Seeing how in Playstation Home, a single t-shirt for your avatar costs as much as an iPhone game, and a new virtual apartment costs more than, say, all of the ngmoco fast apps currently available... It makes me wonder if the developers' work in the App Store is being undervalued Or if we should just stop making games and start making designer t-shirt textures instead. (This has been a sarcastic bulletin, brought to you with love by a caring and concerned developer.)
you know what would be awsome? if Apple sold iphone t shirts and ipod and mac shirts that would be awsome!
I don't really want to bring this conversation into the merits of Home, just making a point about the "other game consoles" and what kind of content is being sold there with a similar price as games in App Store. Case in point, you can buy a theme for your Xbox360 with the price of an iPhone game. A premium theme for PS3 costs as much as three iPhone games. As a developer trying to make a living, you can fake an Ikea coffee desk model in about 15 minutes. Five minutes if you're a pro. That would sell in Home for 2.49€. Alternatively, you can pay wages to a four-man team for half a year, release a game in the App Store, and have it receive 1-star reviews because it was too expensive.
Don't get me started on Playstation Home. Sony overcharge the EU, cut out anything nice for EU players and the whole thing just seems disappointing and I have been waiting for over a year for that game. I home Sony management changes quickly... Apple get the exchange rate comfortably right and games are usually of great value and quality. Couldn't ask for anymore from them (Except a better structured App Store thats fairer to developers).
Well the game does get boring after a couple of seconds on the iphone And yeah a motorstorm hat on lbp is 2 dollars lol But you don't have to buy those you can buy the level packs which are worth it
The XBLarcade games are worth it, so are some DLCs, but anything else on either of the consoles is overpriced
But what is their total income? Is the market as good as AppStore? (plus there are so many iPhone + iTouch users) $5 x 100,000 is better than $10 x 1000
frand, you probably know this has been discussed tons of times, both referring to other gaming devices and other kinds of goods (e.g. the "cup of coffee" classic). I can only hope that zen bound did well enough to make you stay in this market, since I'm fond of both your games and I'll likely buy all the future ones.
Good discussion. I have nothing to add other than I think it's sad to see high quality games under priced, which in the long run is bad for everyone.
Yes. And until Apple decide to fix game visibility among many things it will stay that way. Their system, their fault.
While PS Home may overcharge, look at PSN. They have excellent arcade games on there from $4-$20. But most are <$10 and most of them blow a majority of iPhone games out of the water. Go download Comet Crash for $10 and then look at Star Defense. Granted there's a $4 price difference, my point is still valid. PSN just released Punisher: No Mercy for $10, which is basically a full singleplayer and multiplayer experience using the Unreal Engine with the Marvel license. Did I mention it's only $10? Did I mention it also has full singleplayer and online multiplayer? BUT, then there are games like Pain, that nickel & dime the living shit out of you. They release the base version that contains 1 enjoyable, yet small, level that you will surely get tired of sooner or later. Mind you, this 'game' was priced at $7.99 I believe (or around that). Now, almost a year later, PSN is riddled with DLC for pain, including levels and characters. The game only comes with 2 characters and an alternate costume, you have to buy the rest. Each character will run you $0.99-$1.99 while each level will cost you $3.99-$5.99. By the time youi have the whole experience of this game, you'll have spent nearly as much, if not more, than you would have on an standard PS3 game, but you'll only have a lightweight PSN title.
A interesting discussion, but really it is far too difficult to compare the two as the iPhone offers gaming and apps in a portable format, PSN geared at your big TV in Hi Definition glory. I have both and I think both offer the correct pricing for the platform and not really fair to compare one aspect of the PlayStation 3 platform (Home) to everything on offer on the iDevices. If people feel Home add ons are overprice, then protest by simply not buying it. What apple have done (imho) is kicked mobile phone gaming soundly up its fragmented butt, sent smartphone manufacturers in a complete panic to try and compete and offer up and new development opportunities to small teams and bedroom coders. If Home was such a bad business venture publishers like EA, Capcom and Ubisoft wouldn't bother supporting it. If iPhone was the only gaming platform worth supporting then all the other platforms would have given up and gone away, but they haven't, because they all feel they have something to offer.. and they do. And to make my point... I'm off to play 'Baseball Sluggers' and 'I Dig It' on the iPhone now and then 'Infamous' and 'Prototype' on the PS3 later! love it all!
All I know is for Skate 2 on the Xbox 360, I can buy DLC that cost $3-5 that include huge or multiple skate parks. I can play those longer than any iTouch game I have right now; I can play them hours upon hours for weeks. Seems like EA's is going to be releasing $1 quality DLC soon , they're going to turn XBLarcade into the new App Store! Now Im waiting for Battlefield 1943, whats only going to be $15 (I'd buy that in a heartbeat compared to some $10 iTouch games)!
