🚀 go-pugleaf

PAAR...@WHEEL.watstar.uwaterloo.ca (P Armstrong) writes:

>>        You know, I wonder....since CD's are so cheap, do you think
>>        that we will be seeing cheaper release prices?  Probably not.
>>        The market will price itself into a slump if it keeps the prices
>>        up like it does.  I mean, $39 for a game of moderate complexity

I haven't seen any game less than 2 years old selling for this price, new.

>Exactly!!  I, as an individual who actually PAYS for software instead of 
>just pirating it, had been hoping that through CDs there would be less
>copying going on and (hopefully) the software companies would be willing
>to charge lower prices.  Whether or not this will happen I don't know...

Well, since floppies are also a major distribution medium, pirates will just
pirate floppy games if they can't pirate CDs.

>I just came back from a computer store where I had a quick chat with the 
>owner, and he seems to believe that in about a year CD games will be down to 
>about $30 a piece.  

Why?  I can't see Origin's games going down in price.  I think they'd much
rather put more work into their games than lower the price.

>I personally DO NOT play games very much as they are simply too expensive....
>I mean if I can finish it in 2 or 3 days it is certainly not worth $70,$80, $
>90.  And if it is extremely repetative (Arena: The Elder Scrolls!!!) it's

Try buying it 2nd hand off the Net for $30-40US.  Much better than $90.
Personally I keep trading games, and end up with a whole bunch of software
for essentially the price of postage (around $7 here in Canada) for each game,
plus around $5 loss when trading 2nd hand to 3rd hand, etc.  Gee, $12 a game.
I wonder if I can afford $12 for COL or WC:Armada or TIE Fighter.

Btw, I liked TES: Arena.

>Games are just so temporary!! Think about it.. for hte price of ONE game I 
>could buy a 14.4k modem now (I just did :) )  and use that thing for the 

You can buy a 14.4K modem for $70?  Must be one inexpensive modem.  I
believe the most common price of games is still holding at around $70,
while the price you're looking at for modems is at least $150, so, say,
2 games for 1 modem if you don't sell the game after getting bored with it.

>next 3 years, downloading software, calling boards, playing online games, 
>talking to people, it's great!!  Or for twice the price, I could buy a CD 
>player, ..... a sound card.... things that will be with me for the next 5 
>years or so!  

And so outdated in 3 that Origin will be recommending you get something
better ... :)

>Whereas a game will last me perhaps 2 weeks, with hint books 
>even less.  Granted, Ultima might take longer, EOB, M&M, Wizardry might keep 
>you stuck at one spot for a week or more, how many games actually give you 
>more than a couple weeks of real fun and advancement????????

Judging by what you say here, you'd probably enjoy the M&M RPGs, maybe the
Wizardrys, and maybe Ultima Underworlds, which offer a LOT of variety even
if you can go thru them quickly.

>Unfortunately.. there aren't many cheap bins out here, and (Arg), most cheap 
>bins only seem to knock $10 off of 2 or 3 year old games!!!!!!

As I said, buy from the Net.  Second hand is half price, usually.  Third
hand and up usually knock off around $5 per hand.

>Like you said.. there just aren't enough of us conservative spenders... 
>Money is power, I don't want to give mine away to those out-of-touch (IMHO)
>software companies!!!!  Think about it! If software was priced at $20 or $30 
>a game, there would be so many more people willing to buy it!!  I would 
>imagine (perhaps not immediately) that software companies would make 
>quite a bit more revenue this way...... 

Check the prices in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.marketplace.  Not much over $30.

>Philip Armstrong <paar...@wheel.watstar.uwaterloo.ca>
>"The Slicer"     <paar...@novice.uwaterloo.ca>
>University of Waterloo >Year 1 Comp Eng

					Michael Lewchuk
					lew...@cs.UAlberta.CA