BREAKING: Sellers set their own prices for their own products

In a stunning realization, gamers discovered that the people who develop and produce their beloved games are actually allowed to determine their own price for the products they make.  Tempers flared in the gaming community when it was announced that the PC version of publisher Activision Blizzard’s Modern Warfare 2 would cost $60, prompting a possible boycott.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said avid button-masher Joe McCrybaby.  “I always just figured that there was some law that dictated that games were $50, especially PC games.  When I found out that wasn’t the case, I was shocked.”

Infinity Ward, the developers of the game, noted that publishers have been able to set the prices of games for years.

“There is precedent for this, believe it or not,” said Infinity Ward’s Community Manager Robert Bowling. “In the past, publishers have been able to determine what they thought was a fair value for their game.  This would sometimes lead to bargain games like Serious Sam for $20.  On the other end of the spectrum, Warcraft III originally debuted at $60.  We believe that’s a fair price for our game as well.”

McCrybaby reacted to this explanation with anger.

“Sure, less than $50 is fine.  But anything more than that is crap.  Blizzard learned their lesson after trying to pull that crap with Warcraft III.”

When it is pointed out that Warcraft III actually set sales records when it came out, McCrybaby simply complained that it would’ve done a lot better if it had debuted at the $50 pricepoint.

“A lot of people boycotted that game then just like I’m going to boycott Modern Warfare 2 now.  I’ll have plenty of other things to play anyway like Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, World of Warcraft and even Starcraft 2 is probably right around the corner!”

Activision Blizzard is the publisher of all of those games, as well as Modern Warfare 2.

*Note: This is satire.  None of the quotes above are real and no interviews took place.

April Fools

I have an annual curmudgeonly post about how much I hate April Fool’s Day and its concurrent, inane jokes, but I have to say that the main sites are actually running stories that I wish were true.  It would be immensely entertaining to have an M-rated SSB Extreme, where you could in fact decapitate Mario.  Perhaps we’ve become so enraptured with the idea of being thoughtful and artistic (or at least, big) that we’ve crowded out the clever conceits that used to drive much of the industry.

Thanks to Joystiq for labeling its April Fool’s posts appropriately.

Archie Feels My Pain

Even Archie, a comic that hasn’t shown an understanding of any technology invented past 1956, has RROD problems.  Now you know the meme is big.

All your base are belong to Obama *Update*

He has his own TV channel.  He’s bought 30 minutes of primetime on at least two major networks.  And now, he’s invaded… our games?  This is very likely a photoshop, but I’ll load up Burnout tomorrow to see if I find anything like this.  Still, whatever your political preference, I thought this was funny.  If this is real, I suppose this does target a demographic that’s historically been an Obama strength, and I guess he really is leaving no stone unturned.

*UPDATE* - It turns out that this is NOT a photoshop.  Very interesting.

Family Guy Mario

Kind of amusing Family Guy-style bit on Mario.  I think Family Guy’s gone downhill since its return, but this is still amusing.

Plagiarists do Oblivion

Allanon just sent along this story where Game Plasma’s eagle-eyed PC reviewer noticed some striking similarities between Oblivion and a new game from a smaller PC studio titled “Limbo of the Lost.” Well, maybe not so much “striking similarities” as entire environments, lighting, and furniture placement in the exact same place as in Oblivion.

When this was first pointed out to me, I wondered whether these were just temporary placeholders for a game as of yet unreleased. Given the fact that he is reviewing the game, and a quick scan of Amazon suggests that this is not the case. I have a feeling we’re about to see some legal action here, as, unlike the S.T.A.L.K.E.R/Doom 3 fiasco, it’s hard to imagine that these entire environments are part of a 3rd party package.

You know what they say… imitation is the sincerest form of… ah, never mind. This is ridiculous. Sample pictures after the jump:

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The Onion’s Best-Selling Wii Titles

I was a little surprised to see “Super-Gay Tennis” narrowly outsell “Throw the Thing at the Thing”, but what can you do.

And anyone want to take bets on whether something like “Virtual Babysitter” will actually see release on either the Wii or DS?