Is gaming becoming prohibitively expensive?

[toythatkills]

Your opinions?

There are lots of rumours around at the moment about E3 and the like, and an incredible amount of these are based around new peripherals.

Guitar Hero IV allegedly has a wireless drumkit (utterly stupid and bereft of any point) and a guitar with touch sensitive fret buttons. It seems every new iteration of these music games has a slight upgrade in the peripheral to the last version and I just can't afford to buy the latest guitar every year. Then of course there's the cross-compatibility problems and you find that if you want to play all of the music games this year (assuming there aren't any other music games in the works) you'll probably need six guitars, three drumkits, and a second mortgage. It used to be just the price of three disks.

But it's not even stopping there. Apparently the new Tony Hawk game is going to ship with a "balance board" peripheral to replicate skateboarding. Is no genre safe? How long before we find that if we want to play any game at all we're going to have to buy the associated peripheral (may not be compatible with any other games, £89.99 plz.)

Then there's microphones, buzzers, rumours of rip-off Wii remotes, where will it end? Oh, and don't forget that these all need buying for each different system!

Now gaming is getting this way, it's risking becoming too expensive for gamers. I used to be happy in the knowledge that whatever game I wanted to play would cost me £40, no strings attached, now I find that I'm probably going to be priced out of my favourite series'?

When did a normal controller stop being 'enough'? Is the Wii to blame for this? Rock Band?

[EvilBoris]

I think it'll where off after a while, I think a similar thing happened after the success of Dance mats.

[AllYourBase]

Just don't buy the games with all the stupid peripherals.... problem solved!

[topper]

The answer is simple. Don't buy current-gen stuff. I used to, "back in the day" as a youngster, but things weren't so expensive then, even for a kid spending pocket money. After a break of a few years caused by disillusionment with the success of the Playstations and the relative demise of Nintendo and Sega, I'm slowly getting back into gaming, and I'm older and wiser. My Gamecube and Dreamcast experiences have been stellar, and I don't think I would have had any more fun with current-gen. This isn't sour grapes, I /could/ max out the credit card but why should I when I can have a Gamecube and almost every game worth having for the price of a new PS3?

There is enough out there to satisfy anybody, I'm sure, unless they /have/ to be on the bleeding edge, which is fashion as much as anything else, and in my experience, makes the gaming experience no more enjoyable, unlike in the old days, when the leap from generation to generation was more than just graphical.

If you want the latest things, you'll have to pay for it, because unfortunately, there are a lot of people with more money than sense, and they are the ones driving the prices.

Of course, if you've already played all the previous-gen games, then my answer is very simple: get out more!

I hope you realise that this post isn't a flame, but I think it's an interesting topic.

[Alex_976]

You should play fighters with a stick,
racers with a steering wheel,
shooters with a gun.
The days of being limited to the controller are finally over! I'm all for it.

[vanpeebles]

Apart from these daft controller games, games are actually cheaper now. If you shop round or wait a few months after a release you can pick up bargains. I remember the days of 29.99 to 49.99 Master System games and also paying over £70 for Turok.

"The answer is simple. Don't buy current-gen stuff. I used to, "back in the day" as a youngster, but things weren't so expensive then, even for a kid spending pocket money."

Thats just rubbish unless your talking about budget or £9.99 speccy games. Consoles have always been expensive.

[Number45]

Just don't buy the games with all the stupid peripherals.... problem solved!

This works for me, but it's obviously not feasible for those that really enjoy these types of game..

I don't think the problem is so much that these games require peripherals (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), because without the peripherals Rock Band and Guitar Hero simply wouldn't exist, it's that there's no apparent defined standard for them.

One set of drums, a couple of guitars and a microphone should basically be enough for each system (Ideally they'd all use a standard USB interface and could be interfaces with software/firmware to make them compatible with all systems, but that's not going to happen), but the publishers don't seem to be happy with this.

To be honest I think they're (Activision) going to be in for a surprise if they think they'll see the same level of success as Rock Band. People simply won't stump up the cash to replicate equipment they already have (A few minor 'upgrades' aside), and there's also the problem of space, which is at a premium as a gamer even without all this crap.

I have my controller and an arcade stick and I don't really see any reason for anything else.

[topper]

Apart from these daft controller games, games are actually cheaper now. If you shop round or wait a few months after a release you can pick up bargains. I remember the days of 29.99 to 49.99 Master System games and also paying over ?70 for Turok.

"The answer is simple. Don't buy current-gen stuff. I used to, "back in the day" as a youngster, but things weren't so expensive then, even for a kid spending pocket money."

Thats just rubbish unless your talking about budget or ?9.99 speccy games. Consoles have always been expensive.

Maybe my memories are tinged as I simply never used to have so many games - like for the Mega Drive I had about ten, and that was considered a lot, at least amongst my friends. Now people tend to want more games per console on average.

My basic point still stands - buying the latest stuff is the most expensive way to live. Concentrating on milking the most out of previous-gen, is a good way around this, and by the time you've milked it, today's bleeding edge will be cheaper as the sheep will have moved onto the latest latest stuff.

Put another way, the only reason things are so expensive at release, is to /take advantage/ of people who can't wait.

[topper]

This works for me, but it's obviously not feasible for those that really enjoy these types of game..

Why not? I quite fancy an Aston Martin, but they are too expensive for me so I don't buy one.

Regarding these special controllers, people not making purchases, hence denting revenue, is the only way that the gaming companies might think about introducing a standard.

[Number45]

It's not feasible because, as I mentioned, without these peripherals those games don't exist. While rhythm action games have existed for some time, it's the peripherals that have catapulted their popularity into the stratosphere (You could even argue that case for DDR I'd say).

I don't care for them personally, so it's not a problem for me. But I'm in the minority.

[PrayforMojo]

Maybe my memories are tinged as I simply never used to have so many games - like for the Mega Drive I had about ten, and that was considered a lot, at least amongst my friends.

It's one of life's cruel little jokes, innit? As a kid you've got all the time in the world to play games, but not the financial means. You get older, get a job, and have a bit of disposable cash to play around with, but no longer have the time to play the bloody things. *sigh*

Thinking about it - games that require peripherals are a great way of combating piracy. I mean, you might be able to copy the disc somehow, but who is going to go all Blue Peter and make their own guitars and drum kits? I guess they can charge pretty much what they like and people will pay it because they have no other option.

[Dogg Thang]

For me, it's not so much a cost issue, but one of space. I didn't get Rock Band simply because I have nowhere to put the stuff. I'm currently trying to offload two decent PS2 dance mats that will probably end up in the bin just because I don't have the space. In general, I have to avoid peripherals that aren't absolutely essential.

There's too much crap in my life.

[CMcK]

Peripheral based games aside I think games are actually cheaper in real terms these days.
Full prices titles are an average of £40. Go back to the MD and SNES era and games cost between £40 to £60. With inflation things are looking better already. When you consider how much games cost to make these days I feel we are getting better value for money.

[MartyG]

I didn't buy Rock Band because of the cost of the hardware - I'm sure there's a great game there - but it was just too pricey for me. I have thought about buying the solus game as I have a Guitar Hero guitar, and I understand you can use the Xbox Live mics, but I feel I might be missing out somewhat ( although I don't have much interest in drumming ).

I have considered getting Wii fit, I like the idea there, but no where seems to have any stock, so that's decision is catered for anyway.

Dogg Thang - I'd definitely agree on the space thing - my living room is crammed with peripherals, and it's look a mess - 3 steering wheels, 2 guitars, arcade sticks - there has to come a point when you say enough is enough.

I'm definitely into new ways to play video games - I just wish it didn't cost quite as much. I'm sure that there'll be plenty of traditional games available though, not everyone has the financial ability and outlay that it takes to design these peripherals - and creating such a game does carry a risk factor from that point of view.

[cutmymilk]

I dont buy them as I dont want the clutter. Even Mario Kart's steering wheel crap annoyed me.