An interesting article, about gaming

[jokemaster]

Hey, I was over at shacknews, browsing when I found a good article about what the problem with the gaming retail system is.

 

here it is

 

I mean, it really is the problem with the industry. With movies they release them in the theater, and even if it doesn't become a blockbuster, word of mouth gets a chance to spread when it's taken out of theaters so that when it's released on video/DVD, the friends of those who bought it are interested. Games get a very limited one-time run.

 

 

The article was written by Chris Remo, a resident of our sister forum, the international house of mojo, y'know when you're at the LF homepage, instead of clicking on the JK series, try clicking there and give them a visit.

[toms]

He has a pretty good point.

There is a secondary lease of life for these sorts of games, but it isn't supported by the retail stores and it takes a lot of work.

For example I tend to wait 6 months before buying most games... not only is it cheaper in terms of hardware/software prices... but after the initial hype has died down you get to find out which games people truely liked, and which were just hype and flash graphics.

 

He's right about the "hardcore casual" group, and that casual gamers and hardcore gamers probably have a lot in common. Hardcore gamers however tend to hear about and have access to obscure, old classics on the internet. Casual gamers don't. Its where things like the "people who bought this also bought" and amazon lists come into play.

 

He's also right that it would be interesting if the shops actually sorted te games by anything other than platform... currently in big game stores they don't seem to sort them at all (outside the top 20 display) and its impossible to find anything.

 

The one bit i'm not sure i agree on is the differences with music stores. In the UK at least music and games shops have gone down a pretty similar path. 5 years ago there might have been independent stores, these days they have been put out of business by the big chains (or the internet). Infact we have more 2nd hand game stores than music stores. the guys in the 2nd hand games stores tend to know a lot about games as well.

 

Unfortunately the big chains (basically just GAME in the UK) are terrible. they only care about pre-orders, so they only care about big hyped games. After the top 20 for each platform is just a mass of random games that is impossible to wade through.. mostof them budget games. (which WOULD be a good 2nd chance at retail for good games, but most budget games are the ones that sold well first time, and 5 years out of date).

I've spent the last 2 months looking in GAME for Half-life 2, and once it sold out of preorders they never had it in. And that is a big hyped game.

 

It'd be fun to try and run a store that actually tried to promote the right games to the right people... but you couldn't compete on price with the big chains or the internet.

 

As an aside, its daft that the games industry is the only one where media only plays on one piece of hardware, and has to pay licenses to do so. You don't get dvds that only play on Sony players... oyu buy a dvd and it will play on any brand. You buy a dvd player based on what aditional features you want over the basic standard featureset.

[RoxStar]

That was a good, well written, article. I think that the game stores that he speaks of would make a good model for the enjoyment of the public. Games would be grouped by genre, not platform, and there would be an equal number of Psychonauts and Grim Fandango as Halo and Madden.

Personally, I believe that Game Stores should resemble Book Stores in some way or another. There would be sections for action, mystery, puzzle, and sports. But in the front of the store, a few copies of games would be set aside with the label “Staff Picks”. That is where anyone who ever stepped foot in that shop would see Ico, Sam and Max, etc.

[acdcfanbill]

hah, BG&E was a great game, anyway, its not just gaming, people who like intilligent movies are also shorted these days, seems to me, everything is becoming less about risk taking, and more about sequals. :S

[El Sitherino]

It's all marketing and targeting what's in. What will sell rather than what will be good.

[Alegis]

I once remember reading a comment on these fora concering a change of LEC's motto;

from George Lucas' "Just make the best" to "how can we make more cash", with a recent poor display of support on Battlefront. Cash was in and that was all that mattered; not happy enough ? Buy the sequel.

 

And that's how it is.