How the Gaming Industry can "Stop" Gamestop

The Gamestop Battles have been heating up…..again. Before it was the major controversy involving Capcom and EA trying to find ways to prevent resale. Then we had the XBox One and their DRM disaster. And now in the latest news, a PS4 developer is criticizing the practices of Gamestop and its concept of making extra money off of pre-purchased games. He says that the used game sales from Gamestop affects the game development companies and hurts the gaming industry overall.

Now, while I will save this argument for another day (You know, the argument about how the gaming industry seems to be the ONLY one mildly upset at the resales of their product as opposed to movies, cars, houses, electronics, etc. etc. etc.) , there is a fun simple way to combat the supposed business-killing ways of the Gamestop:





Stop. Being. So. ****ing. Expensive.


Pricing is everything, especially in a tougher economy. Nintendo’s battle against Blockbuster was short-lived in the early 90s because a) Nintendo was making fantastic money nonetheless, especially between 1994-1996 leading up to the Virtual Boy disaster and the rise of the Playstation and b) it was the 90s and everybody had money back then. The Clinton Days were good days full of good money flowing left and right.

Nowadays however, we don’t have that type of luxury. The 2000s brought upon some tough times. We are still attempting to recover. And with that the better deal always won, regardless of quality. The last time we had a good system that was the best in the business and the most economically affordable was the Playstation 2 about a decade ago. The best bang for your buck has been the victor in the past couple generations: the Playstation 2, the Nintendo Wii, and now the Nintendo 3DS which is literally eating away at the handheld market.

You are releasing $60 games with $5-$10 DLC packs left and right. And we are not including the increasing prices of online play, controllers, accessories, and other amenities. Games back then ranged from $35-$50 and we were done. Nintendo used to do their Player’s Choice on the SNES-N64 days to great success. PS2 had their share of Greatest Hits. Nowadays they still do it, but with smaller fanfare (Nintendo used to give their games ribbons) and less of a willingness to cut prices to so many games. Madden 2012 is about a year old, and still has the same price. And football season finished back in February. Why?

I am repeating this: if you want to defeat Gamestop and win the Eighth Generation you need to become the most economically friendly of the Big 3. And for the future, you need to be friendlier towards the backwards-compatibility feature. You think Xbox 360 and PS3’s heavy restrictions on what previous-gen games were allowed to be played helped them at all? Hell no. Nintendo took the better route and allowed ALL Gamecube games to be backwards-compatible, and even the controllers themselves could be re-used.

Is it a coincidence that one of the most-played games from the Sixth Generation (XB, PS2, GC, Dreamcast R.I.P.) happens to be Super Smash Brothers Melee? And now it turns out that both the Xbox One and the PS4 will also not be backwards-compatible. I am just saying, we have sent spacecraft to Pluto----it is not impossible to give improving technology the ability to play older games. If there is ANY advantage the WiiU has, it’s being the only Big 3 system to allow the play of Seventh Generation games without having to pay extra.

You wondering why Gamestop is making all this extra money for used games, yet however make it impossible for newer systems to play older games that gamers had already purchased. You think we are going to use the disks to hold paper when they become unplayable in the newer systems? You think lower middle class families would rather fork over $400 on a new system with $60 games as opposed to hitting a Gamestop and purchasing a $75 used older system with $10-$30 video games available? Be serious.

Make your older games available through the DLC. Don’t be afraid to drop prices on older games. Can you believe that Smash Brothers Brawl is still $50? This game is the best-selling fighting game in HISTORY!! Drop the price a little you pricks, you are essentially begging for us to search elsewhere to find cheaper product.

I am not a Gamestop fan by any means, but they will forever be the sexier alternative for poorer gamers and families and people just looking for a quick good game without having to sacrifice too much of the wallet. Gamestop and the other smaller game stores with similar concepts will continue to bust profits as long as it becomes tougher to have access to these older games in modern times. Gamestop secretly loves that the bigger higher-profile games are $60 at least, it makes their job that much easier.

Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, you need more cheaper games. You need to drop the prices on your systems and accessories and extra details if you want the places like Gamestop to supposedly crack into your profits. We need more $40, $30, $20 games. We need more games from the past through DLC and the infamous Virtual Console. We just need more options and opportunities to dish out smaller amounts of money. The video game industry needs to be more like the car industry: an extremely wide variety of options and prices to go with it. If every car was priced the same as a new Mercedes, I assure you more people would carpool or find other ways to get around.



Gamestop isn’t the problem. The ever-increasing expenses of the industry is.

The Unexpected Comeback of the Nintendo 3DS (And how Nintendo can apply this to the WiiU)

Not sure if you are noticing, but the Nintendo 3DS is kicking major amounts of arse.




Not sure if you are noticing, but the Nintendo 3DS currently has nearly an 86% market share in the handheld battle against the Playstation Vita. Even though Apple has sold over 22 million IPads and 47 million IPhones in 2013 the 3DS continues to put up impressive hardware and software numbers.

Examples:

Animal Crossing New Leaf: 4.4 million
Luigi's Mansion 2 (Surprising, to say the least): 2.1 million
New Super Mario Bros. 2: 6.1 Million
Super Mario 3D Land: 8.5 Million
Mario Kart 7: 8 Million
Ocarina of Time 3D: 3 Million

And now, the handheld is currently outselling the consoles in the U.K. merely two years after we were sure that Apple, Samsung, and the phone companies would eliminate the need for a handheld at all (I was hinting towards that in the past too). My a lot has happened since E3 2010 when the pundits declared that Nintendo was going in the wrong direction with their hardware.




But the truth is, they were.

The 3D craze was a mere fad that was dying, and it was also a fad that does better with kids and families and much less with the more dedicated fanbase. And when it launched, it was quietly a disaster. You can't even name the games that launched with the handheld. Not even a remake of a beloved classic could help it, as Star Fox 3D couldn't even break a million.

So what did Nintendo do? Well, practically bombard the market with a killer blend of sequels, remakes, re-releases, and a couple cool new ideas. As a matter of fact some of these better games were simply buried underneath all the quantity, like Paper Mario and Donkey Kong Country. After selling just 4 million in the first several months, the sales nearly reached 20 million after 15 months. Hey, actually caring about the online service and the downloadable content always makes for a positive note.



Now we have the WiiU in desperate need of help...

....another Nintendo niche system with a different way of playing games..but its a way that gamers have not been emotionally invested in quite like when the Wii and the Kinect first came out.

Despite what they want you to believe, if you simply deliver the arsenal of games required to keep gamers happy, then you don't have to worry about whether or not the niche of the system will become enough to entice people to buy your product.

Newsflash Nintendo: We didn't buy the 3DS for the 3D, we bought it for the superior memory, the superior online features, and the exciting-looking games.

Newsflash #2 Nintendo: We aren't buying the WiiU because of the "inferior" hardware to the competition---we aren't buying it because there has been a lack of software, disk and downloadable. And....we know that a price cut is beyond the horizon.

The WiiU has all the potential to pull off the 3DS-sized comeback. Despite the limitations, this is still Nintendo's first HD system, which in itself leads to lots of potential. We need more games first and foremost, and unlike the 3DS it has the third-party support of a Neo-Geo Pocket. So this means not just the typical sequels like new Mario 3D, a new Zelda, or a new Metroid. We need more Links-to-the-Past to make sequels to neglected or forgotten gems like Kid Icarus, the Mario and Luigi RPG series, and Paper Mario on the 3DS. Nintendo is the only one of the Big 3 that can thrive on a few games selling a lot, because those are usually the system pushers. I promise you the XBox 360 has more million-sellers than the Wii, but n.o.n.e. of them even came close to the success of Mario Kart Wii.

Also, we need more support of Nintendo's past. Earthbound is a decent surprise, but we need more SNES, N64, and Gamecube games available for the WiiU, no excuses. Lastly, once all the games start turning out, we need for the WiiU to not have a price tag that is just $50 less than the next generation systems. This is silly, you need to but at least $50. When the 3DS dropped $75, it was because they knew they shouldn't match the price of superior hardware, and because that way it made the competitors seem that much more expensive. Nintendo has only a few months to repeat this same trick.

But the WiiU can be saved, and Nintendo has proven themselves to be a company that can save systems----and the 3DS' unexpected powerful comeback is their greatest example.

EVOGate and How Nintendo Pulled a Microsoft in One Afternoon

If there is the perfect video game that would cause the latest controversy involving Nintendo absolutely giving the cold shoulder to its depleting hardcore fanbase, it would be arguably one of the least appreciated spectacular game in the history of the company. Super Smash Brothers Melee was mixed in with a total travesty that resulted in a big company changing its mind the very same afternoon and once again inadvertently slapping the faces of the bigger Nintendo fans.


The story is simple: EVO, a fighting game tournament that raises money for good causes (LIKE CANCER NINTENDO!!!!) chose Smash Brothers Melee, a fighting game masterpiece that is over 10 years old and remains one of the most played fighters on the planet, as one of the main events. There would be a Smash Bros. tournament that would be streamed live online for everyone to see. After all, the respect of this game is so heavy that it won the player’s choice to be in the tournament and also remains the only game not from this past generation to be on the list.

Let me remind you that this tournament raises money for breast cancer---Smash Brothers Melee raised $94,000.

So Nintendo for no logical reason whatsoever decides to barge in and let EVO know that they don’t want Melee being streamed online.

Why Nintendo…why did this happen?

The outbreak, the controversy, the negative reaction, the pure anger was so baffling, came so fast, that Nintendo quite literally changed its mind in the course of an afternoon. But by then the damage had been done, and the anger had already been spilled.

For Example:



Why Nintendo?

Why on earth did this happen? Why on earth did you try to ban the streaming of a CHARITY-SPONSORED TOURNAMENT OF YOUR OWN GAME?!?!?!? And of ALL the games, Smash Brothers Melee, the one game that has not seen retail sales in the past 5 years at least. You know, that awesome fighting game that did not get any re-release love despite the overwhelming positive reviews, and despite being essentially the Gamecube’s version of Halo---that one game that pretty much saved the entire system. You know, the one game whose formula you tweaked so that it was LESS hardcore and more casual and mainstream with Brawl. Only God knows how disgusting the Gamecube launch and first-year sales would have been without Smash Brothers Melee at the helm.

Unlike most boneheaded decisions in recent months from all three companies, this one has no Devil’s Advocate argument. This one has no other side of the coin. There is no justification of deciding to not only cut the streaming, but potentially prevent the game from being in the tournament at all. Gamers donated oodles of money to see one of your old games from two generations ago re-enter the gaming spotlight along with the newer fighters like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter IV. Gamers were showing an amazing amount of love to one of your games and you respond with your heinous decision.

Smash Brothers Melee, the third best-selling fighting game of all-time, has not gotten the respect of a re-release in any sort when most of the classics have gone through a re-introduction. No Virtual Console, no remake for the WiiU (Would have been absolutely perfect), and now an attempted snubbing of some much-needed online love amongst gamers. This game is 12 YEARS OLD!!!! Can you honestly name video games that came out around that same time?!?!?!?!? Nintendo this was a stupid move from start to finish, and this is only going to enhance the notion that you are now beginning to lose touch with gamers.






Yea Nintendo, Earthbound was a nice touch (and one hell of a secret apology), but it might take more before we forget this ugly moment.

Just listen to the chant towards the end of this.

Nintendo, stop screwing up. Stop making us mad. Your WiiU is already a big miss. Stop adding salt to the wound.

The Justifying Price Tag of GTA V

Look at this trailer. Seriously, look at it.

This is how $60 games should look and play like.

Is the game going to be good? I have no idea. Although Vice City remains one of the greatest games I have ever played and San Andreas was a true gem in itself, GTA IV left me desiring a bit more.

But the fact of the matter is they are definitely providing enough stuff to justify the $60, which is something most video games just don't do nowadays. You can hate Rockstar all you want, but they will shell out so much detail and so much material in their games you can't laud them on lack of effort. You simply can't.



This review was from ions ago and San Andreas looks like a game that is lengthier than most of the games we see today. Your shooters are becoming shorter and shorter. Your Mario games have yet to really deliver on the gameplay hours. And let's not get even started with Zelda and your real-time action games with bazillions of hours of cutscenes. Grand Theft Auto V needs to become a success so it can usher in more games with more meat.

And this is why older franchises like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Star Fox, Mega Man, and then your one-trick-pony genre games like your racers, and your fighting games have dropped a bit in terms of sales and success. They don't have the variety to justify the rising costs required to continue gaming. The GTA V trailer gives you multiple storylines with clearly multiple potential paths to take, three massive overworlds, the ability to play sports, drive like you are playing a racer, shoot around like its a shooter, and venture around so it feels like an urban Fable game.

We need to see more variety from more games. I want to see more variety from games. How about adding a little action and more RPG elements to Zelda? How about adding some more chores, mini-games, side quests, and gambling to Pokemon? And (I will get slack for this) adding a little more space and scope and ability to improvise to Metal Gear and to a lesser extent the Assassin's Creed games? How about adding some storylines to the racing games? The one genre evolving in this direction are the sports games, especially (especially, especially) the NBA 2K games. But more needs to be done. Call of Duty, I am definitely looking in your direction.

The system that wins this generation will be the one with the most heavily-varied games. One-Trick Pony games may have worked last gen but with the rise of small games on Facebook and tablets I don't see this trend repeating itself. So get to work you three.

$60 is a lot of money. And not too many games deserve to be priced this high. But Grand Theft Auto V? Consider me excited and willing to fork over this money in a heartbeat.

How Nintendo Can Win the Indie Crowd

So the PS3 and the XBox 360 had their share of indie hits as well as their large-budget hits. There's Castle Crashers, Journey, Explosion Man, Shadow Complex, and then we have those that have become mainstream like your Candy Crush and Angry Birds. These small hits are a mix of cheaper prices, bite-sized entertainment, and every once in a while branch out and experiment with the limits of what you can do with video games.

Nintendo, like in most categories seemingly nowadays, is a little bit behind this trend. They haven't really gotten many (if any) indie games they can claim for themselves. This only adds to the notion that third-party and Nintendo may never get along ever again.

But there is still one thing Nintendo has that the competitors don't have that can give the Japanese giant its first true advantage and step up on the others: dozens of franchises sitting on the shelf.



For example, since the early 2000s we have not seen the likes of: Wario Land, Puzzle League, StarTropics, Ice Climber, Earthbound, Nintendo Wars (Advance Wars), 2-D Metroid, Mario Tennis and Mario Golf (The RPG versions), Mole Mania, Brain Age, Super Mario Land (trust me, these games play faaaar different from the other 2-D Mario games) and many more. I point these out specifically because these franchises don't really require the larger budgets and larger teams like Zelda, 3-D Metroid, and Mario (Although one can argue indie companies can have the resources to make Mario games).

So, what if Nintendo decides to lend some of these on-the-shelf franchises to indie companies and see what they can pull off? Even better, what if Nintendo took some of the heavier-hitting franchises like Mario, Kirby, perhaps even Pokemon and see what results may occur? The reason why the Disney/Pixar connection works is because Disney merely provides the money and resources, while letting Pixar do its own magic. The result is (up until recently) amazing animated movies that sometimes veers towards an indie flavor because of a lack of a corporate interruption. You really think Dreamworks would have given films like Wall-E, Up, and Ratatouille a chance?

Nintendo may not have the money of Sony or Microsoft, but they have dozens of usable ideas that can be given to new hands and they can be molded into something special. There are dozens of small companies waiting for its chance to shine. Nintendo can benefit from this by reviving one of their fallen and/or forgotten franchises while at the same time provide the confidence and care towards small-small game companies that others would love to see.

Perhaps the road to a better third-party relationship starts with the really little guys. I would love to see a world in which it contains an Indie Nintendo division full of small companies making smaller games for the WiiU and 3DS.

Nintendo, you have a chance to improve your online gaming community. With your abundance of franchises and a willingness to cater to the indie gaming crowd/industry, an improvement can start.

But Nintendo, it all starts with you.