Game prices and what you get

For the first time in some years i actually have to pay real money again for games. As a pc user, i have always waited a while for the prices of games to come down. A top title will be around 45-50 euro's at introduction. A few months, and sometimes even weeks, later the price drops to around 20-25 euro's. This is a price point i can live with.

In the, distant past, games did not actually finish. Quite a lot of flight games for the pc had randomly generated missions that really never runned out. Also dungeon games, now known as rpg's, randomly generated the game environment. Ok, it was still bomb this, shoot that or find the dragon but at least i gave you an idea of unlimited possibilities.

Paying good money for those kind of games was ok really, as you did not only get a cd or set of floppy's, but also a big printed manual. The manuals of flight sim games really was great, i remeber selecting games on the weight of the box !

Some explanation about the price first : Most 360 games are around 49-64 euro's here at introduction. If you shop around you can always find the latest for about 50. That is around 65 usd, but it includes a sales tax of 16-19%. (Yeah taxes are high in the EU).

Ok what do you get for that large amount hard earned cash ? : A small dvd box with a 6 page printed booklet. No more big manuals nice boxes or other interesting stuff (remember the scratch and sniff card of leather godesses of phobos anyone?). But worst of all about 90% of current games is based around a scriped engine with a inbuild story which actually ends !

So you buy Gears of War, and about 10-15 hours later the game is finished, just like a movie or a book. Yes you can replay it on higher difficulty setting, but that does not change the environment or add monsters. It's just the same game only harder to get through. It's like reading the same book again under more difficult reading conditions. "hey Mike, what if i shake your chair while you read war and peace?"

50 euro's for say 15 hours of entertainment is quite pricey in my opinion. Games should cost about 20-25 euro's tops, then the 10 hour life span would make sense. I will switch to buying used or reselling the game as soon as i finish it.

What's your opinion on the matter ?