[geeks] End of the line for CompUSA

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Sun, Dec 09, 2007 at 03:04:34AM -0600, Micah R Ledbetter wrote:
> On Dec 8, 2007, at 22:20, Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> > I *HATE* console games, and the infection of console mentality into
> > computer games, and it will hurt to lose one of the few stores that
> > kept a decent PC games section.
> 
> I think consoles are great for some games. Games where you need four  
> directions and some other "kill stuff" buttons. Mostly 2D games -  
> platformers, fighting games, space-invaders games, etc. They work for  
> some 3D games, too (but not usually as well as a mouse+keyboard+desk).
> 
> What I don't understand is fucking Halo. Why the hell would you want  
> to play a first person 3D game with anything other than a mouse or  
> joystick? Ugh. I wonder how that kind of FPS-only-slower could have  
> saved something like the original Xbox, which had nothing else going  
> for it.

I'm going to anwser both of you at the same time. 

First of all, PC games are the "dogs" of the high volume, low service 
retail industry. A console game either works or it doesn't. Either
you have a PS/2, or an X-BOX 360, or you don't. Selling them is 
a no-brainer, and judging by the comments about Wal-Mart, that's
exactly what you have selling them. 

As an example, my two older sons. The oldest, 26, has always had a 
high end PC, since I was in his life. Not the latest and greatest,
but certainly near the top. His current machine was spec'ed out 
and possibly assembled by him. He is accutely aware of what video
card it has, how fast his processor is, etc. 

No, he does not live with us. :-)

He can pick up a game and tell you if it will run on his PC, 
and quite likely, knows it from before hand having kept up
with the game's website, reviews and discussion groups.

My middle son is not technical. He understands enough to figure
out if his computer has enough disk space, or what he has to delete
to make the game fit. Other than that, he has to call me from the
store and read me the specs on the box.

His mother is even less technical than that. 

My point is that allthough my oldest son is the only one who could tell
if a game will (probably) run on his computer, we don't buy games
we are not sure of. Sometime's I'll say, I'm not sure and we take
a chance, but usually we don't. I think I can safely assume that
99% of the people buying PC games have no idea if they will actually
run on their computer. 

At least in the U.S. a retailer can't resell a returned game. So each
one is a relatively large adminstrative expense for return to the
distributor for credit, or a loss sale in the junk bin. If you 
are living on a small profit margin, one bad sell can be a big
mistake.

Consoles are also a developer's dream. The hardware you develop
for, and the operating system and libraries are relatively static.
If you develop a game for the X-BOX 360, it's almost guarenteed
that the X-BOX 360 you developed it for, tested it on, QA'ed,
market researched, etc, is functionaly, and possibly exactly
the same X-BOX 360 that you customer is using. 

If you company has been in business more than a month, it's unlikley
that the QA people have the same PC's as you do and so on, let alone
the customers. In fact you would want to QA the game on as varying
PC's as possible.

To answer Micha's point alone, consoles are not limited to a joystick
and/or a mouse. Although the original Playstation had proprietary 
"controler" ports, there were all sorts of thrid party devices.
The PS/2 and now I assume the PS/3 have USB ports. The /2 had both.

I don't know what was on the X-BOX, having never seen one, as they
were not legally sold here, but I assume they and the latest have 
USB ports. I was in a computer store last week and they had an
X-BOX 360 controller with a USB interface for PCs. :-)

Look at all of the stuff you can get for a WII. 

Bear in mind that the console game market is different than the PC
market. People buy games for themselves and many are bought as gifts.
What sells a game is not flash, spectular sound, graphics, etc. What
sells a game is "fun". If people enjoy playing the game, it will sell.
If gameplay sucks, no one will buy it, no matter how good it sounds
or looks.

The console game market is different than the PC game market. There is some
crossover, but not as much as you would think. Different people buy console
games for different reasons than PC games. 

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
IL Voice: (07)-7424-1667 U.S. Voice: 1-215-821-1838 
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