Feedback and some Xbox 360 questions

[doobiwan]

What I have often wondered is why console games are almost double the price of PC games. Including ports.

Market forces or *whispers* "why piracy pays"

PC games in South Africa are some of the cheapest in the world - in the US and UK, PC games are typically the same price as console games. Because locals feel rocks to pirate games the local distributors negotiated to bring the price down to make buying games more attractive.

Now before everyone cries foul consider that there's aftermarket & rental markets for console games, but not for PC games, so in the end (if you trade in your console games) it ends up costing about the same.

 

[noxibox]

PC games in South Africa are some of the cheapest in the world - in the US and UK, PC games are typically the same price as console games.

Not when I last bought PC and console games in the UK. Easily at least GPB10 more for a console game.

I do recall some complaints that PC game prices had started to escalate in the US.

 

[noxibox]

Wow, thats not bad at all. Why do people bitch about the high prices then?

Because historically they have been excessive. Game prices also tended to go up immediately anytime the exchange rate became worse, but take months to come down after it improved.

 

[mccrack]

Also happy 360 owner for the last week.

All great barring the disc scratching

Already got some Disk Read Errors from my Gears DVD

 

[GavinMannion]

Market size? Could you please clarify?

On the hardware manufacturer's cut - yeah that could be a reason. You don't happen to know the % offhand do you?

Sorry I have no idea right now what the percentage is.. I will see if I can dig up an old article about it.

Market size = more pc gamers than console gamers. That is just a guess

Also happy 360 owner for the last week.

All great barring the disc scratching

Already got some Disk Read Errors from my Gears DVD

Dude that is not normal, it sounds like you got a dodgy one. Follow these instructions and get a new one.
http://www.lazygamer.co.za/xbox-360/what-to-do-when-your-xbox-gives-you-trouble/

 

[Juggy]

Also happy 360 owner for the last week.

All great barring the disc scratching

Already got some Disk Read Errors from my Gears DVD

Take the console back bru

 

[doobiwan]

Not when I last bought PC and console games in the UK. Easily at least GPB10 more for a console game.

I do recall some complaints that PC game prices had started to escalate in the US.

Well whats £10 amongst friends? But you get teh idea, they're more in the ballpark, for example, Shadowrun is $60 on 360 and $50 on PC as oppossed to R300 for PC and R600 for 360 here.

@Mccrack - is the disc physically scratched or is it just reading badly? There have been some Gears discs that have had issues.

 

[mccrack]

Well there are actually scratches, shouldnt really say scratches, more marks, dark grey marks that have appeared along the outer edges of the disk.

I'll keep an eye on it for now and see if it gets any worse.

EDIT: Guess i'm not alone ( http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=522828 )

 

[nocilah]

just to answer some initial questions:

i use iburst with xbox live and it has been okay for the most part.

Test Drive Unlimited has almost ruined my life (which means it is good)

If you have in's in M$ SA you can pick up new M$ game titles (GOW, FOrza 2 Crackdown) for R150

 

[The_Omlette]

Telkom are due to install my phone line on 25 June so maybe I will wait them out and see what happens. The consensus of opinion appears to be that ADSL is the best choice for Xbox Live (as with any online gaming it appears)

As for the prices of games for me its not about the actual cost rather the value for money. R500.00 for GTA: San Andreas.. worth it. R500 for the "new" FIFA 2008 ... not so sure about.


Oh and last night I had my first "Disk Read Error" while playing Gears! I did a restart of the console and everything appears to be okay again but I thought I would let you all know. I am taking the McCrack approach and will wait and see if it happens a few more times.

What is it with Microsoft and the problems with their DVD drives. Its not as though DVD drives are cutting edge tech!!

 

[doobiwan]

The DRE's with Gears are inherent in the game disc, not necessarily the console, so don't stress. Provided there's no physical damage you should be fine.

 

[nocilah]

Telkom are due to install my phone line on 25 June so maybe I will wait them out and see what happens. The consensus of opinion appears to be that ADSL is the best choice for Xbox Live (as with any online gaming it appears)

As for the prices of games for me its not about the actual cost rather the value for money. R500.00 for GTA: San Andreas.. worth it. R500 for the "new" FIFA 2008 ... not so sure about.


Oh and last night I had my first "Disk Read Error" while playing Gears! I did a restart of the console and everything appears to be okay again but I thought I would let you all know. I am taking the McCrack approach and will wait and see if it happens a few more times.

What is it with Microsoft and the problems with their DVD drives. Its not as though DVD drives are cutting edge tech!!

ADSL will always be the best option for online gaming and yeah price is not laways important. I paid 600 for TDU and every cent was worth it.

 

[Slapdash]

I find our prices on new games very competitive against places like cd-wow and the likes.

Forza 2 = 41 pounds * 14 = R 574 (CD-WOW)
Forza 2 + 1Gig Flash Drive = R 459 (Kalahari.net)

Yeah and if you pre-ordered you would have got that deal for R419. I had to wait a day longer than the other guys but ag what the hell, saved some cash.

 

[Frikkenator]

The DRE's with Gears are inherent in the game disc, not necessarily the console, so don't stress. Provided there's no physical damage you should be fine.

True, You get them every now and then. Most other games seem to run fine, altough I have had them on Rainbow 6 Vegas as well.

 

[doobiwan]

What I noticed with the Gears DRE's is that it seems to happen when the console gets very hot. So my absolutely uninformed guess is that the disc is expanding from the heat and the drive laser is not compensating.

 

[The_Omlette]

Anyone think this has anything to do with standing the Xbox vertically?? Thats how I have mine at the moment but perhaps it may help the situation to lie it flat down??

Whaddaya all think?

 

[doobiwan]

That's very possible. My issue with standing the 360 vertically is that the airflow seems to go left to right (ie from drive side to button side) Which when vertical is top to bottom, which for hot air flow is backwards.

 

[benitok]

My XBox360 is flat down (horizontal) and I don't have any problem with scratches or over heating. Infact I played GOW during the summer and it was about 33 degrees outside, ok I did have two fans pointing towards the xbox and LCD screen, but it worked fine.