DJGameFreakTheIguana
Active member
A friend of my posted this at another forum, and I thought it would be interestinf you get your views on this:
Any comments?
X)
Now, I just posted 2 threads already about EA's microtransactions and Microsofts threshold Kinect Patent, but looking at the current economic environment, all of these things start leading to one point. Video games are starting to become an exclusionary entertainment medium.
When you look back , video games started in the arcades where anyone could jump on a machine with mere pocket change and start playing some games. I assume the arcades were the cheapest forms of entertainment back then. Even the consoles produced went up to $200 at best. But since then, the arcades (in America, at least) have died down, and all video game entertainment comes from a console, a handheld, or the PC. And most recently, video games are a lot more expensive than ever.
The most significant part of the Wii's success was it's low price tag. Considering the other consoles out went up to 400 and to 600 dollars, $250 was literally a steal. But then came the games. Minecraft for the 360 requires an HDtv for splitscreen coop play. And if you're short on funds, it's crazy to save up on money for a particular feature of a game. Not to mention the DLC and Microtransactions going on in recent games (mostly the HD ones). It has since become much more frequent as of late. The amount of preorder DLC alone has become so prevalent, there's an actual website detailing all of the games that have them and where to get them from. http://www.dlcpreorder.com/category/xbox-360/page/7/
Then you can look at the results of a game not being a critical success. Most failures are blamed on the used games market, to the point that used games were considered a form of piracy almost. David Cage of Heavy Rain noted his displeasure of having more than 3 million users for a game that only got 2 million sales. The accusation was placed on second-hand sells. There were many measures done to prevent this, and some examples range from Day-One DLC to even Capcom's infamous permanent save for the Resident Evil game in the 3DS (which caused rampant protests). And while it's good news that PS4 won't block used games, the mere fact that such technology exists to prevent them from working is disturbing.
So, as consoles and video games become more expensive than before, and developers are creating more and more means of trying to generate revenue (the Kinect threshold is honestly the most devious thing I've ever heard of), it's becoming clear that video games will not be for the masses in the near future. Instead, the rich will benefit from the luxuries of video games rather than underclass citizens in the country.
Too many people cannot afford to worry about entertainment when it's starting to become more expensive to maintain an apartment (poor me) and with mass unemployment going around, video games are the least of many people's problems. The only ones who will be able to afford the luxury of a game console and ALL of it's features will be the well off. I can't help but think that in the future, buying used game consoles themselves may be impossible or even illegal. If a company has seriously created a technology possible of hampering your ability to play a game that is already used, what's to stop them from making some ID technology that prevents a person from using a whole console if you are not the original owner? Perhaps out of some half-truth good intention that "what if the console gets stolen? You don't want that thief using your information, credit card and all, to make purchases on PSN while you get billed, now would you?".
These are, of course, my personal thoughts on the current gaming environment. I can't see everyone in the future getting a taste of video games unless they are rich.
Any comments?
X)
