rich@sri-unix (12/10/82)
I was wandering around a large department store the other night (trying to finish the Christmas shopping) when I chanced upon the very video game system I purchased several months ago. I was instantly POed when I saw the price was $65 less than what I paid for it. Then I looked at the "new" cartridges available and decided I wanted a couple, till I saw the price. The system has come *down* to get more buyers. The cartridges have gone *UP* (by as much as $10 each) to keep the company's profits high. Very clever idea, right? They sucker more people into buying because the price is right, then once they have the system, they almost *HAVE TO* buy the games at rediculous prices. I believe people are not as dumb as the market analysts think and are just doing without for awhile because the damn things cost too much. Result: games aren't selling well, stock goes down. Hold on till spring and see if those prices drop again...
benw (12/14/82)
I see a great similarity in the video game system/cartridge market and the calculator market of 10 years ago (or so). At that time, only a few (expensive!!) calculators were on the market, and then, as the technology became more accessible and less expensive, companies by the dozen jumped on the bandwagon. The market became flooded, price wars ensued, and an ultimate "market shakeout" occurred, resulting in many of the companies (some of them the "originals") going bankrupt. There are many new video game systems out now besides the obvious ones (Colecovision, Atari 5200, Vectrex). Systems are being made by Emerson, Tigervision and others, and a new game system by Commodore will hit the shelves shortly. Never heard of the Emerson Arcadia system? You are not likely to. The system is not really competitive (as many of the others are not) and serve only to confuse the consumer; ultimately, the entire video game market will suffer. As for cartridges, EVERYBODY seems to be jumping on the bandwagon, and, again, consumers will suffer. How many REALLY different games are there? How many are pacman, space invader or Donkey Kong clones? When I owned an Atari (I now own a Coleco) I used to be able to at least review every new cartridge that came out, and be reasonably sure that it was not a rehash of something I had. Now there is so much to choose from that I find myself hesitant to buy anything. I think it is undeniable that many companies are in a rush to get cartridges on the market, turning out trash for a quick buck. It will be interesting to see whose systems and cartridges survive the great flood. Let's hope SOMEONE survives!
dee (12/21/82)
There really are a zillion weird companies starting up that are each coming out with a line of n video game cartridges. If you are really interested in finding out which are worthwhile and which are just re-hashes of old games, it helps to get a copy of Electronic Games or some similar magazine. Donald Eastlake (dee@cca)(decvax!cca!dee)