The "General Games Chat" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Would you like cheaper computer games? Of course you would, who wouldn’t… and whereas game retailers such as Special Reserve offer some of the most unbelievable prices around (classic games for FREE? Your havin’ me on sir!) FreePlay, an organisation set about to reduce the price of video games, still believe it is not enough.
FairPlay’s stance is simple, games cost millions to make, and so do CD’s. Games are no longer made on cartridges they’re made on discs, like CD’s… so why do games cost 3 times more? FairPlay proposed to boycott the gaming industry between the dates of the 1st and 8th of December this year. It didn’t quiet go to plan but the organisation ploughs on, the question is are the organisation right? Naturally they have come to some heavy opposition with this including Roger Bennett, director general of the ELSPA. Roger insists there are many hidden costs they push up the price of software production. And to a degree he is correct, every wondered why Timesplitters 2’s R.R.P was £5 larger than Mario Sunshine’s? Because Eidos had to send the game to Nintendo in order to have it produced, something, which isn’t free. Yet £35 for Mario is still a far cry from £10 for a CD… and if there are hidden costs what are they? Why won’t he divulge further?
Because he is scared claims FairPlay, that after visiting their website www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk have a lot of things to say to the games industry. FairPlay claim that ‘the games industry has chosen to react to the FairPlay campaign with panicked hysteria, rather than actually dealing with the issues raised’. Is that so? In fact the entire website is written as if from some console fan boy hell bent of putting everything down and not addressing some important points. They criticize the comments they can but ignore the ones they can’t, it isn’t an unusual way to conduct an argument… politicians use it all the time but they fail to react to certain begging questions. FairPlay say “We think music CD’s are absolutely the nearest comparison to videogames”, but I don’t agree. Videogames make their profit from themselves, CD’s make money for the artist but then so does tours, merchandise, TV appearances and so on. The games industry does a mere handful of shows a year that hardly generates much more than publicity, all merchandise fails and only exists for truly obsessed fans whilst TV appearances are hardly paid for. So yes the music industry can do it, but the music industry offers much more than simple CD’s.
Unfortunately not all points raised by the public and the industry are as good as that one. Random comments from the industry often include the fact that companies are failing to make a profit as it is. Nintendo being the scare mongers that they are exclaimed that if game prices dropped the industry and Nintendo will be doomed as companies struggle to make money as it is. Perfectly true, over the past year just over 70 development houses have closed down. Capcom, Acclaim, RAGE and SEGA… large 3rd party developers all exclaimed disappointing sales over the past year with SEGA rethinking their strategy and buy outs rumours for Capcom. Squaresoft have failed to make back money after their failed movie despite the release of many titles including ports of the older SNES games and games such as Kingdom hearts storming the Japanese charts. But FairPlay comment on that if games were cheaper more people would buy them, leading to an industry growth overall and sales improving. Yet there is no proof that this will work and FairPlay’s rather obvious comment was ‘there is only one way to find out’. Another comment involves the time and money put into creating a game; the games require a team to work round the clock for years. This is true for Nintendo anyway, the amount of time and effort lavished on a game means that reducing prices would heavily damage Nintendo. But as regards EA is this equally true? A new movie license year in year out that offers the same variety in gameplay but a new storyline? FIFA is a prime example, are the yearly updates worth another £40? Did it cost as much to make as the new Zelda for example? I doubt it heavily and it is Nintendo themselves that generated a more startling point.
With the pre-orders of Zelda and for a limited period after the launch of the game you got a free game. The game was a simple update of the old N64 game Ocarina of Time and Ura-Zelda. But the game was free, it was used to promote the new Zelda yes but it was also free. The games would have required as much effort (with the changing format and frame rate improvements) as the new FIFA. The Sonic Mega collection offers a collection of even older games with no improvements whatsoever (the games still suffer slow down despite being ancient 16-bit titles) and SEGA still ask for a £40 pay out. FairPlay are also keen to point out that if old titles are being repackaged for just £20 (PS2’s platinum range) then why can’t new ones cost the same? Sony says the games are being reproduced internally so there is no need for Namco for example to pay Sony to produce a load of extra games. Sony also stress that they are re-released so gamers believe they could get cheaper games if they wanted.
Personally I question FairPlay, they miss out some vital facts despite being ‘industry insiders’, they attack everything in sight and called ELSPA workers as 50 year olds who haven’t played a game ‘since Galaxian’. A needless and unprofessional comment and FairPlay make them frequently… neither side offers facts of figures and at least one side act professional. Whereas I don’t agree with FairPlay’s boycott I do have to agree that maybe games could be cheaper and that it might be worth a go. After all the ELSPA did comment on the rise of 5% overall revenue saying: "The increase in sales revenue... is due to a significant fall in the price of discs and cartridges".
Here’s to the future
Dringo.
FairPlay’s stance is simple, games cost millions to make, and so do CD’s. Games are no longer made on cartridges they’re made on discs, like CD’s… so why do games cost 3 times more? FairPlay proposed to boycott the gaming industry between the dates of the 1st and 8th of December this year. It didn’t quiet go to plan but the organisation ploughs on, the question is are the organisation right? Naturally they have come to some heavy opposition with this including Roger Bennett, director general of the ELSPA. Roger insists there are many hidden costs they push up the price of software production. And to a degree he is correct, every wondered why Timesplitters 2’s R.R.P was £5 larger than Mario Sunshine’s? Because Eidos had to send the game to Nintendo in order to have it produced, something, which isn’t free. Yet £35 for Mario is still a far cry from £10 for a CD… and if there are hidden costs what are they? Why won’t he divulge further?
Because he is scared claims FairPlay, that after visiting their website www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk have a lot of things to say to the games industry. FairPlay claim that ‘the games industry has chosen to react to the FairPlay campaign with panicked hysteria, rather than actually dealing with the issues raised’. Is that so? In fact the entire website is written as if from some console fan boy hell bent of putting everything down and not addressing some important points. They criticize the comments they can but ignore the ones they can’t, it isn’t an unusual way to conduct an argument… politicians use it all the time but they fail to react to certain begging questions. FairPlay say “We think music CD’s are absolutely the nearest comparison to videogames”, but I don’t agree. Videogames make their profit from themselves, CD’s make money for the artist but then so does tours, merchandise, TV appearances and so on. The games industry does a mere handful of shows a year that hardly generates much more than publicity, all merchandise fails and only exists for truly obsessed fans whilst TV appearances are hardly paid for. So yes the music industry can do it, but the music industry offers much more than simple CD’s.
Unfortunately not all points raised by the public and the industry are as good as that one. Random comments from the industry often include the fact that companies are failing to make a profit as it is. Nintendo being the scare mongers that they are exclaimed that if game prices dropped the industry and Nintendo will be doomed as companies struggle to make money as it is. Perfectly true, over the past year just over 70 development houses have closed down. Capcom, Acclaim, RAGE and SEGA… large 3rd party developers all exclaimed disappointing sales over the past year with SEGA rethinking their strategy and buy outs rumours for Capcom. Squaresoft have failed to make back money after their failed movie despite the release of many titles including ports of the older SNES games and games such as Kingdom hearts storming the Japanese charts. But FairPlay comment on that if games were cheaper more people would buy them, leading to an industry growth overall and sales improving. Yet there is no proof that this will work and FairPlay’s rather obvious comment was ‘there is only one way to find out’. Another comment involves the time and money put into creating a game; the games require a team to work round the clock for years. This is true for Nintendo anyway, the amount of time and effort lavished on a game means that reducing prices would heavily damage Nintendo. But as regards EA is this equally true? A new movie license year in year out that offers the same variety in gameplay but a new storyline? FIFA is a prime example, are the yearly updates worth another £40? Did it cost as much to make as the new Zelda for example? I doubt it heavily and it is Nintendo themselves that generated a more startling point.
With the pre-orders of Zelda and for a limited period after the launch of the game you got a free game. The game was a simple update of the old N64 game Ocarina of Time and Ura-Zelda. But the game was free, it was used to promote the new Zelda yes but it was also free. The games would have required as much effort (with the changing format and frame rate improvements) as the new FIFA. The Sonic Mega collection offers a collection of even older games with no improvements whatsoever (the games still suffer slow down despite being ancient 16-bit titles) and SEGA still ask for a £40 pay out. FairPlay are also keen to point out that if old titles are being repackaged for just £20 (PS2’s platinum range) then why can’t new ones cost the same? Sony says the games are being reproduced internally so there is no need for Namco for example to pay Sony to produce a load of extra games. Sony also stress that they are re-released so gamers believe they could get cheaper games if they wanted.
Personally I question FairPlay, they miss out some vital facts despite being ‘industry insiders’, they attack everything in sight and called ELSPA workers as 50 year olds who haven’t played a game ‘since Galaxian’. A needless and unprofessional comment and FairPlay make them frequently… neither side offers facts of figures and at least one side act professional. Whereas I don’t agree with FairPlay’s boycott I do have to agree that maybe games could be cheaper and that it might be worth a go. After all the ELSPA did comment on the rise of 5% overall revenue saying: "The increase in sales revenue... is due to a significant fall in the price of discs and cartridges".
Here’s to the future
Dringo.
Page:
Yes, let me assure you the offers used at gamest... err i mean edgy's work are not as good as SR's.
I work for a retailer that sells the 'Cube for £109.99 providing you have a loyalty card with them - which is free to get.
For £129.99 you can get the console and Resident Evil from the same place.
Or for £139.99 you can get the console and any game you like!
You see, it isn't the manufacturers that keep the prices so high, the retailers themselves make a contribution to keeping prices high - so as to keep profits high.
And no, I wont be telling anyone where I work - if you know, keep it to yourself.
For £129.99 you can get the console and Resident Evil from the same place.
Or for £139.99 you can get the console and any game you like!
You see, it isn't the manufacturers that keep the prices so high, the retailers themselves make a contribution to keeping prices high - so as to keep profits high.
And no, I wont be telling anyone where I work - if you know, keep it to yourself.
Belldandy you've got to take into account the fact the GC has had an extra price drop in america and the european's haven't yet, due to it being out longer in america.
Dringo wrote:
> Popycock (i love that word)... Gamecube software prices in America are
> nearly identical in Europe as is the console... it is the japanese
> folk that get the console for £106 aprox.
But aren't GC's made in Japan ? they don't magicaly fly into retailers stores do they - theres costs involved. As for GC software prices being the same as here - not form what I've seen.
Lets look at Amazon - comparing US and UK prices. Seeing as Amazon have two sites - one here and one in the US, it's fair to compare the two.
Nintendo Gamecube US $149.99 UK £122.99
Super Mario Sunshine US $49.99 UK £32.99
Starfox Adventures US $49.99 UK £32.99
Metorid Prime US $49.99 UK £32.99
So, if we use XE http://www.xe.com/ucc/ to convert the US price to UK price what kind of difference are we looking at ? Well the Gc price, converted is £93.12 - a difference of nearly £30 to the US machine - except Nintendo has to ship them here, and ours are PAL Machines as well. Games ? Well games work out at £31.03, so we're being ripped off a massive £1.96 ! My god this is truly rip off Britain isn't it ?
So, on hardware, we do get ripped off, but actually looking around for the cheaper games can all but eliminate this with software.
~~Belldandy~~
> Popycock (i love that word)... Gamecube software prices in America are
> nearly identical in Europe as is the console... it is the japanese
> folk that get the console for £106 aprox.
But aren't GC's made in Japan ? they don't magicaly fly into retailers stores do they - theres costs involved. As for GC software prices being the same as here - not form what I've seen.
Lets look at Amazon - comparing US and UK prices. Seeing as Amazon have two sites - one here and one in the US, it's fair to compare the two.
Nintendo Gamecube US $149.99 UK £122.99
Super Mario Sunshine US $49.99 UK £32.99
Starfox Adventures US $49.99 UK £32.99
Metorid Prime US $49.99 UK £32.99
So, if we use XE http://www.xe.com/ucc/ to convert the US price to UK price what kind of difference are we looking at ? Well the Gc price, converted is £93.12 - a difference of nearly £30 to the US machine - except Nintendo has to ship them here, and ours are PAL Machines as well. Games ? Well games work out at £31.03, so we're being ripped off a massive £1.96 ! My god this is truly rip off Britain isn't it ?
So, on hardware, we do get ripped off, but actually looking around for the cheaper games can all but eliminate this with software.
~~Belldandy~~
But isn't that just good pound-yen conversion?
Popycock (i love that word)... Gamecube software prices in America are nearly identical in Europe as is the console... it is the japanese folk that get the console for £106 aprox.
VAT and the like obviously play a small part, but doesn't cover the 15+ pound difference between our prices and theirs.
Strafex wrote:
> Fairplay's main point is that we pay nearly twice as much as the
> Americans - infact, Europe is higher priced than all the other regions
> when it comes to games.
Surely that is partly down to VAT and the higher living/business costs in the UK anyway ?
Plus Fairplay often compare US RRPs to UK RRPS, as well all know no one needs to pay RRP for a game. In the new EGM I've sen a full page ad for Unreal on Xbox $49.99, very roughly thats £35, not all that far removed from what you could buy Unreal for over here anyway.
> Fairplay's main point is that we pay nearly twice as much as the
> Americans - infact, Europe is higher priced than all the other regions
> when it comes to games.
Surely that is partly down to VAT and the higher living/business costs in the UK anyway ?
Plus Fairplay often compare US RRPs to UK RRPS, as well all know no one needs to pay RRP for a game. In the new EGM I've sen a full page ad for Unreal on Xbox $49.99, very roughly thats £35, not all that far removed from what you could buy Unreal for over here anyway.
I used to be a fan of the Fairplay campaign, But after reading into it I kind of understood why games are priced so high.
Put it this way, If people thought prices of games were to high they'd stop buying them :P
Put it this way, If people thought prices of games were to high they'd stop buying them :P
Fairplay's main point is that we pay nearly twice as much as the Americans - infact, Europe is higher priced than all the other regions when it comes to games.
So yes, we are being ripped off, but boycotting for one week wasn't going to help.
Nintendo got heavily fined for fixing prices within Europe, but all 3 companies get away with extortionate fixing internationally.
Oh well, that's life...
So yes, we are being ripped off, but boycotting for one week wasn't going to help.
Nintendo got heavily fined for fixing prices within Europe, but all 3 companies get away with extortionate fixing internationally.
Oh well, that's life...
Page: