I went to JB Hifi today, and noticed that the preorders for Hitman Absolution and Assassin's Creed 3 were both only $69! A fairly big departure from the regular prices of $109. I then took a look at Harvey Norman, and sure enough, their pricing was around the $68 mark as well. EBGames on the other hand still has about the same pricing. Seems like JB Hifi's preorders had preorder bonuses though, whereas Harvey Norman didn't, so if you're planning on preordering JB Hifi is $1 more but you'll get more bonuses. Anyway, has the pricing of games in Australia finally fell? I used to not preorder due to the bonuses not worth the extra money we have to pay in comparison to Americans ($60 + 10% sales tax= $66), but now since there's only a $3 difference, a lot more tempting.
Better gaming pricing is now standard?
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Though these all had Australian ratings on them (well, Borderlands 2 anyway), not import stock O.o, I would know if it's direct import because they have UK ratings and at JB Hifi they had SPECIAL IMPORT stickers on them.
If there is a sticker with the classification on it, then it's likely imported as the covers are usually printed specifically for Australia with out classification labels.
Mind you sometimes they wont be able to import if the OS version is slightly different to the AU version. It really needs to be the same thing (which it usually is as they press one disc for AU and Europe).
Yeah, I know they can add stickers, but these were printed on.
But EBs pricimg seems the same for the most part.
Guess they're just making a better profit margin now then
I've noticed new releases are coming in at $79 for the most part, which is welcome.
Still much cheaper to import from overseas, but at least it's a $30 difference over a $50 one.
I must be getting old these days. For the most part I wait a couple of months for the prices to drop OS before buying now. Very few games are a must buy for me. The last game I bothered to preorder was Saints Row the Third.
I'm not convinced it is just 'getting old', the market place is very different.
How different is saint's row 3 from 2? Modern Warfare 3 from 1? etc. Sure there might be some improvements, but there are probably just as good games from 5+ years ago that you haven't played yet. I put this down to two things:
1: 'good enough' graphics. In the 90s every year the graphics got much better. Now it is far less noticable because even twice the processing power provides marginal returns. See also point 2.
2: Console lifecycle. Isn't cycling. Still on ps3/360. Party because of 1 (cycle?). Even games on the PC often are either limited for compatibility with consoles or because the marginal improvements are not worth cutting out players with old PCs (one limit in particular, to support 32bit windows your game must work in 2G of RAM).
The only reasons to buy a new game are then:
1: Culture: Everyone is talking about it, want to be in the loop, want to support developers (being old may come into play here).
2: Multiplayer. This is the big draw card/lock in. See also: MMOs, free to play, activiation keys, etc. Also why so many big titles are multiplayer focused.
This is my thoughts on the matter anyway.
I agree with you mostly. Mind you Saints Row 3 is completely different to 2 in almost every way. It was almost like a different franchise.
Fair enough, to be honest I was assuming as I hadn't played 3. Point is, I'm sure there are a heap of games you (or I) haven't played that are just as good (if not close) and cost next to nothing due to age.
Guess you haven't heard of this bit of news