sell out has begun

Have any of you noticed,the number of things you have to buy online after buying the game is heavily increasing.
This big sell out even hit the number one selling mmo world of warcraft.
Have you also noticed the number of games that if you preorder,you get additional content or more powerful weapons.
The reason they do this with preorder games,is because they cost loads more. They want to reel the gamer in when the game cost 59.99 not used for 20.

I have been a gamer my whole 20 year life and it's sad to see this happening.

Your a gamer in your mind. But in theirs you are a statisic in a profit margin. Profits first. No matter what .

Kinda like crack dealers and druggies . They could careless, aslong as the profit is there. Sure its sad but surley you can't be surprised

reply to post by miracleretiree

sad to see this happening.

I been a gamer since the C64 times.. and I have noticed this to, its really ruins the game for me if some people can afford to spend tons of real money to get better then others... its like cheat, cheat you pay for, and if you dont use the extra money you will never be as good as the ones that use the extra money.. I avoid ALL these kind of games...

I advise everybody that like computer gameing to avoid these kind of games if you dont want to see a future where the rich low level kids will kick your ass everyday with special weapons they payed real money for

reply to post by miracleretiree


Yeah, especially with things like "extra maps" (usually like $15) that were made when they made the first ones but aren't released till a couple months after game sales have died down. Soon we'll be getting all our games off the Internet. As soon as that happens we'll slip into online game rentals and the price to purchase the games will increase. Welcome to the birth of their new world.

I've been around since the Atari 2600 days and I really don't like modern gaming much at all myself - it's TOO big business now. They don't care about the players, they don't even care if they release a quality product because we pay them to beta test it. Too many designers these days are focused too much on the eye candy and not the game play.

My advice, don't spend money on mainstream video games... Support the indie developers.

reply to post by Vandalour


I also avoid these games. It's sad i have to because some of them seem really good. But if i feed the beast it will only grow bigger. I was going to purchase a few games coming out, for example homefront looks really good. But they also give you the choice to preorder and get more powerful guns and gear than others,so this company just lost any money they would have made from me because of this.

Final word from me on this subject- I will not buy any game that gives the ability to buy your way to the top. If enough out their are like me,then we will all get the same content no matter when we pick up the game.

You know its all kind of funny, we all complain about it, but we all like making money. If you made a product wouldn't you milk it for all it's worth. If you say no you're most likely a liar or in denial.. It's human nature to want to make a profit and to make money. Some just have the means and the know how to do it.

I'm not saying its right, but it's the way of the world plus we contribute to them because we tolerate and buy the games, no matter the cost, we buy the dlc, the perks. We buy things when they first come out and a month or so later they release a better.

reply to post by miracleretiree


Try all they like, I'm STILL going to only buy games once they are used, and/or around the $20 price point...just on principle. If they are making a profit at $20, then they must be fleecing us at $50.

There are maybe two titles that come out a year, that I'll actually pay full price for, and even that is usually as a Christmas or Birthday gift only. (and has to be something I KNOW I'll like, i.e. played at a friend's house, or something).

I've got all of these at home (though only the Wii and XBox 360 are currently hooked up)...Atari 2600, Super NES, Nintendo 64, and the Wii and XBox 360. I'll get the PS3 eventually, but the price point is still a bit high for what it is. (and I'm in no rush). The XBox 360 was pricey too, but it was a gift from my wife, so no guilt there.

And this is when you start buying indie games better quality, and cheaper:

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Minecraft
Penumbra
Amnesia: The Dark Descent

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of right now. You could also wait until the prices go down, I think you can buy the whole Half-Life series at a reasonable price. I got Portal when it was free. And if any of you want to replay those classic PC games but don't have them anymore gog.com has a bunch. I'm thinking of getting Freespace 1 & 2.

It's all graphics>quality now.

Meh, I don't mind pre-ordering certain games that I'm really looking forward to. Occasionally you get a spiffy weapon or armor. I have yet to see a pre-order bonus that actually gives you an advantage over other players.

reply to post by miracleretiree


I get my games bootlegged. Well...not bootlegged, but...you know. Ive noticed this too. The gaming comanies want to steal from us. Steal back.

My main hatred as to why developers are selling out, is that because they have such tight deadlines to keep that they tend to rush out a half finished and buggy game that they never bother finishing, empire total war, f1 2010, force unleashed 2. There just the ones i personally was ripped off on.

Multiplayer games, especially MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, but more common in smaller MMOs, feed on addiction. Like all addictions, if you're in it deep enough you'll throw all your money at it.

Is it cool that some players can get an advantage by paying for premium content? No. Is it wrong for companies to give them away? Absolutely not. People need to make money. If you like something that takes a lot of time to create AND especially if you want more content you should be willing to give a few dollars to support something you enjoy. Unfortunately, most people don't see it that way. So, companies offer incentives. However, no one forces anyone to pay (unless it's a pay-to-play game like WoW), no one forces anyone to play and nobody forces anyone to care about their standing in an online game. If you really care that someone has higher meaningless numbers in a game, then pay and get your meaningless numbers boosted. If you're addicted, you have to pay for it someday, whatever it may be.

The same goes for single-player games that have downloadable content. No one forces you to do anything.

The truth is all games, from the biggest budget, highest profile studio games to the smallest indie-developed flash game, take time and effort to create. If you want to create something good, it usually takes time. As the old adage goes time is money. The things you enjoy can't be made if you don't show some support.

I'm not entirely on the side of the industry. I think some DLC has gotten out of control and supporting it tells the industry that you're willing to keep paying, so they'll keep doing it. However, if you don't buy it, they won't offer extra levels at all. It sucks, but it's how things are.

The industry is all about money. Why do games all seem the same? Because the ones that started the trend made a ton of money. If you want the games you like to proliferate and grow, support them in some way. Otherwise, they'll either disappear or get morphed to appeal to a more mainstream audience.

I don't know if all of that made sense, sorry if it got jumbled.

best example of this is starcraft, you buy the game and only then learn you have just the first 1/3rd, you have to buy the next to installments yet to be released to get the full game, if you buy the followup packs you can get extra characters not released in the first version. they just keep bilking it for more money, why not major releases earn as much as hollywood blockbusters.

Yes I've noticed too, on the digital side of gaming. D&D , dice games, etc we're still safe * D&D Online is different mechanics wise in it's conversion from the original game.

The bigger the "audience" the more items they will offer, supply and demand. Esp., now since a lot of people shop online, because of convenience, they will offer more online products. Gaming has changed itself to a broader audience, for many reasons, no longer are people called gamer geeks, because console gamers are slowly turning to pc games, because of the internet. Nowadays, everyone and their parents and grandparents, not to mention very young children can use and enjoy the internet. It's just where the market is, so to speak the more cause efficient place for people to spend money because of the economy-more people stay home and rent from Netflix(rip the death of video rental stores) and download songs to Ipods(rip cds).

Gaming consoles(a recent Yahoo article says to the effect of" new gaming consoles /graphic generators won't be released because it's as far as they can go for the time being), the rate it it is going, companies may see better benefits converting to computers instead of consoles, thus eliminating the hardware and software needing, just download. Have all your movies, gaming, mail, social life,(possible) work, in one places, instead of all separate.

reply to post by miracleretiree

Have any of you noticed,the number of things you have to buy online after buying the game is heavily increasing.

No biggie, I just stooped buying the games like that unless I really am looking forward to it. Just wait a couple of months and they usually include the whole bundle in any game including the downloadable content for a reasonable price. Last game I was going to buy was dragon age 2, but then I saw you have to pay extra for some different characters and downloadable quests that were coming out a couple of days after the game came out, I was like to hell with that. And I'll probably buy and play the game a year from now when I don't have to pay an extra couple of 15$ for characters and quests that should of been on the CD in the first place.

Originally posted by Jedite
You know its all kind of funny, we all complain about it, but we all like making money. If you made a product wouldn't you milk it for all it's worth. If you say no you're most likely a liar or in denial.. It's human nature to want to make a profit and to make money. Some just have the means and the know how to do it.

I'm not saying its right, but it's the way of the world plus we contribute to them because we tolerate and buy the games, no matter the cost, we buy the dlc, the perks. We buy things when they first come out and a month or so later they release a better.

personally, I do not like or dislike making money, it's just something you have to do to get by in this modern era. when i set out to create art (yes, video games are art) I don't do it to make a profit, i wait tables for money. and yes, i try to milk my "guests" for all they're worth. but when i'm showing people a song or a story or poem I've written, i prefer to keep money out of the equation. if i were creating video games as a way of expressing myself, as the first few generations of developers did, then i would charge little to nothing. there is an exciting new wave of free-to-play online shooters and MMOs made by real gamers for real gamers coming up on PSN and XBLA.

I identify with the OP, but I agree with you that there's really nothing you can do about it, aside from not buying it. games like Borderlands and Fallout 3 and Fable 3 do a great job with DLC, it's the games that ship with the DLC on-disc and then charge you to basically just unlock it that get under my skin. BioShock 2 is the only one I can think of right now, and it's no surprise, none of the creative team like Ken Levine returned to make the sequel. Ken's coming back for BioShock: Infinite though, so that's exciting.

The Romantic Age of video gaming is truly dead. unfortunately, I feel like this 7th generation of consoles and games will be looked back upon as a dark period of transition. Luckily, every art form has its romantic period of freedom of expression and joy in creation, the slump where it moves from some wild new art form to a standardized practice, and then the renaissance where people remember what was cool and fun about it in the first place!

reply to post by miracleretiree


If you're a gamer for 20 years, you should know that this is nothing new.
First of all: You mostly don't need to buy those DLCs. More Weapons? I don't need them. Other clothes? I don't need them. I really like Mass Effect 2 and i bought the DLC Missions...but the weapons and armor packs are a joke, i don't need them, so i don't buy them.

So, let's go back in time, shall we?
Let's say it's 1990. Wing Commander 2 is the big hit at the moment. You buy the game, some months later a small add-on arrives that costs you 40$. After that another add-on comes out that costs the same and gives you Speech...YES, you had to pay a lot of money, just so you have some voices in the Intro of the game.

Some time later Ultima 7 came out. You bought the game...some months later add-on arrives. 6 months later they release the second part of the game...full price and some months later another add-on to complete the game. All in all you paid about 200$ for Ultima 7

Not convinced? Wanna play some Golf? Links was released in 1990 and came with a single golf course.
After that additional Golf courses were released. You had to pay about 30$ for ONE golf course and they released about 20 of those single golf course packs over the years. If you bought them all you paid about 670$ for a golf game with 21 courses. In 2002 Links 2003 was released and came with 6 Golf courses. They released only one Add-On but you didn't needed it, because the gamers were creating a lot of golf courses for free.

And nearly every game back then had at least one Add-On Pack. Take Sim City 2000 for example and the "Great Disasters Addon". It gave you about 12 new diaster missions and 15 maps. Great, huh? You paid 30€ for that.

Today we take a lot for granted and want more, more and more.
Another good example, because it's so popular here in Germany: Football (Soccer) Management Simulations.
Imagine it's 1991 and you bought Bundesliga Manager Professional. You want to change the names of the clubs and players? Shell out another 20 bucks, so you can buy the Editor to make those changes. Today everyone of those games comes with the editor built in.

There was also something different back in the day: Today we can download Demo Versions of the games for free from the Net. Back then? At least in Germany you had to pay to play Demo Versions, either you got them from a magazine or you had to pay about 5 DM so the publisher send you a Demo

Of course Video Games didn't had Add-Ons back then, but instead a lot of sequels were basically Add-Ons, fewer content, same graphics, not much change. Take Final Fight on the SNES for example: All 4 games are basically the same, same enemies, same gameplay, sometimes even the same levels. At least today most sequels really feel like sequels and not quick rehashes.
And sports games did exist, EA started to puke out their yearly sequels in 1991, it's nothing new.

Oh and Games were a lot more expensive back then, most people forget the inflation.
For example, in 1991 you had to pay for a pc game in Germany about 120 DM, with inflation that would be today about 91€ and even with a straight 2:1 calculation it would be 60€ - today you pay 35-45€ for a PC Game.
Remember the old prices of video games? When Street Fighter 2 for the SNES came out, we had to pay 200 DM. Virtua Racing on the Mega Drive/Genesis was about 190 DM. Most other video games were between 100-150 DM. I still have the price tag on my Sonic & Knuckles game: 129,95 DM - that would be today about 85€
Way more then we have to pay today.

The prices today drop quicker. Back then games stayed on their starting price for about 1-2 years and then slowly dropped. For example Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis dropped only 40% after nearly 3 years on the market. Today you wait 4-6 months and you can get the game and all the DLC for a cheap price - either in retail or at Steam or some other online seller

Nothing has really changed. Games were expensive back then, they're expensive now.
I don't know why people just can't accept, that video gaming is a hobby that isn't cheap. The hardware* is expensive, the games are expensive...take it or leave it

* - Don't get me started on Hardware prices. PCs today are so insanely cheap compared to the 80's or early 90's it's laughable, that people back then even bought Computers and then shelled out about 300-400$ for a Double-Speed CD-Rom Drive

Originally posted by RicoMarstonThe Romantic Age of video gaming is truly dead. unfortunately, I feel like this 7th generation of consoles and games will be looked back upon as a dark period of transition. Luckily, every art form has its romantic period of freedom of expression and joy in creation, the slump where it moves from some wild new art form to a standardized practice, and then the renaissance where people remember what was cool and fun about it in the first place!

We have both right now.
On the side are the big publishers with their 'graphics is everything'-games, who want to make as much money as possible.
On the oder side are the indy developers who create games for fun, try to be creative.
Check out Steam, it has lots of Indy games, that are really fun to play. I downloaded a lot of them like Amnesia, Braid, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, Shatter, Chime, Ben there Dan that!, Space Giraffe, GridRunner Revolution or the RIP Trilogy. Fun games with classic gameplay and they weren't expensive. I played some of them longer than the so calld "A-Games".
Even some bigger Developers try to get back into classic gameplay with smaller and cheaper games. Like Capcom with Dark Void Zero.

The sad thing is that most people don't like those game, because to them, graphics are everything. They want the newest and best looking games and don't care about gameplay or shelling out money. They basically want to get ripped off. There's a reason why crap like Call of Duty is selling like crazy or the Sims sells a lot and even all those millions Add-On are great sellers.
It's mostly younger people and casual gamer who follow the big developers and let them stay in business.