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Batman: Arkham City


Cobra1000

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lols thanks to a momentus fuck up at tescos tonight, i managed to snag a copy on the ps3 for 37 quid, told my m8 who went to get his copy only to be told they've been taken off the shelf

If you're quick, you can blackmail the manager there for sex now for a couple of days.

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lols thanks to a momentus fuck up at tescos tonight, i managed to snag a copy on the ps3 for 37 quid, told my m8 who went to get his copy only to be told they've been taken off the shelf

 

 

How did you get yours?

 

Tesco have told me that I can pick up my pre-ordered game at the stroke of midnight on Friday but might try and blag a copy earlier if they're as clueless as you say..

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They have managed to do without it for years and to be fair a lot of it seems to be down to Publishers more than the Developer themselves, just imagine buying a copy of Mario 3 on NES these days but not being able to play half the game. In the future this will fuck up retro gaming but oh well, i'm not going to fund it so let them do as they please i guess.

 

 

The whole landscape of the industry and the market has changed a lot since then. It's not comparable.

 

 

Loki explained this really well one time but i don't really have the full understanding to be able to do so.. (he works/worked in the industry). Maybe if he sees this thread he can drop some science..

 

In the past couple of months 3 major development studios in the UK have gone under - Codemasters in Guildford, EA BrightLight in Guildford and Black Rock in Brighton. Lots of people have lost their jobs. Games development is becoming really risky - it costs such an enormous amount to develop a AAA title, and therefore the number of units you have to shift has increased exponentially over the last 5 years.

 

2nd hand games are one of the major problems for publishers - as Chest rightly says, because the margins are much higher on 2nd hand games for the shop, they tend to push those over new copies. I think Criterion got some statistics to show that on average each copy of Burnout Paradise was played through on 3 different consoles, meaning their actual sales figures were 3 times higher than the amount of new copies they actually sold!

 

Given that the trade in 2nd hand games can't be outlawed, the industry has to monetarise its product better to make sure that it's getting something back every time copy of its game changes hands. One of the fairest ways of doing that is to incentivise people to buy the new game over a 2nd hand game, and having extra content only available on new titles is a relatively easy system for that. Its not true to say that you don't get the whole game - I don't know of any games that you can't play through the main single player game even on a 2nd hand copy. Usually its extra content, or access to multiplayer or something.

 

I think it's fair and actually a clever compromise. As with pirating, the people complaining don't realise that their cheap/free copies of the games are breaking the backs of studios and putting hard-working games developers out of their jobs.

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it also could be argued that this is the first blockbuster (after the Footy games) title to be released in a very, very awesome Autumn/Winter period for gaming.

 

Surely that would be Gears of War 3? Unless you're counting end of September as "Summer". Doesn't matter anyway, I can't fuckin' wait for Arkham City. Asylum was everything a Batman game deserved to be, not just some half assed movie tie in. By all accounts, City comfortably out does Asylum, friday can't come soon enough.

 

well im a ps3 man, so I didn't even think of that, but yeah fair enough!

 

Nah, the cycle is done by quarters. September is still Q3, with Q4 being the biggest time of year for gaming (although much of that is made up by the tiresome annual releases of sports titles in which they make no substantial changes to the games). So you were right; stick to your guns!

 

Pfft, quarters are for... Something. Either way, it's out Friday and I am massively envious of anyone that has it now.

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They have managed to do without it for years and to be fair a lot of it seems to be down to Publishers more than the Developer themselves, just imagine buying a copy of Mario 3 on NES these days but not being able to play half the game. In the future this will fuck up retro gaming but oh well, i'm not going to fund it so let them do as they please i guess.

 

 

The whole landscape of the industry and the market has changed a lot since then. It's not comparable.

 

 

Loki explained this really well one time but i don't really have the full understanding to be able to do so.. (he works/worked in the industry). Maybe if he sees this thread he can drop some science..

 

In the past couple of months 3 major development studios in the UK have gone under - Codemasters in Guildford, EA BrightLight in Guildford and Black Rock in Brighton. Lots of people have lost their jobs. Games development is becoming really risky - it costs such an enormous amount to develop a AAA title, and therefore the number of units you have to shift has increased exponentially over the last 5 years.

 

2nd hand games are one of the major problems for publishers - as Chest rightly says, because the margins are much higher on 2nd hand games for the shop, they tend to push those over new copies. I think Criterion got some statistics to show that on average each copy of Burnout Paradise was played through on 3 different consoles, meaning their actual sales figures were 3 times higher than the amount of new copies they actually sold!

 

Given that the trade in 2nd hand games can't be outlawed, the industry has to monetarise its product better to make sure that it's getting something back every time copy of its game changes hands. One of the fairest ways of doing that is to incentivise people to buy the new game over a 2nd hand game, and having extra content only available on new titles is a relatively easy system for that. Its not true to say that you don't get the whole game - I don't know of any games that you can't play through the main single player game even on a 2nd hand copy. Usually its extra content, or access to multiplayer or something.

 

I think it's fair and actually a clever compromise. As with pirating, the people complaining don't realise that their cheap/free copies of the games are breaking the backs of studios and putting hard-working games developers out of their jobs.

 

Unfortunately the retailers are getting wise to this, Gamestop in the US have stated that anyone buying pre-owned copies of Arkham City will be given a code to get the Catwoman content anyway.

 

It's a good excuse for bad studios to hide behind as well, Black Rock were unfortunate in that they were a Disney studio and Disney were looking to cut costs across the board but Codemasters Guildford just made a really really average game which didn't sell well because it wasn't good enough and wasn't promoted enough. Judging by the amount of copies of Bodycount which are now selling for a pittance in Blockbusters I don't think the pre-owned market hurt that title a great deal.

 

As for EA Brightlight, they've been making the Harry Potter games for the last god knows how long and not doing a great job at it so it's no surpise that they were a candidate for winding up now that the series as finished. My only sadness from that is that it's a very depressing end to the studio once known as Bullfrog (yes that Bullfrog), just as one of their finest titles is being remade/rebooted.

 

The pre-owned market undoubtedly hurts the games market, but not to the extent that the studios want you to believe. Much like the piracy issue, I would wager the majority of people buying the game used would have never bought it new until margins were so low as to make no difference. Same with piracy, the majority of people who play pirated games would have no intention of buying them legally should there be no option to get it illegally.

 

That being said, I have no issue with the codes in principal. I'd rather they did this than just raised prices or introduced serial numbers to restrict the game to one owner. I mean it's a trade-off, same if you buy a car, you'll pay more new but the warranty means you don't have to pay for services for 3 years or so and of course no MOTs to worry about if you keep buying new every 2-3 years. If you buy second hand cars you'll pay less up front but will need to add service costs and MOT costs on top. The car industry don't complain about 2nd hand sales, and owners don't complain about added costs when buying 2nd hand. It's just economy. used salesmen have existed for years, just because the games industry has a bee in it's bonnet about them doesn't mean that it's illegal or somehow morally wrong to trade second hand games at their expense.

 

So long as the games industry realises that this is their problem to solve and that we as consumers aren't at fault then that's fine. If you buy something you then have the right to sell it on again. You can make the case that they aren't ethical giving bad cash values to people who need the money but it's not just the games industry that suffers from this. (WeBuyAnyCar anyone?)

 

And on topic, I'll be picking up my copy of Batman from Blockbuster on Friday morning, I cannot wait for this and I've not had this level of anticipation for a game in a long long time. Loved the first one (and probably wouldn't have bothered with it at the time, if not for the demo really impressing me) and just love everything I've read about this one so far.

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Unfortunately the retailers are getting wise to this, Gamestop in the US have stated that anyone buying pre-owned copies of Arkham City will be given a code to get the Catwoman content anyway.

 

Presumably they have to put their hands in their pockets to buy the codes for second hand games they sell on and this comes out of their cut anyway so this is actually better for the developers - they still take a cut on 2nd hand games but it hits gamers in the pockets less so it doesn't damage their relationship with their cheapskate customers as badly.

 

Or have I missed something here? I guess it depends what this move does to the price of the second hand games.. I can see why shops would do it for specific titles but if it become an across-the-board policy presumably it would hit their margin hard enough for them to want to pass the costs on to the gamers.

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Unfortunately the retailers are getting wise to this, Gamestop in the US have stated that anyone buying pre-owned copies of Arkham City will be given a code to get the Catwoman content anyway.

 

Presumably they have to put their hands in their pockets to buy the codes for second hand games they sell on and this comes out of their cut anyway so this is actually better for the developers - they still take a cut on 2nd hand games but it hits gamers in the pockets less so it doesn't damage their relationship with their cheapskate customers as badly.

 

Or have I missed something here? I guess it depends what this move does to the price of the second hand games.. I can see why shops would do it for specific titles but if it become an across-the-board policy presumably it would hit their margin hard enough for them to want to pass the costs on to the gamers.

It's definitely a good middle ground, and gamestop apparently have an agreement with Warner Brothers to do it (they did it with Mortal Kombat too), but right now it's only gamestop and only WB. Other larger companies would probably prefer to stand their ground since Gamestop aren't exactly reputable when it comes to business and competition (such as removing OnLive codes from PC copies of Deus Ex). Again as you say it depends on the price of the games, personally I'll buy pre-owned if I want older games but new games I'd rather pay

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My only problem with it is not how it affects the second hand games market, which frankly can fuck off, but how it affects the rental market. I'm a huge fan of LoveFilm and have been a member there for a couple of years, what I'll tend to do instead of shelling out

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I only buy the AAA titles these days as new.. Batman and MW3 are two on pre-order now and i bought Portal 2 brand new but thats all i have this year and ill get GOW3 for Christmas, I simple cant afford brand new games all the time. I tend to trade in old DVD's and games so i can get 2nd games from CEX. Its the only way i can afford them.

 

I just cancelled my Lovefilm account. i was on the

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