…and maybe not. Kotaku is reporting on the price details for the Wii and while $250 isn’t too bad the real kick in the crotch is the cost of the controllers, $40 with the nunchuck attachments at $20. So for management and I to get our game on is going to cost us about $435 (including CT sales tax). Hmmm. With the estimated cost of Gabriella making her debut ringing up in the high $3k range I don’t really see a new console in my near future, especially considering we canceled my XBL account last week. I’ll just have to satisfy myself living vicariously through gaming news and friends. 
Tag Archive for 'Videogames'
For the most part Management’s first trimester went well, beyond some sickness and our learning about the bizarre changes and sensations she’ll experience while pregnant we have weathered the emotional turbulence of these opening days. Stress levels, though, are high. Between preparing financially for our child, Management’s finals, and the tedium of being office drones we find ourselves increasingly frayed. What’s the solution?
Well, earlier in the year Management discovered Myer’s Dark Rum and Hosmer Ginger Beer made for a potent anti-stress cocktail, particularly when it was paired with Captain Morgan’s Coconut Rum and Hosmer Pineapple Soda. However, seeing as on occasion she might need to operate heavy machinery or hold a conversation without slurring it seemed like another solution should be found and the arrival of the baby hastened that decision. To address that dilemma in stepped Animal Crossing.
We had picked up this game in the waning months of my MBA when I was sleeping less than four hours a night having been rendered a quivering, snappish wreck from non-stop research and writing for some twenty months straight. The game was a welcome respite with its bite sized open ended game play that centers on collecting bug, fossils, fish and artwork with the easy going tasks of decorating your house and manicuring the grounds of the town. Nothing to kill and nothing trying to kill you. The only horror was being stung by a bees whilst shaking down trees for Bells (Animal Crossing’s currency) or loosing it all in a misplaced trade on the Turnip market.
That summer we sunk some 300+ combined hours into the game finally succumbing to burnout in late September. It was the greatest single return on investment we have had with a game. Typically our return is around $1-2 per hour of gaming but in this case we had it down to an astounding $0.16 per hour but with the recent return to playing it we will likely see that number drop below $0.10.
What keeps us coming back to it? In short, it is one of the most creative time wasters devised. The simple game play elements are devious as you find yourself being drawn back to catch that elusive fish or seasonal bug. Not wanting to miss out on some town event you find yourself marking your meatspace calender with fictitious holidays. Stress bleeds away with the quirky and upbeat music and though conversations with the animals can become repetitive (I’m talking to you, Blathers) their light hearted humor and hypnotic animal-speak have a charming effect. Life just feels better after a half-hour session with Animal Crossing, even if Tom Nook is a total crook.
Though it is only hinted at being in the conceptual stages at the moment we both are eagerly anticipating the sequel on the Wii and hope that it will follow soon after the launch. With the stresses of parenthood to arrive in the very near future I could use an island vacation, even if it is only on a DS.
In Life After the Video Game Crash David Wong makes a strong point:
A 10 year-old can come home from school in the afternoon and devote the rest of the day to the task of memorizing the exact sequence of finger twitches that will get him past the dark forces of the Empire. A college kid can do the same, often while high. Most employed and married adults cannot. If I’m right about this, the gaming industry is about to face its first real exodus of existing customers, a hard-core group they’ve relied upon for decades to snap up every new box on the shelf. We’re leaving, because while we have grown up, gaming, in many ways, has not.
Time is the most expensive investment required for gaming and the older one gets the more scarce it becomes. Saturday was to be a perfect day for gaming as it was rainy and Management had retired to bed to nap her morning sickness away. In anticipation I pulled out Paper Mario, Jade Empire, KoTOR II, and Fable thinking after my chores I could nibble a little on each. Wrong. My shortlist of tasks grew as I uncovered more things that needed to get done in anticipation of the baby and before long my morning melted into afternoon which in turn dissolved into evening. Another weekend passed without me playing any games.
Time why I am hesitant to purchase another console. When am I going to play it? Hell, I haven’t picked up my GBA in months and that is portable. I look at the DS and think that I would love to get my hands on Animal Crossing or Trauma Center but remember the dust gathering on the half-finished Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga cartridge sitting on the end table. That makes me sad.
So where the hell does all my time go? Well, the biggest time waster is employment. If I didn’t need to pay the mortgage or put food on the table I would gain about 50+ hours a week. The dog as he eats up around two hours a day in walking and playing as do the various chores around the house. By the time I get to sit down and think about picking up the controller I’m too tired to fish out a game and remember where I left off and this doesn’t even account for all the other interests competing for my time like reading and keeping up with this site and Candied Pop. With a baby on the way I’ll be lucky to respond to email so who am I kidding thinking that I’ll have the time and energy to jump on board with any of the new consoles.
I sound like such a curmudgeon.
Usually I am a total E3 junkie scarfing down every little scrap of information that I can get my hands on but this year I am ruled by a level of indifference. The only news that I have been interesting in has been how badly Sony wants to abuse my wallet and when will the Wii launch and for how much. I have the answer for Sony and none for Nintendo. My indifference though seems to be rooted in my general boredom with video games as the chart below illustrates.
We purchased a Gamecube for Christmas of 2002 along with two games and in the following year picked up an Xbox and a combined forty-seven games. Needless to say in the year period we were gaming almost every day. However, the following year say purchases fall off by nearly half and then another 25% in 2005 and this year I have only bought one game. Granted the bumper crop of 2003 could be spread over the following years but in all honesty actual time spent gaming matches purchase history fairly closely. So what gives?
My first thought is that I am generally bored with the state of gaming as it stands and my lack of excitement over E3 stems from that ennui. The last game I purchased was Doom 3 for the Xbox and I have logged some three hours so far. Three hours of yawning. The FPS genre is pretty well played out and developers and publishers really ought to look at ways to either merge genres, like Deus Ex’s addictive blend of FPS, Adventure, and RPG elements or begin thinking about the way people actually play games. Doom 3 is a standard shooter: monsters pop up and you shoot them, find switch and flip it to open doors. This trend holds up for all the other genres though and on of the reasons I’m not terribly excited over the 360 is that every game I have previewed for it is sticking to the formula albeit with better looking art assets. Yawn. Halo 3 = Halo 2 = Halo. PGR3 = PGR 2 = PGR. I want something different.
What games captured my attention over the past couple of years? Top on that list was Animal Crossing, with its free form play style geared towards collecting knick-knacks had me riveted in a mellow relaxed sort of way. The KoTORs, Deus Ex, Paper Mario, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga captivated me with their inventive spin on RPG elements either mixing action, platforming, or moral choices to extend gameplay; to a lesser degree Fable and Jade Empire have done the same. Nintendo’s Wii along with the DS has piqued my interest but I am hesitant to leap back into gaming for a number of reasons. Cost, at the moment, is a large barrier, particularly since we have sunk approximately $2,400 into gaming over four years and the return on investment has been shrinking with each dollar spent. Time is another barrier as I have been finding myself doing more with the house, the websites, the dog, and reading instead of picking up the controller.
What is it going to take to get me back into gaming? Good question. I think that Nintendo might have the answers for this generation by focusing on new and inventive ways of playing. The DS has proved that it can deliver some very inventive styles of gameplay from Trauma Center, Phoenix Wright, and Lost Magic and judging from the videos coming out of E3 the Wii looks to be poised to do the same. What I hunger for is something new not a re-hash of the same game wrapped up in new assets.
CNN is reporting that Sony has set the PS3 price at $499 and $599.
Sony announced plans Monday to offer two packages when the system goes on sale this fall. A PS3 with a 20 GB hard drive will cost consumers $499. Those wanting a larger, 60 GB hard drive will pay $599. The $499 version may also lack several features found in the more expensive one.
Ouch. That is some damn expensive videogaming and I am going to be hard pressed to justify that even to myself let alone Management and seeing as how we both balked at paying $399 for an Xbox 360 the PS3 enters the realm of fantasy. Doing a little math here, my guess is that you can expect to pay around $659-$759 when you go to pick one up along with an extra controller and two games. At those prices I’ll pick up a Wii with an extra controller and four games and still have scratch to buy Management something nice.
CNN is reporting “Nintendo drops Revolution, renames next gen console Wii” and I’m asking, WTF? Is this branding by committee? Look, I know I don’t buy a console by its name or its looks. I buy it for the games. But for the love of a joystick Nintendo had battled the asinine kiddie label all through out the life cycle of the Gamecube so why would they pick a name like Wii. Now, I’ll have to wade through even more 13 year old hater crap just to get news on happenings over at Nintendo. Thanks Nintey!
