3. America’s Part In The
Great Videogames Crash Of 2004.
Alright, so there hasn’t
been a videogames crash – and it’s unlikely –
but the market over here really is strange.
First of all, you need to know that the average
American is not a patient person. Whether they’re behind
the wheel of a car, in a shop queue or at a restaurant, they’re
not prepared to wait for anything. Nor are they prepared to give
anything any time to develop – which is why TV shows are
often cancelled after three or four episodes. If it ain’t
a quick hit, it’s gone, and on to the next big thing…
”Outta my way! I’m
late for my Twinkie Break.”
Now, it seems this impatience also applies to
videogames. I don’t know what the game shops look like in
England these days, but I find it very strange that when I walk
into an EB Games or a Gamestop, I see more pre-owned games on
the shelves than new games. I can’t help thinking that these
stores are making rods for their own backs. They’ve all
got huge piles of Madden 2001 and 2002, NBA 2001 and 2002 etc.,
and even at $4.99 it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realise
that they are never going to sell ANY of them. The stores need
to get together, find the fabled Atari E.T. cartridge landfill
and pray there’s still room enough to dump these pieces
of crap and be done with them once and for all.
”C64! HUH! What is it good
for?”.
Perhaps more surprisingly, there are plenty
of new-release games on the pre-owned shelves, too. You’ll
find a remarkable number of games being traded in just a few days
after they’ve been bought. This is something I find difficult
to comprehend, as they only give you half of the amount that they’ll
sell it for. Why trade in a new game for $20 or so, when you could
sell it on eBay for possibly double that? Do people genuinely
not like the games? Or do they not have the patience to play them
for more than a few minutes?
Also, stores sell pre-owned copies of new releases
for just $5 below the RRP. To me, that’s nowhere near enough
of a saving to get me to buy it, and I’m sure many other
gamers feel the same. If I want it that badly, I’ll spring
for a new copy. I reckon most people feel the same, so that just
means even more used games are cluttering the stores' shelves.
”One more tap and they should
all fit in perfectly…”.
Pre-owned games are a hit-and-miss affair, anyway.
You never know what little scumbag might have owned it before,
and what condition it might be in after even a week. I don’t
know what’s wrong with young ‘uns these days, but
I’ve always taken great care of my games. I store them away,
instructions in pristine condition, and not so much as a crack
in any of the boxes. Nowadays, if you look on eBay you’ll
find as many games for sale without the box or instructions as
you will complete games. It’s the same with pre-owned games
in stores. What the hell do they do with them? Do they rip the
game out of the case and then just throw all the packaging away?
Judging by the condition of many pre-owned game discs, they must
spend most of their time being kicked around the floor. Such a
lack of respect for perfectly good games is enough to bring a
tear to the eye of any gamer over the age of twenty-five.
Sphinx. “Ach. What do I
have to do to sell in America?”.
On the other side of the coin are the games
that nobody even buys in the first place. I’m not talking
about games that are reviled across the board – I mean quality
games, created by good programmers. They tend to have great graphics,
good gameplay and even the occasional solid storyline. What they
don’t have, however, is a big name, a load of hype or, more
worryingly, violent deaths and crime sprees. Hence, games like
Beyond Good and Evil, Sphinx And The Cursed Mummy and Prince of
Persia: Sands of Time are left languishing on shelves, reduced
to bargain prices or deals in barely the blink of an eye. This
is great news for gamers like me who hate letting the moths out
of their wallets, but it can’t be good for the games industry
though.
”So it’s violence
you want, uh?”… “Well, obviously”…
“Oh – wise
guy, eh?”… “Yeah. Very”… (“HIT
‘IM!!!!”)
In a country that loves to pop pills, visit
shrinks and suffer from whichever trendy hang-up is currently
doing the rounds, it seems that the whole of the United States
is inflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder. They can’t
spend more than five minutes on anything without moving on to
something else, and this looks to be very bad for the games industry.
The majority of games are being left unloved and even untried,
and it seems to be getting harder for coders to come up with a
winning formula.
With the next generation of consoles hovering
over the horizon, I feel they’re going to have to bring
some pretty special features with them to grab the attentions
of an increasingly apathetic America. If they don’t, whilst
I can’t see a full scale crash, the idea that videogames
are becoming cool or universally accepted will be gone, and it’ll
all get swept underground again.
PAULEMOZ,
March 2004.
Comment
Here.
____________________________________________________________________
The World Famous WotR
'Buy It' Box
We've looked-up the links for you and done an
associates deal with some decent suppliers. Each time you buy
via these links Way of the Rodent receives a small, but very welcome,
commission. It's a nice way for you to help keep WotR
running and at the same time get your hands on games we love.
Cheers!
| 
