TheMadPeacock On The Sofa

So I have this new PS3 and a new HD TV and I am eager to purchase content.. so why am I ok paying $160 for 6 Blu-Ray films I already have on DVD but I cant bring myself to purchase a game?

It comes down to character and value for money. I have watched Alien Resurrection many many times.. I like Ripley, I have watched her grow from a freighter crew member in Alien; weak, frightened, with little fight in her to an alien/badass hybrid who kills aliens for fun! The other characters in the film are fun too. I particularly like Ron Perlman’s character Johner. I enjoy watching this film, I like these characters, they make me feel good… its like visiting with friends.

For the price of a DVD ($13) I have 20+ hours of entertainment, cost per hour is 65c and falling. Even when I reinvest in the movie in Blu-Ray ($35) the cost per hour is still going to be just $2.50 an hour and falling each time I watch it.

A game on the other hand.. $55 for an average PS3 game I will only play for max 10 hours before getting bored, and never play again.. thats a cost per hour of $5.50 and it will not fall any lower over time.

So why don’t I play all the way through and why don’t I replay games? To analyze this I considered the 2 games I do play time and time again and tried to analyze why.

Age Of Empires - I have purchased this game many times, for PC, then for Mac, then for PC again (lost the original) and I purchase all the expansion packs.. I like this game because every time I play it is different. The levels are generated at load time so no 2 game experiences are the same. Compare this to Half Life (a game I really enjoyed playing once) a second playing would have me going down the same path with the same puzzles and the same monsters to kill.. boring.

Fable - I have played Fable many times, each time with a focus on a different mix of skills (magic, archery or swordplay) and that changes the game. Also (and I think this is key) Lionhead invested in character development. I played the character as a boy, I watched him and his family grow up, get torn apart and helped them reunite. I know why the enemies are why they are, the complexities of their characters are woven into the story. I like the world of Fable, I know its history, I know its people.

F.E.A.R - This is an example of many games, I know nothing about my character of the others in my unit, don’t know why I am here, I am not invested, any of them could die and I would not care. My path through the levels is very linear (many doors blocked by fallen cabinets of some type or the unimaginative security shutdown.. and the skills I have are available from the first moment and don’t appear to evolve. The levels are long and tedious with the same enemies spawning in the same place every time. Fun for a few hours of fragging but I regret purchasing it, after 5 hours I am bored and have put it aside. cost per hour $11, thats expensive, anyone want to buy it?