Have a question that needs answering?

[Curse]

Why are most games with awesome graphics incredibly complicated and hard to play? Also how can you like Sony so much after what they did to SWG and dont give me a stupid excuse like SOE is a different part of the company I don't work for. Sony is Sony and Sony deserves to die!

 

[BananaMan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(djmtott @ Oct 5 2006, 05:44 AM) [snapback]123488[/snapback][/center]

Because they want to front-end their profit.

You pay the inflated price at a product's launch because you're paying for the research and development of that item. Once they've paid off that cost they can lower the prices and still make a large profit, since the price is much more than the production costs.
[/b]

Ah the Product Life Cycle takes me back.




<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Curse @ Oct 5 2006, 10:09 AM) [snapback]123510[/snapback][/center]

Why are most games with awesome graphics incredibly complicated and hard to play? Also how can you like Sony so much after what they did to SWG and dont give me a stupid excuse like SOE is a different part of the company I don't work for. Sony is Sony and Sony deserves to die!
[/b]

Quite a tough question first, I don't develop games personally, but I can say that I like difficulty games they keep things realistic. What SOE did to SWG was due to market forces, i.e. WoW. Instead of spending money trying to form a new niche that was SWG, they decided to go with the overall market and change their games accordingly. With the NGE SOE now has lower Development costs for SWG, and have moved a large majority of their developers to other areas of their business.

I cannot argue with a company that thinks about its overall future prospects, before its customers in a sense you can't please customers if you?re not in business.

 

[BananaMan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stavrose @ Oct 5 2006, 01:13 AM) [snapback]123445[/snapback][/center]

Should I further diversify my portfolio?

j/k

In the video game industry, what kind of primary data is used in the marketing process of a video game? What are the typical ways that such data is gathered?
[/b]

Forming focus groups within an existing QA Team, but even this doesn't get us the primary data inclusively that we need as the QA?s work for the company be it EA/Sony. After looking internally we turn to our current customer base, by sending out questionnaires, which are cleverly formulated with leading questions, so that we get the answers we want. Normally we would go for mail shot surveys, but the main disadvantage of that is that it costs a lot of money. As you probably know primary data gathering is the most expensive form of research that?s why we normally use a combination of Primary and Secondary.

Do a search on Mintel; they do the best Market Research.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Akieo @ Oct 5 2006, 01:43 AM) [snapback]123448[/snapback][/center]

Is your brother really a woman?

Real note... What will be the price of a PS3 a year after its releas?



Not that I care though... because Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

[/b]

What? I can't tell you my predictions for pricing you nutcake.

Have the best of 5 minutes of fun, thats all you'll get from the Wii.

 

[Curse]

When will we see MMOs with virtual reality?!?

 

[Fluffy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BananaMan @ Oct 4 2006, 05:49 PM) [snapback]123402[/snapback][/center]

And obviously Wanderhomies is a very biased group, as you all hate SOE.
[/b]

Oh...by the way, Wanderhomies is not the only place that must "hate" SOE:

The people at Slashdot and GameFAQs must both do as well.


Not to mention Here or Here


Hey, not bad, it only took me to page 3 of google links to find a poll where PS3 wins here...but they must just be Nintendo haters.

 

[reek]

Er... Banana, with all due respect, I really don't know if you're completely sure of what you're talking about.

Why would mail surveys be more expensive than other methods of research? Other than polling your own people of course, which isn't exactly research.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BananaMan @ Oct 5 2006, 09:00 AM) [snapback]123521[/snapback][/center]

Have the best of 5 minutes of fun, thats all you'll get from the Wii.
[/b]

And why the hell would you say this? I don't care if you're the CEO of Sony, you would still admit that the Zelda series has been a resounding success.

Considering how much of a failure the PSP has been in comparison to Nintendo handhelds, I really don't think you're speaking with any knowledge that any other person does not currently possess.

 

[Stavrose]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(reek @ Oct 7 2006, 01:45 AM) [snapback]123925[/snapback][/center]

Er... Banana, with all due respect, I really don't know if you're completely sure of what you're talking about.

Why would mail surveys be more expensive than other methods of research? Other than polling your own people of course, which isn't exactly research.[/b]

basic principles of marketing. Secondary data is less expensive cause it usually comes from sources like your internal organization, or the government, or the industry. It obviously is inexpensive cause you're just pulling out info from your MIS department or other internal sources and it requires less time to gather than primary data.

Primart data involves observing, questioning, and controlled experiments. This is more expensive cause if you think about it, you're spending a lot of money to get it done. Say you're mailing questionarres to people. There's a cost to mail those. Say you're conducting focus groups or controlled experiments. People expect pay for participating. Ever gotten one of those surveys from school that say they'll pay you $20 to participate? Imagine large companies. When they do that, they're polling or observing thousands of people. A single experiment, or questionairre, or observation can easily cost $10,000 - $20,000


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Fluffy @ Oct 6 2006, 02:06 PM) [snapback]123827[/snapback][/center]

Oh...by the way, Wanderhomies is not the only place that must "hate" SOE:

The people at Slashdot and GameFAQs must both do as well.


Not to mention Here or Here


Hey, not bad, it only took me to page 3 of google links to find a poll where PS3 wins here...but they must just be Nintendo haters. [/b]

pre-sales polls show nothing. Polls told us that Kerry would win the last election by a landslide. Polls tend to be innacurate and not an accurate representation of the population as a whole...especially polls on web sites. Do you realize that Sony can't produce units fast enough to keep up with U.S. demand? Which is why they postponed it's European release?

 

[Akieo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BananaMan @ Oct 5 2006, 09:00 AM) [snapback]123521[/snapback][/center]

Have the best of 5 minutes of fun, thats all you'll get from the Wii.
[/b]

You are just mad because Wii will be competition for your paycheck! Wii will be good, get used to it. They focus on fun instead of "LOL 234GB HD & CDBURNERDVDPLAYERBBQ + CINEMATICGAMESFTW?!"

 

[reek]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stavrose @ Oct 7 2006, 11:20 AM) [snapback]123953[/snapback][/center]

Primart data involves...
[/b]

So apparently you're not aware that I am a Market Research Project Director, lol. I know why primary data collection is more expensive than simply polling your own organization, which isn't really research. I'm just interested as to why mail surveying is more expensive than other methods.

Cuz well, I'll just out and out say it - it's not. First, it's rare that you pay mail survey respondents, unless it's for something long term like Arbitron does with the radio ratings (they send between 2-7$ to respondents with the radio diary that people keep for a week). Sometimes you can give them coupons if that's applicable, but that's rare as well. Usually you are appealing to their interest. It is in their interest to participate in research and complete the survey. For example, whenever you buy a new car you automatically get a survey in the mail. This can be quite a lengthy survey and these respondents are not paid.

It is extremely rare that this is more expensive than other methods of survey, including web survey, CATI surveys, focus groups, intercepts, etc. It's usually much less expensive, but the returns really suck compared to other forms of survey.

 

[reek]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stavrose @ Oct 7 2006, 11:20 AM) [snapback]123953[/snapback][/center]

pre-sales polls show nothing.[/b]

Also, this statement conflicts with the statement you make later in the same paragraph:

Do you realize that Sony can't produce units fast enough to keep up with U.S. demand? Which is why they postponed it's European release?
[/b]

They don't truly know US demand without "pre-sales polls" (or more accurately, market research).

 

[Sareth]

I love clueless Sony fanboys!

Your argument for a PS3 because of Blu-Ray does not stand. You already claim it to be the next DVD format when in reality the HD-DVD is way ahead in sales and consumer adoption.
Let's not forget Sony has already failed TWICE with new formats. BETA and UMD have both seen a bitter end and I would not call Blu-Ray superior to HD-DVD. If you have seen it for yourself, you may have noticed that HD-DVD actually has a much better picture then Blu-Ray at this point. Blu-Ray is a nice format for backup though with its increased capacity, but then again, we have not even played with Double Layered HD-DVD yet.

Another argument you make is that the PS3 fully supports 1080p while the 360 does not?!
What are you trying to argue here. The games? The movies? The 360 fully supports HD-DVD and 1080p, yes it may not be games, but it is indeed 1080p movie playback support. The whole 1080p argument doesn't even hold up at this point as it is a new technology that maybe 10% of consumers can really use at this point.
HDMI for PS3 but not for Xbox360? True, but it has not yet been determined that MS will not release a HDMI dongle in the near future. There just isn't enough demand from the average consumer. Also, HD will stream quiet nicely over VGA and Component connections, so don't just count on a HDMI plug. HDMI is still a new product and has only slowly began to take hold as a predominant input. Component, VGA and DVI are still very common inputs on many home HD television sets of the last few years.

Since you are a marketing guru, you should also realize that Sony is marketing this PS3 to a niche market instead of a broad audience. PS3 is now a heavy commodity with its insane price tag. It is NOT...I repeat...NOT twice the power of a Xbox360. It is ahead, yes, but at a 1 year loss of release date also.

Gaming has grown up and reaches past the 12-18 market, yes, but Nintendo still knows that with its cheaper price and demand by kids/children for consoles, they are really marketing to the right audience.
You already call off the Wii as something to have fun for a few minutes? Let's see about that when the first 4million consoles hit the market as opposed to the 400,000 PS3's we will see during the same time frame.

Don't call off competition because you a prefer Sony and their products.

 

[BananaMan]

Mail Surveys are very expensive because of the postage costs, it is alot easier to leave a flyer in game retail box and get the gamer to post it back. Or we could leave flyers for our customers to fill in Game stores, Online surveys etc etc. I have the program costs in front of me, and Freepost addresses, and mail delivery surcharges still top it for the UK am afraid. :blink:

From my experience Mail related research is costly, but not very fruitful unless you give the customer an incentive, normal some free games etc.

Sareth get off your horse you may be getting saddle sore very soon.

Currently I can tell you two things.

The PS3 will sell out within a week or less of release, and that Sony will still have more units mobile in the US, and Japan than Microsoft could of dream of on their lauch of the Flame grilled 360.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sareth @ Oct 8 2006, 12:11 AM) [snapback]123998[/snapback][/center]

I love clueless Sony fanboys!
[/b]

A bit bitter, do I sense fear

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sareth @ Oct 8 2006, 12:11 AM) [snapback]123998[/snapback][/center]

I love clueless Microsoft fanboys!
[/b]

Fixed

 

[Sareth]

Yes it will sell out. 400,000 units aren't very much for the North American market. If they didn't sell those 400K, it would be a pretty sad showing for Sony.
However, the way I see it, and experts agree, Nintendo will make a solid showing trying to catch up with MS. But the 360 game lineup for this holiday season is extremely enticing for most gamers and we will see MS take the lead with the 360, followed by Nintendo Wii, and Sony in dead last.
Next year is when the real battle begins anyway. But unless Sony starts showing some PS3 exclusives that a not cross-platform they will be hurting.

I just realized you are in the UK. You will not even see a PS3 until March 2007 anyway.

 

[BananaMan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sareth @ Oct 8 2006, 01:28 AM) [snapback]124011[/snapback][/center]

Yes it will sell out. 400,000 units aren't very much for the North American market. If they didn't sell those 400K, it would be a pretty sad showing for Sony.
However, the way I see it, and experts agree, Nintendo will make a solid showing trying to catch up with MS. But the 360 game lineup for this holiday season is extremely enticing for most gamers and we will see MS take the lead with the 360, followed by Nintendo Wii, and Sony in dead last.
Next year is when the real battle begins anyway. But unless Sony starts showing some PS3 exclusives that a not cross-platform they will be hurting.
[/b]

But, did anyone say this was going to be a short race.

Oh Sareth, do you know all the release titles, are you the insider who keeps following me, are you the guru do you know all.

Sony knows the battle that Microsoft has instigated by throwing the cash around on exclusive game deals, and personally Microsoft might want to wish they had never done it. B)

I will end on a bomb shell, and I bet you all the next gen Microsoft console will be more expensive than the Playstation 3.

 

[Sareth]

Well the release list isn't exactly secret. It may not be finalized, but there is a good listing here. That's what...60% cross platform...and I'm just guessing on that as some more of these titles may be cross platform as well.

Sony knows the battle that Microsoft has instigated by throwing the cash around on exclusive game deals, and personally Microsoft might want to wish they had never done it. [/b]

Why? Exclusive titles sell games and consoles. HALO?! We now have GEARS OF WAR coming up, which looks stunning

I will end on a bomb shell, and I bet you all the next gen Microsoft console will be more expensive than the Playstation 3.[/b]

Well we aren't talking about "the next" one.

Also, Sony better get their shit together as far as online gaming goes. The LIVE system is outstanding and we have yet to see how efficient the PS3's system works at home.

 

[Stavrose]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(reek @ Oct 7 2006, 03:07 PM) [snapback]123979[/snapback][/center]

Also, this statement conflicts with the statement you make later in the same paragraph:

They don't truly know US demand without "pre-sales polls" (or more accurately, market research). [/b]

i never said polls were accurate. expensive, yes, but they have the flaw of being innacurate as representing a population as a whole. Polls can only say so much. There never is a "perfect" way to sample a population. You should also know that it's bad to become enamored in a single method of gathering data. Polls only show you a portion of the picture. I doubt Sony ONLY conducted pre-sales polls to base their projected quantity of demand. And no reek, i'm afraid i forgot to take into consideration the common knowledge that you're a marketing project manager.

 

[Fluffy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stavrose @ Oct 8 2006, 12:38 AM) [snapback]124029[/snapback][/center]

i never said polls were accurate. expensive, yes, but they have the flaw of being innacurate as representing a population as a whole. Polls can only say so much. There never is a "perfect" way to sample a population. You should also know that it's bad to become enamored in a single method of gathering data. Polls only show you a portion of the picture. I doubt Sony ONLY conducted pre-sales polls to base their projected quantity of demand. And no reek, i'm afraid i forgot to take into consideration the common knowledge that you're a marketing project manager.
[/b]

/shrug

My polls comment was to demonstarte that the are other "communities" out there that think the Wii will be a success besdies the "obviously Sony haters" here at Wanderhomies.

 

[Sovi]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sareth @ Oct 7 2006, 06:11 PM) [snapback]123998[/snapback][/center]

Let's not forget Sony has already failed TWICE with new formats. BETA and UMD have both seen a bitter end and I would not call Blu-Ray superior to HD-DVD.
[/b]

Don't forget the MiniDisc and their laptop batteries :lol:

I'm not a fan of their Memorystick either.

 

[Curse]

So umm.. virtual reality mmos?? anybody?? lol

 

[Stavrose]

bottom line, this argument is achieving nothing except a bunch of people saying, "my prediction is right, yours is wrong." let's just let time tell