Seriously considering *not* buying NWN

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Actually a more lame line of the century would be "If piracy dropped, so would the prices." Prices are what the public will pay, or more what the game companies figure the public will pay, and it seems for the most part, they're right. I doubt alot of consideration goes into piracy when the companies are setting prices. The day an executive says "Well, piracy has dropped, so lets bring those prices down" will be the day that...well that I...ah well can't seem to think of anything. But then that day won't ever come, so I shouldn't worry to much about it

 

I think your wrong there actualy. Because if there was no piracy, the companies would lower prices to sell more games and make a bigger profit which means even more games. With no [Random abuse] pirates, cheaper games.

 

Well, they would have a different margin calculation without the piracy issue, which might make a lower price/higher volume decision tree more likely. The question would be whether they would sell enough additional units at the lower price to compensate for the decreased margins.

Regardless, piracy does drive up prices because the minimum price is increased proportionally with the increased expenses on anti-piracy issues and margin/volume decisions are skewed by the lost sales.

Unfortunately, I don't see piracy stopping anytime soon, so we'll continue to pay for the lamers' warez copies as well as our own.

Aloha
Vormaerin

 

Heh, forgive me please for even taking this subject off track, but I had to respond again. I'm going to try and bite my tongue after this, or start a new topic somewhere else so I won't hijack this guys topic even more.

If the companies wanted to go the lower price to sell more route, they could do it right now. Most people who pirate probably wouldn't buy the game anyway unless the price was unrealistically cheap, so people obtaining illegal warez really isn't cutting into a real bottom line at all for companies, it's cutting into that fictional bottom line they use at times to justify the prices. Now that argument really only holds true for freebie/ulta cheap warez and not cheap rip off pirates may sometime sell at somewhat lower prices. That does cut into the bottom line somewhat, but it's also a practice that isn't as common around here. Anyway, after dealing with media companies for years, I've found it all comes down to price is what you can sell the item for. The public is willing to pay what's charger for NWN as evidenced by the way they've eaten the game up. I feel lowered prices wouldn't necessarly sell enough extra copies to make up for it, and even if we were talking about a very signifgant price lowering (around $19.95 would probably do it) that would definately increase sales, is there really enough of a market to make up for such a cut in profit margin?

You can probably tell I don't like media companies at all, or their mostly anal nature over copyrights. But I don't support software piracy either, and I'm not making excuses for it with the above opinion. Just stating one

 

You are right about margin setting practices. Its a big deal in restaurants were I work. Its something I have to deal with every day in price setting on specials and items that have 'market pricing' like fresh fish.

As for piracy, some of those people wouldn't buy the game even if there was no pirate alternative, but some would. But the real cost is in the additional expense to combat piracy. That boosts the minimum price that can be used. "What the market will bear" is one factor in pricing strategy, but its not the only one. Its probably the most important for heavily branded items like WC3 and NWN. Market share and other issues aren't going to be as important, because they are going to be fairly stable. But it matters a lot to games and companies looking to gain market exposure.

Aloha
Vormaerin

 

LMAO you speak Truth!!
i have morrowind and i played it for all of 5 mins then i uninstalled that piece of $%@$%@$
i actuelly got morrowind the day before i got Neverwinter nights

[This message has been edited by Syrel (edited July 01, 2002).]

 

- Two patches in the first couple of weeks.

Well? That's a good thing isn't it? No game is perfect when it is released so be gald that they fix problems so soon.

- Lots of problems with hardware.

Haven't noticed anything, as long as you have a good computer this will be no problem.

- Distribution is screwed up by Infogrames.

? Haven't noticed that too, in Europe and UK, the game is for sale everywhere. I million NWN-copies shipped, 125000 sold.... with that numbers they do a good job.

- Can't play with a party in Single Player.

The Single Player campaign rules! And is so made that it is perfect to play with 2 characters (you and your henchmen). It wouldn't be good to play it with a party, and also it is not good to have to control 6 characters in NWN. Now the game is smooth for you don't pause often, when you have 6 characters, you have to use the pause-option every 10 seconds. I think you'll agree after you played it. Compare it with D&D, who plays a D&D-campaign with 6 characters? You just play with one right? And the multiplayer-part is also great.

Damn expensive game.

it's a bit more expensive then most agmes, but due to the great Toolset, many new adventures will come out for free, so the game doesn't get bored, for there are always different adventures with another story.

Go for it, you won't be disappointed

 

I'm really starting to lose my nerves waiting for this...

 

I bought it, and can get it to run, but it runs very slowly ... there is a good 2-5 second lag after I click on anything, and in my first combat (in the tutorial) I only got off one swing and then it froze (I could still enter commands via the Radial menue, but I'd only roll initiative and never swing my sword).

Part of the problem is that I only have an 8 Meg video card ... which I can't upgrade (it is built into my laptop).

Any advice how to solve this lag thing ... or am I out of luck

 

so if I spend the $75 to buy a docking station, which would allow me to add a better video card ... I'll be in good shape????

/me rushes to E-Bay to re-equip his pc.

(I wish it were that easy ... laptop issues are directly related to company issues ... and this one was supplied by Worldcom...not the sort of company a cleric like me should be assiciated with *sigh*)