I've noticed something interesting... Once upon a time, console games were the cheaper alternative to PC games. Now the industry has flip flopped. The next gen console games seem to be, on average, between $10 and $20 more expensive. What does that do to the developer? If that extra bit of revenue is trickling down to the dev, then it's got to be tempting to switch over to the console. If it isn't, where is that extra revenue going?
Another part of this is that, since gamers are willing to shell out the extra for console games, why hasn't the PC game publisher raised it's price to match? It's got to be tempting as in the end, this is still a business.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the lower cost of PC games. However, if I was completely honest, I'd have to admit that I would be willing to pay more if the prices went up. Were the developers able to make more on thier investment, what would happen? Would it change the products? Would the number of releases increase due to parallel development? Bottom line, would it benefit the gamer to pay a little bit more?
Licensing fees to Sony and Microsoft.
Ouch... So that's how they can afford to sell the consoles at a loss. I wondered about that.
That's exactly why, yep.
Back when i buyed SNES Games they were usually a bit more expensive then PC games. So i dont exactly know what you are talking about.
I reach 30 this year and I don't ever remember PC games being more expensive than console games.
Maybe I was just lucky. Nes games were always around $20-$25 here and snes were $25-$30. PC Games have always been between $35 and $50...least the good ones anyway.
Sega Megadrive games were £35-40 I think, but I never could get my parents to buy me one. Instead, a Commodore 64 with a bazillion games was acquired second hand. When I got a PC a couple of years after that, games were £30, then very briefly pushing up to £35. Now I buy online, they're mostly £25.
I hope the computer game prices don't go up!Then I will have to play card games! I hate cards!!!!! Go software sellers who don't know when to seize an opportunity to raise prices and cause millions to go into depression and commit Seppuku!!!
Samurye.
I don't remember PC games being more expensive than console games, but getting PC games can end up costing more if you need to get a new computer every few months.
But I do remember PC games allways being better than console games (not just in graphics). I'm talking inovation, interface, mods. It just seemed that games evolved as fast as the computers did.
How old are you I wonder not knowing when PC games were always more expensive than consoles. I remembered when PS1 games only cost $30 and PC were $40-50. Those were the good days of gaming unlike now. $60 for a game is outragous unless you can spend over 200h on it like a RPG. Anyways its better to skip this generation of console except the handheld, PC, and maybe even the Wii (which I still think that its a gimmick).
Also for PC theres always upgrades to it and you dont always have to pork money on it when new stuff comes out. Consoles are just a snapshot of technology at that current time, as time goes it wont keep up. The PS3 cant even handle crysis and has a crappy duel-core, thats how outdated it is.
So? I don't see Little Big Planet on PCs. Nor do I see Gran Turismo. Or any of the other PS3 exclusives.
The technology that runs a game is about the most meaningless part of the game. Quake 3 may have run on better technology than an N64, but that didn't make it better than Super Mario 64.
I guess it really depends on the console and how old the games were when you buyed them.
I'm old enough to remember "shareware" was common.
I just allways remember console games starting at $49.99-$59.99 range when first released. PC games were allways about $10-$15 less per game. Assuming you had a PC that could play games.
Don't knock game consoles so quickly,
If you want to talk about outdated, try reading this http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/10/computing.sciencenews. The damn thing is built out of PS3 parts.
Or help cure cancer,
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/08/24/help-cure-cancer-with-your-ps3/
If anyone has complaints about hardware capabilites it would be me, but the lion share of the fault can be placed on game devs who try to be edgy by pushing graphics to the limits. More often than not it ends up hurting the gameplay more than adding experiance.
I've played through both Devil May Cry 4 and Starwars The Force Unleashed and they are beautifull and slick games. But I felt a little disapointed by the load times.
I actually buy more PC games because they are $50 instead of $60. Whenever there is a game that comes out for both consoles and PC I always go PC because they are cheaper.
PC games being cheaper is part of what attracts me to the format as well. And I'm really tired of hearing everyone dog on gaming pc's for being so expensive and in constant need of upgrading. I first dipped my toes into PC gaming about three years ago, and I slapped an $89 GeForce 6800 into my cheap, crappy eMachine with a 2.0GB single-core cpu and was playing all kinds of great games right off the bat. Later, I upgraded to a gig of RAM and traded up for a 7600 and could play Call of Duty 2 on high--and that was a 360 launch title! I have personally found PC gaming to be a much cheaper alternative to consoles. If you want to play Crysis on high then ok, you need to pony up some dough, but for every Crysis there are 20 or 30 great games that run fine on cheap setups. And who doesn't have a computer just sitting there in their house these days? People don't realize what slapping a hundred dollar video card into your home PC can yield gaming-wise. One last thing, used pc games are ridiculously low priced on the secondary market compared to used console games.
I've got a 360 as well as a PC and I find rather than price it's Genre that determines which system I buy for. PC shooters typically really annoy me; multiplatform RPGs with modding potential, I typically buy for PC. PC RTS's and depth-based strategy games are superior to those found on consoles. The choice to "console or not console" really comes down to disposable income (can you afford a console and games) and whether you the player care about a particular console's offerings (sorry but LittleBigPlanet, Gran Turismo and the other PS3 exclusive titles aren't targeted at me.) Ultimately, it's not possible to say that "this game-system is superior" because they all do different things and appeal to different people. Just like cars.
I have a Wii and 3 desktops and one laptop at home. I'm 34 yars old. I played Atari 2600 nes snes, genesis, super nintendo and PS1. The games on those consoles were always expensive compared to PC. NHL2008 was 20 on the PC try adn find that on a console at that price.
The only reason I got the Wii is because I have 3 kids and most games are less then 30$ each. I never dreamed of getting a 400$ console (whicjh finally are cheaper these days) and pay 50$ or more for consoles games.
Consoles are overated. I can do so so so much more on a pc that I could never do on a console. I buy 1 pc every 4 years which cost me about 1500$. The family can play, work, watch movies, do research, chat, emails and so many other things. Find me a console that can do all of those then a console might be something worthwile.
If it's only for gaming most consoles are aimed at one type of people, I'm glad I am not one of them.
@Solam
I'm trying to encourage my kids to stick with PC gaming, too. They use an older computer of mine and get to play all the Lego games and movie/cartoon tie-ins, but they do come home from school asking about PSPs, Wiis, PS3s, etc. because their friends are starting to get them. So far so good though, they have plenty to do between their games and the tons of stuff they can do/watch online. I'll never buy a console again--I just hope I can instill that value in my kids.
kind of annoying all those new games are brought to console only its sortoff forcing us to buy their consoles im not gonna anyways
im just happy that some people are smart enough to publish their games on the PC anyways any game with DRM and sucky anti-piracy solutions i ought to dl, im not gonna pay extra something that doesnt work - .- but people that publish both console and PC, i admire those, and i just buy their stuff to support em (not talking about those that publish console first then 6 / 12 months later introduce a pc-version, that's even worse then drm - .-
So what do they do about the kinds of games that don't exist on PCs?
Some of those Wii gizmos are very good in being the cheaper alternatives in aiding scientific research.
I've never bought a proper console, but I do love my DS. There are things in PC games that simply don't exist on consoles: the strange dark magic hidden in sub-menus and lengthy text descriptions, the obsessive geeky masterpiece. But it goes the other way too, some games are meant to be played split-screen on the sofa.
I agree with you 100%. Our kids should be playing outside more anyway
My kids are not allowed to play video games during the week. School first books and other things. On the week-ends when we are home they can play. I guess it's a good way to limit their time on video games.
I would imagine part of the reason console games cost more is due to the fact they sell the consoles themselves at near even, if not at a loss. This is not unusual. Printers are commonly sold below cost, because the special cartridge and ink you have to use for the printer you bought so cheap is costing you your firstborn child.
Also, the market for consoles is very different, and the makers of the systems know that. How many kids do you know that take their computer and the games over to a friend's house and then plug it in and start playing it? Consoles are super easy to move around, and if you have the game you can basically play it anywhere that has same system with multiple controllers on one machine for multiplayer, etc.
Computer Scenario:
Kid#1: Hey you wanna play <insert high res computer game name here>?
Kid#2: What graphics card is needed to be able to play that?
Kid#1: Just a Model 98000EFTZ.71 512 MB Nvidia GeForce F-2000 Quad Action Emodulifier
Kid#2: Hmm, will it run on my emachine T3406 with Media Accelerator 950?
Kid#1: Probably not, that thing have stone wheels on it, too?
Kid#2: It has Windows Vista, though...I need to upgrade my motherboard.
Kid#1: Yea dude, you gotta at least have a Pentium 4 or equavalent processor, and how much RAM do you have?
Kid#2: RAM, I dont know? Whats RAM?
Kid#1: Let's just go throw rocks at cars instead.
Console Scenario
Kid#1: Wanna play Gears of War? I got it on the Playstation yesterday.
Kid#2: Sure, bring the game over...and an extra controller.
Holy &@#) I can get Gears for my PS3?!
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