I understand the economic concepts behind this; I just don't know the specific numbers. But lets play with what you've provided. Lets be generous and say that localization only costs $50,000, and the game is sold for $10 on the VC. That means that Nintendo needs 5,000 Mother 3 fans to make the game profitable, or a mere.125% of Wii owners (assuming 4 million consoles sold by year's end). I have a feeling that the costs are target number are even less. But even so, how do we know that there are that many people interested to begin with? I agree that a game does not need to be mainstream to be profitable, but it has to cross a popularity threshold. With all the noise about Mother 3, is that enough to guarantee that it cross said threshold? As I said, I would hope that Nintendo has done whatever market research is necessary to justify their position. If not, then they very well could be missing out on an opportunity.
I agree that the VC should be used to attempt more ports as a method of testing just how different the Japanese and American markets are. What I'm not sure about is how much of the American market is like the Japanese market, and how much of it is a group of very vocal fanboys online. I always see people clamoring for more Japanese imports and such, but its always in the same places where the hardcore gamers congregate. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be a large demand for more Japanese ports, or that said Japanese ports wouldn't be accepted by even the mainstream (surprisingly, to some), but simply that because there are several posts requesting specific games (Mother 3, for example, in this very thread), that doesn't mean there is a large enough market to justify the attempt - which is why I hope that they do leverage the ease of placing games on the VC to test this. I would like to think that somewhere Nintendo has run some focus groups to determine which Japanese games are worthy of making the transition, and they have hard market research data supporting all their decisions - research which may seem counter-intuitive to the impressions of the average online hardcore fanboy.
If everyone is talking about how these kids have 8 - 20 hours a day to do nothing but play games, isn't there some way we can put them to good use? Why not get them PC's and WoW accounts and let them spend all that time power-leveling? Then the hospital can keep a cut of the profit they make when they sell their characters. Heck, maybe if people in WoW knew they could donate their gold to a good cause, people could help them that way. I can't believe we're missing out on such an opportunity!
I get the impression that Nintendo was perfectly willing to sell the system at a loss, but given the amount of room that Microsoft and (especially) Sony left as far as price differentiation, it makes sense for Nintendo to sell the Wii at the highest price point possible. Its still cheaper than the alternatives, and I don't expect demand to lessen significantly, and should MS or Sony ever lower their prices, Nintendo has room (and now a budgetary surplus) to respond in kind.
If anything, if the PS3 sells as well as Sony seems to be hoping (and despite all the bad PR and angry fanboys, it still could), you have to give the console makers credit for starting to acknowledge that people will pay almost any price for a console at launch. It sucks to be the consumer, but this is basic economics at work.
Of course the Slashbots will try to spin this as an Anti-M$ thing, but this is a good idea. Too many times people pay for games that they don't like and don't end up finishing. It would be great to be able to save a few bucks and play only to the point in the game you want to. If you really liked the game you could pay to unlock the entire thing.
I agree with you (and everyone else) that paying less at the start and then paying again for additional content is better than overpaying for a full crappy game that you never complete, but I think the concern here is that this will wind up being misapplied, such that games will cost 'full price', or $50 initially, with further payments along the way. Then again, I suppose price increases are to be expected at some point. This just seems like a stealthy way to introduce that.
Hold down select when you press the 'Brain Age Check' button (I forget the specific text), and that brings you to a *secret* menu where you can select which tests you want to do. If I do the Calculations, the Connect game, and Number Cruncher, I'll get a 20 everytime. If I take my chances with the Stroop Test, I'll fluctuate as high as 38 depending on how sensitive the microphone is that day. (I lack the patience to do the Word Memory test, though I enjoy it.) Its a shame about the 'Broo' bug, as there are a few times I've tried to show people how fun this game is and they're response is usually just, 'eh.'
If only they had Procrastinatr already installed for their calendars. They would have then waited a week to check TAUW, by which point the post suggesting they use Procrastinatr would have been fixed. What a shame...
Also, Mother 2 (aka Earthbound) had some neat changes to the jRPG formula (most of which haven't been seen since [to the best of my knowledge])... Trippy backgrounds, pizza delivery, "analog dial" hitpoints, auto-combat resolution against weak enemies, etc.
So Everquest imported the concept of Pizza Delivery over from jRPGs... interesting.
But I ask, if you know your next Legend of Zelda is going to sell millions, why launch it with a $60 price tag?
You've phrased the question completely wrong. If you know your game will sell millions, why not sell it for a $60? Heck, why not a $100 price tag? That's millions times ten to forty or more dollars Nintendo is missing out on. Surely there's a price point at which sales will decline for a guaranteed hit title, but from a financial standpoint, how much money is Nintendo leaving on the table? They may be profitable, but they could always be more profitable.
That said, I for one have no problems with Nintendo vowing to maintain the $50 price point for games.
Everyone knows that iPods are just an easy gateway to harder Apple products. As soon as he sees those little white buds, he'll know that Powerbooks and iMacs can't be far behind. He's just trying to protect his kids is all.
Interesting how this hubbub and article come out shortly before the game is scheduled to go live. Pre-order today!
Regardless, only a 7-day suspension? If they really wanted to punish the guy they'd change it so that on his next logon the offender was stuck playing an SOE game.
Why do I have a feeling that this was all just an ad for plentyoffish.com? I mean, why not get a bunch of undersexed males to visit a page promising free matchmaking with plenty of pictures of cute women? The whole 'story' about ugly websites is really inconsequential. (And plentyoffish isn't all that ugly, IMHO.) I'm starting to get the feeling we've all fallen for this hook, line, and sinker.
Slashdot Mirror
You're not wrong, but that assumes users and clients are following communications protocol 100%.
So literally no longer literally means literally?
I understand the economic concepts behind this; I just don't know the specific numbers. But lets play with what you've provided. Lets be generous and say that localization only costs $50,000, and the game is sold for $10 on the VC. That means that Nintendo needs 5,000 Mother 3 fans to make the game profitable, or a mere .125% of Wii owners (assuming 4 million consoles sold by year's end). I have a feeling that the costs are target number are even less. But even so, how do we know that there are that many people interested to begin with? I agree that a game does not need to be mainstream to be profitable, but it has to cross a popularity threshold. With all the noise about Mother 3, is that enough to guarantee that it cross said threshold? As I said, I would hope that Nintendo has done whatever market research is necessary to justify their position. If not, then they very well could be missing out on an opportunity.
I agree that the VC should be used to attempt more ports as a method of testing just how different the Japanese and American markets are. What I'm not sure about is how much of the American market is like the Japanese market, and how much of it is a group of very vocal fanboys online. I always see people clamoring for more Japanese imports and such, but its always in the same places where the hardcore gamers congregate. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be a large demand for more Japanese ports, or that said Japanese ports wouldn't be accepted by even the mainstream (surprisingly, to some), but simply that because there are several posts requesting specific games (Mother 3, for example, in this very thread), that doesn't mean there is a large enough market to justify the attempt - which is why I hope that they do leverage the ease of placing games on the VC to test this. I would like to think that somewhere Nintendo has run some focus groups to determine which Japanese games are worthy of making the transition, and they have hard market research data supporting all their decisions - research which may seem counter-intuitive to the impressions of the average online hardcore fanboy.
If everyone is talking about how these kids have 8 - 20 hours a day to do nothing but play games, isn't there some way we can put them to good use? Why not get them PC's and WoW accounts and let them spend all that time power-leveling? Then the hospital can keep a cut of the profit they make when they sell their characters. Heck, maybe if people in WoW knew they could donate their gold to a good cause, people could help them that way. I can't believe we're missing out on such an opportunity!
I get the impression that Nintendo was perfectly willing to sell the system at a loss, but given the amount of room that Microsoft and (especially) Sony left as far as price differentiation, it makes sense for Nintendo to sell the Wii at the highest price point possible. Its still cheaper than the alternatives, and I don't expect demand to lessen significantly, and should MS or Sony ever lower their prices, Nintendo has room (and now a budgetary surplus) to respond in kind.
If anything, if the PS3 sells as well as Sony seems to be hoping (and despite all the bad PR and angry fanboys, it still could), you have to give the console makers credit for starting to acknowledge that people will pay almost any price for a console at launch. It sucks to be the consumer, but this is basic economics at work.
At least that would explain why they aren't including an HDMI cable with the PS3...
If NDGPS is indeed lost, can't we just use its GPS to find it?
What are we going to do once the IT guys get those invisibility devices? There will be no stopping them!
Hold down select when you press the 'Brain Age Check' button (I forget the specific text), and that brings you to a *secret* menu where you can select which tests you want to do. If I do the Calculations, the Connect game, and Number Cruncher, I'll get a 20 everytime. If I take my chances with the Stroop Test, I'll fluctuate as high as 38 depending on how sensitive the microphone is that day. (I lack the patience to do the Word Memory test, though I enjoy it.) Its a shame about the 'Broo' bug, as there are a few times I've tried to show people how fun this game is and they're response is usually just, 'eh.'
Isn't this already happening?
If only they had Procrastinatr already installed for their calendars. They would have then waited a week to check TAUW, by which point the post suggesting they use Procrastinatr would have been fixed. What a shame...
Could this just be part of the "Repatriation Accelerated De-territorialization of Ursus Maritimus through gene therapy and extreme climate change?"
So doesn't that mean that, at the time, EA Spouse was in fact not a spouse?
So how long until EA steps in and locks up MLG so only they can produce officially licensed video games?
You've phrased the question completely wrong. If you know your game will sell millions, why not sell it for a $60? Heck, why not a $100 price tag? That's millions times ten to forty or more dollars Nintendo is missing out on. Surely there's a price point at which sales will decline for a guaranteed hit title, but from a financial standpoint, how much money is Nintendo leaving on the table? They may be profitable, but they could always be more profitable.
That said, I for one have no problems with Nintendo vowing to maintain the $50 price point for games.
Everyone knows that iPods are just an easy gateway to harder Apple products. As soon as he sees those little white buds, he'll know that Powerbooks and iMacs can't be far behind. He's just trying to protect his kids is all.
Well, at least Netcraft confirms it.
Interesting how this hubbub and article come out shortly before the game is scheduled to go live. Pre-order today!
Regardless, only a 7-day suspension? If they really wanted to punish the guy they'd change it so that on his next logon the offender was stuck playing an SOE game.
Why do I have a feeling that this was all just an ad for plentyoffish.com? I mean, why not get a bunch of undersexed males to visit a page promising free matchmaking with plenty of pictures of cute women? The whole 'story' about ugly websites is really inconsequential. (And plentyoffish isn't all that ugly, IMHO.) I'm starting to get the feeling we've all fallen for this hook, line, and sinker.