04-08-2002, 11:08 AM
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 12:51 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 28
|
|
Fantastic! I'm about to purchase it right now.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 06:04 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 16
|
|
Can someone report on the brightness in an ipaq 38xx? Otherwise I might be doing a lot of night missions. :roll:
Walt
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 06:51 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 110
|
|
I'm buying it just to support the price and hope this becomes a trend.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 07:24 PM
|
|
Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 12
|
|
Thanks, Katalin!
I would just like to include a couple of thoughts behind this experiement. Some of the ideas have also been discussed over at PocketMatrix lately - by what I would characterize as small time developers. I've been a strong advocat for the idea that lower prices *will* lead to higher volumes for a long time, and in sum a higher profit for the developer.
Just a year ago, when Chopper Alley was released you would find that most PPC games were priced in the $25.00 to $45.00 range. As the potential market has grown, prices have been lowered as well - although they seem to have "stuck" in the $16.00 - $19.00 range. However, in the last couple of months we've seen a steady stream of quality game titles being released at $29.00.
I think both the consumer (PDA game player) and small development teams will be able to benefit from *lower* prices, due to the following reasons:
1) Higher quality.
If the best titles sells in the $5 - $10 range, there will be very little room to charge anything at all for low quality titles. With such a low price, you're dependent on a high volume. You cannot afford to release low quality titles, simply because you will not sell enough games
2) Competition
We're bound to see the big brand names of gaming entering the PDA zone eventually. Because of their well known brand names, they will sell huge amounts even if they charge premium prices ($25-$30). We can compete on quality, content and price - but not brand recognition. By optimizing the three factors which we can control, we can still carve out a market for ourselves. And because the big brand name games *will* sell - we can piggyback on their sales - rather than compete. People purchasing the brand name game will think - "hey, another game in the same category. Never heard of it before, but with such nice reviews and a cost next to nothing, I'll give it a try - since I'm already into this genre." They will install our game and maybe realize that we have more and better content than the big brand name game they originally bought. The next time around, they will have been educated to check out our games (the small time developers) as well - and *then* we're actually competing with the big boys.
3) Bulding a reputation
The most important asset we have is our reputation. If I can sell 5000 games at $20 - or - 15000 games at $5 - I would pick the low price/high volume option rather than the high price/low volume - even if the total amount may end up less. Simply because the 15000 customers are an investment, an asset. Having the email addresses of 15000 customers that are willing to pay $5 online with their credit card is my investment into the future. Even if I cannot afford full page ads in the big magazines, I can still contact my customer base when my next game is ready. These people are more likely to think they made a great deal nine month ago when they bought my game at $5 than if they had paid $20 - and hence they are more likely to purchase the new game as well.
4) Building/changing the platform
By lowering the price to the $5 - $10 range, PDA owner will have the opportunity to buy *more* games. More people looking for a portable gameing platform will start looking into it, and over time we might change the average PDA owner from a 40+ yrs sales manager looking for yet another golf game or another round of tetris, to the 15 - 30yrs range whose appetite of games matches what we see on the other platforms. Then the PDA scene might end up as a recruitement pool for and a place to start a career as a gamedeveloper for the big platforms.
5) Scare off the big boys
If the PDA scene get a reputation for a place where quality games costs next to nothing, the executive suits in the boardrooms of the big brand name game companies will think more than twice before entering into what is essentially a niche market - if the margins are low they will stay away and consentrate of platforms that are more widespread and have higher software prices.
PROBLEMS:
The problem with all this is retail. If you want your game to go retail, you cannot sell it in the $5 - $10. Noone is interrested in giving shelf space to a game in the $5 - $10 range, so you'll either have to do bundles of several games - or you must add some kind of value to justify a higher price range - or both.
NOW:
Right now I must say the first wave of feedback and response is very encouraging...but we'll all see very soon. Personally I've invested 16+ hrs/day every day the last 12 months in my new soon-to-be released game, and I know that it will go head-to-head and crush a game with a well-known-brand (which will be released soon) in every department. I'm very excited to see if superior content, playablility, graphics, features and price is enough when you face an established brand and superior marketing power - and if our industry is strong enough to create our own heros. This experiemnt will at least give an indecation of what the right pricing model will be.
Regards,
Chez
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 07:34 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 70
|
|
I just bought my copy. I too, hope this trend continues.
__________________
Current: iPhone, HTC AdvantagePast: 200LX,Newton 120,MP 2100,PalmPilot,Velo1, 620LX,660LX,HP's 680,690,568,REX5000,TriPad,Clio-1050,z50,E-115,E-125,Visor Prism,Aero 2130, iPAQs 3650,3670,3850,3870,5450, Toshiba e740, 128MB iPAQ 3970, iPAQ 5555, Treo 600, Treo 650, PPC-6700
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 07:41 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 110
|
|
I installed on my CF microdrive and it is very slow but still very playable. I'm gonna see if it plays faster on a real CF.
Neat game, pretty playable and I don't play games. I like the way they got around the multiple button issue by having some controls on the screen.
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 08:09 PM
|
|
Contributing Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,389
|
|
does it actually work with the 38xx? I bought it along time ago and have never been able to play it on my new ipaq. 
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 08:15 PM
|
|
Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 69
|
|
Keep in mind that a very low price sometimes reduces the precieved value of an otherwise high-quality product.
Sometimes a low price actually reduces sales because certain customers won't bother to try it - and will wrongly assume that the product is not as good as the competitors (hence the low price).
I was recently at Office Max shopping for a good accounting program for my desktop PC. While comparing QuickBooks and Peachtree (both of which are about $400), I noticed a "non brand-name" program that was for about $25... can't remember the name. Sure, $25 is a lot more afforable than $400.....but my instinct was ... there has got to be something wrong with this if it's priced so low. So I didn't bother looking too much into it, and ended up buying Quickbooks. Now that I think about it, if that box has been marked $149 or maybe even $99, I would've taken a closer look, and maybe even bought it - thinking wow...this seems like an "expensive" product, yet it's a steal compared to the others.
Product pricing is usually a difficult process and you need to know your target customer very well to do it right. It's not as simple as low price = more sales. You have to factor in the psyche of the buyer - will he/she be "turned off" by the low price? Are you pricing at par with similar products in the category? Also, sometimes it's better to offer rebates, bundle deals, or other "free stuff" for the higher price than to lower the price itself....thus sweetening the deal, yet keeping your perceived value high.
Anyway, hope it works out well for Chopper Alley!
-Mel
|
| |
|
|
|
04-08-2002, 08:20 PM
|
|
Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 253
|
|
I find the game to be choppy at best at high rez, and it looks like crap at anything lower (and it is hard to make out details). I use a Audiovox Maestro BTW
And I paid the original $19.95 for it back in the day :cry:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Cheaper Chopper
Linear Mode
