Battles In Normandy Goes Gold!

[Hexed Gamer]

2gaulle your argument doesn't hold any water.

Fact one, the hobby isn't dying, fact two the hobby doesn't even need computer wargaming.

And last but not least, anyone saying a computer wargame is "expensive" while remaining under 100 bucks and of any quality, just doesn't know what it is like to buy expensive wargames.

I'm not responsible for the facts, just willing to not let anyone ignore them.

In 2005, I might be able to achieve 50 bucks wargamer spending money per month (assuming I don't use it on something else). That means I will average 1 wargame bi monthly if I really want to. But then again, I don't think I will witness 6 wargames I will want in 2005, so that is really not a problem.

[Clipper1968]

ORIGINAL: 2gaulle

boardgaming bussness is certainly not a exemple to follow. each year there are less player, speacialy in North America. In france with Vae Victis the situation is better, certainly because you could find it anywhere. each 2 month there are 40.000 Vae victis sold.

Is it true that 40.000 copies of Vae Victis is sold each two months??? Incroyable.[X(] I can believe it but I am one of the regular custumer.[:D] Longue vie à Vae Victis!!! Pourvu qu'il ne suive pas le chemin de Cyberstratège!!![:(]

[2gaulle]

Longue vie à Vae Victis!!! Pourvu qu'il ne suive pas le chemin de Cyberstratège!!!

pas de risque, de toute maniere Cyber est remplace par PC4war[;)]

[Clipper1968]

ORIGINAL: 2gaulle

pas de risque, de toute maniere Cyber est remplace par PC4war[;)]

Je regrette tout de même Cyber, car en dépit du fait que PC4War a le mérite d'exister, il n'arrive pas à mon humble avis à la cheville de son illustre prédécesseur...[:(]

[Hexed Gamer]

ici une parle anglais qui?

[pterrok]

OK, the problem with comparing a computer wargame to a board wargame leads to a disturbing fact...I bought many, MANY board wargames and did not play them all. I bought some because they were interesting looking and I could add it to my collection. I can still go back and easily read the rules and enjoy the board and counters and charts and tables...

Lo those many years ago I bought many, MANY computer wargames, all of which WERE played at least once and usually for at least a couple of weeks. If my brother hadn't thrown them all out (why oh why didn't I take them with me?) it would still be cool to look at the box and manual and player aids even if I no longer had a computer system which could run them...

So...

The problem isn't the price so much as you don't get to lay your hands on a physical object--just a stream of bits running around inside your computer. I have a vague interest in WitP and I MIGHT have purchased it if I could get a box and manual and charts because I could COLLECT it. I KNOW I'm not likely to have much time to PLAY it. (Blame KP!)

If Matrix ever came up with a scheme where I could go to the website and order a boxed computer game I WOULD pay a premium price to do so in some cases. Since the order would be directly to Matrix they would get 100% of the sale and split that with the developer and cut Digital River out of the loop.

If we had to pre-order so you'd know how many manuals/boxes/charts to get printed up, that would be fine as you should be able to get some pricing discount over my doing a one off at Kinko's. Heck, make it clear that you have to sign-up to get the collectors edition and once they're gone, you're out of luck--digital download only after that!

Shipping is the bug-a-boo, as usual, but you pay for what kind of shipping you want.

So how many others would pay more, maybe a LOT more for the collector's edition?

Boardgames are expensive because of the cost of the materials and the printing costs, but people understand what they're paying for since it's a physical object. Those who think that computer games should be cheaper since there is no box, board or manual don't see the catch: In a board game you find an exploit and it might be a simple matter of inserting a two sentence rule into the manual to fix the exploit. In a computer game there is no telling how much code will go into implementing that little two-sentence rule--it could take minutes or it could take days or it could almost literally require a rewrite of the entire program.

In theory, the same amount of research is needed and the same amount of artwork (though you may argue that getting the artwork in the limited confines of a computer screen is a bit harder than having free reign to come up with large charts and fold-outs with miniscule text) and the same amount of work to come up with the game design.

The difference is that in a boardgame you write a 10, 20 or 100 page manual; in a computer game you write 100,000, 200,000 or 1,000,000 lines of code to be the rules. Higher cost for a computer game.

When the game is put together it has to be tested--and this is more problematical for the computer game than the board game since not only do you need to fix the exploits, you need to fix the bugs! Higher cost for a computer game.

Some developers release games that are 'fairly' to 'very' buggy. A good Publisher will NOT knowingly release a 'very' buggy game but may go with a 'fairly' buggy one--what sort of rep does Matrix have? (Since all I have is KP I can't comment on Matrix; all I can say is that SSG made a rock-solid game in KP and that I expect BiN will match it simply because they didn't rush it out the door to make June 6th.) But that means a good publisher has to spend some of their own time testing the game to see what sort of shape it's in. Higher cost for a computer game.

So it's still a steal at $60 as far as I'm concerned...

If there is another computer game that you find more interesting at a cheaper price than your choice is clear. If it's by a Developer/Publisher with less than a sterling reputation than you may have to wait for reviews and your choice is less clear. If this is the only game dealing with your area of interest than your choice is clear if you need to get your 'fix.' If you're not an addict then maybe you can wait for another game on the same subject to come out and your choice is less clear...

If time is money then the issue for me isn't hard-currency--it's that I don't have the TIME to play all the games that are interesting and so don't buy them. I'll get GGWaW when it comes out but that's gonna fill up all the little bits of time that BiN won't be using!

[parusski]

I just read your post of 09/10/04. I think I have gotten my money's worth with EVERY game I have purchased from Matrix(Korsun Pocket, Dniepr, BiN). We should pay a fair price for games that we play. The main reason I do not wince or whine at prices is simple: Matrix has given the world SPWAW, and supported it since the dawn of history.

It is unfortunate that most Americans have become accustomed to the $29.99-$49.99 range on store shelves. Those are nothing but "price points". I have spent thousands of dollars over the last 20 years buying war games, strategy games.... and most of that money was a waste.

Hey, I think the price's for "War in The Pacific" and "Battles in Normandy" are worth more than you charged me(but don't rebill me....), because our true love(board games) are finally being played on computers, letting the machine do the tedious jobs. We all know the tremendous value in that.

Thanks for everything, and let's hope more people will understand business. David