Online Shopping: A Threat to Local Retailers?

To start off, I would first like to apologise for the lack of entries over the past two weeks. Regrettably, I have been busy and things sort of slipped past my mind. But don’t worry, I am committed to this blog and will continue updates. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to do a follow-up article of sorts to the issues of Trade-Bait. One of the issues I discussed with trade-bait is how it prevented people from getting games at cheap prices who legitimately wanted to play them. This time, I’m going to take a look at how purchasing games online is having a similar affect, albeit for different reasons.

Firstly, we need to take a look at the basic principles of the retail industry. With general goods such as games, most stores purchase stock from distributors. The wholesale price varies from game to game, but generally costs will change on a monthly basis. One month the wholesale price might be $75, the next month it could drop down to $50 due to a lack of orders. To gain profit retailers obviously have to sell the product above wholesale cost. They can sell it at the full suggested retail price or, for the sake of being competitive, sell it for a couple of dollars above what they paid for it.

Now here’s the thing, if the store doesn’t get a lot of consumers purchasing the game, they’re more than likely to up the price. You have to consider how much money it costs them to run the store. Staff’s wages need to be paid, electricity bill, rent, it all adds up. This is why I’m more than happy to pay a few more dollars at the mall – it puts money back into the local economy and encourages retailers to keep competitive prices.

Looking at popular online retailers, a majority of them are either based overseas or import games from other countries. Granted, sometimes you can never find a particular game locally and have no alternative than to purchase online, but it’s still something that is having a major impact on the economy. It’s not just games that are being import from online shops, people are also importing DVDs, clothing, computers and everything else in between. While it’s true we need to save every cent we earn, there needs to be a balance. If everyone bought their PC games from Steam, for example, that’s a loss of profit for the games shops at your local shopping complex.

Let’s take a look at GAME and EB Games as a more in-depth example. Assume for a moment they only sold PC games. Let’s say DVD Crave started selling their games at 50 cents above the cost of wholesale price as they had become very popular Australia-wide. Since they just have the one warehouse and a few staff members, their sales margins and profits far outweigh the cost to run the business. Take a trip to the mall and you’ll see EB Games and GAME. They have less consumers, less exposure, and are competing against each other. Suddenly, a bulk of their customers start purchasing from DVD Crave. They investigate and discover the prices, but they can’t possibly charge that since profit would be too low. Eventually, it gets to the point where both stores aren’t making any profit at all and they have to close.

So, what’s the big deal? The consumers get what they want at a cheaper price and the big power hungry EB and GAME lost profit and had to close up shop. Well, look at who it’s directly affecting – the staff. When I go to my local EB I see at least two staff working behind the counter, and during busier periods I’ve seen up to four staff serving. That’s four (eight including GAME) people that no longer have jobs. Now, apply this situation to the hundreds of games shops in Australia (or any country for that matter) and you’ll see the potential impact it has on the unemployment rate. It doesn’t stop there though, if said online retailer imported a majority of their stock, then we’d start seeing local distributors going under. In a simpler way you can look at it like a food chain. If you take away any one ‘food’ source, the entire system comes crashing down.

For the above example I also used an Australian online retailer. If you look at overseas retailers then the situation is a little bit different. Our money is going overseas in that instance, so the money isn’t being spent here in Australia. In DVD Crave’s case, they’d put the money back into our economy by paying their operation costs, but for someone like PlayAsia it all goes into the Hong Kong market.

I sort of got sidetracked about why purchasing things online means local retailers won’t sell things at cheaper prices, but the bottom line is purchasing online isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You can often find rare games online, and for people who live in country towns they probably don’t have any alternative. However, if retailers can’t make a substantial profit, then it means they’ll up the price and, in worst case scenarios, may possible close down entirely. So be reasonable with your purchases in future – is that extra $2 you’re saving on PlayAsia really worth it, or is it better spent at the local JB Hi-Fi or Kmart?

First Impressions - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rubik’s Puzzle World and Raving Rabbids 3

First Impressions is what I hope will be a regular feature here on Ordinary Gamer. As I mentioned, whenever I receive/purchase games to review for PALGN, I plan to post some initial thoughts here, before doing a round-up article of sorts with my final conclusions. At the moment I am reviewing four games for PALGN, which are Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance, Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels, Rubik’s Puzzle World and Raving Raving Rabbids: TV Party.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance
Platform: DS

I generally take licensed games with a grain of salt; they’re usually a feeble cash-in that was rushed just to make a quick buck during the Christmas holiday period. You can imagine my surprise though when I loaded Jedi Alliance and discovered its high production values. The graphics are quite good for a DS game, and there’s absolutely heaps of voice acting – something which is commonly overlooked in DS titles to save space on that tiny cartridge. Sadly, the gameplay feels very average. You appear to spend most of your time walking down hallways, tapping away at any objects that light up. Combat is pretty much the same as well: tap tap tap tap tap tap. There doesn’t seem to be any real depth, though I must admit I have to play it a bit more before passing judgement.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
Platform: Wii

A fighting game from Aussie developer Krome Studios. Having finished work on The Force Unleashed for Wii a few months ago, I had high hopes Krome would have been able to dish up a top notch Star Wars fighter. Sadly, it looks like it wasn’t meant to be. There’s too much waggling involved, and the controls just aren’t tight enough. I know the Wii remote would make a perfect lightsaber, but can’t developers take a note out of Smash Bros. Brawl’s book and stick to a traditional control scheme? Controls aside, it’s a fairly standard fighter. You’ve got your health meter, combo moves and special attacks. I haven’t really experienced much that makes it stand out in the over-crowded genre, though it’s nice Krome included footage from The Clone Wars animated film and TV series.

Rubik’s Puzzle World
Platform: Wii

I’d never heard of this game before, but as soon as I saw the name Two Tribes my heart filled with joy. I loved Two Tribes’ Toki Tori on WiiWare, so I was curious to see if they could pull off the same charm with Rubik’s Puzzle World. The general idea behind the game is to solve cube-based puzzles. As redundant as that sounds, it’s actually rather thought provoking and addictive. There’s a wide range of puzzle types included in the package, though I think I’ll save detailed descriptions for the final review. It’s certainly a quirky title, however just from a few quick sessions, it isn’t something that will appeal to hardcore puzzle fans.

Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party
Platform: Wii

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! With that out the way, quite a few people know I was very fond of the original Raving Rabbids. Not only was it a great introduction to the Wii’s motion controls, but it also challenged players to achieve perfect scores and unlock videos and concept art. Last year’s entry was, quite frankly, a disappointment. Ubisoft simply made the mini-games too easy, and the there was a stronger focus on multiplayer that left solo sessions bland and boring. From what I’ve played of TV Party, it’s a step in the right direction. While all games are playable in multiplayer mode, solo players should be able to get a lot more enjoyment out of it than Raving Rabbids 2. In particular I love the new dancing mini-games where you have to strike poses with the Wii remote and Nunchuck, copying the actions of an on-screen coach. I’m certainly looking forward to playing this more over the coming weeks.

Full reviews are planned to be published on PALGN over the next two weeks. I’ll continue regular blog entries over that timeframe.

Trade-Bait: An Immoral Choice?

Having built a reputation over the years as the ‘Bargains Guy’ on PALGN, I often receive questions from people asking me where the cheapest prices for games are. While I’m always happy to help and give advice, there’s one thing I do not tolerate – people who go out and purchase cheap games as ‘trade-bait’. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the term, trade-bait is essentially games that you purchase at a cheap price for the purpose of trading in. For example, JB Hi-Fi recently had a deal where you could trade-in two Wii games that were not on their exclusions list and get Animal Crossing: Let’s Go to the City for free. Now, this game was also on sale for $75, but there were a few people who managed to score some $15 games at Target the week before Christmas, and as such got it for $30.

So, what’s so bad about this? To be honest, I have nothing against trading. Not everyone has money to spend or wants to create some massive games collection, so these trade-in deals are a great way to get more value for your dollar in that regard. However, there are people out there who take advantage of these offers. Whenever a store has a clearance sale, they’ll purchase multiple copies of the same game just because it’s $5-$20. They’ll likely never play them, and just take them directly into JB to collect their prize. I’ll be blunt; it’s absolutely disgusting. Because they’re taking all the cheap sale items, it prevents others who actually want to play the game from getting their hands on a copy. Instead, they’re forced to pay full retail price or simply miss out. People sometimes dismiss that debate by saying “oh, well it was an old game anyway and it got crap reviews”. That’s just a pathetic excuse. I’ve played plenty of games that didn’t necessarily perform very well, but I still loved them and was entertained for dozens of hours.

Another thing, retailers are becoming aware of the whole trade-bait issue. GAME and EB Games didn’t used to have too many restrictions concerning trade-in offers, but now they have an ‘eligible trade-in’ list which specifically lists which games will be accepted for trade-in. Notably, EB Games still don’t even give you the game for free, instead offering a discount of $70-$80. As for JB Hi-Fi, they don’t offer Nintendo DS trade-in deals anymore, and even upped the PS3 trade-in requirements to three titles. As more and more people adapt to the trade-bait scheme, retailers will slowly make it difficult to grab a decent bargain. In the end though, it’s not going to hurt the people who go out and purchase multiple copies of Mass Effect for $10, it’s going to hurt those who legitimately play a game and then want to trade it in so they can play something else.

Moving on to a new point, it really ticks me off when people try and make a profit out of clearance sales. Sale forums, auction sites, newspaper advertisements, all these places are a breeding ground for the penny pinchers. Let’s take PALGN’s own Game Exchange forums as an example. I recall Target having a sale on Tigerz: Circus Life – it was a fairly new release at the time and it was on sale for something like $15. One week later, a forum member tried to sell copies for $30 plus postage. Again, it’s absolutely disgusting and shows the individual has no morals. That said, I’m pleased to have witness some generosity on the forums as well. There have been dozens of instances where members have gone out and purchased cheap games, only asking for a few dollars profit. I can understand a $5 profit for each game, they did take time out from their day to go to the shops, and let’s not forget travel expenses.

I can think of one more moment where I’ve been disgusted by people. When Fable 2 was released JB Hi-Fi were selling it for $79 and EB Games had a deal where you could trade it in and get $87 (or $95 if you had an Edge card). It was very sad watching people exploit the offer just to make a small profit. Sadder still was how the game was selling out everywhere on its first weekend after release, with all the cheap copies at JB gone and people being forced to pay full price elsewhere. Its okay if you bought the game and found you didn’t like it or whatever, but when you go exploiting deals like this it’s very shallow.

Okay, I’m going to be perfectly honest here: this entry makes me somewhat of a hypocrite as I’ve used trade-bait once before. Mid last year I purchased Battalion Wars 2 for $24. I don’t consider this trade-bait as I did intentionally want to play the game, sadly I just never quite got into it. A few months later, JB had a trade-in deal for Disaster: Day of Crisis and at the time I was little strapped for cash. I remembered looking through a GAME catalogue and seeing it there – Bratz: The Movie for $29. I checked JB’s exclusions list and discovered it wasn’t listed, so the next day I went out, bought it, and immediately traded it along with BW2. I felt a little silly trading in a Bratz title, and I honestly feel guilty about doing it. I did the very thing I thought was immoral, and now some kid is probably going to pay $45.95 for a pre-owned copy of Bratz: The Movie thinking it’s a great deal.

Regardless if you’ve used trade-bait in the past or not, it’s a growing issue in the gaming community. As I said, we’ll slowly see the deals become less appealing which ruins it for everyone, and it also prevents people picking up a cheap game they would have otherwise never played before. So the next time you’re thinking about grabbing a title for the sole purpose of making profit or trading it in, ask yourself if it’s the moral thing to do.

A Trip Down Anime Lane

I never used to be a fan of any particular anime. Okay that’s a lie, in my childhood I did watch Pokémon, Cardcaptors and Sailor Moon, but nothing really caught my attention during my late teens. About two years ago though, I happened to play Naruto: Ultimate Ninja on the PS2. It was a quirky little fighting game, I didn’t understand half of what was going on, but there was just something about it I found appealing. About a month later I was scanning Foxtel and came across the actual anime. It just happened to be the pilot episode, so it got right in on the story and I showed some casual interest. Since then, I’ve essentially become a fan. I look forward to watching the anime when I can, and I love reading the manga each week and discussing it with a few people.

As you can probably guess, I have played a few more Naruto games. The one I liked most was Ultimate Ninja since it introduced me to the anime, but I’ve also found Clash of Ninja Revolution on the Wii to be a decent distraction from Smash Bros. Brawl… At least for a few hours here and there. Of course, now owning a 360 how could I pass up the critically acclaimed Naruto: Rise of a Ninja? When I first saw how massive Konoha was I was completely blown away – villagers walking around every corner, lots of platforms and buildings to jump on, the ramen shop, pretty much anything you could think of was there. At that point I realised the true differences the 360 had over the Wii. It wasn’t just a bunch of prettier graphics, but also more expansive worlds. I literally spent an hour just exploring this vast village, just taking in the different sites and sounds I never thought would be possible outside the anime.

Next it was time for some actual progression. I hadn’t done a lot of reading on Rise of a Ninja, so I was pleased when I discovered the game was part exploration, part fighter. The fighting elements were quite different from previous Naruto games. Sure, you had your combo moves and the like, but jutsus were performed by “making” hand signs via the two analogue sticks. What made it even more realistic is you have to hold the hand sign and build up your chakra, releasing only at the right moment. It’s a point the anime and manga have touched on considerably during Naruto’s training, but until now it’s been dismissed in other games in favour of faster action. It’s certainly an interesting idea by Ubisoft, and to be quite frank it lets Rise of a Ninja stand out from the crowd.

Sadly, I felt exploration got a bit dull. Whenever you left Konoha and ventured into the wilderness outside, you would be attacked by random generic thugs. I’m not a fan of random battles, and only a few games have managed to pull it off successfully without making me cringe. Rise of a Ninja just doesn’t fall under that category, though I will admit battles didn’t occur too often, so there was some balance in that regard which made it slightly more bearable. Another thing I hate is repetitive side quests, and the game is full of them. Fetch quests, races, delivering ramen to villagers and playing hide and seek with Konohamaru; that pretty much sums it all up. Still, if you rotate through each task they are quite enjoyable, but you’ll need some patience if you intend to complete them 100%.

I was also a little disappointed how the developers cut corners in the main story. An example is the bell test. In the anime there’s quite a lot of humour involved watching Naruto using his clones to attack Kakashi, and then seeing Sasuke go all out with his fire jutsu techniques. Not spoiling too much, the game does it completely differently. There aren’t any bells involved, and the trio actually have to fight each other to decide who’ll face Kakashi. There are more examples of what’s wrong with the story, and it’s a real shame Ubisoft chose to do that. I agree they can’t stick to the story 100% due to design issues, but surely there are better ways to get around it? For me, it just makes the story lose its overall impact.

So, overall did I enjoy Rise of a Ninja? Yes, I loved it a lot and will definitely consider picking up its sequel, The Broken Bond, when I see it below the $50 mark. However, as it stands the game is still largely aimed at fans of the series, so if you’re not familiar with the anime then you best avoid it.

Glitches and Patches

I was writing a news article the other day about Gears of War 2 getting a patch to fix some multiplayer issues and I started thinking - why were there so many glitches to begin with? Now, before you go spamming the comments section I'd like to point out I'm just using Epic Games as an example. The truth is a lot of developers/publishers are releasing games with dozens of bugs in them, just to get them out in time for Christmas.

The thing that gets me is ten years ago these sorts of issues used to delay games by months. I can remember flicking through gaming magazines and reading articles about the delays, saying that the developer needed more time to iron out a few things. Now days the game is released, within hours people start complaining about something, and the developer promises a patch is on the way. Granted, games have certainly become bigger and more complicated, but I feel the implementation of online connectivity has made developers sloppy. Think about it: in the old days it would generate a lot of buzz, everyone would go out of their way to experience the minus world in Mario Bros., or the Missing No. duplication cheat in Pokémon Red/Blue. Now it just causes annoyance and, in some cases, lets people cheat in online matches.

Looking at the Big 3 (Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony), it’s interesting to see how each company deals with patches. Nintendo, obviously lacking a reasonable sized HD for the Wii, have to replace the game discs when a glitch is found. This requires a lot more time and energy than a simple download. First they have to send out postage packets to get the glitched discs sent back, then they have to send out the fixed discs. On top of this, they’re doing it all via express postage, so there’s quite a bit of money involved from that perspective as well. With this in mind, it’s encouraging to see this action has only needed to be taken in a few circumstances. In Japan, Forever Blue (Endless Ocean elsewhere) had a glitch where placing a specific species of fish in a tank would result in the game freezing up. Super Paper Mario in PAL regions had a similar problem when you talked to a character in the middle of a puzzle. There are a few more cases, but the bottom line is that for the most part, these glitches were not too serious and could easily be avoided. Also, an interesting point is that there have only been two issues on a worldwide scale: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Twilight Princess. Arguably, Twilight Princess has been the most damaging since it let people create hacks for the Wii console, though due to my stance on piracy I’m not going to mention it further.

On the Microsoft and Sony front, we see the big boys going nuts over downloadable content. Videos, games, DLC for popular titles – they truly attempt to fit as much as they can in those hard drives. Now, as I mentioned in my last entry I’ve only had a 360 for a little under a month, but already I’ve noticed most of the titles I own have had updates in some form or another. I don’t know about you guys, but I really feel for those who don’t have a broadband connection. They have to play these games and put up with the glitches. My earlier example of GOW2 touched on online components, so lets take a look at Fable 2. Now, for a game that has been getting favourable reviews all around, the thing is absolutely full of bugs. Disappearing green bread trail, clunky menu layouts and camera systems… the list goes on and on. I’m not saying the game isn’t good, but you do have to wonder why MS released it in such a state. The publisher clearly wanted to push the 360’s sales last Christmas and make more profit. They knew Fable 2 was always going to be a hyped release, so when the developers had a playable version ready they just went ahead and stuck it in a box. I’m certain the testers would have come across these issues, but Microsoft just went “We’ll release patches over Live to fix it.” It’s absolutely pathetic. When I go to the shop and purchase a game, I want to come back home with something I can escape reality with, not be hounded by all these problems.

I will say one thing, I do believe having online integration is a good idea. The fact games are bigger and more complicated means there’s simply no way all the bugs are going to be addressed, so patches do make things simpler than replacing discs. However, there needs to be a balance between what’s acceptable and what isn’t. But let’s face it; this will inevitably come down to us, the consumers. If we continue to purchase these games and wait for a patch to come out, the message isn’t going to get through.

Rare's Challenge

After helping a friend out with his blog and seeing him enjoy working on it, I thought it was time for me to jump on the bandwagon. This blog is, obviously, about videogames. I plan on discussing everything from what I've been playing recently, to issues concerning the industry as a whole. To start off, I'm going to keep things simple and talk about my recent purchase of an Xbox 360, and more specifically my thoughts on Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

With the recent price drop of the Xbox 360, I thought it was time to finally purchase the shiny white box. I had previously only owned a Wii, PS2 and Nintendo DS, so there were a ton of games I was missing out on. One particular title I wanted was Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. I loved the original N64 outings, so to get my hands on a new entry after eight years or so (the GBA titles don't count) brought quite a few memories flooding back. Sadly, when I actually purchased my 360 all my local stores were out of copies, so that night I had to settle for some Viva Pinata action. The next day I immediately travelled to the city, and went about purchasing various 360 games.

I went to about five stores looking for Banjo, and not one had it in stock. I was starting to wonder why it was so popular, surely there was at least one copy left? I didn't waste time though, while searching I also picked up Naruto: Rise of a Ninja and Kameo: Elements of Power - I had some catching up to do for all those missed years. It came down to two last stores: EB Games and Harvey Norman, both at City Cross in the heart of Rundle Mall. I walked in to EB and to my surprised they actually had a copy, but when I went to the counter the sales assistant was rather obnoxious.

Before I continue, I'd like to point out I've never had any issues with the staff at EB Games. I know a lot of people say how unprofessional they are, but for the most part my experiences with them have been pleasant. You can imagine my disappointment when this happened though…

The assistant paused as I handed him the game box. "I'm just going to warn you, this game's really bad" he stated. Before I could respond he asked if I enjoyed the N64 outings. I quietly nodded my head. "Well you shouldn't play this one then. It's just all racing and it's nothing like the originals. The only good thing I got from it was the pre-order code for XBLA"

Now, while I kept my cool throughout the transaction, I was starting to get a little aggravated. "I've read quite a few reviews for the game actually. It seems rather promising. I'm aware that the gameplay is different than the originals, but I'm willing to give it a go before I make a final judgement." I said those words sharply, while managing a mild smirk.

"Well, I'll still sell it to you, it's just I've had so many returns of this game"

As he came back from the stock room I couldn't help myself, "You know, I think a lot of people are walking in with the expectation it's going to be an updated version of the original. I'm walking in knowing about the gameplay change and I've accepted it." With that, the guy shrugged. He could see I wasn't happy with him. It's not so much he said he hated the game, it's just he tried to push me away from purchasing it. To be quite frank, I didn't ask for his opinion, all I was interested in was making a smooth and quick transaction so I could get home and play the damn thing.

On the way home I questioned to myself if the guy was right after all. Despite generally positive reviews, I have been known to dislike favourable games. Zack and Wiki comes to mind, I just didn't see the appeal in it and got bored, though I did respect what it was doing for the point-and-click genre. Thankfully, from the minute I loaded up the title screen my concerns died.

I'll be perfectly honest, when the new gameplay direction was first announced, I was sceptical. Rare hadn't quite been up to scratch with some of their previous efforts, and to take Banjo in a whole new direction seemed like a huge risk. Thankfully, at its core it stays true to the series. The music consists of remixes from previous levels, while the game’s humour is spot on. At the end of the game there’s a quiz, and one of the questions even pokes fun at the whole Stop ‘n’ Swop connectivity feature that fan sites “still won’t shut up about”. You can really tell the development team had a lot fun making the game, and as a result its quality shines right through from beginning to end.

This all said, you can’t possibly expect it to resemble the N64 games. While you can step out on foot, a majority of the game is spent driving around in vehicles completing challenges. This seems to be the biggest grip fans are having with the title, but in the end it’s commendable Rare did try something different. How many times have developers been criticised for simply rehashing the same experienced year after year? Hell, one of my personal weak spots in gaming is the Dynasty/Samurai/Orochi Warriors series, and each entry is nearly identical. The fact is, Rare chose to do things differently and keep the series feeling fresh and innovative, yet they’re being lambasted for not sticking to the same old formula. As much as I love a good platformer, and I’m glad that did it this way. My memories of the originals have not been tainted in the slightest, and Nuts & Bolts is truly an achievement on their part. The worlds are huge and can take hours to explore fully, while the vehicle creator is simple in design but is only limited to imagination. I don’t mind telling you I’ve spent hours perfecting my vehicles just for the one challenge, and the surprising thing is it never gets dull. To sum up what I’m trying to say, if you haven’t got Nuts & Bolts yet, go purchase it this instant. As long as you keep an open mind and take the time to learn the rules, you’ll have an absolute blast.

For those that don’t know me, I’m a staff member at Australian Gaming website PALGN. As such, I’ve already reviewed Nuts & Bolts there, so I apologise for my brief comments in this entry. As I said however, I do have quite a bit of catching up to do with the 360 library, and the plan is that I’ll take an in-depth look at those games. I hope you guys will appreciate taking a trip down memory lane, or perhaps you’re in the same boat as me and you’ve just purchased a 360. Regardless, I also have a few one-off feature ideas I’d like to type up, which means there will be plenty of content in this blog. I'll also give some first hand impressions for games I'm reviewing for PALGN, so any visitors from there can have something to look forward too as well. Until next time keep safe, and I hope you all check back soon.