Launching Early Doesn't Equal Success (An Amateur Analysis)

[Xot]

You know, I can't believe that this discussion is still even relevant. I mean, why ARE there three competing video game systems? In all reality, it's kind of ridiculous. NO other major electronics devices work like game systems - it's not like you can only watch certain channels on Phillips TVs or listen to exclusive CD's on Sony disc players. All DVD players play the same DVDs. All radios get AM and FM. There needs to be ONE VIDEO GAME FORMAT.

 

I know that's blasphemy, but I wonder how many people, like me, are staying out of the next genmarket because there are too many? There simply aren't enough good games IMHO on any one system to really spend the money on any one of them. Now, if I could play Metroid Prime, GTA, and DOA 3 (for example) all one ONE SYSTEM, that'd be the one I'd buy. As it stands now... ehh.

 

Additionally, the other thing that gets me is the high price of games. I refuse to pay $50 for a GC/PS2/XB game that's only marginally (if at all) better than a game I can get for $10 used or clearanced for DC/N64. I didn't get an N64 either until 1999 - the year the DC came out - because I felt the majority of decent games were updates of existing titles (F-Zero X comes immediately to mind). So rather than pay the $249 plus $60 for the new system and game, I waited and paid NOTHING for the system (but, to be fair, the guy who bought it paid $15 for it) and F-Zero for $3.00. Knowing that I can get the majority of games, especially the good ones which tend to be dirt common, for less later keeps me on the sidelines.

[AtariDude]

The 3DO was supposed to be the system that would have unified everyone. They were going to make the system available to everyone. I think only Panasonic and Matsuita were the only ones who released a 3DO system.

 

I don't think you could ever have just one system in the video game industry. Someone will always think they can create a better mousetrap.

[kisrael]

All I have to saw at this point is that the next Nintendo system had better play GameCube games or else.

 

I am running out of room. I hate having 5 fucking systems. And System switchers only go up to 5. If I add a 6th system, I'll be screwed.

I've started using the A/V plugs at the front of my TV...

I'm SURE the PS3 will play PS 2 and 1 games. I'm SURE the Xbox 2 will play Xbox games. WHAT is Nintendo's problem? Do they not GET IT?

Shrug. It'd be nice.

[Jasoco]

All I have to saw at this point is that the next Nintendo system had better play GameCube games or else.

 

I am running out of room. I hate having 5 fucking systems. And System switchers only go up to 5. If I add a 6th system, I'll be screwed.

I've started using the A/V plugs at the front of my TV...

I don't have them on the front. Only the back. And for now, it's fine since I have a switcher. But one more system and I'll have to retire one to the *gasp* VCR! If I wanted to go to all the trouble, I could set up 10 systems. 5 on the TV and 5 on the VCR. But I hate having to set the TV to channel 4 then switching it to the "L" channel to get to the right system. And I'm running out of room. *sigh*

 

What I wouldnt give for a Nintendo All-in-One System.

[Ze_ro]

There needs to be ONE VIDEO GAME FORMAT.

 

Sorry Xot, but there's money to be had!

 

Actually, the closest thing to this is PC's... anyone can make a PC game, put it on the internet, and sell it if they wish. It's too bad people can't just do this for the X-Box, since the only things stopping it were intentionally put in.

 

Additionally, the other thing that gets me is the high price of games. I refuse to pay $50 for a GC/PS2/XB game that's only marginally (if at all) better than a game I can get for $10 used or clearanced for DC/N64.

 

Then don't. Other than my GBA, I have nothing newer than a Dreamcast... and until I can get a Gamecube for $150 or so, and the games for $30 used, it'll likely stay that way. I may be missing out on some decent games, but there's plenty of SNES and Genesis games I haven't thoroughly enjoyed yet, so it's not like I'm going hungry or anything.

 

New games simply aren't worth the bother, and a game has to be REALLY damn good before I'll pay $60 for it. Other than NHL 2K2 (I'm a big hockey fan), I haven't paid $60 for a game since the days of the Jaguar. I'm thinking of picking up an e-Reader for the GBA simply because the games are dirt cheap. At least Nintendo realizes there's a market for cheap games....

 

Remember when "they" were telling us that CD's were cheaper to make, so games would be cheaper?

 

--Zero

[Xot]

There needs to be ONE VIDEO GAME FORMAT.

 

Sorry Xot, but there's money to be had!

 

Actually, the closest thing to this is PC's... anyone can make a PC game, put it on the internet, and sell it if they wish. It's too bad people can't just do this for the X-Box, since the only things stopping it were intentionally put in.

 

Additionally, the other thing that gets me is the high price of games. I refuse to pay $50 for a GC/PS2/XB game that's only marginally (if at all) better than a game I can get for $10 used or clearanced for DC/N64.

 

Then don't. Other than my GBA, I have nothing newer than a Dreamcast... and until I can get a Gamecube for $150 or so, and the games for $30 used, it'll likely stay that way. I may be missing out on some decent games, but there's plenty of SNES and Genesis games I haven't thoroughly enjoyed yet, so it's not like I'm going hungry or anything.

 

New games simply aren't worth the bother, and a game has to be REALLY damn good before I'll pay $60 for it. Other than NHL 2K2 (I'm a big hockey fan), I haven't paid $60 for a game since the days of the Jaguar. I'm thinking of picking up an e-Reader for the GBA simply because the games are dirt cheap. At least Nintendo realizes there's a market for cheap games....

 

Remember when "they" were telling us that CD's were cheaper to make, so games would be cheaper?

 

--Zero

 

I couldn't agree more! And yes, I remember when "they" said CD games would be cheaper... they were right. Remember the days of $80 SNES games? I do. I've never (personally) seen a CD-based console game cost more than $50. I'm sure they're out there, though. But I remember paying $79.99 for SF2 Turbo for the SNES (worth every penny, too) and the first couple rounds of N64 games being $60-$75. Btw, you CAN get a GC for $150 now, and used games are in the $20-$30 range. I'll admit I succumbed and picked up a Cube with Metroid Prime for $150, but the only other game I own for it is Beach Spikers - it was $10 and had mostly naked chicks so I couldn't pass it up.

[kisrael]

There needs to be ONE VIDEO GAME FORMAT.

 

Sorry Xot, but there's money to be had!

 

Actually, the closest thing to this is PC's... anyone can make a PC game, put it on the internet, and sell it if they wish. It's too bad people can't just do this for the X-Box, since the only things stopping it were intentionally put in.

Yeah, I wish it was more homebrew friendly, that they could figure out how to do copy protection without blocking it as a dev platform.

 

I couldn't agree more! And yes, I remember when "they" said CD games would be cheaper... they were right. Remember the days of $80 SNES games? I do. I've  never (personally) seen a CD-based console game cost more than $50.   I'm sure they're out there, though. But I remember paying $79.99 for SF2 Turbo for the SNES (worth every penny, too) and the first couple rounds of N64 games being $60-$75.  Btw, you CAN get a GC for $150 now, and used games are in the $20-$30 range.  

Yeah, I was going to mention that... And some great games, like Rogue Squadron, are surpisingly inexpensive.

 

Sometimes I wonder, why do I have to get games within a few weeks to come out, instead of getting them used a year or two later? I guess A. I want to be part of the current game discussion and B. who knows, I might die in the meantime and miss out...

[theaveng]

You know, I can't believe that this discussion is still even relevant. I mean, why ARE there three competing video game systems? In all reality, it's kind of ridiculous. NO other major electronics devices work like game systems - it's not like you can only watch certain channels on Phillips TVs or  listen to exclusive CD's on Sony disc players. All DVD players play the same DVDs. All radios get AM and FM.

You're either too young to remember or so old you're developing Alzheimer's.

 

1970s: 8-tracks or cassettes for cars audio

1980s: VHS or Beta videocassettes; Or RCA Selectavision video-records.

1980s: AM Stereo or AM Multiplex (yes, two competing standards)

1990s: Laserdiscs or DVDs or Divx

1990s: Minidiscs or CD-Rs or DATs

 

See? Even in the entertainment world, there's always competition between different formats. BTW, I'm the one of the people who chose Beta, Laserdiscs, and Minidiscs... which are now all obsolete. I feel like a Dreamcast owner.

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As for game costs, $50 is only the initial price. Within 6 months time, most games drop to only $30... that's when I usually buy.

 

And yes, a $50 PS1 CD game was cheaper than a $70 N64 cartridge game.

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And finally since Atari had 90% of the market, NES had 80% of the market, PS1 had 80% of the market, and now PS2 has 80% of the market... each of those systems has become the "de-facto standard" for each generation of videogames. If you buy any of those systems, you'll have access to 95% of the available videogames.

[Xot]

You know, I can't believe that this discussion is still even relevant. I mean, why ARE there three competing video game systems? In all reality, it's kind of ridiculous. NO other major electronics devices work like game systems - it's not like you can only watch certain channels on Phillips TVs or  listen to exclusive CD's on Sony disc players. All DVD players play the same DVDs. All radios get AM and FM.

You're either too young to remember or so old you're developing Alzheimer's.

 

1970s: 8-tracks or cassettes for cars audio

1980s: VHS or Beta videocassettes; Or RCA Selectavision video-records.

1980s: AM Stereo or AM Multiplex (yes, two competing standards)

1990s: Laserdiscs or DVDs or Divx

1990s: Minidiscs or CD-Rs or DATs

 

See? Even in the entertainment world, there's always competition between different formats. BTW, I'm the one of the people who chose Beta, Laserdiscs, and Minidiscs... which are now all obsolete. I feel like a Dreamcast owner.

 

 

Yeah, but the difference here is that everyone of these formats stabilized into one, mostly universal standard that was good for at least ten years. Vinyl, then cassettes, then CD's... VHS then DVD... Video games have never really stabilized. Perhaps part of of it's due to the changing nature of the technology but wouldn't it be great to have a format like the DVD where you could go to a store, buy a game player made by Sony or Toshiba or Phillips or whoever, and be able to play 99% of all the media for that standard and have ALL the popular media be compatible with it?

 

And finally since Atari had 90% of the market, NES had 80% of the market, PS1 had 80% of the market, and now PS2 has 80% of the market... each of those systems has become the "de-facto standard" for each generation of videogames.  If you buy any of those systems, you'll have access to 95% of the available videogames.

 

I severely doubt that the figure is 95%. You could check, I suppose. Take the total released library of the three systems and remove duplicate titles. Then take the number of X-Box exclusives and Game Cube exclusives and see if it's more than 5% of the total number of games. I'd be willing to be it's at least 20%, meaning if you buy a PS2 you have access to roughly 80% of the video game market.

 

Would ANYONE buy a CD player or DVD player that only played 80% of the discs out there? Especially without knowing in advance which movies/albums wouldn't play on your model?

[kisrael]

Yeah, but the difference here is that everyone of these formats stabilized into one, mostly universal standard that was good for at least ten years. Vinyl, then cassettes, then CD's... VHS then DVD...  Video games have never really stabilized. Perhaps part of of it's due to the changing nature of the technology

Bingo. The best case you could hope for would probably end up looking like the PC world, where you can kinda sort play old DOS games, but in practive it's rough.

but wouldn't it be great to have a format like the DVD where you could go to a store, buy a game player made by Sony or Toshiba or Phillips or whoever, and be able to play 99% of all the media for that standard and have ALL the popular media be compatible with it?

And they tried that with 3D0, didn't work out so well. Maybe because it was "too ahead of its time" and therefore cost $700, but maybe there's something to the idea that console makers don't make a big profit from the console hardware (I've heard some people say that they lose money on the console itself a myth, but it's still probably not a hand over fist thing)

[theaveng]

1970s: 8-tracks or cassettes for cars audio

1980s: VHS or Beta videocassettes; Or RCA Selectavision video-records.

1980s: AM Stereo or AM Multiplex (yes, two competing standards)

1990s: Laserdiscs or DVDs or Divx

1990s: Minidiscs or CD-Rs or DATs

Yeah, but the difference here is that everyone of these formats stabilized into one, mostly universal standard that was good for at least ten years.

More like twenty years (approximate age of VHS and CDs).

 

The problem is that things move so much faster in computer industry (yes consoles are dedicate gaming computers). If PS2 had a 20-year-old life instead of 5, I'm sure we'd see Microsoft and Nintendo consoles disappear, and the PS2 would become the universal standard.

 

But, it doesn't work that way. Unlike music or video which is essentially constant over time, games are always improving..... so it wouldn't be practical to stick with only one format for 20 years. If gaming worked the same as the music/video industry, we'd all still be using 8-bit Nintendos. That's not going to happen!

 

Maybe in the year 2010, when games are 1280x1024 and indistinguishable from videos, a fixed standard will finally arrive, because there won't be any room for improvement. But it certainly won't happen now or in the next 2005-release generation.