You kidding? If a game on the scale of Resident Evil 5 was released as a budget title, people would lap that shit up like anti-freeze at a petting zoo, and it's not like it costs any more to manufacture a copy of RE5 than it does to manufacture a copy of, for instance, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.
Capcom invested millions of dollars in making Resident Evil 5, I'd wager even more than they did in making Resident Evil 4 due to the HD graphics. The cost of churning the game out at the factory is not the true cost of the game. Before a single copy is even produced, millions of dollars are on the line.
If Capcom could make more money selling the game at a higher volume with a lower price, they would. They aren't going to invest big bucks in a game unless people are willing to pay big bucks for it at the store. I'd be surprised if Capcom didn't lose money releasing the game for $30.
The author mentions XNA games and a $10 price limit. You know, I've played some of these XNA games, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say I wouldn't play a lot of them for free. That's not an insult against the XNA game developers. I wish I had the skills to create an XNA game. The games just don't compare to what a high-budget team at Electronic Arts or Capcom can do.
At gamestats.com, the "top sales" chart suggests that there is a big market for high-budget games at full price. Street Fighter 4 is around $70 Canadian, and it's apparently selling very well at a similar price in the US. One of the replies to the blog post says "Create the quality. People will seek it...Things that simply occupy our time and do not enlighten us will fall into obscurity". Exactly. But do you have the money to do it? Do you have the skills to create something special?
The problem I see with indie games is, with the exception of something very special like Braid, they just cannot compete at any price with the latest high-budget games or yesterday's high-budget games (at a "Greatest Hits" price, including the crazy deals on Steam that have already been mentioned here).
The market isn't conspiring against anybody to charge the wrong price. I suspect that the indie games that sell well are priced at market value.
If it's more than $30... you're over charging. Period. You can try to argue this with me... but everything past that mark is greed pure and simple.
So, $30 is a fixed maximum price point regardless of the costs of producing the game? In the case of a game like, say, Resident Evil 5, I doubt that the game would even break even if it launched at $30. If I'm right, that's hardly "greed".
I actually did something amazing right now and read the full article.
While the business market typically tends toward caution when it comes to new products, the figure is nonetheless surprising given that almost no large companies migrated to Vista and as a result most have been using XP much longer than planned.
So the article suggests my initial comment, but I don't see why skipping Vista implies an immediate move to Windows 7. Obviously XP works for people.
Most enterprises stated they won't bother with Windows 7 for at least a year
Well, seriously, how often do business environments run a brand new version of Windows? I don't work in IT, but I'm going to go with almost never. This doesn't sound very special.
So The Beatles catalog is maybe coming to iTunes, and that is a story? Even if it were a lock, is there any one band that's worth a story in this scenario?
Some time last year I emailed Facebook about having my account deleted, and they sent me a reply (probably a form letter) about how to "deactivate" my account.
I'm concerned that Facebook is holding my personal info hostage. I don't care what the TOS says, how can such things be legal?
You'd really think that, given they were releasing discs that work differently, they would test them out on currently available BR players. It's not like there's that many out there (to my knowledge). I wonder if there's any coordination at all between the software people and various hardware manufacturers (including Sony) in this area.
What a stupid, stupid mess this HD crap has become.
I've been gaming my whole life and using the Internet for about 10 years, and one of the more common things I've heard about apart from the eternal console war is that "real" gamers don't care about graphics because gameplay is king. Whatever. Video games are a visual medium. The art direction and technical quality of the visuals make a difference (at least for me) in terms of immersion and overall fun factor. Personally, I find bad graphics distracting in a similar way to how I find poorly compressed video distracting.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, go play some N64 games and see how much you enjoy the blurovision. And given what the Gamecube is capable of, there's no excuse for how ugly some Wii games are.
I'm not educated about this issue, but what if it's actually a chronically different ideology that prevents Canadians (I am one of them) from adapting American-style anti-consumer laws.
Not so long ago, and to my surprise, a relative who is completely computer illiterate started talking about Linux, but the general thought is that 'it is harder than Windows'.
Unfortunately, in my experience, this is true. My attempts to install Ubuntu or Yellow Dog on an iMac G3 were a nightmare. My attempts to install Ubuntu/Kubuntu on my PC failed because I couldn't even get the installer running. Now I'm downloading Mandriva and Fedora for x86-64...we'll see how that goes.
I'm a lifelong computer geek, and I'm having a hard time installing Linux. My experiences could be bad luck, but this suggests to me that Linux isn't ready for Average User (on that note, what do you guys have to say about Linspire, or Freespire, or whateverthehell it's called?).
Eh, I'm not really sure if the parent is trolling or not, but anecdotally, I think there may be some truth to Sony scoring sales numbers with replacement PS2s. It has been my personal experience that both the PS2 and (perhaps especially) original Playstation have been unreliable over the years.
With that said, it's silly to say that the PS2's continued success can be attributed to this to any significant degree. Price and quantity factors of both hardware and software would surely be a stronger conclusion.
I won't be the first here to wonder why they're going at it yet again...you'd think they'd notice that nobody cares (unless it's been financially viable and I am unaware...anybody?)
But here's the point that hasn't been mentioned yet: are they actually going to call this thing an N-Gage? Because seriously, I don't think that brand name is going to get anybody too excited. The people who know what an N-Gage is would quite likely know that nobody likes them/they r teh suk.
To the person who suggested the GBA tie-in...not a bad idea, but I wonder if this would be of benefit to Nintendo.
I agree. I've been with Telus Mobility for 2.5 years now, and the phones, the coverage, the retail-level service, and the billing system suck. I've talked to some nice customer services reps on the phone, though.
Unfortunately, something tells me that all of the cell operators are roughly as bad, even if for different reasons. The cell phone industry feels very anti-consumer and untrustworthy to me. Ever noticed how they basically lie to you about the price of your monthly plan? With Telus, you pay $x for the plan they chose, then they tack on $7-$8 as a "system access fee" or some other nonsense, and charge for 911 access as well! What the hell is with that? Why is that even legal?
Sadly, ever since I've got a cell phone, I've become inseparable from it. It's a cornerstone of my social life. It's like a drug.
The parent may not be a teacher, but the parent is still the parent and has a say in his/her child's education. Al Gore, in this matter, is nobody.
I can respect that. But one parent's opinion becoming law? I don't like that one bit.
I'm relatively uneducated regarding global warming, but in the very least I think the popular (and competing) theories regarding it need to be discussed.
Slashdot Mirror
That is all.
You kidding? If a game on the scale of Resident Evil 5 was released as a budget title, people would lap that shit up like anti-freeze at a petting zoo, and it's not like it costs any more to manufacture a copy of RE5 than it does to manufacture a copy of, for instance, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition.
Capcom invested millions of dollars in making Resident Evil 5, I'd wager even more than they did in making Resident Evil 4 due to the HD graphics. The cost of churning the game out at the factory is not the true cost of the game. Before a single copy is even produced, millions of dollars are on the line.
If Capcom could make more money selling the game at a higher volume with a lower price, they would. They aren't going to invest big bucks in a game unless people are willing to pay big bucks for it at the store. I'd be surprised if Capcom didn't lose money releasing the game for $30.
The author mentions XNA games and a $10 price limit. You know, I've played some of these XNA games, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say I wouldn't play a lot of them for free. That's not an insult against the XNA game developers. I wish I had the skills to create an XNA game. The games just don't compare to what a high-budget team at Electronic Arts or Capcom can do.
At gamestats.com, the "top sales" chart suggests that there is a big market for high-budget games at full price. Street Fighter 4 is around $70 Canadian, and it's apparently selling very well at a similar price in the US. One of the replies to the blog post says "Create the quality. People will seek it...Things that simply occupy our time and do not enlighten us will fall into obscurity". Exactly. But do you have the money to do it? Do you have the skills to create something special?
The problem I see with indie games is, with the exception of something very special like Braid, they just cannot compete at any price with the latest high-budget games or yesterday's high-budget games (at a "Greatest Hits" price, including the crazy deals on Steam that have already been mentioned here).
The market isn't conspiring against anybody to charge the wrong price. I suspect that the indie games that sell well are priced at market value.
If it's more than $30... you're over charging. Period. You can try to argue this with me... but everything past that mark is greed pure and simple.
So, $30 is a fixed maximum price point regardless of the costs of producing the game? In the case of a game like, say, Resident Evil 5, I doubt that the game would even break even if it launched at $30. If I'm right, that's hardly "greed".
Why, I was talking to a local farmer just the other day, and he plans to replace all of his tractors with electric ones within the next year...
Can the new tractors run Aero?
... but they might be guilty anyway, so meh.
Dude, this is Slashdot. Of course Microsoft is guilty.
I actually did something amazing right now and read the full article.
While the business market typically tends toward caution when it comes to new products, the figure is nonetheless surprising given that almost no large companies migrated to Vista and as a result most have been using XP much longer than planned.
So the article suggests my initial comment, but I don't see why skipping Vista implies an immediate move to Windows 7. Obviously XP works for people.
Most enterprises stated they won't bother with Windows 7 for at least a year
Well, seriously, how often do business environments run a brand new version of Windows? I don't work in IT, but I'm going to go with almost never. This doesn't sound very special.
So The Beatles catalog is maybe coming to iTunes, and that is a story? Even if it were a lock, is there any one band that's worth a story in this scenario?
Some time last year I emailed Facebook about having my account deleted, and they sent me a reply (probably a form letter) about how to "deactivate" my account. I'm concerned that Facebook is holding my personal info hostage. I don't care what the TOS says, how can such things be legal?
How relevant is this post outside of the context of making fun of religion and religious people?
Microsoft is simply representing the interests of the United Union of Networks (UUN). How would you like to run at full speed 24/7?
By the time the hardware is cheap and profitable to produce, I expect the PS3 to be dead to the market.
Good call.
You'd really think that, given they were releasing discs that work differently, they would test them out on currently available BR players. It's not like there's that many out there (to my knowledge). I wonder if there's any coordination at all between the software people and various hardware manufacturers (including Sony) in this area. What a stupid, stupid mess this HD crap has become.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, go play some N64 games and see how much you enjoy the blurovision. And given what the Gamecube is capable of, there's no excuse for how ugly some Wii games are.
http://www.roflcat.com/images/cats/astronaut.jpg
I'm not educated about this issue, but what if it's actually a chronically different ideology that prevents Canadians (I am one of them) from adapting American-style anti-consumer laws.
Unfortunately, in my experience, this is true. My attempts to install Ubuntu or Yellow Dog on an iMac G3 were a nightmare. My attempts to install Ubuntu/Kubuntu on my PC failed because I couldn't even get the installer running. Now I'm downloading Mandriva and Fedora for x86-64...we'll see how that goes.
I'm a lifelong computer geek, and I'm having a hard time installing Linux. My experiences could be bad luck, but this suggests to me that Linux isn't ready for Average User (on that note, what do you guys have to say about Linspire, or Freespire, or whateverthehell it's called?).
Graphics may not matter to you, but would the average consumer say the same thing?
With that said, it's silly to say that the PS2's continued success can be attributed to this to any significant degree. Price and quantity factors of both hardware and software would surely be a stronger conclusion.
It's actually much worse. I tried this trick and went out grocery shopping. When I returned, all the locks on my house had been changed.
But here's the point that hasn't been mentioned yet: are they actually going to call this thing an N-Gage? Because seriously, I don't think that brand name is going to get anybody too excited. The people who know what an N-Gage is would quite likely know that nobody likes them/they r teh suk.
To the person who suggested the GBA tie-in...not a bad idea, but I wonder if this would be of benefit to Nintendo.
Unfortunately, something tells me that all of the cell operators are roughly as bad, even if for different reasons. The cell phone industry feels very anti-consumer and untrustworthy to me. Ever noticed how they basically lie to you about the price of your monthly plan? With Telus, you pay $x for the plan they chose, then they tack on $7-$8 as a "system access fee" or some other nonsense, and charge for 911 access as well! What the hell is with that? Why is that even legal?
Sadly, ever since I've got a cell phone, I've become inseparable from it. It's a cornerstone of my social life. It's like a drug.
I can respect that. But one parent's opinion becoming law? I don't like that one bit.
I'm relatively uneducated regarding global warming, but in the very least I think the popular (and competing) theories regarding it need to be discussed.