Get quoted in trade mag MCV! Talk about your gaming habits

This doesn't really apply these days. There are - on average - only a couple of games per year worth shelling out for IMHO.

More quality titles. Codemasters have the driving genre sewn up, Konami make the only soccer games worth playing - there's (almost) nothing else to get genuinely excited about. I get to see a lot of games thanks to my job and 99% are s**t.

Lesser, definitely.

How many games do you buy a month?

About 1. Sometimes less though.

What would make you buy more games?

If I had more money and more free time I would buy more games. If I had a job that didn't involve testing games and looking at monitors I could justify more time in front of a screen at home.

What could the industry do to make me buy more games, though? Pretty much any games forum you care to visit has the usual crowd saying the usual things - why aren't games innovative anymore? Why aren't they as polished? How do so many games, which seem to me transparently buggy/easy/boring/generic/plagiaristic/short/repetitive get released? It might seem strange that the same things have been said on forums for some years now, yet if you had to say which way the industry has been heading over that time, it's the opposite direction to the one the online, vocal games community is whining for it to go.

But most games aren't made for people who post on games forums. Publishers make games that are going to be bought en masse by your average disposable income type, along with his monthly allowance of DVDs, CDs and lad magazines (this is what you're up against: http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,1509,1315320,00.html). For these people, the same games that you moan about are just fine. And that's fine by me too - I'm glad they're not playing SuperMonkeyBall, ICO, Ikaruga or Outrun 2 - they don't deserve to.

Games heads are a minority amongst games purchasers, so it follows that within the industry developers who put their hearts into finely crafting games in the long tradition of what they believe the art represents are outnumbered by shameless franchise-flogging money sluts who see their profit margins in terms of ship dates hit and corners cut.

I don't reckon the percentage of games that I want to play will increase over time (though it would be nice), but equally I'm sure that there will always be people around who care enough to make them. Grateful to be in the enlightened minority too - who wants to like the stuff that everyone else likes?

Are you buying more or less games now than you have previously?

Less than the C64 days, but more than my days at Uni in the N64 era. I would say I play less than ever though, but that's just because I have a job I think.

How many games do you buy a month?

If second hand 3-5, if brand new 1-2 and NTSC import 1-2.

What would make you buy more games?

More variety and creativity, less focus on licenses and more on original games. For developers to take chances, and ask us what we want (a yearly questionaire in every games magazine or online would help them know what we want with ease).

I feel there's too much playing it safe, when it comes to western developers, especially in the UK in some cases. While japanese developers take chances and are reaping rewards (Viewtiful Joe etc), outside of japan, some are still stuck in warm, safe unimaginative games to bring in the next load of cash. I'd like to see the ideas of a development team members, end up as demos on their websites, so we can test a concept out and choose what we like, or want to buy along with giving feedback (we need this because if you play test stuff via a school kid they will think everything is cool, and get a say in what gets made).
Commmunication is needed badly between customers of all ages and developers.

I'd also like to see faster conversions so I don't have to import games (Suikoden 3 taking two years or so to reach uk/eu is not good, when many already have it on import, and the fourth installment is due soon in japan. Don't bitch if sales of it are poor).

You really have to ask yourself where this industry is going, because all I see are graphics getting better in many cases. The minority care what happens, where the majority buy whatever cheese is on the plate, and it's slowly turning into a cheese shop. I don't like cheese that much, so perhaps if the money grabbing suits actually played and cared more about the product they are selling, perhaps I might too and buy more games. Perhaps we that care are a dying breed, but if we don't care and no one else does, the industry might slowly slip into oblivion.

Other stuff that would make me buy more are, smaller independant games store unlike Game. Staff that know their product and sometimes play games too. Possibly train staff in the history of games as standard at places like Game (I can pipedream).



Are you buying more or less games now than you have previously?

More stuff second hand, and retro import games, but perhaps less new games. Still being deprived of a lot of good games (EG:PS2 Xenosaga Episode 1 and 2 have never been released in uk/eu, which again forces many to import), but I don't expect everything to be good.

Stuff outside of gaming also play a part in this too. So much to do, so little time. Also like clubbing and socialising, watching films and anime, music, reading and drawing. Perhaps my gaming gets less time than ever before now.

New, two or three a month on average (this includes imports). Pre-owned, many more but only because most games for my beloved Dreamcast rarely stray past £5 now.


To be honest, price is a big factor. The majority of my purchases were made during the periods when I worked last year. Being 17 and having few other monetary commitments allowed me to get pretty much any game I wanted at the time - as such, my Gamecube collection is full of most big titles released in the past year, and I've been able to actively keep up with the Dreamcast import scene. Now I'm a student, and I'm wondering how I'm going to afford Outrun 2, SNK's re-releases and other goodies, not to mention my ever-important DC imports.

I'll also give a controversial one here - games are too long. I worked for most of the past year, and I'm at college now. I've got less free time than I had at school. The perfect way to illustrate this is that when I was at school, I often found time to play Final Fantasy 7 and my completed save file stands at 70 hours or so. Recently, I've been feeling that shorter games such as Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time have more reasonable length. They're not insubstantial and are all high-quality, but I don't have to devote silly amounts of time to play if I want to finish them. I've also been playing more "quick fix" titles such as Crazy Taxi and Ikaruga.

I'm not so bothered about the issues of originality - the masses can buy what they want, that's how the developers fund themselves (though not all of them put the funds into original products, so kudos to companies such as Capcom and Sega who do). As long as stuff like Viewtiful Joe and Rez is being made I won't have a problem.


More, because money has been no object for me recently. However, price is going to see me buying less again, or resorting to eBay and the pre-owned bins. I don't really want to cut back on how much I play, but I'll have to given the prices of console games.

1-2 games, some are new and some are pre-owned. I can usually only afford 1 new game per month, sometimes none, but that's because of other commitments.



If I had more money, or if games cost less. Or even if there were more games that were "must buy" games for me. I see too many kids games, quick "party" games and driving, sport, Harry Potter, etc. games. I like long-ish adventure-type games like Tomb Raider and Primal type games. Even that genre has too many kids games and quick knock out games (Ratchett and Clank and Catwoman?? - urh!) for me to buy as many games as I want to.

I end up buying VHS or DVD films or going out to the cinema instead of playing games.



I think the same as for a while since I can buy more games as I have a job, but I do buy fewer games as there are fewer I like.

How many games do you buy a month?

That really depends. If, let's say...and this is completley and totally hypothetical in every possible way that one thing could exemplify a hypothetical situation, a game like Mary Kate and Ashely: Sweet 16 for the GBA was set to be released soon. Now in this 100% theoritial scenario, I would obviously go as far as potentially selling my body to be able to afford this gaming experience. So in other words, if there is a "killer-ap" released, that's the only time I buy a game.


What would make you buy more games?

Aside from a gun to my head, I imagine such things as "winning the lottery", "five doller games" and/or "the elimination of eight year lapses between Metroid releases" would suit me well.


Are you buying more or less games now than you have previously?

If by "buying more or less games now than you have before" you mean, "staring at the Pikmin 2 box at my local video game shop and hoping the store bursts into flames so that I may run out with a copy in all the mayham", then yes...yes I am buying more.

>>>Correction to the third paragraph of my post.<<<

I'd also like to see faster conversions so I don't have to import games (Suikoden 3 taking two years or so to NOT reach uk/eu is not good, many would already have bought it on import and the fourth installment is out soon in japan). RPGs take longer, but we still miss a lot of them besides other games.

How many games do you buy a month?

Dude, I download loads. I jest, I actually hire 'em from the local blockbuster, and then rip them ;-)

OK, seriously, I buy about four games a month, for various platforms. Though 'cause I travel lots, more for GBA than for GC or PS2.

What would make you buy more games?

I run the risk of sounding like a stuck record here, more original games. But given that EA have pretty much captured the market on a platform of stunning unoriginality, and set the agenda for the industry today, I'd settle for more nudity.

Are you buying more or less games now than you have previously?

I'm buying fewer. I used to buy loads. But now, I'm just too busy, and games are too not good.

between 0 and 3 depending on if anythyin good is released. Sometimes I buy old games that I missed in busy months like Prince of persia which i missed last christmas.

Unlike lots of other people here I don't care if games are original too much. I just want games to be good. I want games to be well tested and tuned to make them a playable as possible. I don't care if a game slips to make way for more testing and correcting just as long as the finishing game is worth it. Ex. I'm very annoyed with GT4 slipping for a feature that isn't even going to make the wait worth while. I won't be buying that game as protest to Sony.
I also think games are much to expensive. I can do with out pointless cut scenes and AAA soundtracks featuring famous bands if the game is 2 thirds the typical price. Get rid of the useless tv advertising on Sky1 during Gamezville. Its a waste of money targeting the wrong people.

Much more but that's because I have a job and more money now. Also, the N64 carts were too expensive to buy often.