StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Sea Skimmer wrote:Now you pay 50-60 for something with a shitty staple bound manual and maybe an advertisement or two.

You're lucky if you even get that stapled manual. More often, the only manual you get comes on a .pdf file.

It's weird, but when I have the physical manual in front of me, I can read the thing cover to cover. But when it comes on a .pdf, I can't be bothered to read it.

Noone uses the manuals....but dammit, we want our 300 page books back!

Temjin wrote: It's weird, but when I have the physical manual in front of me, I can read the thing cover to cover. But when it comes on a .pdf, I can't be bothered to read it.

I hate looking at PDF manuals. I always print them out, even if it means printing out 200 pages or so that come with a Matrix game.

phongn wrote: Game prices have varied over the years but in general have not kept up with inflation, IIRC. IIRC, the old Wing Commander games being the $50-60 price range (WC1, 2).

True. I remember when games came in boxes like record jackets. They were often 50 bucks. This was in the mid-80's. I think it is safe to say for the last 20 years the best games usually are prices at around 50 bucks when they are new. This works out for us in some ways cause they are not adjusted for inflation as you stated. We just dont get the good manuals like we used. I remember the Ultima 4 and 5 manuals with fondness.

You should also recall though, that while the prices havent gone up with inflation, the manufacturing costs have dropped to almost nil...

Manufacturing costs have plumetted, yes, but production costs have skyrocketed. Years ago, Wing Commander IV was considered astonishing for having cost nearly $10 million (not inflation-adjusted). Today? That's not uncommon for some of the big-budget games, and they don't even use FMV like WC4 did!