Ufouria

[Refa]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Also, what's up with Genesis games for $8 when they're cheaper on almost every other service ever ($2-4 on iTunes, $5 on PSN/XBLA, ~$1 on PS360 compilation, Steam, etc.)?

They're even cheaper on the same service; their Mega Drive equivalents are $6 in Japan (and they're not nuetered like they are in Europe). NoA rips us off even more. $1 more expensive than PSN/XBLA is better than $3 more expensive any day.

TG16 games are on PSN in Japan, but there haven't been many releases so far.

[Betagam7]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Depends on what market you're talking about. Used game market? Most companies don't care too much about that other than that they don't want you using it.

When I think of whack VC/WW pricing, I think of the complete lack of sales, promotions, etc. Static prices for the most part are pretty lame. An obvious example of this is something like World of Goo that sits at $15 while Steam and other distributors put it on sale all the time. I guess it's not really fair to compare any digital distribution service to Steam, though.

Also, what's up with Genesis games for $8 when they're cheaper on almost every other service ever ($2-4 on iTunes, $5 on PSN/XBLA, ~$1 on PS360 compilation, Steam, etc.)? It's almost like Nintendo has an obligation to stick with its arbitrary 500-600-800-1000 price points and has to leave Genesis game prices alone on the principle that the system was equivalent to the SNES. Sorry Nintendo, while you may not be pimping SNES games out to every service in town (because you have to run your own), Sega has no such commitment, and they're making a lot of money on their old stuff on every service but the VC through savvy blanket marketing.

So yeah, NES/SNES/N64 games are off the books because they can only be distributed through one service (unless you count DS/3DS ports for $$$, which isn't really the same market anyway, so the point is moot). If TG16 starts getting more games on PSN and Steam like what was rumoured to be happening a while back, then we might see those prices trounce the VC too. For now, though, the VC is the best place to get whatever TG16 games they've made available.

Don't forget about last Xmas's amazing Megadrive/Genesis sale!!

There are, of course, many other good reasons for we in Pal land to buy Megadrive games for other formats that the VC.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Betagam7

Don't forget about last Xmas's amazing Megadrive/Genesis sale!!

Hahah, yes, I certainly didn't forget. And you know what, that's was a nice little event. But the thing is, those kinds of things should be happening all year, and on more than just Genesis games. I believe your little rolly-eyed buddies agree with me.

Originally Posted by Betagam7

There are, of course, many other good reasons for we in Pal land to buy Megadrive games for other formats that the VC.

My excellent and well-reasoned exposé was getting long as it was. I leave the technical foibles of VC conversion to the rolly-eye-totin' experts who have more experience in that area. *flourish*

[kawaiipikachu]

Originally Posted by Sharecrow

Unfortunately, the Wii download service seems to be immune to market signals and the like or they wouldn't be holding back on stuff that would certainly sell...or fix some of their pricing that's not aligned with the market...or...whatever. I should just buy an NES and a bunch of carts off eBay

Well i find the items on the Wii shop both cheap & profitable unlike iTunes App store.
Sure there's some near infinite bargains in the app store but its a nightmare for developers to get any profit from.
Sell low get a whole lot of sales but the profit margin is so low you barley making anything worthwhile but if they put the price up even by a dollar nobody's willing to pay that extra dollar so they making just as little.

so in my opinion the Wii shop is both fairly cheap but yet profitable for the developers.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

Well i find the items on the Wii shop both cheap & profitable

You find the Wii shop to be quite profitable? Glad to hear an official statement from such a reliable professional source.

[Refa]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

Well i find the items on the Wii shop both cheap & profitable unlike iTunes App store.
Sure there's some near infinite bargains in the app store but its a nightmare for developers to get any profit from.
Sell low get a whole lot of sales but the profit margin is so low you barley making anything worthwhile but if they put the price up even by a dollar nobody's willing to pay that extra dollar so they making just as little.

so in my opinion the Wii shop is both fairly cheap but yet profitable for the developers.

Wow, you are so wrong. First of all, the games that are sold on iTunes App store are obviously making profits, otherwise companies like Sega wouldn't continue to release titles on it. Why would they? As for your extra dollar theory, I'm sure people would be willing to spend that money as the $13 Square RPG Chaos Rings proved.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Refa

Wow, you are so wrong. First of all, the games that are sold on iTunes App store are obviously making profits, otherwise companies like Sega wouldn't continue to release titles on it. Why would they? As for your extra dollar theory, I'm sure people would be willing to spend that money as the $13 Square RPG Chaos Rings proved.

Depends on who. Square and Sega are raking it in on the iStore, while small-time one-man developers cranking out little indie apps and games are usually getting boned. An app has to clear a certain profit threshold before they even get a penny for it.

[Refa]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Depends on who. Square and Sega are raking it in on the iStore, while small-time one-man developers cranking out little indie apps and games are usually getting boned. An app has to clear a certain profit threshold before they even get a penny for it.

That's true. Being an iStore dev. is a *****.

[Betagam7]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

Well i find the items on the Wii shop both cheap & profitable unlike iTunes App store.
Sure there's some near infinite bargains in the app store but its a nightmare for developers to get any profit from.
Sell low get a whole lot of sales but the profit margin is so low you barley making anything worthwhile but if they put the price up even by a dollar nobody's willing to pay that extra dollar so they making just as little.

so in my opinion the Wii shop is both fairly cheap but yet profitable for the developers.

Ask Commodore Gaming if they were pleased with the profits from their VC experiment.

Actually you don't need to. Just look at how quickly their support for the system dried up and what they've now started to support instead.

Now why do you think a company might abandon the "profitable" VC for the "unprofitable" iphone?

[SKTTR]

Originally Posted by Betagam7

Ask Commodore Gaming if they were pleased with the profits from their VC experiment.

Actually you don't need to. Just look at how quickly their support for the system dried up and what they've now started to support instead.

Now why do you think a company might abandon the "profitable" VC for the "unprofitable" iphone?

Because 20 C64 games for 2.99 sounds better than 1 game for 5 bucks?!

I've seen those C64s ports on iphone though, and those touch screen controls really break the experience: The emulated virtual joystick on the iphone is even worse than the emulated virtual keyboard on VC. I don't think Commodore Gaming got too far on that platform either.

They should return to VC with a better emulator

- that has USB keyboard support
- that has the original borders, colors and tech of the C64
- that has all the title screens and music from the pre-loaders supported
- and actually have some thought put into the button configuration for each game
- they should update all the games
- and should have proper game testing in the future

and then the games are worth 500pts each.

This should have been the case from the very beginning so we could have a flow of great C64 games. Not some broken service that is an insult to all real C64 fans.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by SKTTR

Because 20 C64 games for 2.99 sounds better than 1 game for 5 bucks?!

Yes, it's better if 10 people buy the games for $5 vs. 10000000 people buying a $2.99 bundle. Better "deal" plus bigger audience.

[Betagam7]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Yes, it's better if 10 people buy the games for $5 vs. 10000000 people buying a $2.99 bundle. Better "deal" plus bigger audience.

Yep, the fact that only around 3 people noticed that the C64's biggest VC release was broken and it took a year and a report to trading standards for Nintendo to bother investigating it says everything about the systems sales figures on VC.