When we’re kids (especially under the age of ten), money doesn’t exist. There comes a point where we’re suddenly thrust into capitalist society and realize the value of a dollar, but for our first decade, our parents pretty much hold the keys to the endless kingdom of digital toys. A trip to Toys ‘R’ Us could almost be like a hostage situation. Managing to con your parents into getting you one of the endless 90s Star Wars variants here and there (damn you George Lucas and Kenner) is one thing, but video games were something else with price tags that could back then easily reach into the $75 range. For our family, video games were typically reserved to only two events: birthdays and Christmas. And often, birthdays were a stretch considering that my birthday was sitting on the edge of the Christmas season. Double dip layaway was a bit of a financial hit.
Thus when formulating a list of holiday treasures, the thing that landed that holy number one spot required some deliberation. Replay value was the most important factor. Story-based quests and single-player campaigns hauled a lot more length in their wake during the days where more time was spent on gameplay than presentation, so you could expect a little more bang for your buck. In the end though, I always rented the games that I could beat and never play again, but owned the games that would be more than a seasonal one way trip.
The same holds perhaps even more true to this day. For an example, anybody today with an Xbox 360 lacking an Xbox Gold Account or a decent internet connection (and believe me, there’s more than you think) are especially left with a confounding dilemma. Today’s games are more and more often skimping on single-player replay value. The campaign in Black Ops is what, five or six hours tops? That’s pretty much the average now for an HD epic. Having movie-caliber cinematics and epic multimillion dollar production values is nice, but when you’re a kid who is asking a parent for a $65 dollar game (after tax), and you need that game to last you some time, suddenly a five hour “play it and forget it” campaign just doesn’t cut it.
It’s ironic that some of the cheapest games available today are the ones that you can play the longest. Something as endlessly entertaining as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX can be had for as little as $10. The problem is that you have to have an internet connection to buy them. Everybody laughs at GameStop for devoting space to DLC cards to purchase already downloadable XBL/PSN titles because it’s pointless. Why pay GameStop’s markup plus state taxes for nothing extra when you can just download it direct? Imagine that space was used to instead sell actual copies of said game? Even if it was something as simple as a mini-disc in a cheap cardboard slip, it couldn’t cost much more to produce than the stupid cards already on the shelf. There’s a niche of shoppers out there that could take advantage of such a service. It’s hard to believe that in 2010 we still have people out in the sticks without decent internet access, but it’s true.
There’s a whole market of gamers out there looking for longevity and cheap prices over production values and $65 games, yet they go ignored. Cheaply packaged versions of downloadable games could be the answer if somebody in the industry would do something about it.
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