I would however like to point out that although I voted for computer games, I've never personally bought one in my life.
I may be wrong about whether it's the top selling item - but certainly a few years ago the UK market for computer games was the third largest in the world, after the US and Japan. And we accounted for more than the rest of Europe combined. What this says about the UK I don't dare think...
Oh by the way - I trust you'll be blogging all relevant stuff coming out of the Dr Tanya Bryer review of violent and sexual imagery in digital content?
I've said computer games 'cos they cost about 5-8 times as much as a cinema ticket, 4 times as much as a CD, and twice as much as a DVD, so even if you bought the same number of each of those items you'd end up spending more on computer games overall...
of course my idea of how much computer games costs may be totally wrong, as I've never bought one, but I'm assuming around £40.
That's around the maximum normal price. New xBox360 & PS3 games tend to be around the £40 mark. PS2 and PC games average around £30. The overall figures are difficult to work because games a)are often discounted/bundled in '2 for £x' offers fairly quickly and b)there is a big market in second hand games; most of the major games retailers tend to do this.
Price is, of course, very different from 'value for money'. Computer games are probably the best initial value for money - very few games are less than about 10 hours to play. Many (like Okami which I'm playing at the moment) is probably around 100 hours to fully complete. Also some games are like board games and can be replayed many times and a large percentage now have additional content made available to extend the lift time.
CDs are probably the worst initial vfm - 45/50 minutes and they are gone. DVDs - say 2.5 hours on average, plus 4 or 5 hours of extras. Books - anything from 2 - 20 hours depending on length and complexity!
But then a £30 game that is 100 hours of rubbish is a far greater waste of money than a £12 CD that is a waste of money!
I think about these things too much sometimes...:-)
I agree that a game you enjoy would be excellent VFM, especially as, once you have tired of it, you can sell it on and get some of your initial cash outlay back.
Then again, a CD, although 'bad' VFM based on one listen, you might listen to 100 times or more.
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Date: 2007-09-25 09:59 pm (UTC)I may be wrong about whether it's the top selling item - but certainly a few years ago the UK market for computer games was the third largest in the world, after the US and Japan. And we accounted for more than the rest of Europe combined. What this says about the UK I don't dare think...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-25 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 10:13 am (UTC)of course my idea of how much computer games costs may be totally wrong, as I've never bought one, but I'm assuming around £40.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 01:09 pm (UTC)Price is, of course, very different from 'value for money'. Computer games are probably the best initial value for money - very few games are less than about 10 hours to play. Many (like Okami which I'm playing at the moment) is probably around 100 hours to fully complete. Also some games are like board games and can be replayed many times and a large percentage now have additional content made available to extend the lift time.
CDs are probably the worst initial vfm - 45/50 minutes and they are gone. DVDs - say 2.5 hours on average, plus 4 or 5 hours of extras. Books - anything from 2 - 20 hours depending on length and complexity!
But then a £30 game that is 100 hours of rubbish is a far greater waste of money than a £12 CD that is a waste of money!
I think about these things too much sometimes...:-)
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 06:41 pm (UTC)Then again, a CD, although 'bad' VFM based on one listen, you might listen to 100 times or more.