What's your "Game Line-Up" lately?

[MrJones]

Currently working on Gears 4. I switch to Goat simulator when I get pissed off with Gears.

My wife and I always play Pinball FX2 together so that is ongoing.

I'm hoping to get Assassins Creed Syndicate and Doom for xmas. I'll probably play AC first.

I decided I can't keep buying games when they come out because I just don't have the time these days to play. So by the time I get to play them, I could be buying them for way cheaper. For example, I almost got Doom on the release date but even if I did I wouldn't be able to start it yet. And it was already on sale for $30 less.

[Vracula]

Currently playing Shadow or Mordor GOTY.

Such a great game . People said that it is like the Arkham games which I feel is a bit unfair because it's so much more.

[vinnnie]

World of Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy XV

and still playing a couple of matches in Rocket League every night.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by MrJones

Currently working on Gears 4. I switch to Goat simulator when I get pissed off with Gears.

My wife and I always play Pinball FX2 together so that is ongoing.

I'm hoping to get Assassins Creed Syndicate and Doom for xmas. I'll probably play AC first.

I decided I can't keep buying games when they come out because I just don't have the time these days to play. So by the time I get to play them, I could be buying them for way cheaper. For example, I almost got Doom on the release date but even if I did I wouldn't be able to start it yet. And it was already on sale for $30 less.

People who buy games when they first come out are crazy, unless its an online shooter and you don't want to come in late. I average $15-$25 on most of my console titles and you usually only have to wait a couple months after release to get amazing deals. If there is one market where patience can save you a ton of money, its video games. Plus Best Buy's gamers club is a killer deal for people that buy a lot of games. That extra 20% off adds up real quick.

I have such a large backlog that I never feel like I need to buy games when they first come out. I have more than enough to play at any given time. Better to kick back and look for the best sales and spend that extra money elsewhere.

[MrJones]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

People who buy games when they first come out are crazy, unless its an online shooter and you don't want to come in late. I average $15-$25 on most of my console titles and you usually only have to wait a couple months after release to get amazing deals. If there is one market where patience can save you a ton of money, its video games. Plus Best Buy's gamers club is a killer deal for people that buy a lot of games. That extra 20% off adds up real quick.

I have such a large backlog that I never feel like I need to buy games when they first come out. I have more than enough to play at any given time. Better to kick back and look for the best sales and spend that extra money elsewhere.

Totally agreed with you here. And it's a lesson I learned when as I grew older. I'll tell a little story because I'm bored at work. My bday is right around Christmas so that time of year I always got quite a few gifts, come new years it wouldn't be uncommon for me to have 5-6 new games to play but I always wanted to get the most out of each gift so I promised myself that I would not start a new game until I completed the one I was on. Which was great because in doing this, sometimes I would have "new" games to play right into the summer! I've carried this on into my adulthood but I just don't have the same amount of time to play anymore. Like I said, I get through 2-3 games a year now. So I just play what I have and buy one when it's time. I can't believe how fast they come down in price. And also to what you said, I bought Gears 4 new because of the online component, it sucks trying to go online when people have already been playing for months.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by MrJones

Totally agreed with you here. And it's a lesson I learned when as I grew older. I'll tell a little story because I'm bored at work. My bday is right around Christmas so that time of year I always got quite a few gifts, come new years it wouldn't be uncommon for me to have 5-6 new games to play but I always wanted to get the most out of each gift so I promised myself that I would not start a new game until I completed the one I was on. Which was great because in doing this, sometimes I would have "new" games to play right into the summer! I've carried this on into my adulthood but I just don't have the same amount of time to play anymore. Like I said, I get through 2-3 games a year now. So I just play what I have and buy one when it's time. I can't believe how fast they come down in price. And also to what you said, I bought Gears 4 new because of the online component, it sucks trying to go online when people have already been playing for months.

Yeah, games that have a large online component like first person shooters are the kinds of games I can understand people buying at or close to launch as it does suck getting your a*s handed to you playing against people that have been playing for months and your basically playing catch up. And even with those games, its only a select few that I buy right away (Halo, Gears, etc). The rest of the games I wait until the $19.99-$24.99 price point, which basically means spending $16-$20 at Best Buy with thier 20% off.

I see people complaining all the time on game forums regarding the cost of gaming and it just blows my mind. Gaming has never been cheaper (a massive understatement) and it just continues to get cheaper and cheaper as the years go by. Gaming is basically the only market in the world, at least that I am aware of, that has basically been completely immune from inflation. I was born in 1971 so I belong to the first true generation of gamers. I owned all of the original gaming hardware including the original Sears Pong, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Commodore 64, Commodore 128, Amiga 500, etc. I have owned every major console ever released in the US with one exception, the Wii U, and what a LOT of people don't realize is that the price of gaming really hasn't changed over the last 30+ years.

I am a huge point and click adventure fan, likely due to being raised in the golden age of point and click adventure games, and I still own all of my original copies for the classic LucasArts and Sierra Adventure games. Games back then were $49.99-$59.99 just like they are today. For example, Kings Quest 1 was $59.99 and my copy still has the price tag on it. That was released in 1984 and once you factor in inflation for 2016 rates, thats like paying $139.95 today, lol. Imagine what people would say if they saw $140 price tags on Xbox One or PS4 games, lol. Many N64 games were more than $59.99. And the pricing for the hardware was VASTLY more expensive back in the day. Here are a few key pieces of hardware along with what they cost when they were released and what they would cost today with inflation factored in:

Atari 2600 - $199.99 in 1977 ($796.50 w/inflation)
Intellivision - $299.99 in 1980 ($878.68 w/inflation)
Commodore 64 - $595 in 1982 ($1,488 w/inflation)
Colecovision - $175 in 1982 ($437.69 w/inflation)
Sega Master - $200 in 1986 ($440.43 w/inflation)
NES - $299 in 1985 ($672.89 w/inflation)
N64 - $199 in 1996 ($307.64 w/ inflation)
Xbox - $299 in 2001 ($408.83 w/inflation)
PS3 - $499 or $599 in 2006 ($598.58 to $718.30 w/i)

I could go on and on. So not only are we getting FAR FAR more powerful hardware for much cheaper prices (the one real exception being the PS3 and that was due to the inclusion of the Blu Ray player), were also getting games for basically the same price people were spending 10, 20, even 30 years ago. What makes this even more mind boggling is that games back in the day were created by small teams of people, had relatively small development times and required very litte overhead in regards to what you needed to develop games. Compare that to today where many games can be made by teams of literally hundreds of people, have development times of 4-5+ years, and the overhead is SIGNIFICANTLY larger than it was back in the day. Studios either have to devlop thier own game engines, which is a major undertaking, or they lease the engines already on the market like Unreal Engine, Havok, Unity, Cryengine, etc. There is a good reason why so many game companies have gone under over the last 10-15 years or had major lay off's at one point or another. Games have become so expensive to make that if you release a few that don't sell well, it can literally mean bankruptcy or in the case of game companies owned by larger game companies, just the closing of the studio. Yet amazingly the price for full retail games remains at the $59.99 level.

Add to that the fact that you now have smaller digital only games that usually cost anywhere from $5-$20 and many of those games are still bigger and more complex than the games people were spending $59.99 for 10-15 years ago. On top of that you have the fact that games go on sale MUCH faster than they used too and are discounted by much larger margins then they ever have before. On the PC side, you have game bundles where you can literally get games for at little as .50 cents apiece. Humble Bundle usually always has quality bundles that you can buy for $less than $10.

The bottom line - Even if your buying games at full retail price ($59.99), your still spending significantly less than previous generations. People who complain about modern game pricing either have no knowledge of the history of pricing in the video game industry or are just cheapskates as again, gaming has never been cheaper and it just gets cheaper and cheaper with each passing year. Just based on US inflation alone, were literally paying on average about 2-3% less each year as our money is literally worth 2-3% less each year due to inflation.

All of the other products in the world (be it food, clothing, cars, houses, furniture, etc.) have gradual price increases over the years to compensate for inflation. The cost of a stamp in 1980 was just 15 cents. A dozen eggs was just 91 cents. The cost of a new home averaged $76,400.00. The average cost of a new car was $5,413.00. A stamp is now .47 cents in 2016. Eggs were 2.80 a dozen in 2015. The average price of a home in october of 2016 was $354,900 and the average price of a car in 2016 was $33,560. The differences are staggering in many cases and I could go on and on, yet sure enough the pricing of full retail video games remains unchanged at $59.99. Even the other entertainment mediums that exist have had price increases due to inflation. Just look at the cost of going to the movies. In 1980 the average cost of a movie ticket was $2.69 and in 2016 the average was $8.61. Thats more than triple the cost. From 1975 to 2000, the price of the average hardcover book of fiction went up 200 percent to $24.96. Average prices for hardcover poetry and drama books increased 211 percent to $33.57. Nonfiction hardcovers went up 123 percent to $40.29. I couldn't find 2016 figures but I guarantee thier higher. Why are video games basically immune from inflation? I have no clue, but its very clear that is the case. Honestly, I would love to hear from a prfoessional economist on this topic as it just blows my mind.

Honestly, just based on inflation alone and completely disregarding the fact that games are VASTLY more expensive to make today based on all the reasons I already listed, full retail game prices should be at least $69.99-$79.99, and that is an extremely low estimate. $69.99-$79.99 would only account for roughly 30% of the amount of inflation we have seen since the first generation of games where the $49.99-$59.99 price level was first set. The fact that I am aveaging $15-$25 for full AAA retail console titles and I usually never wait more than 4 months after lauch to buy the games is nothing short of INSANE. Modern gaming is just dirt cheap and anyone complaining about the price of modern gaming is again, either completely ignorant of pricing in this industry or is just a plain ol cheapskate.

Sorry for the long post, lol.

[The Dark Knight]

I finished Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 weeks ago or something. It was good, i really enjoyed it but it was kind of short... Playing Ultra Street Fighter 4 online regularly and Warhammer: Regiside time to time, i don't know... sometimes i don't feel like it and i quit playing it like 2 or 3 weeks or something then i come back...

I'm thinking about getting The Deathwing: Space Hulk. it Looks very cool

[damienjakk]

Just got Marvel 3 on PS4. Always wanted to try this game out, it's really fun.

Also a prime example of why I always wait to buy a Capcom fighting game. Full game with all DLC characters and costumes for only $25. I imagine that new Marvel game they are doing will receive the same treatment in due time.

[MrJones]

I'm not going to quote your whole post OC but I agree with you. I was born in the early 80's and my first system was an SNES but I remember at the time it came out THAT was still close to $500 and games were still $50-$60. I will never understand when people really complain about the cost of games, though I do get it in the situations like Battlefront where they charged more than standard for 1/2 of a game. But even now you can get the gold edition for $30. The way I see it is how much you think your time is worth. For me, if I am entertained at the rate of $10 an hour, that is a great deal. So Even if I buy a game full price at $60, and it is a "short" game but it's a damn good 8 hour story, I am totally fine with that.

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by MrJones

I'm not going to quote your whole post OC but I agree with you. I was born in the early 80's and my first system was an SNES but I remember at the time it came out THAT was still close to $500 and games were still $50-$60. I will never understand when people really complain about the cost of games, though I do get it in the situations like Battlefront where they charged more than standard for 1/2 of a game. But even now you can get the gold edition for $30. The way I see it is how much you think your time is worth. For me, if I am entertained at the rate of $10 an hour, that is a great deal. So Even if I buy a game full price at $60, and it is a "short" game but it's a damn good 8 hour story, I am totally fine with that.

Yeah, gaming is basically the cheapest entertainment medium on the planet when you break it down by the hour, especially if your a smart shopper and wait for great deals. Hell, I have put over 200 hours into Fallout 4 thus far and I picked that up on sale for $39.99 or $32 once you factor in the 20% off at Best Buy. Just based on the hours I have spent playing thus far, and I am still FAR from finished, I have spent 20 cents an hour, lol.

Again, I would really love to hear from a professional economist on this topic as it just makes no sense. The gaming industry defies everything we normally see in the business world regarding pricing. Normally when manufacturing prices increase, so does the pricing on the product, just like were seeing with statues right now as at least part of the price increase on Sideshow's statues has been due to increased manufacturing costs in China. The cost to manufacture retail video games has increased at least 10 fold since the first generation of games yet the prices have basically remained unchanged.

And then you have inflation. Just like with increased manufacturing costs, companies usually slowly increase the price of thier products to offset inflation yet once again, the gaming industry has basically been completely immune from inflation. Just based on those 2 things alone (Increase cost of manufacturing and inflation), retail games should have increased to at least $69.99 to $79.99 and again, that is a VERY low estimate. If games were priced right in line with inflation, like a LOT of products are, we would be looking at price tags of $130-$140 on games.

Again, the fact that I am averaging $15-$25 on most console releases is absolutely insane.

Anyways, back to the main topic of the thread. I just got finished with the Gears 4 campaign and it was outstanding. I wasn't expecting a lot from Gears 4, largely due to the last 2 games really being mediocre in my book, but Gears 4 was definitely a return to form for the Gears franchise. They really did an amazing job on the game.

Beyond that, I have been in screenshot mode the last couple of days. I joined a couple of screenshot clubs and started a few of my own. Since I'm an architectural photographer and doing screenshots of in game architecture is one of my favorite kinds of screenshots to take, I started a club specifically for architecture based screenshots. I figured it would be really tough getting it going since architecture based screenshots are one of the rarer types of screenshots you see posted on screenshot forums, but amazingly I am almost up to 30 members and I just started it a couple weeks back. I am really enjoying the whole club aspect of Xbox right now. A very smart move on MS's part to start the whole club scene up.