items and yet happily throw thousands up the wall when buying a house.

My point is that you might be against a 50% increase in principle, but the true increase is only ?4. Braid and Castle Crashers were worth the extra ?4 to me over a typical 800 point game, so I bought them.

[toythatkills]

The £4 argument is invalid. Microsoft chose to use a system of points to trick people into spending more than they realised, and so if this system of points makes things look prohibitively expensive which in actual fact are not, then they've only themselves to blame.

[SuperBeatBoy]

I'm buying it regardless. I loves me R-Type. Perfect game to test my new stick out on. Can't wait. Just hope it isn't a huge f*** up like the GBA port of R-Type III. Which was absolutly horrendous on so many levels.

[Brats]

It's not invalid at all. It might be a different 'currency' but that's academic to the point I'm making. Whether the price has changed from 800 points to 1,200 points or ?8 to ?12, my point still stands. The points don't look any more prohibitively expensive than sterling.

I don't believe anyone is 'tricked' into spending more than they think they are just because it is points instead of pounds, in the same way that people aren't tricked when they spend foreign currency abroad. I do think people can end up buying more points than they wanted at a given time because of the way points are sold, but that's nothing to do with what we are talking about.

Most people do the conversion in their head without thinking about it (and what we've been using, 400 points is worth ?4, is generously rounding up).

[Lebowski]

like has been said before 1200 points for braid as its a new and original game is fair enough but 1200 points for r-type when things like sonic were 400 really is taking the piss its a retro game re skinned or not.

I'm not trying to detract form the game as r-type has its fans and I'm sure plenty of people will love it and happily pay 1200 points but it dose seem a tad pricey for a game thats been around for 20 odd years.