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Favorite 'Greatest Hits' Console Games Worldwide?
The Gamemaster writes "Siliconera, an import video game web site, has an interesting story comparing the favorite 'Greatest Hits' console games around the world. They look at the budget-price re-releases of previously top-selling games for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in Europe, the U.S., and Japan, and compare them, leading to some interesting contrasts in what gamers enjoy playing across the globe."
One has to wonder if this is because Nintendo's first party titles are still selling strongly enough to warrent their standard retail price.
Its also telling that pretty much all of the greatest hits games are published by Nintendo.
END COMMUNICATION
I can now buy either an Xbox or PS2 and play solely greatest hits games for at least the next 6 months. The options span all genres and are all at the very least "good" games. As for Gamecube, I still have to pay $30 for each Platinum Hits game, and I still can't get some of the better games. I understand they still can sell the games at a higher price, the lack of a cheap, quality alternative is quite disappointing.
Nintendo doesn't really label greatest hits. They have a players-choice label, but there are tons of games that are out that are available for cheap that aren't labelled "player's choice".
One game that comes to mind is Eternal Darkness. You can find that everywhere for $15-$20.. yet it's not on the list.
"The best games for the Xbox are universally known as the platnium hits collection."
That statement just isn't true. There are plenty of crappy Platinum Hits (Blood Wake anyone?). Going "Platinum" isn't any kind of seal of approval or commendation, it's merely an indication that the game got enough sales or buzz to justify repackaging it and squeezing a few more bucks out of it.
All Sony games are eligable for rerelease as a greatest hit at $20, wheras Nintendo's "Player's Choice" system is almost completly first person titles (mentioned in the article) and usually priced closer to $30.
Nintendo's Player's Choice titles tend to be 1st party titles simply because those are the titles that sell best on the platform. You could just as easily say that Sony's 1st party titles rarely make it to "Greatest Hit" status.
As for the price, I usually find that by the time Nintendo comes around to re-releasing it as a Player's Choice title, it's already available at or below the $30 range, especially for used copies. In fact, since I bought my Cube most of the titles I've paid more than $30 for were recently released titles (F-Zero and Mario Kart, though Zelda would count if I didn't get it with my Cube). Pikmin, Metroid Prime, Super Monkey Ball 2, Rogue Squadron 2, Super Smash Bros Melee, and Mario Party 4 each cost me $20, and are on that list (additionally, most of the Resident Evil titles are in the $15-25 range, and Eternal Darkness is in the $12-18 range). Part of it may also be store pricing policies coming into effect, they may not realize that Player's Choice titles are any different than Greatest Hits titles (or individual stores may feel that people will pay the higher price for Cube titles). Animal Crossing wasn't a Player's Choice title when I bought it, and was still around $30-40, and as far as I can remember was the only older title that cost me more than $30 on the Cube.
I think the price is the major reason I have managed to purchase so many titles for my Cube in such a short time frame. I have nearly the same number of Cube titles as PS2 titles. Considering that I bought my PS2 primarily for GT3, GTA3, Tekken Tag Tournament, and the Final Fantasy titles, I wasn't going to wait for those games to hit "Greatest Hits" status. On the other hand, I didn't buy the Cube until most of the titles I wanted had already dropped in price. My GBA library is also doing fairly well because even the most expensive games are in the $30-35 range rather than the $50 release price of most home console games.
-PainKilleR-[CE]