Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
figmentPez
Staff member
Markus "Notch" Persson wants to fund the development of Psychonauts 2
"Tim and Markus are talking," said Double Fine. "Who knows what might happen?"
I want this to happen so bad.
"Tim and Markus are talking," said Double Fine. "Who knows what might happen?"
I want this to happen so bad.
Good being the operative word. People who buy games and then like them a lot rarely have issues with the amount they paid; it was low enough, in the end, to keep their experience worth it.
Good games are not the issue; uncertainty about whether something is good or not, is. It's fairly easy to determine that $60 is a good price for a game like Arkham City or Skyrim; with the enormous buzz around them and the proven franchise strength, you're not going to have to work too hard to convince enough people that they're worth the $$. Same thing with MW3; much as some folks here hate those games, the franchise strength and ability of the game to bring exactly the same experience as what came before justifies the asking price.
Why did Heavy Rain or Alan Wake come out at $60 (both good fucking games, IMHO)? Relatively little pre-launch buzz, dismal sales for both of them, if you don't count Alan Wake being given away for free with new Xbox's last year, and huge piracy rates. Things should be priced where enough people would buy it; if you can't reach that enough point, then you screwed up on the math and need to re-adjust, not blame pirates and add annoying DRM. (I know we agree on that point, just sayin').
Necronic
Staff member
Most of the games I buy are open ended, which allows for a lot of play throughs, and I also focus heavily on games that I know ahead of time will get hit with a lot of mods (Skyrim/Mount and Blade) so I never have to purchase DLC. But I do still buy a few games from time to time that are completely linear and not even that long, but are so well constructed that it is a joy to play through them multiple times (Ninja Gaiden or the original Tenchu games for instance. I STILL play the old Ninja Gaiden). And then of course there are multiplayer games that provide years of play (if you are smart enough to get a good one like BF3.)
I'm still sticking with my original view that the value/dollar is high enough in a lot of games that I simply can ignore any of the ones that do stuff I don't like. I have a very high degree of loyalty to a few production houses because I know I will get my moneys worth. For any of the others I spend a fair amount of time weighing the reviews I am hearing before I rush out and buy it.
Honestly I can't remember the last time I felt like I didn't get a good deal on a game. It was probably Fable 2 or the original Mass Effect, both of which I bought without trying based on hype alone. This need for new is a big part of the problem as well, and I think it's why I bought those two games. But now I've hit a point that I can coast through and buy 2 games a year or so and in the meantime I will just play Jagged Alliance and Mount and Blade mods, 2 of the highest value games ever made. And 2 games that I doubt half of the people here have ever played, all the while complaining about how overpriced games are when there are amazing games that are close to free out there.
I'm still sticking with my original view that the value/dollar is high enough in a lot of games that I simply can ignore any of the ones that do stuff I don't like. I have a very high degree of loyalty to a few production houses because I know I will get my moneys worth. For any of the others I spend a fair amount of time weighing the reviews I am hearing before I rush out and buy it.
Honestly I can't remember the last time I felt like I didn't get a good deal on a game. It was probably Fable 2 or the original Mass Effect, both of which I bought without trying based on hype alone. This need for new is a big part of the problem as well, and I think it's why I bought those two games. But now I've hit a point that I can coast through and buy 2 games a year or so and in the meantime I will just play Jagged Alliance and Mount and Blade mods, 2 of the highest value games ever made. And 2 games that I doubt half of the people here have ever played, all the while complaining about how overpriced games are when there are amazing games that are close to free out there.
Yes, they fortunately didn't lose any money on it (like they apparently did for Indigo Prophecy). But when 30% of your players pick it up used, you lost a huge opportunity. Naturally, you won't get all of them, but considering Gamestop's (and Target's and Wal-mart's, etc.) tendency to price used games at only 5 bucks under MSRP, there's an excellent argument there for being less bullish on price.
And then there's Steam, which is a huge argument for that by itself.
I have almost 200 hours logged on Mount and Blade Warband and still have Jagged Alliance 2 kicking around somewhere
They not only didn't lost money, they did EXCEEDINGLY well despite the game only being about 7-8 hours long at full price. Heavy Rain was still 60 bucks over a year later at retail.
And again, people, games are cheaper now than they've ever been. If this were the SNES era, games with the length of Skyrim (the Chrono Triggers and the Final Fantasy 3s of the world) were WAY more money than your average game. Chrono Trigger and FF3 retailed for 80 God damn dollars. I remember seeing N64 games in the stores for 100+ dollars.
I know Mario and Pilotwings debuted at 70 but the competition between stores you could get them for 60 or less in those fucking ridiculous bundles.
A lot Nintendo first party games were MSRP at 70. 3rd party titles had a lower MSRP. Canadian department stores at the time could be fucking assholes. Zellers always had them for 100.
Added at: 01:06
EVIDENCE!
A lot Nintendo first party games were MSRP at 70. 3rd party titles had a lower MSRP. Canadian department stores at the time could be fucking assholes. Zellers always had them for 100.
Added at: 01:06
EVIDENCE!
Chrono Trigger was 80 bucks when it was released. I remember because I bought the game with my own money after working a job through the summer. Worth every penny.
figmentPez
Staff member
The Double Fine Adventure Adventure
In short: Double Fine is starting a Kickstarter to make an adventure game.
I'm so in.
In short: Double Fine is starting a Kickstarter to make an adventure game.
I'm so in.
I wonder if this is in response to Notch offering up cash to help fund Psychonauts 2.
It's not going to be a true kickstarter it appears... he's asking for some serious cash in those amounts. I honestly feel like it might be a better idea to just put the minimum donation at like 60 bucks and just give anyone who pays that much a free, signed copy of the game + some other stuff. Sort of like a pre-order to finance production.
It's not going to be a true kickstarter it appears... he's asking for some serious cash in those amounts. I honestly feel like it might be a better idea to just put the minimum donation at like 60 bucks and just give anyone who pays that much a free, signed copy of the game + some other stuff. Sort of like a pre-order to finance production.
figmentPez
Staff member
Not a true Kickstarter in what way? For $15 you get the game on Steam, access to the beta and the documentary. For $30 you get the game, the soundtrack and an HD version of the documentary. (I'm in for $30) There are some packages for stuff larger than Kickstarter usually allows, but it's still got some nice basic level donation stuff.
Oh I'm sorry... I just looked at the Premium pledge list. My bad.
figmentPez
Staff member
And it's funded. What was that, like 8 or 9 hours? Anyway, anyone who still wants to back them can still get put their money in the jar. The more money Double Fine gets, the more they'll be able to do with the game: additional platforms, more voice acting, etc.
O
Overflight
...and it's funded. In ONE DAY.
...Rich Burlew will have to edit his charts...
Added at: 10:47
In other news, game studio responsible for some of the worst PC games of their respective years is inexplicably still in business and may equally inexplicably do a Battlefront sequel:
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/rumor-spark-unlimited-producing-sci-fi-sequel-speculation-says/
...Rich Burlew will have to edit his charts...
Added at: 10:47
In other news, game studio responsible for some of the worst PC games of their respective years is inexplicably still in business and may equally inexplicably do a Battlefront sequel:
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/08/rumor-spark-unlimited-producing-sci-fi-sequel-speculation-says/
The awesome thing about the Kickstarter? That's not including the premium donations. That's just normal fans, paying for a game from a studio they love. Tim has gotta be feeling the love.
Now if only they'd do a Kickstarter to acquire money to buy back the Brutal Legend IP... I'd be all over that too.
Now if only they'd do a Kickstarter to acquire money to buy back the Brutal Legend IP... I'd be all over that too.
I'd probably do it for another Shadow Hearts. I'd DEFINITELY do it for another Megaman Legends game.
So...you would have paid $80 for Bubsy, because Chrono Trigger was worth $80?
Prices are determined by what people are willing to pay at that point in time, not what they paid for similar products 20 years ago (dear god, it really is almost 20 years), and when the "5-10 bucks off retail" used market is reputedly eating a third of your lunch, and you specifically don't like it, staying inflexible on your price point isn't the best place to stay.
And I'd throw $20 at a Kickstarter that released Suikoden 2 for the PSP in North America.
I think I have a personal problem where everything I read from you is a sexual metaphor now; even if you don't mean it
At least it's possible to sort of MAKE a FFXII International. You just take the japanese ISO and patch it to replace all of the text, dialog, and movies with the US version. It's got a few glitches, but it works mostly... watched a guy on JustinTV play it a few months back.