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As a life-long gamer, I view the video gaming community as just that: a community. A collection of diverse people with a single goal. A large part of that community consists of gamers, but there are also others involved, including game designers, studios, and developers. Within this community, there is an economy. Developers strive to make the best games possible so that we as gamers will shell out the fifty bucks for a new game. It's an extremely good economy for all involved, when you think about it. For anywhere between twenty and sixty bucks (depending on the system, game, etc.), we can enjoy hours of gaming goodness. Fifty bucks for Final Fantasy XII? When I know I'll be playing it for hundreds of hours, no problem. But what about when it stops being fair? What happens when The Man tries to screw you over?
A few months back, I found a used copy of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It was cheap, so I bought it. Now, I'll be the first to admit that the game has flaws. An infant could have designed a better menu interface. It's nearly game-breaking. Despite this, however, I found myself sinking hour after hour into the game. If I had this much fun with what is arguably a terrible SRPG, how great would it be to have a great one? I'd heard good things about Disgaea and Disgaea 2, so I decided to give them a shot.
One evening after work I headed to the local video game retailer. This is the only retailer in my area that sells used games (I won't name the store, because I'm getting ready to ream them, but anyone reading this can probably guess who it is). I cruised the used Playstation 2 section of the store, and lo and behold, I found a copy of the original Disgaea. The price tag? $39.99. For a used game that came out in 2003 on a previous-gen system.
I could only imagine that it was some sort of mistake. I asked the guy at the register to make sure it was correct. It was. I pointed to a copy of Rogue Galaxy on the shelf behind him. "But," I said, "that game is brand new and it costs exactly the same." The manager happened to be standing nearby. "We just recently changed a lot of our used game prices," she said, "to reflect the rarity of certain games."
So because a game sells a lot of copies, they jack up the price? I refuse to accept that. I'll pay full price for a game that is new and for a current-gen system. But forty bucks for a game that was released when I was a sophomore in college? Forget it. I won't go back to that store for any games from now on, because I won't support that kind of extortion.
Now let's step back and use this microcosm to examine the industry as a whole. Developers are releasing reiterations of the same sports game every single year, be it football or basketball or golf. And every year, gamers bend over and take it; only recently have some people realized, "Hey, this is exactly like the game I paid fifty bucks for last year." Not even the RPG industry is immune. I'm as grateful as the next guy for Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI on Game Boy Advance (I'm probably actually more grateful, since I wasn't into RPGs when those games were originally released), and I'm absolutely thrilled with Final Fantasy III DS. Those are ports with blessedly new translations, and, in the case of FFIII, a complete graphics overhaul. But there are still some lines that have been crossed; how many ports of I and II are we going to have to see? I believe they've been on one system or another every generation since their release.
The biggest culprit is, of course, Sony. Sure, the Playstation 2 was great. But what made it great? Third party titles. As various individuals across the Internet have pointed out (the great Maddox included), it is not possible for Sony to care less about us. Their hardheadedness concerning homebrew on the PSP is just one example. The prohibitively high price point on the PS3, their refusal to listen to their customers' requests (Sony absolutely will not put force feedback in their PS3 controllers, despite the fact that a third party has devised a technologically feasible means of doing so), and their lack of commitment to retaining exclusives (how hard did Sony try to keep franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Guitar Hero exclusive to their system? Couldn't have been very hard, since they're both coming to Xbox) are just a few more. This is not to say I hate Sony (I don't; I own a PSP, so I have a right to say these things), or that Microsoft and Nintendo are perfect (they're not; if they were, I'd have a Wii already and my Xbox 360 would stop flashing red lights at me every third time I turn it on).
I think the industry has lost sight of what its focus should be: you. You guys and girls reading this are the beating heart of video games. Without people like you and me to stand in line and wait for games on release day, or to subscribe to Nintendo Power and Playstation Underground, or to eat, breathe, and sleep video games, this industry is dead.
Maybe gaming has always been this cutthroat, and I've just not seen it until now. I'd like to think that's not true. I'd like to imagine a time when developers, retailers, and gamers alike were excited and united in their love of the game. Then again, maybe I'm just being naïve.
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