I won't tell you my age but I will show it. I am an OG I have been around since Atari. Sure pongs and others existed before then but let's be honest home consoling didnt start to gain some steam until Atari/Odyssey/Intellivision. At any rate I remember being a kid and being able to game on my odd job money. Gaming was still sort of new so there wasnt really a set market price no one knew if gaming would continue to grow. Games could range from 10-60 bucks depending on lots of things. I could go to toys r us and grab a game that didnt suck for like 20 bucks. Sure as hell that was a lot of money to a kid but the point is-I could do it. How does a kid buy a 60 dollar game these days? sell a kidney? (how much do kidneys go for anyway? might need to sell two. I'm looking at YOU http://www.pcworld.com/article/229318/kid_sells_kidney_for_ipad_2_regrets_transaction.html )
THAT is a blog in itself but for now let's continue into how we are being screwed. When the 16 bit era dawned there was some leveling off but a good deal wasnt impossible to come by. Then 3D gaming exploded onto the scene like a monkey wrench to your face. But STILL I remember being able to go to Funcoland and grab a PS1 game new for 20 bucks in some cases and usually they didnt suck. PS2 comes around and we are talkin at least 40 a game...shit! No real deals can be had at this point and even though I had seen the golden age of consoling all the way to now I didnt connect the dots that it was all business. This would become painfully apparent when PS3 X360 came on the scene. 60 bucks no escaping it fuck you.
We're given all this weak sauce bullshit about how it costs SOOO much to make these games and the technology and bla bla bla. Let me tell you something EVERY console when new is current technology and cutting edge. The money to develop and push technology is comparable if not the same taking into account inflation. So that is bullshit don't ever let them pass that excuse on you. Another thing we hear so much about is it goes to the developers....yeah it doesn't. I have been on both sides of the ball both publishing and development. Devs don't drive around in anything flashy and they live a simple life really. It's usually the owners and CEOs of development studios who do nicely. They have a contract with the publisher and are the first to divide profit.
I digress but what I mean to say is that is yet another bullshit excuse to get more money out of us. I'll tell you where the lion's share of your money goes-it goes to publishing which yes is expensive. It costs money to get hard copies pressed and on shelves but not even at 40 bucks a piece. When I was at a publisher's we used to burn the new games to test onto blu rays...what is the cost of a disc? what is the cost of putting a label on it? What is the cost of a dvd case with paper artwork? even at 10 bucks for each portion we're at 30 a copy. (you and I both know it is actually around 5 bucks) plus distribution in bulk we're averaging less than 10 bucks a piece. In short we're being fucked. Let me ask you this-do you think the price of gaming will go up or down? if history is our teacher we're looking at shelling 80 per game on the new consoles. If you have any internal organs left to sell you might want to hang on to a few of them until the new consoles debut.
