Atrocity Exhibition wrote:
sinister agent wrote:
Things being even more expensive twenty years ago (when I certainly wouldn't have bought them) doesn't really change anything. Booze (which isn't even a fair comparison as it's taxed up the arse) being overpriced in a pub (and seriously, £7.50 for two beers? That's when you go to another pub entirely, sod that) doesn't change anything either.
These factors are both relevant, you effectively saying 'that's not relevant' doesn't magically make it so.
Gaming
is cheaper now than it's ever been, and it's far better as well, I think we're being bloody spoiled with games like Starcraft 2, in all honesty. I used to drop £30 on Amiga games that came on two floppy discs, I pay a tenner more than that now for a PC game that comes with production values to rival Hollywood. (Except the cheesy dialogue, SC2 is cheesy, I won't argue that, but it's a nice kind of cheesy.)
I never said it wasn't relevant. I said it doesn't change anything. It's true that prices used to be higher, but that doesn't mean they're still unreasonably high.
Quote:
And why isn't booze a fair comparison? If something is taxed up the arse and you still choose to pay the price that's being charged, the taxation rate is wholly irrelevant, you're still choosing to pay however much money the product on offer costs.
Well, arguably the reason the booze is so expensive is because it has to be for it to be profitable after tax. And in any case, paying that much for beer is daft unless the place is unusually excellent.
Quote:
Admittedly the £3.75 per pint was in the most expensive (and unsurprisingly also the nicest) pub around here, but what's a pint these days, best part of £3 anywhere outside of a student union I'd guess.
Well, yes. But that's another reason it's a bad comparison to draw - if you want a drink now, you want a drink now. Your thirst isn't going to go away for two months while you wait for prices to drop as the pricey beer-drinkers run on to the shiny new... er, beer.
Quote:
Most folks will drop £40 or thereabouts (if not more) on 'a good night out', but spending the same amount on a game that will last for weeks if not months, is considered to be 'ridiculous', it really makes no sense if you look at it rationally.
Hardly fair to suggest that objecting to the price is irrational. Waiting for a couple of months (if that) because you know the price will drop significantly is a pretty rational decision if you ask me. And arguably, it's the other way round if you want to talk rationality - those people should maybe reconsider how much money they splurged that night.
But meh, we're talking about what people are prepared to go "fuck it" at and throw money down for. It's up to them at the end of the day - I'm just inclined to think that adults should have more patience. If nothing else, buying things the minute they come out is why the industry has been able to fleece people for decades by rushing under-made games out.
Grim... wrote:
That's just for you, though. The sales of SC2 suggest that £40 is not ridiculous at all.
Quite. People also pay £3 for a pint of Carling, or £80 for Ugg boots. I leave the rest for the jury to surmise.
Atrocity Exhibition wrote:
Blizzard's story-tellingly is knowingly a bit cheesy, it's like WoW where there's loads of offbeat and incongruous stuff in there. (Check out the TV in the cantina in SC2)
It's very happy to be a GAME, and isn't pretending to be anything else. That said I think the overall story arc is pretty good, just don't imagine it's taking itself 100% seriously all the time
I can believe this. The first game was gloriously silly. Think of it as almost a B-movie type thing, a bit like Tremors, where it knows its silly but never openly admits it. The Protoss in particular were so wonderfully imperious and over the top that there's no way anyone whose name wasn't Michael Bay could write them seriously. And yet because of that, you kind of do take a shine to them. Fenix in particular was amazing. He had no time for anything but direct action and plans, and would sit there quietly saying nothing while everyone else plotted and flapped their lips/frontal lobes about. Then he'd basically jump in and go "Right, we'll attack here and here, then there. Kill them, destroy, crush, death to all, glory to everyone else, farewell!"
Then they bumped him off. Bastards.