carnival73: Is a common sense one.

carnival73: Since the 1980's when something atrocious like Parker Brother's Frogger was sold for $50 on the Atari 2600 the world, in general, was a much less populated and therefor wealthier place.

carnival73: I think many of us have been sitting around the past five years considering how dreadfully broke we are but deluded into believing that most others around us are filthy rich.

carnival73: I find it a horrific shame when I see the time, detail and effort put into something like Lego Marvel Super Heroes yet the game can only sell for ten dollars.

carnival73: However, at the same time, most feel it a horrific shame to spend over ten dollars during this era when we have credit agencies on our back and can't even afford quality clothes for our children let alone ourselves.

carnival73: I can understand a well produced game like Castelvania being released for over fifty dollars but for many of us it would be destructively spiteful to those who depend on us to go ahead and spend that amount of money on a video game.

carnival73: Is a common sense one.

Since the 1980's when something atrocious like Parker Brother's Frogger was sold for $50 on the Atari 2600 the world, in general, was a much less populated and therefor wealthier place.

I think many of us have been sitting around the past five years considering how dreadfully broke we are but deluded into believing that most others around us are filthy rich.

It was pointed out to me just recently that most people in most countries have been facing financial hardship over the past decade.

I find it a horrific shame when I see the time, detail and effort put into something like Lego Marvel Super Heroes yet the game can only sell for ten dollars.

However, at the same time, most feel it a horrific shame to spend over ten dollars during this era when we have credit agencies on our back and can't even afford quality clothes for our children let alone ourselves.

I can understand a well produced game like Castelvania being released for over fifty dollars but for many of us it would be destructively spiteful to those who depend on us to go ahead and spend that amount of money on a video game.

tinyE: I always thought the best argument was so that homeless people could play them.

monkeydelarge: Well for most people in this world, the economy is pure garbage now so charging someone $50 for a game today is either insane or a huge dick in your ass move no matter how great the game is. The world we live in today is nothing like the 1980s and the 1990s when people made more money, more people had jobs and everything other than games was cheaper. Things are so bad now that people will hold onto $10 like gold.

_Bruce_: Your position is not supported by facts.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MeanNetWorth2007.png]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MeanNetWorth2007.png[/url]
Note that this IS adjusted for inflaction, but still shows a huge increase. It also shows that the early 90s actually weren't very good.

monkeydelarge: My position is supported by facts. What I see with my own eyes is more real than some Wikipedia page. Maybe I was wrong about the 90s and 80s being so great but for most people in this world, the economy is pure garbage today. And yes, things are so bad now that people will hold onto $10 like gold.

_Bruce_: The problem with personal perception is it is biased with emotion and imperfect memory, which are NOT facts. Most people remember the past as better than it was. Most people ignore much of positive change and focus on negative aspects.

Not questioning that you or those around you are doing it tough. But most people are doing better than they were 20 years ago.

The economy today is nowhere near the 'pure garbage' that it has been historically.

monkeydelarge: I highly doubt your facts are facts. Governments like to mess with the "facts" you know? They don't want people to know how bad things are.

monkeydelarge: Okay, I don't expect you to take me seriously considering my avatar is an angry capuchin monkey but check this out.

_Bruce_: How silly of me not to realise that economics is just a conspiracy by the man._Bruce_: And because we are in conspiracy land blogs are more correct than wikipedia.

I certainly understand that some figures (particularly unemployment) are presented and counted in ways to make the current government look better. But anyone who thinks the world (and/or US) economy is in a worse state than 20 years ago is just plain wrong.

monkeydelarge: Why are you putting Wikipedia on the pedestal of ultimate truth? You are obviously blind to the world.

_Bruce_: It's not, but it is a lot better than tin foil hat blogs, or people who claim to understand world economics based on seeing people around them doing it tough.

_Bruce_: Your position is not supported by facts.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MeanNetWorth2007.png]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MeanNetWorth2007.png[/url]
Note that this IS adjusted for inflaction, but still shows a huge increase. It also shows that the early 90s actually weren't very good.

DarrkPhoenix: The blue line represents the net worth of the top 10% of families (net worth of $3-4M and above).

DarrkPhoenix: Note that the other lines, representing the net worth of the remaining 90% of families, have remained pretty much flat.