Monday, May 31, 2004
A Question/Discussion entry about buying passions
Okay, so I'll update about the friends' day that happened on Sunday later, as well as other stuff regarding d20. But first, I just wanted to pose a question or a thought that I had, so this blog entry will be similar to Wen's blog entries; that is, rather than updating about daily life stuff, his entries usually revolve around a single idea, whether it's a review of a game, opinions on a movie, or thought of something in life.
So I'm just posting a thought, in the form of a question. If I'm expecting replies, I think each person would only reply one or two lines. It's not a question about evolution like in Ambrose's blog, or anything involving controversial opinions about war, homosexuality or abortion. So don't expect anything of great nature. Not totally sure why I'm posting this, but maybe it's good to get some other perspectives on something pretty mundane.
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So anyway, I play videogames. You play videogames. So let's say most of our games give me a satisfaction level of... 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10. Some less, but 10 is the max. Well, maybe 1 or 2 games score an 11. But anyway, let's say you find out about a game, by playing it in a store or whatever, and it scores a rare 11! It's sooo good! The only problem is that it's not available (in my case) on gamecube or pc. So... what do you do?
So I made up 4 scenarios. Which ones would you do?
1) The game is drummania 6th mix - I've played it at the Cove. It's an arcade machine, and the closest thing to it is Drummania 3rd mix, on a crappier drum set available for japanese ps2s. Ignoring the import-PS2 version, this means to get my hands on this game, I will have to shell out >$7000 to buy the game.
And that's that. When I get the game, I will have drummania 6th mix in my home. And it will always be drummania 6th mix. It will always be a drum game, with those graphics, with those sounds, with those songs. It will never evolve into anything else. It's a static game. It's amazing, but I can't spend a bit more to add more game-value. It will always stay the same.
2) The game is Steel Battalion, on the xbox. I don't have an xbox, so for me to play Steel Battalion, I'll have to spend $200 + $250 = $450 to play Steel Battalion. The good news is that now I have an xbox, so I can play other xbox exclusive games, if I wanted to.
3) The game is an xbox game, say, halo 2. Technically, the only money I have to spend unwillingly is $200. Like in the penny arcade comic, I can now put the xbox on top of the cube, and then I can buy xbox games as well as gamecube games. So I just spent $200 to open a door of options, a door to a bigger library of compatible games. I can now play gc and xbox exclusives, and for any non-exclusives, I can choose to buy them for cube or xbox. And hopefully, I'll want to buy games other than just halo 2.
Well, technically I would buy 3 more controllers as well and a bunch of other stuff, so it'll be closer to $300, rather than $200.
Actually, this option isn't bad for systems like the PS2. The PS2 is pretty inexpensive, and it has a large library of games - as well, many of the games are now cheap. Furthermore, perhaps I can get some people to burn me some games. The money I save from cheap, platinum-hit games and burnt games will practically pay the cost of the PS2.
4) (in this scenario) I have Typing of the dead on DC, but I don't have a DreamCast Keyboard. So I would like to invest $30 on a keyboard, which will play typing of the dead on dreamcast, but that's all it's useful for. Otherwise, it's a useless periphial, but in this scenario, playing typing of the dead with a keyboard on the dreamcast gives me a satisfaction of 11, so the $30 might be worth it.
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So those are the 4 scenarios. How strong are your passions? How much trouble (and money) would you go through in order to play these rare games? Is it worth it to buy a ____(insert game system)____ just to play ____(insert exclusive game)____, even if (almost) none of the other games on that system interest you?
Anyway, that's all. I'll post a more standard update later. Maybe if these discussions evolve or do well, I'll think of more questions to post. I'll post my opinion later.
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So I'm just posting a thought, in the form of a question. If I'm expecting replies, I think each person would only reply one or two lines. It's not a question about evolution like in Ambrose's blog, or anything involving controversial opinions about war, homosexuality or abortion. So don't expect anything of great nature. Not totally sure why I'm posting this, but maybe it's good to get some other perspectives on something pretty mundane.
----
So anyway, I play videogames. You play videogames. So let's say most of our games give me a satisfaction level of... 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10. Some less, but 10 is the max. Well, maybe 1 or 2 games score an 11. But anyway, let's say you find out about a game, by playing it in a store or whatever, and it scores a rare 11! It's sooo good! The only problem is that it's not available (in my case) on gamecube or pc. So... what do you do?
So I made up 4 scenarios. Which ones would you do?
1) The game is drummania 6th mix - I've played it at the Cove. It's an arcade machine, and the closest thing to it is Drummania 3rd mix, on a crappier drum set available for japanese ps2s. Ignoring the import-PS2 version, this means to get my hands on this game, I will have to shell out >$7000 to buy the game.
And that's that. When I get the game, I will have drummania 6th mix in my home. And it will always be drummania 6th mix. It will always be a drum game, with those graphics, with those sounds, with those songs. It will never evolve into anything else. It's a static game. It's amazing, but I can't spend a bit more to add more game-value. It will always stay the same.
2) The game is Steel Battalion, on the xbox. I don't have an xbox, so for me to play Steel Battalion, I'll have to spend $200 + $250 = $450 to play Steel Battalion. The good news is that now I have an xbox, so I can play other xbox exclusive games, if I wanted to.
3) The game is an xbox game, say, halo 2. Technically, the only money I have to spend unwillingly is $200. Like in the penny arcade comic, I can now put the xbox on top of the cube, and then I can buy xbox games as well as gamecube games. So I just spent $200 to open a door of options, a door to a bigger library of compatible games. I can now play gc and xbox exclusives, and for any non-exclusives, I can choose to buy them for cube or xbox. And hopefully, I'll want to buy games other than just halo 2.
Well, technically I would buy 3 more controllers as well and a bunch of other stuff, so it'll be closer to $300, rather than $200.
Actually, this option isn't bad for systems like the PS2. The PS2 is pretty inexpensive, and it has a large library of games - as well, many of the games are now cheap. Furthermore, perhaps I can get some people to burn me some games. The money I save from cheap, platinum-hit games and burnt games will practically pay the cost of the PS2.
4) (in this scenario) I have Typing of the dead on DC, but I don't have a DreamCast Keyboard. So I would like to invest $30 on a keyboard, which will play typing of the dead on dreamcast, but that's all it's useful for. Otherwise, it's a useless periphial, but in this scenario, playing typing of the dead with a keyboard on the dreamcast gives me a satisfaction of 11, so the $30 might be worth it.
------------
So those are the 4 scenarios. How strong are your passions? How much trouble (and money) would you go through in order to play these rare games? Is it worth it to buy a ____(insert game system)____ just to play ____(insert exclusive game)____, even if (almost) none of the other games on that system interest you?
Anyway, that's all. I'll post a more standard update later. Maybe if these discussions evolve or do well, I'll think of more questions to post. I'll post my opinion later.