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[RiskyChris]

WoW prices went up, and suddenly requires all my salary, =(

 

[soldat7]

This! PSN excels here in my opinion.

The lack of demos for many titles keeps me from buying much from PSN. That and the lack of PSN cards. I have never paid full price for an MS Point card, thus each game I have purchased (nearly 20) from XBLA has been at a severe discount.

 

[Mrbob]

no, I've been following it. you don't have to play a game to know whats in it.

I've seen the line by line stat sheet on the game as well. But it doesn't guarantee the game will have quality replayability.

Many times things look better on paper than in execution.

 

[Captain Pants]

Who gives a crap about "perceived value"? Why not judge it on it's real value?

buh... games are pretty intangible. How do we determine the real value of a game? MGS4 was worth $500 to some people, and it wasn't worth $60 for other folks.

edit: I'm dense... by real value, you mean the price of the game.

 

[Geoff9920]

http://www.castlecrashers.com/images/content.jpg

That's worth whatever they want to charge.

As someone who hasn't been following the game, the twenty characters to level up... Do they play differently or is it just an aesthetic thing?

 

[Danielsan]

Bad example? Square charges more for DS games than other publishers, at least in the US.

Well over here all the DS games are insanely expensive and Square actual has some of the cheaper new releases. For instance: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift just released for €38 instead of the average price €45. They also released Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions (PSP) for €33 instead of the usual €40-€50.

 

[Mifune]

$40 DS games.

Right, because we were talking about the DS.

That's a whole nother kettle of fish.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

As Mifune pointed out. You don't see Square or Atlus charging insane prices because their games are packed with insane amounts of content and rpg elements. It's all about perceived value and Castle Crashers sadly does not look like a €21,60 game.

They're also charging $40 to $60 for HD games. So they don't have to. They make enough to cover the costs of developing such an elaborate game for such a prolonged period of time.

 

[Zero_Phoenix]

This is kinda like Square deciding to charge 120 bucks for Final Fantasy XIII because it's "the biggest (400 hours of gameplay!!) baddest (3000 unlockable characters!!) most feature packed FF EVAR!!"

Except a whole lot of people would buy it for that if it turned out true. Heck, people bought Chrono Trigger for SNES at over $80 because that's what it cost, with inflation that's gotta be like $200...

 

[Eric WK]

Oh you guys.

As someone who hasn't been following the game, the twenty characters to level up... Do they play differently or is it just an aesthetic thing?

They play differently. Different weapons and spells.

 

[GhaleonEB]

replay value? i dunno. very subjective question there...



anyway, do we even have confirmation that this is the U.S. price or is this all on speculation? :lol

Speculation. I'm guessing it's 1600 points.

The content - as described in the pre-release bullet points - is pretty substantial.

The quality - as defined by what I played at PAX last year - is off the charts.

The game had more polish and personality than just about anything on XBLA, not to mention retail games.

 

[Geoff9920]

Oh you guys.



They play differently. Different weapons and spells.

Well that does change things. Thanks.

 

[Eric WK]

The game had more polish and personality than just about anything on XBLA, not to mention retail games.

Bu bu but it's not a retail game so why in the world should it cost more than $10?

 

[rohlfinator]

buh... games are pretty intangible. How do we determine the real value of a game? MGS4 was worth $500 to some people, and it wasn't worth $60 for other folks.

So buy it if the game is worth $22.50 to you. It's freaking stupid to say "this is overpriced because it's on XBLA, but if it was on a piece of round plastic it would be a bargain!"

 

[a Master Ninja]

Doom had 4 player co-op, 8 player mp, 30 levels, and that was less than 1/4 of the cost. This game better be 4x longer and better than Doom.

You better be joking, as the two are not comparable at all. The game cost 800 points at when it was released (not 1/4 the cost) and the game was almost pure profit. That content has existed for 15 years.

Let's withhold judgment on what this game should cost until it gets released.

 

[digita1alchemy]

They're not charging because of how much content is in the game, they're charging based on how much time/work went into the game...and it just so happens that more time/work usually translates into more content. But we can be the judge of that when the game comes out.

The Behemoth are independents and I believe they're only charging what they need to so they can actually make money on this game and I can't fault them for that. And I guess I'm biased because I love this company to death (just go check out their online store), but they make the exact types of games I want to play and I'll pay whatever I need to so I can play them and so they can keep making them for me. I mean I see threads on here all the time with people complaining about how they wish there were more streets of rage type games or more old school beat em up games. So, a developer goes out and makes an awesome one and no one wants to put down $20-$25 for it. For shame.

 

[Future PhaZe]

:lol

Jesus. Sorry but no...I probably won't buy it. The demo would have to fucking own my soul in order for me to justify it. 1800 points? SERIOUSLY?!

There are some great games on XBOX originals like Guilty Gear and Jade Empire that cost significantly less than the 1800 points :\.

 

[Wurm]

I have been waiting for Castle Crashers to hit XBLA since it was announced, and that was a loooooooooooong time ago. I'll be getting 1000 free points from that DreamCar Challenge thing near the end September, but not before CC releases in August. They'll also be plonked onto my dummy US account, so can't add to them which is a shame. So not enough for CC :/

So I'd have to buy a points card, which in the past I was okay with because it averaged out at like 2 games and a half per 2100 card (back in those heady 800 point game days).

But now, I face getting a 2100 point card and being left with 300 useless points, for nothing. Not even a budget arcade game. That is how I define the value here, because MS have chosen this stupid magical points system. I buy stuff frequently on PSN because its a great simple system. You have to add £5 each time to the wallet, and its cool when I have like £3 left over in there for my next purchase. That encourages me to buy a game I perhaps wouldnt have bought if it meant injecting new funds. Here I'm left pissed off and considering not buying the initial game in the first place because of the arbitrary need to then purchase another glut of MAGICAL ELECTRONIC POINTS just to make 300 of the ones I previously bought useable. Super!!

Even the fully 3d Penny Arcade RPG title cost 1600, which still stung at that price. I will probably still pony up for Castle Crashers, but its a really shitty price and I can understand why many others will pass.

 

[rollingstart]

no, I've been following it. you don't have to play a game to know whats in it.

You do, but you can always guess what it will be like, just not anything factual.

 

[MirageDwarf]

Any game selling for more than 1200 points should have special promotion offer for at least on release day. That would really help sales. Majority of gamers don't buy downloadable XBLA titles later in product life. With frequent releases, there is always something new on horizon worth buying than old titles.

 

[A Human Becoming]

1600 space bucks should be the MAX for any XBLA game. Anything over that is just ridiculous.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Bu bu but it's not a retail game so why in the world should it cost more than $10?

Also, 2D.

I just clicked and read the rest of the article in the OP.

Some will meet these prices with outrage, while I say why not? I've played both of these titles (Braid extensively) and they are completely worth the extra real currency substitute. I've paid $60 for disc-based titles that had a quarter of the entertainment value of these two games. More power to them.

Ahem.

 

[Mifune]

They're also charging $40 to $60 for HD games. So they don't have to. They make enough to cover the costs of developing such an elaborate game for such a prolonged period of time.

But don't you think there should be some sort of price standard for downloadable games? That paying based on some arbitrary level of "content" opens the door for a whole load of nasty abuses?

Let's be real here. Castle Crashers will cost more not because it has more content, but because it has more buzz. And buzz equals sales. Gouge time here we come.

 

[pj]

Castle Crashers may be $20 worth of game, but it's in a $10 market. It's like building a million dollar mansion in the ghetto. It may be worth a million, but nobody is gonna fuckin buy it.

It's mostly psychological, 360 needs a "360 originals" category for bigger games.


That said, I'm still not going to buy it

 

[jon bones]

it hasn't even been confirmed at 1800 pts, chill out guys

 

[Dever]

Everyone is just expecting it to be low value/over-priced because it's an XBLA title, if it was retail everyone would have faith in the value and gladly pay 25$. As it stands though, there's no way to tell whether if it's worth it or not, so it's best to just wait for reviews before condemning the game.

imo

 

[cartoon_soldier]

People pay 60$ for a lot more shitty games.

 

[ZealousD]

I paid about that much for Alien Hominid in its original release. It was worth it. I paid $30 for Aquaria, and it was worth it.

At price points over $15 I prefer it to be a retail release, but it's all about the content you get folks.

 

[Dark Octave]

They're also charging $40 to $60 for HD games. So they don't have to. They make enough to cover the costs of developing such an elaborate game for such a prolonged period of time.

That's a good point. The Behemoth are like six strong, and have been working on the same game, which is only their second game, for the past three years. Clearly they have less to fall back on than SquareEnix does.

But I personally would have been cool with four variations of the same character and 8 to 12 levels at $10. We could be waiting for the release of AH2 or something else at this very moment.

 

[Superfrog]

How could a game like Castle Crashers justify to be priced that high? I know, it has been in development for ages and The Behemoth see themselves as some kind of precursor of downloadable high-profile games, but is Castle Crashers really that much better than other nice XBLA releases such as Assault Heroes 2 or Worms? From what I've seen so far, I doubt it.

Braid for 1200 points seems pricy but more reasonable at the same time. It seems to offer a very long play time for an XBLA game (6 worlds?) and looks beautiful.

 

[jon bones]

wait for reviews before condemning the game.

imo

or a demo!

 

[Captain Pants]

So buy it if the game is worth $22.50 to you. It's freaking stupid to say "this is overpriced because it's on XBLA, but if it was on a piece of round plastic it would be a bargain!"

I actually agree. I think I misread your original post. Honestly I'd rather buy a downloadable game for $22.50 than a disc based game. My shelves are drowning in discs as is. Bottom line for me, this game seems like a great deal for the price. I don't give a shit whether it is on a disc, downloaded to my hdd, or emailed to me in 1's and 0's.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

WoW prices went up, and suddenly requires all my salary, =(

wtf? wasting all your salary on wow? so sad

 

[GhaleonEB]

Castle Crashers may be $20 worth of game, but it's in a $10 market. It's like building a million dollar mansion in the ghetto. It may be worth a million, but nobody is gonna fuckin buy it.

They may have looked at the Penny-Arcade game, which sold pretty well.

 

[Chris Remo]

Sweet, Castle Crashers is selling for just over a third of a standard 360 game, and it includes four-player co-op.

(What the hell is wrong with you people?)

 

[Y2Kev]

Sweet, Castle Crashers is selling for just over a third of a standard 360 game, and it includes four-player co-op.

(What the hell is wrong with you people?)

so what you're saying is that too human....

Anybody got links to sales on points cards?!?!? I NEED MAH SPACEBUCKS

 

[Mifune]

Sweet, Castle Crashers is selling for just over a third of a standard 360 game, and it includes four-player co-op.

(What the hell is wrong with you people?)

Oh look, Mr. I-Get-Free-Games-While-I-Sleep has chimed in.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

But don't you think there should be some sort of price standard for downloadable games? That paying based on some arbitrary level of "content" opens the door for a whole load of nasty abuses?

Let's be real here. Castle Crashers will cost more not because it has more content, but because it has more buzz. And buzz equals sales. Gouge time here we come.

No way. I don't believe that at all. The biggest most anticipated sequel in XBLA history launched this morning at 800 points.

And I think there is a price standard for downloadable games, honestly. The thing isn't selling for $30.

 

[Chrange]

But now, I face getting a 2100 point card and being left with 300 useless points, for nothing. Not even a budget arcade game. That is how I define the value here, because MS have chosen this stupid magical points system. I buy stuff frequently on PSN because its a great simple system. You have to add £5 each time to the wallet, and its cool when I have like £3 left over in there for my next purchase. That encourages me to buy a game I perhaps wouldnt have bought if it meant injecting new funds. Here I'm left pissed off and considering not buying the initial game in the first place because of the arbitrary need to then purchase another glut of MAGICAL ELECTRONIC POINTS just to make 300 of the ones I previously bought useable. Super!

So you buy a game on XBLA and have extra points. You buy a game on PSN and have extra money.

One is bad, while the other is good? Yeah, that makes a metric fuckton of sense, right there.

 

[Zero_Phoenix]

How could a game like Castle Crashers justify to be priced that high? I know, it has been in development for ages and The Behemoth see themselves as some kind of precursor of downloadable high-profile games, but is Castle Crashers really that much better than other nice XBLA releases such as Assault Heroes 2 or Worms? From what I've seen so far, I doubt it.

Personally I expect Castle Crashers to be way better than both of those games, I didn't even buy Assault Heroes 2... Obviously I'll be skipping CC if it's not quite a bit better.

 

[Mifune]

No way. I don't believe that at all. The biggest most anticipated sequel in XBLA history launched this morning at 800 points.

And I think there is a price standard for downloadable games, honestly. The thing isn't selling for $30.

Not yet it isn't.

Just wait.

 

[Captain Pants]

Castle Crashers may be $20 worth of game, but it's in a $10 market. It's like building a million dollar mansion in the ghetto. It may be worth a million, but nobody is gonna fuckin buy it.

It's mostly psychological, 360 needs a "360 originals" category for bigger games.


That said, I'm still not going to buy it

I can sorta understand that reaction, but I'd much prefer they release the whole game in one chunk instead of parcelling it out like Lumines Live to make it seem more commonplace in the $10 market... and I think that a 360 originals category would be a great way to seperate the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Mrbob]

I hate the retail comparisons in this thread, as they are two completely seperate markets. DD is supposed to have infinite shelf space, and none of the worries about stocking extra copies and reducing the price which does help to price inflation in retail games.

Also, it is possible this game could actually make less money overall by being priced at 1800 points versus 1200 points. I'm sure the game will sell well and be number one on the DD list for at least a week, but what if the actual conversion rate drops as much as 50 percent due to the 1800 price point? This means the game is actually losing $3.75 of potential revenue with each copy of the game sold as they lost out on a big part of the userbase which would have bought the game at 1200 points.

 

[Chris Remo]

Oh look, Mr. I-Get-Free-Games-While-I-Sleep has chimed in.

I buy everything I play. I'm not a reviewer.

 

[MirageDwarf]

Castle Crashers may be $20 worth of game, but it's in a $10 market. It's like building a million dollar mansion in the ghetto. It may be worth a million, but nobody is gonna fuckin buy it.

It's mostly psychological, 360 needs a "360 originals" category for bigger games.


That said, I'm still not going to buy it

Yeah. MS' early marketing strategy of XBLA games to be "bite size small downloadable games" is not helping them.




I'm still undecided about this. Will buy Braid for sure.

 

[Artadius]

GAF never ceases to amaze me.

In most of the threads where the overhype train is in full steam, half of you claim you're "going to buy two or more copies" based on this supposed principle. And yet, when this gets announced, you can't be arsed to spend a few clams on (what looks like) a great game.

At the very least try out the demo and listen for impressions. Those of you saying no now based solely on a price point are fighting the wrong battle here.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Not yet it isn't.

Just wait.

And at that point I'll judge the game and its worth on its merits, not a crusade against pricing structures. XBLA is still a capitalist enterprise. If the games stop selling at the prices they're listed at, they'll get lower. If enough people feel CC is worth $22.50, $22.50 it shall remain.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

other than the great graphics the new gameplay videos made Castle Crashers seem like just a typical button Masher.

 

[Wizpig]

Sorry, i just read [previously i only read the thread title] that Braid is going to be 1.200.
Now THAT's a good reason to whine... imo.

But as for CC?
I agree with CHRIS REMO.

 

[Mamesj]

Right, because we were talking about the DS.

That's a whole nother kettle of fish.

So comparing retail, full production value Square Enix and Atlus games on consoles to XBLA games is okay, but comparing DS games to XBLA isn't?

fucking love gaf logic sometimes. sorry i came up with a solid counterexample. :lol


the feature list of this game is looking better than most retail games, so fuck the haters...the same people who would rather buy Tom Clancy's Poop In A Bucket Expansion Pack 6 for $60.

No, I haven't played it. yes, I'm still waiting on the demo and extensive impressions (though all signs point to "fucking awesome" right now.) I'm just amazed at the people who act like $20 is over the line.

You fuckers bought horse armor and ushered in the era of digital downloads, so it's better to start embracing now instead of fighting it. 'cause Braid and Castle Crashers are the first of a long line of DD games that are a cut above the rest and a little more expensive for that. Really not a big deal. Just mow a few more lawns if mom won't cough it up.