I think food is a necessity to life, games/dvd's/books/music aren't. Also food isn't overpriced, depends where you shop, and price doesn't mean nothing about the quality of it. Like games, you can spend £10 on a game and have a great time, or £60 and have a bad time, or vice versa.
Also, game prices have changed, in the 90's the average game was between £30-40, now they are between £40-60. Not a massive difference, but still a difference.
Also, for arguments sake, just because something has been the way it has for a long time doesn't make it right, or good.
The bible and racism have been around for a long time, it doesn't make them right or good (Bit OT I know.) Or the movie industry, £13 for a ticket to a movie is stupidly over priced, and they've always been over priced since cinema's were first introduced.
Point is, the game industry, and most of the entertainment industry, have been over priced for a long time, if not forever.
If you consider £0.60 an hour for entertainment well spent then that's up to you.
The entertainment industry makes millions in profit, I think it's over the top, they should make a profit yes, but at the expense of over charging customers? But everyone just agrees with it anyway.
I'm not some kind of hippie, I do buy games, I go to the cinema, I buy books and music, I just don't agree with the prices.
Back on topic for this thread; Like I said earlier, GW2 is close to being worth the price imo, but no game will ever be worth £60 in my eyes. Sorry to those who disagree, it's my opinion.
I don't think anyone of us fully understands the economics of entertainment industries.. however if cinema can afford to pay actors millions and millions of dollars... the price of that entertainment can probably "afford' to come down.
The gaming industry is its own beast and we don't really know where all the profits are going but we do know a lot of developers are struggling. I think your own hard earned money can be used to support a company that will actually reinvest those funds back into their games. On the other hand you can buy an EA or Activision product and know for sure that the majority of your cash is going to a few rich people who don't give a crap about the games at all.
I had $60 worth of entertainment in the first 24 hours since launch to be honest. I may see things differently than you though. A 2 hour movie is like $10. A dinner out with my wife and kid is at least $60. I think video games are some of the cheapest entertainment there is. For this mmo $60 is a ridiculous bargain.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Originally posted by f1seb If I buy the game from their site right now, the 59.99 version do I get to play right away?
Well not right away..SInce the download is quite large ( 21GB+)..Unless you have a super fast connection. But after the download your all set to go as long as you buy it from the ArenaNet site.
For me, it's worth it. I've played during the 3 beta weekend events and since minute 1 of the headstart and I barely even scratched the surface of the game. If I had to guess, I'd say I spent about 80 hours on the game so far and even if I were to stop right now, I still got more out of GW2 than out of your typical $60 game, which has about 20 hours of content, 40 if you're lucky.
its worth it and also shows to eveveryone that MMOs don't need a subscription to be good. GW2 is so well crafted that makes me wonder why i paid monthly to play others mmos.
NO.. Valua The prices have not changed...I have been buying games since my first Atari 520ST , and my first 8086 IBM PC in the early 1980s. They have always been priced around the $50.00 mark or even higher..
Read and learn. You actually must be pretty young however to believe what you are saying..
I have only played since late friday night, and since its a weekend and I like to go out and stuff I haven't even played that long, but my early impression is no. I seem to be running around alot to random event orange circles on the map and zerg randomly generated mobs. I sort of feel like I am running around aimlesly. I've rolled up 3 toons and they all feel like they play exactly the same.
As I said, I've barely scratched the surface, but the newbie experiene is more generic and less in depth than any game I've tried to date. People assure me that it gets better, we'll see, but just based off of what I've experienced thus far I already regret spending my 60 bucks.
Wandering aimlessly is the beauty of the game. Tell me if you dont like exploring and you enjoy having your hand held while a game developer gies you its teet to suckle why would you play or better yet pay this game? Why is it better for you to follow a set path grinding the same bullshit fed ex quests from 1-cap? Notto mention your doing it solo and the slightest hint of another player on your screen makes you want to vomit.
I lose all hope in MMO gamers and future games when people think you must have structure and hand holding to be called good.
Playing: GW2 Waiting on: TESO Next Flop: Planetside 2 Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
Originally posted by f1seb If I buy the game from their site right now, the 59.99 version do I get to play right away?
Well not right away..SInce the download is quite large ( 21GB+)..Unless you have a super fast connection. But after the download your all set to go as long as you buy it from the ArenaNet site.
Originally posted by f1seb If I buy the game from their site right now, the 59.99 version do I get to play right away?
Well not right away..SInce the download is quite large ( 21GB+)..Unless you have a super fast connection. But after the download your all set to go as long as you buy it from the ArenaNet site.
NO.. Valua The prices have not changed...I have been buying games since my first Atari 520ST , and my first 8086 IBM PC in the early 1980s. They have always been priced around the $50.00 mark or even higher..
Read and learn. You actually must be pretty young however to believe what you are saying..
I am pretty young, I'm 21, a 90's child, and since the 90's game prices have stayed pretty much the same. Didn't pay much attention to 80's clearly, as I wasn't born.
Game prices have been roughly around 30-60 for at least ten years now (not considering inflation.)
It's true that game prices haven't increased with inflatation, but that's to be expected really, with more people buying games now than back then its makes sense they don't have to overly increase their prices, but they can still reduce them further to around £30 on average for a game rather than £40-60 and still make a massive profit with the amount they sell.
Look at CoD making 1billion dollars in it's first week from game sales.
In the 80's games had to be so expensive, because sales weren't huge like they are today, so it makes sense for them to have high priced games to make a profit, it doesn't make sense for them to still do it today and make a massive profit. It's not fair on their customers.
Game sales have gone up massively since the 80's.
Fact is, the gaming industy (like most entertainment industries) are greedy.
Another point is that games don't have to be expensive (like GW2/SWTOR) to be good.
Minecraft is a cheap game and it probably has more content and playtime than most games available, but that could be compared with a big buget and costly game like the Sims, which has potentially the same play time available.
No one will change my opinion that game prices are over priced, and in my opinion people who think otherwise are gullible. I consider myself gullible too for purchasing games at these prices, but at least I know they are over priced.
Also, have to remember that Guild Wars 2 costs a lot for people in the UK, directly from their website it costs $79.99 (from £49.99 for digital edition) or $102.99 (from £64.99 for digital deluxe edition) which is quite steep. I know that's to do with the country I live in, but still, pretty overpriced. The cheapest I've found is Amazon which costs close to $60, for the average non pre-purchase game. So, undertstandably I'm a bitt annoyed with the prices of games nowadays.
End of the day it comes down to how you spend your money and if you enjoy spending big sums of money on these things, I'd prefer not to, as I never really believe I get my moneys worth, other people might. But I still do, because I have very little options, everything is expensive in the entertainment industy. I do purchase a lot of cheap, indepentent games too.
It's not a matter of gullibility, it's a subjective matter. $60 is not a lot of money to me, and I'm not rich. I have other sources of entertainment and hobbies that cost much, much more. You don't seem to understand that just because $60 seems steep to you, doesn't mean it's the same for all. You also can't equate your perceived value with that of others. All you need to say is that it's not worth it to you. Anything else is just hot air.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Someone here posted a coupon code for a valid retailer so I only paid $48. I probably wouldn't have bought it for $60 though. It's far too early for me to determine if it's worth $60. I want to see a month after release.
Game prices are not too high, well as long as you buy a game you want to play. I have played gw2 for around 10 hours. If I had been to the movies that long I would be down at least 30 bucks. I am also just scratching the surface of the game, still tons I want to do. Dinner for two, 30-60 dollars, casino 100 dollars, sporting event 150 dollars. I suppose though, that when I go out for an evening I am expecting to spend around 30 dollars on a low end guess. Afterall I am not going to go somewhere and not get the full experience, why go to the carnival and complain of prices and not do anything.
It is easily worth it. $60 is 2-3 meals out with my wife (or 4-6 for myself). At an average of 1 hour per meal we are working on a basis of $10/hour.
So far I have already put in approx 20 hours since release. If I add in the beta/stress test time then I am closer to 130 hours which works out to 46 cents/hour.
Contrast this to the 2400 hours I spent in GW1 with approx $180 spent. That game has cost me approx. 7.5 cents/hour.
Also, contrast that with another MMO which cost me about $270 over the course of a year and assume the same usage. WE are looking at closer to 25 cents/hour.
I only need to play another 130 hours to make GW2 more cost effective than that game.
Now lets consider other forms of entertainment:
Beer at home @ 80 cents/bottle (aggregate) and 2 bottles an hour (conservatively) = $1.60/hour
Beer at bar @ $4.00/bottle and 2 bottles/hour = $8.00/hour
Movie (90 minutes budget showing) ~ $7 = $4.66/hour
Sex (31 cent/condom - 2 per hour) = $0.62/hour
See - GW2 is already more cost effective than having sex in terms of entertainment value, although if you try to use this reasoning with your partner, you may not HAVE a partner for much longer.
So funny, I dont know why I cant bring myself to buy the game. Probably the burnout on SWTOR. $60 is nothing for a good game these days. Perhaps I am just jaded with the fantasy setting after WoW.
Anything else coming out this year in the MMO world to get excited about? Sigh.
Comments
I don't think anyone of us fully understands the economics of entertainment industries.. however if cinema can afford to pay actors millions and millions of dollars... the price of that entertainment can probably "afford' to come down.
The gaming industry is its own beast and we don't really know where all the profits are going but we do know a lot of developers are struggling. I think your own hard earned money can be used to support a company that will actually reinvest those funds back into their games. On the other hand you can buy an EA or Activision product and know for sure that the majority of your cash is going to a few rich people who don't give a crap about the games at all.
Yes!
Come join us bud on Yaks Bend! my names Rodias friend me bud!
Dude shining in the darkness was EPIC! I loved that game too.
Have you played any of the older Y's games plus phantasy star series ( not the online versions ) and Lunar awesome games.
If this TF2 MvM doesn't work out I just might do that.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
Well not right away..SInce the download is quite large ( 21GB+)..Unless you have a super fast connection. But after the download your all set to go as long as you buy it from the ArenaNet site.
I paid $80 for the release of Ultima on Nintendo and that was back in 1988. Typically games were always $50-$60.
Wandering aimlessly is the beauty of the game. Tell me if you dont like exploring and you enjoy having your hand held while a game developer gies you its teet to suckle why would you play or better yet pay this game? Why is it better for you to follow a set path grinding the same bullshit fed ex quests from 1-cap? Notto mention your doing it solo and the slightest hint of another player on your screen makes you want to vomit.
I lose all hope in MMO gamers and future games when people think you must have structure and hand holding to be called good.
Everything you need to know about Elder Scrolls Online
Playing: GW2
Waiting on: TESO
Next Flop: Planetside 2
Best MMO of all time: Asheron's Call - The first company to recreate AC will be the next greatest MMO.
Yup, a night out for drinks and you've paid for it easy. And how much is the monthly fee??
Current: GW2 (almost)
Played: EQ, DAoC,EQOA,Shadowbane,WoW, WAR, SWTOR, TSW
Done downloading. Fios FTW.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
cool..have a good time.
I am pretty young, I'm 21, a 90's child, and since the 90's game prices have stayed pretty much the same. Didn't pay much attention to 80's clearly, as I wasn't born.
http://www.1up.com/news/90s-game-price-comparison-charticle
Game prices have been roughly around 30-60 for at least ten years now (not considering inflation.)
It's true that game prices haven't increased with inflatation, but that's to be expected really, with more people buying games now than back then its makes sense they don't have to overly increase their prices, but they can still reduce them further to around £30 on average for a game rather than £40-60 and still make a massive profit with the amount they sell.
Look at CoD making 1billion dollars in it's first week from game sales.
In the 80's games had to be so expensive, because sales weren't huge like they are today, so it makes sense for them to have high priced games to make a profit, it doesn't make sense for them to still do it today and make a massive profit. It's not fair on their customers.
Game sales have gone up massively since the 80's.
Fact is, the gaming industy (like most entertainment industries) are greedy.
Another point is that games don't have to be expensive (like GW2/SWTOR) to be good.
Minecraft is a cheap game and it probably has more content and playtime than most games available, but that could be compared with a big buget and costly game like the Sims, which has potentially the same play time available.
No one will change my opinion that game prices are over priced, and in my opinion people who think otherwise are gullible. I consider myself gullible too for purchasing games at these prices, but at least I know they are over priced.
Also, have to remember that Guild Wars 2 costs a lot for people in the UK, directly from their website it costs $79.99 (from £49.99 for digital edition) or $102.99 (from £64.99 for digital deluxe edition) which is quite steep. I know that's to do with the country I live in, but still, pretty overpriced. The cheapest I've found is Amazon which costs close to $60, for the average non pre-purchase game. So, undertstandably I'm a bitt annoyed with the prices of games nowadays.
End of the day it comes down to how you spend your money and if you enjoy spending big sums of money on these things, I'd prefer not to, as I never really believe I get my moneys worth, other people might. But I still do, because I have very little options, everything is expensive in the entertainment industy. I do purchase a lot of cheap, indepentent games too.
A sure sign that you are in an old, dying paradigm/mindset, is when you are scared of new ideas and new technology. Don't feel bad. The world is moving on without you, and you are welcome to yell "Get Off My Lawn!" all you want while it happens. You cannot, however, stop an idea whose time has come.
having some client problems right now but when its solved it will be all worth it
It is easily worth it. $60 is 2-3 meals out with my wife (or 4-6 for myself). At an average of 1 hour per meal we are working on a basis of $10/hour.
So far I have already put in approx 20 hours since release. If I add in the beta/stress test time then I am closer to 130 hours which works out to 46 cents/hour.
Contrast this to the 2400 hours I spent in GW1 with approx $180 spent. That game has cost me approx. 7.5 cents/hour.
Also, contrast that with another MMO which cost me about $270 over the course of a year and assume the same usage. WE are looking at closer to 25 cents/hour.
I only need to play another 130 hours to make GW2 more cost effective than that game.
Now lets consider other forms of entertainment:
Beer at home @ 80 cents/bottle (aggregate) and 2 bottles an hour (conservatively) = $1.60/hour
Beer at bar @ $4.00/bottle and 2 bottles/hour = $8.00/hour
Movie (90 minutes budget showing) ~ $7 = $4.66/hour
Sex (31 cent/condom - 2 per hour) = $0.62/hour
See - GW2 is already more cost effective than having sex in terms of entertainment value, although if you try to use this reasoning with your partner, you may not HAVE a partner for much longer.
Still, there is always GW2...
DarkSpace Developer - Play DarkSpace - Play For Free!
Medusa Engine SDK - Free MMO Game Engine
Hampton Roads/East Coast Video Gamers Association