Posted by Bob Mackey
When the amazing Bionic Commando: Rearmed launched last summer at the cost of 800 Microsoft Points (10 dollars), fans of the old-school franchise were relieved--and some were even worried that Capcom wasn't charging enough. But just a week before this, the 1200-Point price tag attached to the equally-amazing Braid caused a bit of alarm--though most agreed that an extra five bucks was more than worth it for such a unique and unforgettable experience.
These days, the 800 Point-and-under pricing structure of XBLA games is seemingly becoming a thing of the past; this week's releases of Puzzle Quest: Galactrix and Flock are available for 20 and 15 dollars, respectively. For the gamer on a budget--or me, anyway--the 10-dollar price point is the sweet spot for XBLA game prices. And as new XBLA releases find themselves slipping further and further from this comfortable territory, I'm finding myself less and less interested in what's available in the marketplace.
Before I'm ripped to shreds, I'd like to state that I do want to see the makers of these XBLA games adequately compensated for their work--it's just that the perceived value of a new game (downloadable or not) is far less than publishers think it is. Even at the happy price point of $10, frugal gamers can get much more than a single XBLA game; in fact, if you're a regular follower of Steam's fantastic sales, you could have bought both Bioshock and Tomb Raider Anniversary for this tiny sum.
Of course, these games can be had for so cheap because their publishers have already sold as many copies as they could at retail prices, but that doesn't mean that this competition doesn't exist. The Xbox Live Marketplace has been slashing prices on some of their more-popular games--the first episode of Penny-Arcade Adventures has had its originally-outrageous price chopped in half this week--but we're creeping closer and closer to having 15 dollars as the norm.
What do you 61FPS readers think about the situation? Has the rising cost of XBLA games made you just as miserly as me?
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About Bob Mackey
For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's
Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.
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