Guest Submission by Titanus
Recently, I was browsing some of the local online gaming bazaars, having a look at the games and other products being sold inside. Surprisingly, many of the so-called “old games” can be considered new, having been on retail for the past one or two months.
I briefly consider the value of the really old games purchased in the late 80s and early 90s. Back then, the game packaging usually includes a hefty-sized colour manual, a cloth or leather map, or even goodies such as a comic book or newspaper clippings. With the advance of graphics, sound and multiplayer capabilities, there seems to be something truly lacking in the $59.90 boxes we usually buy from gaming shops.
What do we get today then? Well, a thin black-and-white manual, PDF files, CD in jewel casings (or, in the lack of one, paper jackets), and…. That’s about it. Once in a while there are the one or two colour maps, but then they are made out of paper. I hardly think that cloth or leather are expensive.
With that in mind, I would like to say that PC games are sadly lacking in long term collectibility, what with the low prices of recent games being resold, and the apparent lack of quality in today’s game packaging. Is it surprising that PC game piracy still remains rampant after all this time then? Perhaps the situation would change if the publishers aren’t so bent on only making money.
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yea.. i agree on that.. it seems that the significance of these “extra” items has declined …perhaps even faster than the the rate at which gaming-culture is becoming more mainstream…
getting a quick buck and faster entry into the profit zone.. but heres something i just thought of..
games are getting more and more expensive to produce, programming, debugging, all the fancy bells and whistles, state of the art graphics… i wonder if there really is any funding left to even create leather maps.
the majority of the consumers are attracted to the game that has the biggest and best graphics, gameplay and what have you (probably in that order).. and probably not for the shiniest packaging it came in.
you know what i think its partly our fault for demanding so much from games in general these days..
I remember the good old days when it was a real thrill to open up a new PC game box and find all the goodies inside! You’re so right. Nowadays the magic is gone. They’ve cheated us of the excitement!
But it’s marketing and commercialism. You CAN get nice goodies - leather bound manuals and cloth maps and cool trinkets - if you pay another $100 to get the limited or collector’s edition!
bleh, I say. :P
It aint wat it used to be… come to think of it… with what they’re giving now, there isnt a reason to use those big card board boxes anyway… might as well use DVD casing and reduce the price to $29.90 :P