It’s a little sickening that someone came up with the idea to take something that has already existed it, polish it up, slap a new coat of paint on it, and then sell it right back to us. Sounds like something that’ll never worked and yet it does. Somehow this almost scam-like notion has become a brilliant idea. Like a fast-talking car salesman who manages to sell you a car you weren’t even originally looking at.With lavish colorful words describing the item, they are able to twist your mind to convince you it would be foolish of you not to buy it. Look at the new Amazing Spider-Man movie coming out July 3rd. The last spider man movie was only five years ago, and there were two more before that one. Yet, this movie will no doubt make millions even though it’s the same old movie being resold.
This happens with everything in our lives and gaming is no different. There is no doubt that an evolution of gaming has occurred over the past two decades. Once single-player games reigned supreme, now even the best campaigns don’t matter if there isn’t a multiplayer to back it up. One would think this would make any old games obsolete. Well, one would be wrong. Because of XBLA and PSN, old games are still being sold. They upgrade the graphics and then sell it for around usually either $10.00 or $15.00.
Boy do I hate how well this works. At least I can proudly say it has never worked on me, although admittedly, it almost has. I can see why someone would succumb to purchasing a game off PSN or XBLA that they already have a copy of on an older system. Switching systems is annoying, and multiple discs for longer games are a hassle. For only $10 or $15, you could have the same game effortlessly on your better system. No more dealing with changing your TV to accommodate your older system to play that one game you just got an itch to run through again. However, is it really worth $10 just because of pure laziness? I don’t think so. It’s almost a principle of mine to never purchase a download of something I already own. My PS2’s disc drive doesn’t work, and it’s hooked up to a crappy TV, but I’d rather sit on the floor like my childhood days to play a blurry screen than buy the same game again.
There are games being resold that aren’t just for download. There are more and more “HD Collections” being released every month. The Silent Hill HD Collection came out back in March with Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. They’re the same games, but people still go out and buy them. Okay, yes, there are some differences, upgraded graphics to 720p is the most obvious. Some technical issues are fixed this time around as well as new voice acting. Yet, Konami just made a killing off selling the same games, because we keep buying them. This is a slippery slope we’re on, why would a company bother making a new game if they can put an old one in pretty wrapping paper with “HD” stamped on it and sell it again.
Granted, there are many good reasons why this works. Some older, rarer games are being sold on PSN. Ever try to purchase Final Fantasy 7? It’ll cost you $50-100 for the actual game, on PSN, it’ll cost you $10. Well that’s a steal, better graphics, no switching discs, and it’s cheaper, who wouldn’t do that? The same can be said for Suikoden I. One of the lesser known series, but that game is so rare, guess how much it is selling on eBay right now…If you guessed $150 you’d be wrong, because it’s $250. For one game, that is insane! On PSN, it’s being sold for less than $10. Once again, who wouldn’t rather download the game?
There is also the ability to bring games that were on systems that are no longer made and hard to find. Jet Set Radio was a big hit on the Dreamcast, but it’s hard to find a Dreamcast to play it. Jet Set Radio is coming to PSN and XBLA this summer. This is giving people the ability who never owned a Dreamcast to play an amazing game. So, in this regard, I understand why they are reselling old games.
Nevertheless, I can’t pretend to believe that the companies are doing this out of the goodness in their hearts, trying to get gamers to play some underappreciated games. It doesn’t take much to switch an old game to a newer platform. Final Fantasy 7 sold 100,000 copies in the first two weeks for 10$. Easy math shows Square Enix made a million dollars with barely doing anything, and only in the first two weeks! Looking at stats like that is why I refuse to download a game. I want game companies to make new ground breaking games to get my money. I don’t want them reaching into their vault, picking out a semi-decent game, dusting it off, giving it a fresh coat of paint, adding some intelligent sounding words, and selling it to me because it happens to have “HD” in the title.