Wii Cracked

i think games are on a whole overpriced, yeah. even if i see a film at the cinema and buy the dvd later too, ive still paid less than half a 50 quid 360 game.. that doesnt make any real sense to me, except to imply greed on the developers behalves, but i could be missing somethings like massive overheads unique to the gaming industry (but still.. theyd have to be pretty f**king huge)

and there are many games that arent worth half the price they debut at

There will be a lot of people who will use this device to play import games until Datel releases a new Freeloader - because of this is company should be given some support.

Yeh, I kind of agree with Adam M.

There's always going to be piracy - and a small minority of users/small time dodgy dealers who will rip games from bittorrent and the like - but when other regions are getting great games on a regular basis way before Europe (ie Trauma Center on Wii being the latest for me...) then those gamers who want to buy the games are going to use this type of thing to assist them playing import games...

I also look on game piracy like I look on music and DVD piracy - if I think that an album/movie/game is worth my £15/20/30 then I'll pay it... if I don't then I'll ignore it, or maybe if a friend recommends it I'd rip it to check it out... and then if it turns out to be better than expected sometimes I might even BUY the original...

if you think piracy is an adequate reason for the massive inflation of game prices in comparison to film and music.. well you are mistaken

Right, want to know why a game costs more than movies?

1. Most games costs a few million to make (same as a cheap film)
2. HOWEVER, games sell to a smaller proportion of the world (not as many gamers as film go-ers)
3. Games have a rough shelf life of 3 months before gamers consider them "out of date". That's 3 months to recoup all development costs.
4. Movies come out in cinema, then dvd rental, then dvd sales, then endless tv repeats, etc etc. Lots of ways for movies to recoup costs.
5. Games come out once (well and maybe on budget) and have to recoup costs in one chunk.. many dont.
6. A Movie lasts appx 120 mins.. a game will (hopefully) last about 10 times that.. but only cost 4 times the cost.


And as long as your careful with your purcahses and only purchase good games which'll last you a long time.. then imho they're worth the price.

Mass Piracy will just encourage publishers not to publish games on the system (like the dreamcast)... Which is a BAD thing for wii owners!

i did write a big bitch-arse damnation of the crap you just spewed, but drunk as i am, i thought better of it

maybe another time, enjoy your incorrectness

The enemy here is not DRM (wow, I never thought I'd say that!!) but region locking.

Region locking should be made illegal - it's a way for companies, who have (Less, Nintendo, but certanly Sony and Microsoft) campaigned for a global free market, so thay can make things cheap in Asia and sell them expensive in America and Europe, then funnel the profits off to Bermuda, to restrict that market.

These companies act globally when it comes to the free movement of capital - but they act regionally when it comes to the makling of profit - and the protection of their margins.

It's bullshit!

Piracy is wrong. There's no two ways about it, and anyone who thinks otherwise is a f**king retard who should come and work in my garden all day for no recompense. Developers deserve an income, and when the games get pirated - they are the ones who lose out...

Is the price of games reasonable? Well, yes and no. Some publishers are bathing is asses milk and champagne, while others are finding it hard to make ends meet. They maybe, should be a little bit more realistic, we have (more or less) a one size fits all pricing strategy on games - but not all games are as good as each other... maybe that should change. The price - not the "all games being as good as each other" part ;-)

Not trying to be too pedantic, but I think you meant the problem is not copy protection. Region locking is a DRM scheme.


Yet neither the 360 nor the PS3 have mandatory region locking for games, but the Wii does. It's a funny old world, isn't it?

Please note, I'm not defending Microsoft or Sony, they have had region locking in the past and many 360 games do have region locking now, nor am I slamming Nintendo since their handhelds have never been region locked that I am aware of. It's just an interesting point that the two mega-corps don't have mandatory region locking and the gamers' friend does have, even trying to push it on the VC.

Please do post.. and tell me where im wrong. I could do with a laugh.

What are you going to argue? Games dont cost a fortune to make? Games dont have a short shelf life? Movies dont come out on multiple formats over many years? Movies dont have a bigger audience than games? Piracy didnt kill the dreamcast?

Come on.. i could do with a laugh. Im sure other people would love to laugh at you too.

well first off i apologise for my tone, the booze turns me into a w****r sometimes

but i do still think your reasons werent convincing enough explaination of the price gulf between games and film



right, were looking for reasons that its more expensive though



yes, definitely less gamers than people who enjoy films. but isnt the cinema on its arse? and also, in my experience gamers do seem to be much more enthused and buy more games than your joe average buys films.. like i say i do agree with you here but in this day and age it doesnt seem like a full explaination by a long shot



i just dont agree with that, maybe most people dont do 'retro' gaming, but if the system is current, games can sell for years. maybe the first 3 months is where the big surge is, but something similar would go for films too.



games companies get money from re-releases (special editions or cut price editions), retro compilations, rentals, online fees, additional content, accessories, sponsorships, etc



this didnt really make sense to me.. if i could have 500 hours of fun with a yo-yo should i pay hundreds or thousands of pounds for it?

ive never seen any evidence that the dreamcast was killed by piracy. ive also never looked

@DoctorDee

I agree, region locking is total bullshit. they wont be able to get away with it forever though. Piracy is of course wrong too when it results in a lost sale.

I think Smelly is totally right, because most people I know own a reasonable number of DVDs but fewer own many games (if any).



I do agree with this. I can buy DVDs for 20 to 30 years after release and the studios still make money. I can only buy games up to 5 years after release, but normally 2 years. For example, I wanted to buy Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy recently, but it was discontinued two years ago.

Whichever way you look at it games have a shorter life than films.



Yeah, but films can do all that.



Actually, this is one of the reasons I used to buy games instead of films. If I fork out £30 on a game then I might get 25 hours of good entertainment rather than 2 hours of entertainment from a £16 (at that time) DVD.

Good games represent much better value for money than films.

i was arguing against the 3 month thing. but if most games have a 5 year lifespan as far as the public are concerned, and id say that is a reasonable statement, is that a reason for a 50 pound price tag?




i know, but my point was theres plenty of extra revenue in games past the first sell



my point still stands though, time consumed by an activity doesnt equal the monetary worth of given activity, in the case of film and games

wether a good game is more value for money than a good film, well each case must be judged on its own merits

Actually, not that we have any way of proving this, but I don't think piracy killed the Dreamcast.

I'm not saying it helped or that it wasn't a problem, but the Dreamcast's problems were far bigger than piracy alone.

Besides, there was once a console called the Playstation, and that was more pirated than any other console I've ever known, and that didn't seem to do too badly.

yes, ive always seen piracy as being much more prevalent with movies and audio than games. i guess its partly to do with the expertise needed, 99.999999999999999% of the public dont know about modchips, but everyone copies cds for mates or buys dvds 'dahn the mahhket'

all in all, it just isnt a reason for the higher prices