VG-RESURRECTION - Industry News

Buy Used, or BE Used

russjman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:35:06 -0700

On Kotaku there was an article about used games, and how in the eyes of developers they're seen as "Parasitic" to the Gaming Industry. Stores like Game Stop, and Game Crazy make money off used games, none of it goes to the pockets of the developers, or distributers. With production budgets rivaling some Hollywood movies, you can see how this can be damaging to the industry.

Officially I stand on the side where i can find gaming gems that are no longer being produced for dying consoles. A great example of this for me is finding Megaman 8 at Game Crazy for $7. Another one is finding a used copy of Castlevania: SOTN at a local blockbuster. The latter
being a title that's quite hard to find. Also, the ability to purchase not-so-new titles at a discount, enables me to enjoy a wider range of titles that i wouldn't shell out $50+ bucks for.

I believe that these higher level problems are caused by the industry itesef. This used game "epidemic" is a product of an oversaturated market, where the inflated cost of production and development nessesitates premier game producers to only focus on "money maker" games and genres. They justfy these huge budgets by rehashing games that have been financially successful in the past, adding a few bells and whilstles, and selling milllions of copies around the world to hopefully end up with profit in the end. In the end they cause these problems to happen; besides the fact that you end up with a game market that is a little dull, and lacking any real originality.

Very much like my stance on the "Great" online pirated music debate, i will pay full price for something that i think is worth it, and that i want to support with my hard earned dollars. And there are a few games that i would, and have paid full-release-date-gouge-your-money-out-of-your-pocket price. A couple off the top of my head are God of War, Rachet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Katamari Damacy, The Orange Box And i think that these are phenominal games were completely worth what i paid(some even more since i got them as "Greatest Hits"), which is the case with most of the games that i own(i tend to do a lot of research before making a game purchase)

In the end, its not our problem whether they or not the Game Industry has a worthwhile enough product for me and you, as a consumer, to warrant a $50+ purchase. If we dont think it's worth it, then we wont buy it at full price, and the "Industry" will need to rethink what they know about us, and our tastes, and try to find another way to keep us interested, and not use us as a scape goat for their shortcomings.

http://kotaku.com/344807/used-game-sales-are-parasitic-hurting-industry

Wii Hacked

russjman — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:55:41 -0600

Hackeers have appearantly found a way to possibly run homebrew games and apps on the Wii.

Wii Hacked

I dont believe this will be taken lightly by Nintendo. The emulation scene has flourished only because the copyright holders of "retro" games haven't raised their voice, they're more worried about making the next bestest greatestest game of the century. With old school games being so hip nowadays in Xbox Live and Wii's Virtual Console, i hardly think that Nintendo will allow their profit from these repackaged games to be comprimised. </gloom>

I guess we'll see how Nintendo handles this, if at all.

Katamari on Wii

russjman — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 12:40:40 -0600

This is yet another reason for me to get off my ass and get a Wii.

Katamari on Wii

Katamari on PS2 almost single handedly revived my in playing console games again. There haven't been too many games that I've played in the last decade that's as innovative, pure hearted, and raw fun as the Katamari series. And this is definitely shifting my decision as to which "next gen" system to get.

This news has to be a huge blow to Sony as well. Their over pumped monster, the PS3, is seriously lacking in quality games for the next year. The only game on PS3 that is carrying the most potencial, in my eyes, is Little Big Planet. And the last time i heard, this isn't even an actual release, but a downloadable game on their online network, PS3 Home.

I've been a loyal Sony Playstation follower for some time now. But i find no reason to shell out 600 bucks for a graphical monster with shitty games. Maybe in a couple of years Sony will be able to compile a decent game library.

Wii Woes

russjman — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:12:52 -0600

I can't believe that more than half a year after the release date for the Nintendo Wii that it is still being consistently sold out.

Ive been enjoying every little last under powered bit of my PS2 for the last year. PS2 still has the best game library of any system out right now(besides the Nintendo DS), and game tend to go "Greatest Hits" very quickly, making it quite affordable to keep kicking in its ripe old age(in console years). The only home console that's piqued my interest since the PS2 has been the Wii, but there are some things that have made it hard for me to make the conversion:

-PS2 is backwards compatible, and i still have, and buy PS1 games
-Wii is underpowered in comparison to the Xbox 360, and PS3. This will only become more appearant as developers get the hang of coding for the 360 and PS3 in the next coming years(There are still PS2 game being released that look more impressive than the next gen consoles.
-Wii's are still sold out. I am not willing to camp out bum rush the truck driver as the new shipment comes in. I have a job and a life.
-Nintendo has always been too "family" for its own good. The Nintendo exclusives, like the Mario, Zelda, and Metroid series are well worth the price. But i know ill end up missing out some more adult themed gems; basically anything by Rockstar(i only invest on one system at a time, for the same reasons as above, and not made of money, or a tool).

I think that EVENTUALLY....i'll have a Wii. That will only happen when i can actually find it at store with out having drive accross town, or beat up a kid standing in line. For now, my PS2 is doing me just fine(altho a buddy of my lent me his Gamecube and all his games, so i guess now i look like a hypocrite...oh well)

Here's a tracker that will help those with more determiation and patience than I. Wii Tracker

"Good luck....You'lllll need it" <---- Smash TV