Game Standards MUST Drop!

Many people would wonder what I mean by saying game standards must drop, but by the end of this you will understand completely, whether you agree or not. It happens every generation: consoles become more powerful; the effect of that is gaming standards must rise to the occasion. You can’t release a more powerful console and have worse games than your last one. Better graphics, better gameplay, more features, more controller buttons, everything goes up. The absolute worst thing to rise, however, is price. The cost of production increases, the floor price of the games and consoles become more expensive as well. Of course we still pay; it’s not like we have any other option.

I do not want to have to keep paying more and more every console generation, especially if the price does not justify what I’m paying for. I do not want to spend 50 or 60 dollars on a game. I do not like the increasing price of hardware and accessories. I don’t want a couple generations down the road to be spending $1000+ for a console alone. I seriously doubt that we will be seeing too many more $600+ consoles, since we can see how that was working out for Sony.

What is it that we can do about this? Nothing really, but Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can, and they are. However, they are small efforts that most people would not think of as a money saving technique. Even then, they all have to adopt these techniques for it to have a serious effect. I’ll explain the strides all of these companies are taking to help us have cheap, fun, gaming.

Technology

Nintendo has showed us all what you can do with a little money and a lot of innovation. They did not see any reason to add High Definition or the fastest GPU/CPU/PPU onto their system, and that seems to work for them. A lot of people are willing to buy a Wii over an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 because of price alone. The price of their console did not increase too much from last generation, unlike Microsoft and Sony who jumped many hurdles just to make sure their console was the most powerful, and most expensive.

Old technology never paid off so well.

I believe that the future of technology in consoles lies in not making them so damn powerful. I expect Nintendo’s next console to be at least as powerful, if not a little more than the Xbox 360. The arcade 360 is already at $279.99 MSRP, which means that all the extras that drives it’s cost up to $350 is the hard drive and wireless controllers and such. Nintendo would probably be able to crank out a system as innovative as the Wii and as powerful as the 360 for the same price as the Wii this generation, and still make that profit they are after.

Digital Distribution

Microsoft has been leading the way in digitally distributed content, Sony coming in second and Nintendo sadly trailing behind. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offers original games one can purchase for approximately $10. They’re not Crackdowns or Halos, but they’re smaller games that are fun and do just what they’re meant to do. Games like Band of Bugs, Geometry Wars, and Cloning Clyde are going to be a big part of the future once digital distribution really kicks off and more small time developers like Ninjabee can get their product on a platform.

Xbox Live Arcade opened the future of digital distribution.

Sony’s Playstation 3 does have it’s own collection of downloadable games as well. Calling All Cars, Blast Factor, flOw, and Everyday Shooter are all examples of how Sony plans on taking digital distribution to heart and setting off a new standard for what a downloadable game should be. Action packed games like Calling All Cars will have you calling back. Setting the mood for relaxing is exactly what flOw achieves. Everyday Shooter demonstrates what one indie developer can do on their own with musical talent and inspiration.

Calling All Cars

Nintendo has recently introduced Wii Ware, which will consist of small puzzle and edutainment games when it kicks off in early 2008. Nintendo currently offers the Virtual Console, where one can download classic games on older consoles. Spanning 3 Nintendo consoles and 3 others, offering retro games for download has been an extremely lucrative business for Nintendo. They have guaranteed sales due to the fact that many will buy a game for nostalgic reasons alone. More of their big name games will surely reach high sales, and some of their more cult games can have their time again. Prices range from $5-12, which can either be a good deal or a rip off from user to user.

Nintendo’s best and worst come together on the Virtual Console.

Just Lower The Damn Prices!

Digital Distribution and not using the most high end technology is going to help lower prices, but there’s only so much it can do. The games that are hitting the shelves simply MUST come down.

Nintendo has their game pricing down on the DS. You can buy certain games at 20 dollars, and some at 35, and some in the middle. It’s clear why the DS sells so much. People are less intimidated buying DS games because it is at a much cheaper.

Is there any reason not to buy this? The games are dirt cheap.

Even though it is a handheld system, the way it’s pricing is set up, I hope, will translate over to the console market one day. Similar to how the DS has a price range from 20-35 dollars, not every game is worth $50-60. I would like to see more of the crappy releases (i.e. licensed games) to be more around the 30-35 dollar range, and then the bigger releases right at 50-60.

All in all, it is going to take a lot of effort that I’m not sure companies are willing to make to bring prices down. The simple fact is this: The more expensive things get, the more crappy games we’re going to see. Ubisoft did say that they used their terrible Wii efforts to fund their bigger games on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. I can’t say I blame them, it’s not their fault that it takes so much to develop games, but I don’t like the direction this is all going.