Listening to this week’s show has me pondering one word….Value. How much is an Xbox Live Arcade game worth? 1600 Space Bucks for what?!?!? The Wii is just “two gamecubes duck-taped together.” The DS is just a gimic? The $199.99 Xbox 360 is worthless? “Nintendo is just printing money!” All of these phrases  are familiar to those who follow the gaming industry. Analysts predicted winners and losers, but no prediction could accurately detail the flux of this console generation. Because they couldn’t accurately predict the the gamers’ definition of “value” would also change with the console cycle.

The Culture of gaming was different during the late 80′s and 90′s. Super Mario World took me months to beat. My younger brother and I spent hours pouring through the various worlds, finding every secret, and hunting down every gold coin. Most people probably finished it in a matter of weeks, while the over committed finished it in days . How many times did you and your friends tackle Contra? Bionic Commando? Difficulty was a primary focus, and one game had to last till the next major holiday. After receiving Super Mario World for christmas, we had to save our lunch money for  months to buy Street Fighter II for the Super Nintendo, which laster us to the following Christmas. I don’t believe our situation was isolated due to most of my friends also receiving 2-3 games per year. Contra provided months of fun. It was only a four hour game, and the Konami Code made 2 hours an attainable feat. Sixty dollars could provide 6-7 months of gaming fun.

Currently, I peruse the local gamestore 2-3 times a week. The used game market is booming, and I trade in more games. Dead Space was rumored to be a 6 – 10 hour game. ” I’ll just wait till it falls in the $20.00 range.” Less than a year later, it’s sitting in my library, only played twice. Madden 10 released a week after DeadSpace, so DeadSpace is moved to my list of games that are waiting to be played, or commonly referred to as our “pile of Shame”  With so many games being released from August to December, Madden 10 is good trade bait, so keeping it will be hard when Forza 3 is releases. The Value of a $60.oo game is much shorter than in previous generations.

Bundles, Bundles, Bundles, Bundles, Bundles. I merely hate the sound of that word. Hardware/Software companies have used that word to bilk more money out of the consumer. While bundling goodies with games and hardware was successful in the past; It has presently been a detriment to sales.

Nintendo – has mastered the word.  By packaging Wii Sports in with the Wii Console, Nintendo  has stifled the competition while giving customers a one-stop pickup, with no messy dialogue like; backwards compatibility, or Hi-Definition. By the way, if you do need another controller, Nintendo even throws in another 10 games with it. The success here isn’t the bundle though….it’s the inherent value. While the other systems we’re hovering in the $400 – $600 price range, Nintendo had everything in one box for $249.00. Also, helping the sales were the stigma that the Wii was the “fun” machine for everyone of all ages.

Microsoft - constantly evolving the word “Value.”  Console sales are moderately high considering a failure rate higher than the functioning rate. Launching with two different sku’s proved to be the butter on MS’s bread, The inherent “Value” was the low barrier of entry into their console market. A Hi-Def experience for a low price, and if you want the best, just pay a few dollars more. Everyone is happy. A superior online service shows the “Value” is in the quality of the experience, and not the yearly price tag.

Sony – learned the hard way that “bundle” doesn’t justify “price.” “Value” justifies price. Lack of exclusive software also marred the sales. Sony believed the value was in the included Blu-Ray capability, the backwards compatibility, and the hardware technology we’re enough reasons to outprice the other console manufactures. The current price drops of all PS3 models places them in the same class as  Xbox and Nintendo, and also places them on many gamer’s radars.

One of the lessons learned this generation is that assumed value doesn’t justify a steep price tag. Many analysts predicted Nintendo’s demise and Sony’s uprise. They didn’t predict that gamer’s definitions  of value would change with the hardware revisions. Software companies are slowly evolving also. Activision, taking the McDonalds happy meal approach, relied on plastic toys to justify their lack of software innovation. Due to an over saturation of hardware, they have to justify the price of Guitar Hero 5 with a free copy  of Guitar Hero: Van Halen. This evolution is forcing Publishers/Manufacter to re-evaluate business practices, and maybe this time around, they won’t confuse “value,” with “Bundle.”