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Video Game Industry Thread: movin' on to another thread
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I think the correlation is with price drops over time rather than removing of a feature that altogether doesn't affect much.
Though it'd be hilarious to see them release some kind of bullet point presentation touting that removing BC was a great thing.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Oh of course, the sales increases were mostly due to the price dropping to the realm of sanity. My point being that removing BC didn't put the brakes on that much at all.
Hm, that microtransaction system for Lord of the Rings doesn't sound half-bad, really. Nothing as annoying as trying to play Farmville for free, at any rate.
Steam: CavilatRest
The biggest effect may simply be enthusiasts opting to buy US systems rather than European ones initially. For starters, there's a massive price discrepancy between US DS prices and UK ones: a popular DS game costs exactly the same as a popular Wii game (£25-30), and so importing almost always saves you money. And games like Picross 3D are never released at a discounted $20 - always the full £30.
I didn't think region-locking would be a huge problem, but then I look back over my most-played DS games and realised that if the DS was region-locked:
1) I never would have had the chance to play Ouendan, and EBA would never have been made.
2) The Phoenix Wright series would've had a much tougher time finding a foothold in the west, and I would have had to play each game a year late and out of order (they insanely released 3 after 4).
3) I would have never had the chance to play 999, one my most interesting games of last year.
And looking at the region-locked Wii, you have:
1) No Fatal Frame 4
2) No Excitebots
3) No Trauma Team
4) Heavily censored No More Heroes
and 5) absolutely fucking awful delays on a huge number of titles.
And whilst it's certainly true that the loss of the 'enthusiast' segment won't make a dent, it does serve to further polarise Nintendo platforms. The more niche and interesting games simply won't get released in Europe because the market for them there will be strangled in the womb - no importers means no buzz to create a non-hostile environment.
The weirdest part? If importing was such a big problem that region-locking is actually making Nintendo some money, it actually suggest that this 'niche' segment is rather larger than people are making out. But the larger the segment of importers that are losing you money by not paying jacked-up regional prices, the larger the segment that you're destroying the goodwill of, and the less likely they are to buy it at full price. It has to be one or the other, and I'm not sure which - importing is a bigger global business than people are implying, or region-locking serves no useful purpose even for Nintendo.
...then again, Excitebots barely came out here. :P
Very true and it used to be even better when the $ was so weak against the £ for much of the 00s. I managed to import my Wii a few weeks after launch for less than the price of a UK one even including the postage. In the last few years the £ has really tanked sadly but it still sometimes works out cheaper to import.
It's interesting, though there seems to be a number of assumptions throughout it. My guess is Sony's taking the Microsoft approach in staying silent while they gather a list of hacked systems and then they'll ultimately ban them all at once.
Legitimate or not, the lawsuits would be incredible. Has any tech manufacturer ever knowingly bricked a consumer's device for violating terms? I'm not just talking video games, I mean Nokia phones and such.
That could be really far-reaching. Imagine web-enabled cars refusing to start up because the owner hacked the dash to play .avis.
My Wii is brick proof courtesy of homebrew, I even have the entire NAND backed up. We will probably see something similar for PS3.
Wasn't there a big thing recently where the law decried that it was perfectly legal to jailbreak an iphone and Apple can't do diddly squat to you for doing so? I'd say that's a pretty big precedent right there.
Honestly, I can't entirely rule out Sony actually doing that.
Meanwhile, Japan is still weird.
http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/01/sega-urinal-games/#more-31640
And thus The Sonic Retard spent tens of thousands of dollars to import a toilet.
What.
Honestly I think the games sound fun, or at least an interesting diversion while taking a piss, but there's no way I would want to touch that LCD screen.
XBL |Steam | PSN | last.fm
If I recall, the Library of Congress declared that Jailbreaking did not breach copyright, and therefore was legal.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/feds-ok-iphone-jailbreaking/
Also, What the Fuck, Japan?!?
3DS Friend Code: 0404-6826-4588 PM if you add.
Let me get this straight: human beings designed a game where the controller is your dick and you're trying to use pee to lift a girl's skirt?
There aren't even words to describe how screwy this is. Used-panty vending machines don't even compare.
Only people who don't really care would be able to win. I'm finding that absolutely hilarious.
All it required was a lack of shame. Or a different cultural understanding of shame, possibly.
Twitter
There were, like, footballs and goals to encourage accurate aim.
First time I used one I was wasted, it seemed the best thing.
Welp, now that I've [strike]shit[/strike] pissed up this thread, I think it's time for another:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?p=17944195#post17944195
Tried?
Have you ever been in a public men's room? And I'm not talking about those scuzzy public park ones. I'm talking ones you'd find at a place of employment. Office workers will aim at the wall given a chance...
Do not engage the Watermelons.