Fighting the Prejudice of XBLA

[Reaper195]

Pff, try New Zealand. MW3 standard edition is retailing for $150NZD. What's it over the pond?

Holy tits. Across the pond (in 'merica) MW3 standard is 60 bucks. (about 64 with tax). I'm not sure how the exchange rate is between our money however.

EDIT: googled exchange rates and 150 NZD is 122.01 USD. Which is still about double the price. Is that all for shipping? Seems like forking over an arm and a leg.[/quote]

I doubt it's for shipping, because Europe pays more or less the same prices for the same games. I have no idea why the real reason is that our prices are hiked so much, but that's one of the reasons I've almost gone of gaming.

 

[Stabby Joe]

The first did have some great ideas, but did come off feeling half-finished... which in turn does make it look like more of an experiment. Now it's done right.

I haven't play this XBLA title yet but i wouldn't be surprised if it's more enjoyable than Call of Duty.

I doubt it's for shipping, because Europe pays more or less the same prices for the same games. I have no idea why the real reason is that our prices are hiked so much, but that's one of the reasons I've almost gone of gaming.

Europe pays the same as who?

 

[Baresark]

I'd like to try it. Rather annoyingly though this isn't on PSN.

It's actually on XBLA and Steam as well. It's a great game.

OT: We live in a world where companies are having great success self publishing. You can put a a product on Steam yourself, or you can do what Minecraft did sell through your own Paypal account. The day when publishers like EA are not necessary will come one day soon. We have seen the end of the monopoly large companies have over a lot of things. Take music, you can now self publish and release your own music on a number of digital distribution platforms, including iTunes.

 

[lowkey_jotunn]

My hope and dream is that games like this can push the "big companies" to earn their AAA status.

If some indy group with around 75 employees can produce a quality title for $15, then the big boys have zero excuse for creating a worse product, and charging more for it.

Lets compare

Timegate: 60-80 Employees ... undisclosed assets (as least, I couldn't find it listed)
EA: 8000 employees ... $4.6 BILLION in assets
Activision: 5000 employees .. $13.5 billion in ssets
Squeenix: 4000 employees... $1.6 billion in assets.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Nice review. It's rare that I base buying decisions on reviews alone but I did in this case and I'm bloody glad of it. Yeah, ok, the voice acting is pretty laughable and enemies only appear in your immediate area (limiting the effectiveness of the sniper rifle), but these are small gripes that a) only affect the single player campaign, and b) are easily forgivable in a £12 game. So yeah, I'm glad I bought it, I'll be playing it when I get home from work instead of it's higher priced rivals, and more bloody Escapists should buy it to help populate the MP arenas!