Used-Games and the 'recession'

[myrmaad]

The cause of declining game sales speaks more of the declining quallity of games, the abundance of titles being released, and the declining economy. If you have a $200 a year gaming budget, would you be spending it on a game that is partially broken, offers very little lasting value, but shiny graphics, or would you be spending it on working game, that you can play for 60+ hours, and still find new things, with slightly less shiny graphics. Heck, under that light, MMOs could even be seen as a cause for declining game sales, since often the game software is given out free for buying a subscription, with the subscription often being for about the same cost as buying a few other titles. MMOs of course, providing nearly endless content, a garenteed (almost) working/balanced game, shiny graphics, as well as a community often consisting of vindictive geeks who want to see you cry. As anyone who has had an experience with MMOs could tell you, the amount of time you spend playing one can be outright sickening if you bothered to take note.

 

 

You wouldn't believe the amount of people who would rather have shiny graphics over Great Game Play. I don't get it, myself.

 

As a Tomb Raider fanatic for years, I've had this debate hundreds of times. I still play my old TR games all of them. I'm about ready to play TR4 again when I get bored of modding oblivion.. I've forgotten so much of it now it will be fun to play again, I haven't played it for years. Last year I played TR1 over after completing Anniversary. The inferior graphics did nothing to stop TR1 from completely trouncing TRA as far as pure enjoyment factor--and that's after having played it all the way through at least 3 other times, though it had been long enough I could only remember highlights.

 

But, especially younger or maybe newer gamers seem to not be able to get past the early graphic engines. It's their loss.

[Stampede]

Indeed. I'm a big time retro gamer. Anyone who enjoys Oblivion or Morrowind should do themselves a favour and pick up Ultima VII.

 

What I like is how the artists would work with the limited engine and find ways of creating graphics to represent objects in such a way that you would know instantly what it was.

 

I specifically look for games with replay value. I can't afford a lot of games and I'm very picky anyway. (Beggars CAN be choosers!)

[LHammonds]

Good points Vagrant0 and one of them reminded me of a couple scenarios yours truly participated in.

 

I had bought Doom3 before it released and was awaiting delivery. (exact same scenario for a Star Wars game)

 

The day it released, game stores had boxed copies just waiting for anybody to stroll by and buy but my pre-paid copy did not show up on release day. It was actually several days PAST release day before it arrived. Makes me think they did not send it in the mail until release day. ARG!!!

 

I was quite ticked that my friends (who did not plan ahead) were playing the game while I was just sitting around waiting for the mail to arrive. It was at this point that I decided to figure out how to download a pirated copy on the Internet. **gasp**, yes, I am a filthy pirate for doing it but I felt justified that I had already purchased the game. I still feel dirty from doing it but it cannot be said that I have pirated copies of those games without having bought them beforehand.

 

Needless to day, I do not buy boxed copies for snail-mail delivery anymore. Either retail or electronic delivery. Although, I would like to see discounts for those that purchase the electronic download only (saving the company the expense of the boxed version)

 

LHammonds (filthy pirate scum)

[Khet]

Heh, similar thing with me Hammond. While I never downloaded it (the Burning Crusade expansion for WoW) my pre-order actually arrived TWO weeks later than release. Since then I refuse to have a pre-order delivered through mail.

 

Vagrant, I don't really get what you're saying about MMOs, or at least a part of it.

 

Heck, under that light, MMOs could even be seen as a cause for declining game sales, since often the game software is given out free for buying a subscription, with the subscription often being for about the same cost as buying a few other titles.

 

Maybe it's just me but you actually have to buy the game, AND a subscription in order to play an MMO, then tack on the 15 dollars a month average for most MMOs... like I said maybe it's the way you worded it but I have yet to see any other MMO aside from EVE that's given out for free but still charges a subscription. And don't even get me started on EQ2 and their expansion packs, holy @#$%

[Vagrant0]

Heh, similar thing with me Hammond. While I never downloaded it (the Burning Crusade expansion for WoW) my pre-order actually arrived TWO weeks later than release. Since then I refuse to have a pre-order delivered through mail.

 

Vagrant, I don't really get what you're saying about MMOs, or at least a part of it.

 

Heck, under that light, MMOs could even be seen as a cause for declining game sales, since often the game software is given out free for buying a subscription, with the subscription often being for about the same cost as buying a few other titles.

 

Maybe it's just me but you actually have to buy the game, AND a subscription in order to play an MMO, then tack on the 15 dollars a month average for most MMOs... like I said maybe it's the way you worded it but I have yet to see any other MMO aside from EVE that's given out for free but still charges a subscription. And don't even get me started on EQ2 and their expansion packs, holy @#$%

Anarchy Online, Wow, to some extent (pre lich king atleast), City of Heroes, Lineage II (I think for some time atleast), and a few other minor titles. Pretty much any game that offers a 15-30 day+ trial period has free software downloads. Those same games may still have boxed copies for sale, for people who don't want to wait a week to, or can't download the game from official sources, But yeah, I see what you're saying, not every company does that, which could cause some confusion. In some cases, even if the software isn't free those games usually come with a free month of play time for buying the game, so the argument is still valid. Ultimately though, the amount of time spent in a MMO, even within a single month, ends up being much longer than the play time of a single player game, just because there is usually so much garbage you have to go through to get to any of the good stuff.

[SickleYield]

In answer to the first post:

 

I, like Vagrant, have a very limited budget. I also am a modder and I prefer games with tons of content. So I'm very particular about which games I spend my money on. I bought Oblivion used on ebay two years ago and am still using that same dvd. At the time a lot of people were putting up barely-used Oblivion copies at discount because so many people bought the PC version and then couldn't play it - the sysreqs were basically meant for the kind of graphics card that was not yet for sale when the game was released. Even now I get better performance with Fallout 3 on my 2gb system with an ATI Radeon 1950x card.

 

I haven't found that to be the case with Fallout 3. It seems to be better optimized than Oblivion and has held its value since release. This being the case, I bought a new-in-box copy on NewEgg. I now know that modding will help the game hold my attention for a long time, so it's worth it to me.

 

For me to buy a game and turn it right around means it just didn't grab and hold my interest compared to Oblivion. This is what happened with the NWN franchise, Command and Conquer, and Homeworld. I ended up giving NWN2 to my sister instead of selling it, as she enjoyed it much more than I did.