Gaming This is the reason why people buy flashcarts

[Rayder]

I only bought a flashcart because free is better than pay. It's not that I can't afford to buy games, I just see no reason to buy them when they're easily obtainable online.

Besides, it's infinitely easier to click the mouse than to go anywhere to get games.....not to mention MUCH cheaper.

 

[Artheido]

I'm in College so I don't have a great income (£30 a week for travel, lunch, stationary etc.) and it takes too long to nag my parents to buy it for me. That's why I pirate.

If I did receive a good income, I'd pirate the game to check if it's good and then buy it.

I only bought a flashcart because free is better than pay. It's not that I can't afford to buy games, I just see no reason to buy them when they're easily obtainable online.

Besides, it's infinitely easier to click the mouse than to go anywhere to get games.....not to mention MUCH cheaper.

Leecher! :

 

[VmprHntrD]

$40 USD is equal to how much AUD...?

As of when I posted this $40 USD ->$61.35 AUD


Look I think a problem here in this thread is a huge side tracking by bitter non-americans who want to trash the topic starter over complaining about a $40 DS title when the games are supposed to cost $20-30 generally. In practice over the DS life it has been Square/Enix every single time hosing people with a +$10 nerd/fanboy tax and it's aggravating, and EA used to do it too quite a bit on various 'mascot' series they shovel out as well like many of the earlier NFS titles for example.

I saw it was brought up, but the problem is some of it is gouging by the companies there who set the prices in your region, but also blame your stupid governments too and not us. Many countries slap on some horrid tariffs over the most stupid political reasons, while others slap on various forms of taxation on top of it too that get included in the costs. In the states we don't have those tariffs against video games (or most stuff) and we just get slapped with a 0-9% sales tax depending on your state/territory. So really why not think about that while complaining at us that we have no right to whine and that it's unfair because really it's your own greedy governments hosing you more than anything.

Just to benchmark a few things for 'fun' I'm going to use $10USD as a 'base' price and round off the conversions.
$10USD->$7.73EURO
$10USD->$14.90AUD
$10USD->$6.77GBP
$10USD->$12.20CAS
$10USD->$35.85MYR

Try using that and figure out what you're actually paying because more or less the 'gouge' around the conversion is your taxes.

 

[Timexy]

$40 is NOTHING. Games cost up to 2x more in other countries...

I don't own a NDS, but NDS games costs around US$ 65,00 around here. Wii? Used to be around US$ 70,00~US$ 110,00. I was going to buy SSBB yesterday, but the oficial price was US$ 125,00 at "today's" exchange rate. Geez, even though I know we have high taxes for Wii/PS3/X360 games, because they're all imported, I could buy 3 to 4 PC games with that...

 

[ComplicatioN]

$40 is NOTHING. Games cost up to 2x more in other countries...

i saw one game i think it was mario kart it was 70$ T_T and another one DBZ supersonic warriors 2 90$ AUD

 

[XRacer101]

not everyone is feeling the crisis, i still make good money im still able to survive 40$ is nothing, people should have been smart with what they earn

I agree with this.

 

[Aleatz]

Look I think a problem here in this thread is a huge side tracking by bitter non-americans who want to trash the topic starter over complaining about a $40 DS title when the games are supposed to cost $20-30 generally. In practice over the DS life it has been Square/Enix every single time hosing people with a +$10 nerd/fanboy tax and it's aggravating, and EA used to do it too quite a bit on various 'mascot' series they shovel out as well like many of the earlier NFS titles for example.

I saw it was brought up, but the problem is some of it is gouging by the companies there who set the prices in your region, but also blame your stupid governments too and not us. Many countries slap on some horrid tariffs over the most stupid political reasons, while others slap on various forms of taxation on top of it too that get included in the costs. In the states we don't have those tariffs against video games (or most stuff) and we just get slapped with a 0-9% sales tax depending on your state/territory. So really why not think about that while complaining at us that we have no right to whine and that it's unfair because really it's your own greedy governments hosing you more than anything.

Just to benchmark a few things for 'fun' I'm going to use $10USD as a 'base' price and round off the conversions.
$10USD->$7.73EURO
$10USD->$14.90AUD
$10USD->$6.77GBP
$10USD->$12.20CAS
$10USD->$35.85MYR

Try using that and figure out what you're actually paying because more or less the 'gouge' around the conversion is your taxes.
Whoa. Who's bitching at you? We're telling you to stop complaining about $10 difference on one game. You think Square Enix and the like don't add that $10 on games here as well? Yes, the standard here is $70, but I've seen DS games for $80 and $90 here, and ludicious prices when I was over in Europe too. I understand why you're upset, because it is a pretty annoying thing for a company to do. But all those who don't live in America were just reminding you that hey, you still have it the cheapest. $10 is nothing when there are other countries out there which have to fork out nearly double.

I'm pretty sure I included the GST into that $70 said earlier. Americans still have it cheaper. If there's additional tax that exists for Australians, I'd like someone here to tell me what it is. Last time I checked, the reason for such high prices for video games in Australia wasn't because of 'greedy governments', but I could be wrong.

WikipediaThere is also controversy relating video games in Australia and other PAL regions. In general when compared to the US, PAL gamers have to pay up to 40% to 50% more. More of a problem in Australia is where games are constantly delayed for no apparent reason, most notably games released by Nintendo. As English is the main language in the Australian region there is no need for any translation and the complications of differences between the PAL and NTSC video formats are not existent, as the majority of video displays in Australia are fully capable of running at a 60 Hz format. There is also the problem of regional lockout in Australia, with most DVD players release coming region free in order to comply with local laws, but video game consoles are still sold fully region locked. Some efforts to increase awareness of the issue, specifically to Nintendo of Australia, was in the form of a formal report outlining the issues, published by Aaron Rex Davies. The report has gone on to gain a lot of attention in the public media.

 

[Raestloz]

$40 is too expensive, Assassin's Creed (PS3) costs $35 here... and GTAIV (PS3) costs around $50

This is insanity..... and is a complete rip-off, I understand being mobile is a plus, but it's not that great, what can the second screen do? yeah, like FF4, nothin' but small infos

 

[Ahua_Keren]

Hmm, if you can't afford it, go buy Flashcart.
Why complaining with the price?
Only IF you are a game collector..

 

[Raestloz]

Only IF you actually have some heart and want to support the exhausted programmers, they deserve some good things too. IDK how programmers got paid, but I can only hope should I buy one of their games, at least $5 made it to them...

 

[UltraMagnus]

Only IF you actually have some heart and want to support the exhausted programmers, they deserve some good things too. IDK how programmers got paid, but I can only hope should I buy one of their games, at least $5 made it to them...

its more like $0.50, far more goes to the fatcats that run the companies, the lawyers, and marketing men.

 

[ZenZero]

...and don't forget that European & Australian prices generally have VAT (c. 20% baked in on top of everything...)

But the OP does have a point, no handheld game is worth $40, ok maybe DQIX will be, but nothing else out there is worth more than $25-30 and many of those are more realistically $5-15 titles, e.g. Orcs & Elves which took me about 3h or so to finish IIRC, or about what I find to really be worth c. $5.

Wow! The pound has gone down the crapper recently, as last I looked around December it was worth c. 1.8 USD...

actually its only 15% now

QUOTE(cutterjohn @ Feb 6 2009, 11:54 PM) ...and don't forget that European & Australian prices generally have VAT (c. 20% baked in on top of everything...)

But the OP does have a point, no handheld game is worth $40, ok maybe DQIX will be, but nothing else out there is worth more than $25-30 and many of those are more realistically $5-15 titles, e.g. Orcs & Elves which took me about 3h or so to finish IIRC, or about what I find to really be worth c. $5.

Wow! The pound has gone down the crapper recently, as last I looked around December it was worth c. 1.8 USD...

Probably because we have a one-eyed idiot running the country.

you've been listening to clarkson - and its SCOTTISH one eyed idiot


but yeah, games are SO over-priced here

 

[mixinluv2u]

at the countries that games cost more, is the average income also higher?

 

[Gifted1]

not everyone is feeling the crisis, i still make good money im still able to survive 40$ is nothing, people should have been smart with what they earn

That was such a crazy and unrealistic thing to say. lol

 

[UltraMagnus]

Hasn't anyone considered that flashcarts are actually aiding the DS's sales?

I know that many people who've gone out there, and got a DS 'cos they can get a flashcart and enjoy all the games they want, simply (and illegally).

nintendo is the only console manufacturer that doesn't make a loss on its consoles IIRC, but they don't make much if any profit. they make money by selling game licences.

 

[Ruri]

Hasn't anyone considered that flashcarts are actually aiding the DS's sales?

I know that many people who've gone out there, and got a DS 'cos they can get a flashcart and enjoy all the games they want, simply (and illegally).

nintendo is the only console manufacturer that doesn't make a loss on its consoles IIRC, but they don't make much if any profit. they make money by selling game licences.

I don't think flashcarts directly impact the money Nintendo makes, but a console that sells a lot of copies (even at a loss or a low profit) can sell many more licenses and will be more successful in the long term.

I remember that there was a huge buzz when an easy exploit to run homebrew and emulators on the PSP was discovered (at the time, there were almost no good PSP games, so using it for piracy was not mentioned.) I suspect that that helped the console's early sales, and would have helped even more if they hadn't immediately patched it.

However, it's hard to imagine it helping a console that much this late into its lifecycle... and the usual argument, that pirates are people who would never buy games anyway, does not apply to flashcarts so well, because, well, you did buy the flashcart and a DS, didn't you?

(Actually, that reminds me of another weird issue. Software piracy isn't just problematic for the people who make the game being pirated, it's problematic for everyone. When one console's games are easier to pirate than another, that means that even the one with good security is now competing against a 'rival' whose price-point is zero. That can be tough. Not sure if that helps anyone other than the pirates, though...)

 

[UltraMagnus]

However, it's hard to imagine it helping a console that much this late into its lifecycle... and the usual argument, that pirates are people who would never buy games anyway, does not apply to flashcarts so well, because, well, you did buy the flashcart and a DS, didn't you?

considering a flashcard and 8gb memory card costs less than a brand new DS game, I think the point is very valid indeed.

 

[Aleatz]

at the countries that games cost more, is the average income also higher?

It's hard to say in terms of 'average middle-class income', but per capita income shows that the US often makes it to around the third top of the list, with countries such as Canada, Australia, UK all past 10 (and even 20 for UK).