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RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:47 am
by bradfordkay
I have never found a game demo that I enjoyed. The documentation was always lousy, and the confusion just caused me to pass on the game. If you really want some idea as to the way the game plays, read the AARs on this forum, as well as the review at Wargamer.com. If you still feel that you don't have enough information to purchase the game, then you're probably not a real wargamer.

We never had demos of any AH, SPI, Battleline or Yaquinto boardgames. We looked at the information on the box and purchased it based on that information and what we knew of the previous games put out by those designers. If you've played a Grigsby game before, you have a good idea as to what to expect. If not, and you can't find yourself to trust us on this message board (hey, if even Pasternaski says it is a "must buy" then it must be!), then you're going to miss out on the best game on this subject that has ever been made.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:48 am
by jpinard
But they can put a timecap on the game so we can test out parts of it... I can get more of a feel for a game in 30 minutes thans ome can in 30 hours.

Sounds like they don't trust consumers to figure it out through a little play-session.

So if they know the previous owners are going to buy the expanions, what's the harm in a 30-minute demo to try and get NEW customers?

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:52 am
by 2ndACR
30 minutes!!!!!!!!?????????????[X(][X(][X(][X(][X(][X(]

You can not even scroll the entire map and look at all the units in that amount of time. Much less even try out the game engine.

Ever played PACWAR? That one is free here at Matrix.

If so, then this is the big, big cousin on steroids.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:54 am
by WiTP_Dude
30 mintues is too short to even run the tutorial. You need more like 30 hours to test it.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:03 am
by medicff
ORIGINAL: jpinard

I still think this is insane. There's a lot of middle-of-the-road wargmers who are interested in this game, but asking us to fork out that much money for a game we can't test ourselves is ludicrous.

So until you make the price $50 or less, this gamer and many of his friends will not be buying this title. I know your reasoning... fewer sales needs higher prcies. But I'll tell you, ther'es a ton of people I know who will not gamble that much money on something they can't try first. You need to drop the price way down, or offer a demo. If you don't, you're hurting your own sales for the future, and dimishing the # of expansion packs you will sell as well.

I understand your concern as I had similiar wonders before purchasing WITP. With game companies today you never know their dedication to working out bugs or making their product even playable (at least to my high standards). I had purchased and played UV before and was a little tainted at the stopping of support to work on WITP. [8|]

HOWEVER, purchasing WITP was by far an excellent choice with many, many enjoyable hours of playtime. Worth the bang for the buck sorta speak. A truly massive scale game with many hours of time and effort to make. And they are still working and supporting the game (thanks to 2X3 and Matrix and the hardworking people that are the testers and supporters). [&o][&o]

So IMHO it is well worth the chance and I think you will be surprised if you take the leap!

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:04 am
by Mr.Frag
Yea, a good starting time commitment is two weeks, anything less then that and you'll just end up deleting it.

This game requires commitment, a lot of us should be committed [:D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:36 am
by mlees
You're losing sales with no demo/high price

I don't know how various companies decide on a price for their product, but I do know about my own gaming preferences.

In western culture, there is no haggling. You either feel the price is OK, or you don't get the product. (Except maybe gasoline, health care, food, utilities, etc [:(]) I don't think $75,000 for a sports car is justified, and I don't need to drive one, so...

Ditto about the posts of the problems with demos. Rarely is it close to the finished product. In the case of this game, you'll get some idea of the gameplay by reading the AAR's and asking questions. It might take a few weeks to figure out some of the nuances (in how the game models the pacific war), but if you think the asking price is too high, it is smart to do the homework in the first place.

It's hard to judge how good a game just by looking at the box. I bought Atari's "Demon Stone" when it came out early this January. The box only had screenshots, and a plot setup. Little did I know that it was a console game imported to the desktop. It's also buggy as hell. It won't even run on my desktop (CD authentication bug). I lurked on the Atari Forum website for a few days, and after reading through a bunch of threads in the "Bug reporting/Support" sections, it became clear to me that there will be little of that (support, that is;) coming from Atari or the developers. (HUGE difference from Matrix! Atta boy, guys!)

Long story short, there's $40 down the crapper. So $70 is not bad, if the game keeps me playing it twice as long on average compared to others based on my attention span. And, IMO, this game beats even that, from what I can tell. I hope it will play on whatever Windows OS's I will be forced to use in the future.

Wrapup: Most games have websites nowadays. Lurk on their forums. Read critically. Be informed. Then buy (or not).

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:36 am
by Ron Saueracker
ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Yea, a good starting time commitment is two weeks, anything less then that and you'll just end up deleting it.

This game requires commitment, a lot of us should be committed [:D]

I agree with Frag! Holy crap...miracles never cease![:D] Seriously...it takes commitment but man, it's actually theraputic. Not in the shooter sense but as a way to occupy ones mind during trying times. Total immersion.[&o]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:38 am
by sadja
The price of this game is irrelevent. I have plenty of $19-$35, games that I lose intrest and sit on the shelf. All anybody has to do is look at this web sight and see how much support, how much help from all the other players. Does this game have problems, you bet. Some purist will complain if we don't have the hgts and wgts of everybody that was involved. There are als simple sometimes frustrating quriks to the game. If you wan't a beer and prezzels game go by a shooter. if you want to really imerse yourself in WWII pacific history you could find nothing better. This game will consume a large part of you life, and playing PBEM is so easy that people can play as teams(not so easy). The PBEM is the greatist thing i have done. I used to play old Scheuble and Son's play by mail games where turns sometimes ran $45.00 in 1984 money. Plus phone bills in the $100s trying to fuss at other people. I went with out food and gas for my car during those times. Spending 65-85 bucks for this game is nothing if you are really a true gamer. It will take a true gamer to play this because of the time. There are many people out there who will and take this game as a labor of love. Do you people realize that there are people who spend hundreds of dollars and hunderes of hours of tme painting little lead figures to fight maybe 10 times a year on a table top battles of the past. Here you down load the game(and all the patches), study the manual, play the tutoral (both sides to get the feel) and ready to play all the other newbees out there. Got a problem with the rules send a post to the board, most of my questions have been answered within 10min.

I'm sorry if i rambled (the ritlian has worn off) But the biggest expense is time not the 80-100 dollars. This is the finest computer stratagy game i have ever played. If you like the period, you will end up loving it. If you aren't a fanatic where you have to win all the time,(you won't like the allies in the begining and won't like the japs in the end), but just enjoy the journey, this will be the best game you have ever played.[:D][:D][:D][:D]

LONG LIVE THE CO-PROSPERITY MOVEMENT.

SADJA

PS If you don't think you can have fun read Thayne's AAR and he was just playing the AI

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:51 am
by marky
ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Yea, a good starting time commitment is two weeks, anything less then that and you'll just end up deleting it.

This game requires commitment, a lot of us should be committed [:D]


hahaha

[:D]


my mom said i was crazy

or she said-

~all u do is sit at ur computer and play games~

~thats crazy~

im thinkin, if im crazy for playing great games all day and half the night, then the world has lost the definition of crazy, or its just become blurred!

whos with me?[:D][:D][:D][8D][8D][8D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 4:55 am
by mlees
my mom said i was crazy

or she said-

~all u do is sit at ur computer and play games~

~thats crazy~

im thinkin, if im crazy for playing great games all day and half the night, then the world has lost the definition of crazy, or its just become blurred!

whos with me?

Different strokes, different folks. I am a little bit of a loner. I have wondered about what it would be like to go to bars, get drunk, pick up easy chicks, etc. Then I sigh and go back to my game. Different temperment and personality type, I guess. (Women don't come with FAQ sheets...)

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:05 am
by marky
ORIGINAL: mlees
my mom said i was crazy

or she said-

~all u do is sit at ur computer and play games~

~thats crazy~

im thinkin, if im crazy for playing great games all day and half the night, then the world has lost the definition of crazy, or its just become blurred!

whos with me?

Different strokes, different folks. I am a little bit of a loner. I have wondered about what it would be like to go to bars, get drunk, pick up easy chicks, etc. Then I sigh and go back to my game. Different temperment and personality type, I guess. (Women don't come with FAQ sheets...)


lolz

same here [:'(]

except i dont like bars lol

if i drank as much alkyhol as i did coke and caffiene, id never be sober, and always puking[:'(]

as for easy chix? i always have this in mind = ya get wat ya pay for lolz

but its like ya said, different strokes, different folks

besides i have a gf[:D][:'(] and ill take her over an easy chick ANYDAY ofd the week[:D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 5:28 am
by Tankerace
YOu guys wanna hear something funny?

There is this chic in my Modern Western Civ class, and I am trying to think of the right "opening lines" to get her to notice me. But as I do, thoughts suddenly pop in for my counter offensive in the South Pacific of my AI game. So, what to do? Plan out this small "recce in force" with the ladies, or plan the coup de grace against the Japanese empire? Arrrggggggg what to do, what to do.....

And then on top of that there is War Plan Orange, so its all argggg....

WitP is like a Borg Cube. You give it an inch, and then it assimilates everything in your freaking life.

Buy War in the Pacific (And then War Plan Orange [:D])

Resistance is futile.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:18 am
by von Murrin
Dude, games are WAY less expensive than girls.[:D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:40 am
by testarossa
I like girls more than WitP. Strange, eh?[:D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:41 am
by mogami
Hi, When my GF wants to....see me. She buys a 12 pack of beer and she comes over.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:44 am
by von Murrin
I do too, but the extraneous fees can become rather daunting.[:'(]

I think it's by far better to wait until they are desperate and no longer care as much whether or not you can spend $300 on them in a week or whatever the going rate is. 35 is looking like a nice age.[:D]

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:47 am
by testarossa
ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, When my GF wants to....see me. She buys a 12 pack of beer and she comes over.

That's a trap. After wedding they bring beer no more. This is a very sad side effect of being married. So now I have to ask my buddies to bring some.

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:51 am
by testarossa
ORIGINAL: von Murrin

I do too, but the extraneous fees can become rather daunting.[:'(]

I think it's by far better to wait until they are desperate and no longer care as much whether or not you can spend $300 on them in a week or whatever the going rate is. 35 is looking like a nice age.[:D]

Dude, the roses should be taken in the morning while they are still blossoming.

BTW. Got from library "Jap cruisers of pacific war" by Eric Lacroix and Linton Wellis II. It is the most comprehensive 2kg book i've ever read. 5 thumbs up!

RE: You're losing sales with no demo/high price

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 6:56 am
by mlees
I like girls more than WitP. Strange, eh?

No, that's just your hormones talking...