JohnnyDaBull

I know it means the game has sold a certain amount of copies. Sony makes it seem like an accomplishment (which it is) but why the red case and new artwork??? Collectors know that takes away from the value of the game and makes it less desirable to many people(the black label version is always worth more money). I guess I just don't get it. What's everyone else's opinion???

sauce07

It's for grandma's going out and buying christmas presents. For us video game nerds it's not a big deal, but the average consumer would want to know what are the popular titles.

JohnnyDaBull

Yea that's true

chuckd21

Costs less.

Jeremy517

Marketing to Joe Sixpack.

redbill

and HD-DVD fans

Michael Corvin

Do any of them go by sales anymore? I think that's a relic of last gen. As long as a game got good press it's a way to make the game stand out more and push more copies.

Anubis2005X

It means I have to pay more money for a black label version if I still haven't bought it, cause i hate those red cases, ugh...

Drexl

Real collectors need both versions anyway.

I think the point of the new packaging is to help keep the game available at retailers that don't stock everything, such as Wal-Mart, Kmart, etc. By changing the cover, it gives them something different to put on the shelf and attract attention. If they didn't do it, retailers would just drop the game after it stops selling.

It's no different from how movie studios sometimes change cover art or otherwise repackage the same stuff (witness the 4 or 5 different "editions" of Independence Day on DVD, with the same transfer and sound, and with or without the same extras disc).

foxdvd

it serves many goals...

It draws attention from a crowd that may have missed it when it first came out, and who now are ready to try it because it was "popular"....

It allows them to lower the price from 60 bucks to 20-30 bucks without lowering the perceived "value" of new games with normal labels. People shopping for games understand that these greatest hits are a value, and they even look different than their shinny new 60 dollar versions...so they are "worth" less...it almost in a way make new games seem more valuable...

It grabs floor space for older games that otherwise would get loss behind new games...

tonyc3742

And anyone who will pay sixty bucks for a non-red copy of a game, instead of twenty or thirty for the exact same game with a red stripe, is exactly the other kind of customer they're wanting - the sucker. [I know there were a few cases where the PH/GH was slightly altered from the original, and in that case, I can see it - although usually it's altered for the better]

Me, I'm fine buying PH or GH or whatever if it saves me thirty bucks. Of course, if the non-GH is the same price, I'm fine with getting that as well.

Then again, I'm starting to think that buying games at full price is a sucker's move anyway. Between sales, Amazon, Goozex, Gamestop, price drops, and GOTY editions, I'm definitely learning to wait to either get cheaper price or more content [again, I know there have been great sales or deals on brand new titles as well, and again, that's different.[

JohnnyDaBull

I'm starting to think about not buying games at launch as well. Because you can actually get a black label version of a game as long as you get it as soon as the price drop. The urge to play a game the first day it comes out is just soooo strong sometimes. Also I would never pay $60 bucks for a game that is GH just to get the black label...I would however buy it used(even though I hate buying used)

Supermallet

I thought it was based on copies shipped, not copies sold.

fumanstan

Collector's

nickdawgy

People bitching about the different colored cases is almost as bad as the packaging issue with Blu-ray's.

"Oh noes!! It's red or grey!!! It clashes with my drapes!! It makes my cat cry! It doesn't match my other boxes!!!!!!!111111111one"

JohnnyDaBull

when you collect stuff as a hobby you would want your shelves to be "uniform" I see nothing wrong with wanting that.

Groucho

A true collector would have bought the game on day one. Anybody else is just an amateur gamer.

tonyc3742

Nah... The *true* collector and !1!HardCore!1! Gamer would find/know the retailer who breaks street date and be playing it *before* it's officially out.

I do "collect" games. That is, I buy/trade for games I want to play and I keep most of them. I do like them to be complete, because I don't like paying full price (whatever that is at the time) for something incomplete. I have bought "collectors" editions occasionally if they come with bonus stuff I think is cool. I don't "collect" them in that I have to have every version, or that I need to show them off to people or to myself.

I think in many cases it's an implied symbol of quality. The average consumer might think "Oh, it's a greatest hit/platinum hit, it must have sold well and been critically praised, it's worth getting." Which in some cases is true, but not all. I agree, it's primarily a way to "refresh" the title for a different market.

gryffinmaster

Serves the same purpose as both the "Winner of __ Academy Awards" banner on DVDs/Blu-rays and the "#1 on the NYTimes Best-Seller List" label on books. It draws even more attention to a popular, quality product that might have been overlooked by the general public, while offering a perceived assurance that it's worth the money they're spending.

DRG

Yeah, I think this is especially true of games like the first Bioshock and Borderlands... clearly well known among people who follow gaming but might have missed the radar of the average joe gamer who mainly knows popular franchises like Call of Duty, GTA, Rock Band, and Madden but still likes to try other things.

Groucho

Another reason for the packaging it to show that despite the lower price, this is not a bargain bin title -- it's an older AAA title that's now been discounted.

Michael Corvin

I don't know why but that just sounds funny even though it's correct.

nickdawgy

But then you have people that say stuff like "I reallllllly wanted to try this game but it only has GH/PH packaging and that biiiiiiiites. So I didn't get it, even though it was $5."