Expensive 360 games

KTRIC

Whats the most expensive Xbox 360 game you've seen to date ?? HMV on Grafton St. are selling Oblivion (standard) for €83.99 :eek:

I think this might break all records. Why do the shops think they can charge this ?? and why do people pay it ??

Lemlin

That's unreal. Stores like HMV tend to be cheaper. The dearest I saw was €74.99 for Call Of Duty 2, but I think alot of stores are charging prices like that.

EasyBoy1974

I got €35 euro off my next game on my HMV card, so i moseyed into the swords pavillions branch to get fifa 06 WC ... walked right out again when i saw the price tag - €82.99 :eek: nearly €50 even with my discount :mad: don't think i'm even gonna get to use it ...

3rdDegree

HMV, in my experience, are more expensive than most for everything. I once asked an assistant there why their prices were consistantly higher than everywhere else. She replied that they charge extra because of the excellent service HMV provide. She then smiled at me as if to say, "yes, I know that's a crock, but it's what we're told to say"....

Burning Eclipse

3rdDegree wrote:

HMV, in my experience, are more expensive than most for everything. I once asked an assistant there why their prices were consistantly higher than everywhere else. She replied that they charge extra because of the excellent service HMV provide. She then smiled at me as if to say, "yes, I know that's a crock, but it's what we're told to say"....

ROFL... thats a classic!!

Gotta say the highest I've seen is €74.99... Then the other end of the spectrum: I picked up Amped 3 on play.com for £17 (€25).... how are high street retailers getting away with this bulls**t??

um7y1h83ge06nx

No point b!tching and moaning, talk with your money and buy off the net.

I like Play.com and cdwow, free delivery. New releases for 360 about €58 with free delivery.

Anyone know of better place btw?

Clover

Hayden Noisy Yokel wrote:

Anyone know of better place btw?

play asia are good for region free xbox 360 games , i just recived tomb raider and blazing angels this week for around €35 each including postage.

also got a $5 voucher for the next order over $50 and used that to order call of duty 2 and gun last night which came to $80 (€63.29 ), and they where posted today : ) .


there are not a lot of region free 360 games and if it has a dispatch time of a week or two , it will take that long to be dispatched but if you can wait you will save alot .

ZygOte

there is a serious problem with HMV latley, whoever is pricing up the games has got to be high half the time, i went looking for oblivion and they wanted €84 for it , i went to buy world of warcraft for pc last week and they were charging €55, game in comparision was €39.99.

some of there games are comparitivly priced with game but on many counts they are way off the mark

monkeyfudge

They're actually charging less for the Special Edition of Oblivion in HMV... so yes... the pricing guy is possibly high.

Limerick Dude

i know what is going in with HMV, i went in and i saw the new fifa for 82 euro! !! i nearly shat myself!

i shall be sticking to cdwow and im guna check out this play asia site.

enfant terrible

Clover wrote:

play asia are good for region free xbox 360 games , i just recived tomb raider and blazing angels this week for around €35 each including postage.

also got a $5 voucher for the next order over $50 and used that to order call of duty 2 and gun last night which came to $80 (€63.29 ), and they where posted today : ) .


there are not a lot of region free 360 games and if it has a dispatch time of a week or two , it will take that long to be dispatched but if you can wait you will save alot .

Are they Asian versions is everything in Japanese?

Laguna

Hayden Noisy Yokel wrote:

No point b!tching and moaning, talk with your money and buy off the net.

I like Play.com and cdwow, free delivery. New releases for 360 about €58 with free delivery.

Anyone know of better place btw?

Listen to this advice OP, vote with your feet (or your mouse to be more precise). Don't pay the high street prices for games (especially the HMV variety), I have a 360 myself and buy my games for it (and my PC and DS) for a good saving on whatever the cheapest price HMV/GAME/GAMESTOP are charging. I'm sure there were plenty of copies of Oblivion left on the shelf for €82 and that's where they'll stay.

It'll only get worse anyway (with the advent of the PS3), watch this space for the commonplace €100 tag on games.

There's some really good deals on eBay regarding DS games, I get most of my DS games (US versions) months before they come out in the EU, for example, I had Metroid Prime: Hunters the same day it came out in the US from a direct UK seller and I paid no more €40 (less than what it costs to buy in Gamestop for an EU version). This eBay shop has a big selection of games for most systems and I've bought from them many times before hassle free. Here's the link if anyone's interested.

Xbite games

Clover

enfant terrible wrote:

Are they Asian versions is everything in Japanese?

they are the NTSC versions and everything is in english ( box , manuel in game menus etc..) the only thing different is it says NTSC instead of Pal and it costs half the price.

um7y1h83ge06nx

Clover wrote:

play asia are good for region free xbox 360 games , i just recived tomb raider and blazing angels this week for around €35 each including postage.

also got a $5 voucher for the next order over $50 and used that to order call of duty 2 and gun last night which came to $80 (€63.29 ), and they where posted today.

Thanks for that.

EDIT: Just browsed the site. If they're a reliable company then this makes Play and Cdwow look expensive, and Game/Gamestop/HMV look very expensive.

Alnilam

This old chestnut is personal bugbear of mine, I would rather buy in a retail store than on-line when it comes to games, so you have somewhere to return them to if there faulty and there's also the whole exchange thing, unfortunatly some recent experiences have thought me that Irish game retailers are not interested in customer satisfaction, all they want is to gouge as many people as possible for as much as possible.

Until the start of this year I was happy to pay a small premium for this but that's now in excess of 10% over RRP in most Irish stores (cept Harvey Norman) I've been in. But a recent experience with a 10 day old cracked disc has taught me that the premium you pay is to not for any additional service. the store in question flat out refused to exchange a faulty product when I had the receipt and only 10 days old. instead they said it was to do with the way I was taking it out of the box which is bull as it got taken out once, checked and put in the 360 and it was when I went to take it out of the 360 that I saw the crack and I couldn't have missed it putting it in the drive as it was almost an inch long!

Anyway that particular incident has been reported to the office of consumer affairs, so I have written off the price of that game and vowed never to buy a game from that retailer again. Which is all I can do, so from now on I'll be buying all my games online, why pay more for the privilage of being F***** in the ass?

All I can say to Irish game retailers is keep your prices up if you want but when your out of a job and broke don't come looking for sympathy from me. /end rant

Clseeper

Part of this is due to the retailers and partly due to the manufactures. Their common practices in some industries to sell a product below cost and then make up the profit on the extras/consumables. Your xbox was probably bought below the cost the company paid to made it, and they have worked out that on average you will purchase ‘Z’ amount of games. They then price the games accordingly. If the platform is not producing the profits needed, they just up the price. Considering the actual face value of the disc is about 20cent.

With all the companies competing for the latest technology in the new consoles, I can only imagine the costs they will need to make up. €100 will become the norm.

Alnilam

Clseeper wrote:

Part of this is due to the retailers and partly due to the manufactures. Their common practices in some industries to sell a product below cost and then make up the profit on the extras/consumables. Your xbox was probably bought below the cost the company paid to made it, and they have worked out that on average you will purchase ‘Z’ amount of games. They then price the games accordingly. If the platform is not producing the profits needed, they just up the price. Considering the actual face value of the disc is about 20cent.

With all the companies competing for the latest technology in the new consoles, I can only imagine the costs they will need to make up. €100 will become the norm.

I'd almost agree with you there but here's the thing the retailers don't build the console and they don't sell it below cost, M$ do, and M$ set the RRP to a level where they feel everone in the food chain is able to get a fair cut of the profit. BTW the RRP of the X-box 360 games for Ireland, according to M$ is €64.95 so next time your buying a game, point it out to the retailer and see what there reaction and/or justification is for the extra, if your not happy with what they tell you, put the game down and purchase it online instead

Headshot

is any body else pissed off my the shortage of games

KTRIC

I was in Harvey Norrrrmannnnsss this evening and they are selling games for E5 less than the RRP, most of them are E60.00 or less.

*Tripper*

Sorry, what do you mean E5?

Ciaran500

€5 less than RRP

Limerick Dude

only thing about playasia is that they only have a few games which are NTSC

GrumPy

€ i guess.

Royale with Cheese

I'd never buy any games from a high street retailer. 99% of the time it's going to be cheaper to buy online. Even just take a look in the second hand section of gamestop etc. Rubbish games they're trying to flog for €20+ that are going for €15 or less online brand new. Or when there's a game out only a couple of weeks that somebody has traded in they'll knock about a tenner off the price and it'll still be more expensive than buying a brand new copy online.

mobileplaza

heys guys sorry to hi jack this thread.. on a simular par. has or does anyone know of any good sites to purchase an xbox 360 off? bar ebay..

Ciaran500

www.gameplay.co.uk
www.play.com

Never used gameplay but keep hearing good things about it.

KTRIC

*Tripper* wrote:

Sorry, what do you mean E5?

I meant 5 Euro, could you not work that out ??. I don't have the Euro symbol on my pc.

GrumPy

K-TRIC wrote:

I meant 5 Euro, could you not work that out ??. I don't have the Euro symbol on my pc.

what? every keyboard made since 1998+ supports the € symbol afaik :rolleyes:

(hold ctrl, alt and press 4)

KTRIC

Irish GrumPy wrote:

what? every keyboard made since 1998+ supports the € symbol afaik :rolleyes:

(hold ctrl, alt and press 4)

I think you'll find that you're wrong . How do you know I'm not using a pre 98 computer anyway ??

WarZoneBrother

K-TRIC wrote:

Whats the most expensive Xbox 360 game you've seen to date ?? HMV on Grafton St. are selling Oblivion (standard) for €83.99 :eek:

I think this might break all records. Why do the shops think they can charge this ?? and why do people pay it ??

i seen this game aswell for that price that is such a ripp off.

GrumPy

K-TRIC wrote:

I think you'll find that you're wrong . How do you know I'm not using a pre 98 computer anyway ??

Wrong about the keyboards that support it? or how to get the € symbol? I just assumed any keyboard pre-dating € support, wouldnt survive this long tbh.

KTRIC

Irish GrumPy wrote:

Wrong about the keyboards that support it? or how to get the € symbol? I just assumed any keyboard pre-dating € support, wouldnt survive this long tbh.

You're right about how to get the Euro symbol, its just that I have a 10 year old Gateway keyboard :eek: . I wrote the original post in work on a nice new keyboard.



Anyway this thread is not about the Euro symbol and keyboards.

GrumPy

K-TRIC wrote:

Anyway this thread is not about the Euro symbol and keyboards.

But thats far more interesting

Yeah, so ps3 games will prolly be just as expensive, if not more with there fancy blu ray discs.

Have ninty announced what media the wii will use?

Clover

just recived my games from play asia today plus i was also in hmv during the week and could not belive some of the prices, up too €84 :eek:

Limerick Dude wrote:

only thing about playasia is that they only have a few games which are NTSC

thats true but looking at the price of the games that are ntsc/ntscj i'm going to look into importing another 360 from that region .


* i have nothing to do with play asia apart from buy cheaper 360 games from them and if anyone here has imported a 360 and games for it let us know from where and how it went etc.. .

base2

On Amazon.com you can get the same game for $60 or €46. I mean ffs. Thats just huge. I feel sorry for game developers but at this stage theres no way I could justify those prices so its a modded xbox and Xtravision for me.

fifth

LOL 83.99 for oblivion??!

We (xtravision) sold the collectors edition(!) for €69.99!!

Alnilam

not my local Xtravision (lucan), €74.95, so I kept walking!

fifth

LOL WTF man we are supposed to all have the same price. Must have been a glitch on our particular set of computers then.

Alnilam

funkyflea I wasn't attacking Xtravision there still way better than Game in the customer service Dept. but If it's a glitch it's a big one cause all the 360 games in that shop are €69.95+

Dermington

I'm not normally into sticking up for high street stores but I can see why the games are expensive in the first place. I couldnt be bothered trying to justify €85 instead of €74 though.
Basically in buying an xbox 360 game your paying a premium to have a game which essentially is plug and play.
I understand thats what consoles are about but this is the only way i could justify paying 75 for GRAW on 360 and 45 on pc...or whatever game is applicable.
Your paying a premium so you dont have to install it, have drivers, have a nice graphics card etc.
Basically your paying extra because its so foolproof and its guaranteed to run on your 360 or PS3 or whatever.
Thats my opinion. I know there are actual economic reasons but this is how I justify it. I mean I bought a 360 last week and I am so impressed. I havent turned on my pc (which is ultra modern) inb a week because I enjoy the 360 so much. Even Oblivion is better on the 360 because I dont feel drained after using a keyboard+mouse and having to sit up straight etc.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I dont know if this has anything to do with it but I think that owning a console has made me far more realistic with money since I bought it. The games are so expensive that I think much harder about buying them and as a result I only buy the titles which I know I will like and so I am happier with my overall experience.

Alnilam

Fair points all dermington, the thing is there is an RRP of €64.95 for 360 games, (call MS if you won't take my word on it) almost all the retailers are charging 10%+ extra on top of that.

I don't mind paying a premium for 360 games but I'm not prepared to spend 10%+ over what MS think is a fair price just because I live in Ireland (and lets face it MS aren't renowned for being cost effective ). I've bought a game or 2 from harvey norman when I'm passing there way as they seem to be keeping to the RRP's and I've heard good reports of the pricing in the x-box gaming centre although I haven't been in myself yet, most games I buy online purely because I refuse to be over charged by greedy retailers.

Sorry for the rant but there is no justification for charging over the RRP, imho.

Dermington

Alnilam wrote:

Fair points all dermington

I thank you
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alnilam wrote:

Sorry for the rant but there is no justification for charging over the RRP, imho

I agree. However I think that every single store in this country does to a certain degree. I mean 4 years ago the 6gb creative jukebox was 211 irish pounds on the web including shipping and it was 589 irish pounds in soundstore. I actually laughed in the guys face in soundstore when he told me. How do you justify over 360 euro of a price difference??

Well before I get into actual logical proof I have to say (and this is not an exact science) that an xbox 360 or whatever is a luxury item. It costs hundreds upon hundreds of € and being honest if you can afford one you can afford to pay €65+ for games unless you spent ten years saving for the blasted thing.

Its economics..If the consumers are indifferent or ignorant to a price difference between markets (online and high street) then you can charge a higher price in one of the markets. They know some people are dumb enough to pay €85 instead of €65 so they charge that much...And they also take into account that some people use the web and get much better deals.
So though it is very stupid to us that they charge these exorbitant prices you have to see that some people dont have or dont know of another option. I mean how much do you pity the parents who bought a 360 for christmas and paid €85 euro a game because they dont have the internet or dont know about online shopping? Count yourself lucky your at least slightly enlightened.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I bought my 360 in Gamestop. Not because it was the cheapest (I never checked any store prices t be honest) but because a friend of mine recomended them for their service etc etc. I must admit I am very happy with my purchase. I know I could have saved money elsewhere but I feel happy knowing that if I have a problem I can at least approach them unlike some other stores. the guys there were very honest with me about the packages and the games and even advised buying the €460 package ahead of the €500 package (granted they pretty much knew they were guaranteed a sale anyway) but I work in customer service and I didn't feel like a sheep at the time. So in that case I may have paid a bit extra as opposed to buying from the web but I know I'm in a good place regards returns/complaints etc. and I even went back and bought more games from them two days later because I was so happy with my purchase.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I think this discussion is indicative of the whole consumers attitude to pricing in this country. Some pricing is by far too expensive and is often totally uncalled for. I personally think that music cd's are ridiculously expensive in this country. Games were always expensive but €28.99 for Out Of Exile (Audioslave) in virgin???? A perfectly standard album priced at nearly €30...Now thats ridiculous pricing...

€75 for a game which can often last you months (ala San Andreas or Oblivion) depending on how you play it is well worth it and in fairness you can always swap it or sell it. Add to that online play (PGR3 and GRAW are awesome online) which actually works and you really do get a lot of bang for your buck (at least with the best titles).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alnilam

for my sins I got my 360 in GAME, solely becase they were the only store that I found one in at the time, so the standard rules of supply and demand apply and I was happy to pay a wee bit more at the time than I would have if I had waited.

If there genuinely was a value add service that could be applied to games then I may be able to reconcile the added cost to the added value. Unfortunatly I've travelled a bit of the continent this year and discovered that retailers charge the RRP and provide the same service as we are charged a premium for! and remember it's the developers who add the online features etc not the retailers.

The retailers don't add value they just add cost and while it is fair to say that if people are ill informed or don't have access to internet shopping thats how the retailers get away with it. It most certainly doesn't make it right or fair to the customer or the irish state and while it's ok to get one over on the tax man from time to time as more and more people do this there is less and less going into the government coffers for public services etc. and sooner or later that will lead to some form of additional taxing for personal imports or even as has happened already a customs officer turning up at your door, regarding the importation of goods.

I am curious Dermington, are you simply playing devils advocate here? cause I really don't understand how you can credit the retailers with adding value to a game, they aren't the ones that make the game last months that's the developers, all the retailer does is supply the market with boxes of disc's and replaces them if they are faulty (as per the law) where are they adding the value that you think is worth the additional amount charged?

Dermington

Alnilam wrote:

I am curious Dermington, are you simply playing devils advocate here? cause I really don't understand how you can credit the retailers with adding value to a game, where are they adding the value that you think is worth the additional amount charged?

I went into Gamestop and I found that the staff were very friendly and explained everything to me so I know where my €500 was going. I do not know if Gamestop was more or less expensive than any of those stores I do believe that if they were my money was at least justifiably spent because I felt happy that I was buying the right item.

The retailers do nothing to the games other than increase the price. Some games/products are good enough to convince me to overlook the premium.

Example being HL2 on the pc. I didnt even ask the price when I bought it.

Alnilam

ah ok I get it, you were talking about the value being in the service that you were given when purchasing the console, my apologies I thought you were talking about retailers adding value to the games, that's what was confusing me.

Limerick Dude

i find gamestop are the best out of a bad bunch, i.e GAME, HMV and others.

Alnilam

I was walking past my local xtravision last night, so I popped in to see if they had a copy ot Table Tennis, nearly choked when I saw they are charging €49.99 for it I mean FFS 25% over the RRP!!!

Congratulations Xtravision, you've just lost a customer. It's kinda scary that Joe public is prepared to be bent over this much on a regular basis, I'm begining to think that the "rip off" Ireland thing isn't the retailers fault, It's the consumers, they appear to like being ripped off :rolleyes:

Burning Eclipse

I'll be honest I thought Table Tennis had a RRP of €49.99.

Slightly O/T but I bought a second hand version of Fahrenheit in Gamestop Limerick(Parkway) and got to a certain part and the disc was scratched. I went back the following day and the guy recognised me, gave me a brand new disc and asked what I thought of it so far.... Thats nice.

Back on topic. I was given a €20 voucher for game recently for my birthday and I actually don't wanna spend it on anything in there... I asked how much a 3 month gold subscription card was... €25. I just laughed, said no and walked out of the shop. Bought it online instead. IIRC it's €17 from play.com... €19.99 from Xbox-Live itself. I know I'll have to use it eventually but I can guarantee it'l be on something €20 of less!

This is a strong word but I detest Game and everything about it.

Alnilam

Burning Eclipse, it's pointless to even talk about Game anymore, I contacted the customer service department in the UK over an issue I had with the manager of one of there dublin stores and the just didn't give a crap, as a result I have spoken with consumer affairs about the issue and am waiting to here something back from them.

unfortunatly from what I'm seeing when I'm in Game retailers it's not isolated they treat there customers with contempt as if there a nuisance or an unfortunate inconvenience to there important duties of standing around and thinking there superior!

To be fair there isn't a gamestop near me so I don't get to them to often, the last time I was in one, I was laughed at for asking if I could pre-order a 360! needless to say I wasn't impressed.

the only positive experience I have had in a retail store since I got my 360 was the Harvey Normans in drogheda or dundalk (i can never remember which is which), I say positive because I bought the game I wanted at the RRP and the only thing that was said to me was the cashier asking me for the money.

I have seen some positive posts here about the X-box Gaming centre, so I'm gonna give them a look next time I'm in the city centre. the thing is boards isn't even that reliable as a source of information on pricing as some of the guys posting have biased opinions as a result of them working for company A or B or those who have an axe to grind with a particular store, me I tend to be as fair as possible and call them all out for gougeing there customers

um7y1h83ge06nx

I myself, am looking forward to buying my next game from Play-Asia, about €35 for a Xbox 360 game.

Out of the bricks and mortar I have tried (Game, Gamestop, HMV, Virgin, Smyths) I reckon Smyths are the best, with Game as being the worst. The last time I bought in a shop was just after x-mas when I bought a 360 bundle from Gamestop.

Game purchases since have being from CD Wow, Play and Blah DVD. I think CD Wow is the weakest of the three with usually the longest delivery times and the poorest website design, but still better than a shop due to price.

fifth

Alnilam wrote:

I was walking past my local xtravision last night, so I popped in to see if they had a copy ot Table Tennis, nearly choked when I saw they are charging €49.99 for it I mean FFS 25% over the RRP!!!

Congratulations Xtravision, you've just lost a customer. It's kinda scary that Joe public is prepared to be bent over this much on a regular basis, I'm begining to think that the "rip off" Ireland thing isn't the retailers fault, It's the consumers, they appear to like being ripped off :rolleyes:

I believe thats pretty average price.. Gamestop had it for 44.99 I think.

Xtra vision wont sell games any lower than we buy them in for, and at the moment 360 games are not cheap, its not just worth it to us to sell them for €30/35!