Rare Game Experiences 2015

We are well into the digital age of video games. Physical copies displayed at your local game store are just as easily located in downloadable form on Steam, Xbox Live, or Playstation Network.

Overall, this is good for gamers. Gone are the days of driving to Gamestop and sifting through the game spines in alphabetical order just to walk away empty handed. We can now do the shopping from the comfort of our couch. We save money and time.

Ten years ago, it wasn’t like this. It used to be that the only way to play a game was by having a physical copy. Games would retain value because there was no other way to have that experience. If a game sold through its manufacture run, you would have to buy a used copy. If no one wanted to sell that game, you would have to offer more money. A game could achieve a rare status.

It’s no secret that I adore the .hack series. I’ve written articles about them in the past. The sad part is that I only own the first two games. There are seven total. I figured that I would eventually purchase them all as I visit used game stores over time. But time has widened the gap between those games and my dream. It would now cost me over $400 to complete my collection.

Added from left to right: $35 + $65 + $65 + $140 + $100 + $85 + $90 = $580

This left me intrigued. It makes sense for games that never saw a digital release or HD remaster to still hold value, but are the days of rare games behind us now that everything is digital? Are there physical discs being released now that will later be the sole way to experience that game?

Let me be clear… physical copies of games will always hold some type of value for collectors, but this article is focusing on the value of the game experience. That’s what has driven the price of the .hack series and other games like it to skyrocket. If all seven games were released tomorrow on PSN, I guarantee that prices of the physical copies would drop significantly.

First, I’m going to point out a few games from last generation that are now considered rare and explain why their physical forms still hold value. Then I’m going to predict games that are coming out now that will be rare in the future.

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Last Gen:

Marvel Ultimate Alliance: Gold Edition/Platinum Hits - Xbox 360 ~ $60

I’m sure this game was quite unique when it came out, but in 2015 it’s certainly not the only way to have a Marvel-inspired dungeon crawl with friends. What makes this specific version of the multiplatform title rare? In April 2007, Activision released downloadable content exclusive to Xbox Live that enabled you to play as 8 new heroes. Then, in May 2007, Activision released the Gold Edition on Xbox 360 that included all the DLC packaged in. Lastly, on December 31, 2009, Activision decided not to renew their Marvel license and, without warning, yanked the DLC from Xbox Live. Overnight, the Gold Edition became the only way to play as Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Hawkeye, Magneto, Sabretooth, Venom, Doctor Doom, or The Hulk. There’s now a $50 difference between a regular copy and a gold edition.

If you enjoyed this game and one of your favorite heroes was locked behind a $50 difference, would you pay up?

Aquanauts Holiday - PS3 ~ $100

In Aquanauts Holiday, you play as a journalist in search of a missing oceanographer. It’s an adventure game where you use a submarine to search for clues and explore marine wildlife in the sea. The game was originally released in Japan and Southeast Asia in September 2008. Two months later, a Chinese and English translation of the Japanese version was released in China.

The only way to play this game outside of Asia in 2008 was to import it. That, coupled with the fact that it didn’t sell very well, created a recipe for scarcity. I may have seen this game in the bargain bin back in the day when no one knew what it was, but now it sells for about $100.

Do you remember seeing this game preowned at your local game store?

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn - Wii ~ $80

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is the tenth title in the series and the first on Wii. It’s a tactical role-playing game where you control a small team of characters around a square-based battlefield. It’s known for being hard and having permadeath. If you’ve played a Fire Emblem game before, then you know what you’re getting into. Radiant Dawn does have one feature that sets it apart from the other 9 titles; it’s a direct sequel to the gamecube game, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. You don’t need to play the previous entry to enjoy Radiant Dawn, but it improves the experience in the same way that Mass Effect has for gamers.

Being a sequel to a rare game on Gamecube has definitely driven prices up for this title and with Nintendo’s history, we will likely never see a digital release.

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As you can see, most games from last gen were rare because of special conditions like localization or some type of digital misstep. If it wasn’t a Nintendo title, chances are the experience can still be found in some digital form.

So to answer my original question… will rare games still exist in the future? Will a game that’s released in 2015 reach the $100 heights that a game like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 once commanded?

Well, yes and no. Yes, I think there will still be rare physical discs, but no I don’t think there will be very many rare game experiences. Let me explain with some examples.

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Current Gen:

Retro City Rampage - PS4 ~ $150

Retro City Rampage DX is an open world action game that parodies games and pop culture from the 80’s and 90’s. It’s most akin to the early top down games in the Grand Theft Auto series.

This game released on December 11, 2014 on every digital platform available. It’s not a rare experience to have, but the physical disc is very rare. About a month after the digital-only release, the developer, Vblank Entertainment, shipped out 2,000 copies for PS4. The game is now worth $150 or more. Keep in mind that you can purchase the digital version on any platform for about $7…

Shenmue 3 - PS4 ~ $???

Shenmue 3 promises to continue the traditional open world action-adventure gameplay which includes fight scenes broken up by life simulation minigames and quick time events.

This game wasn’t even supposed to happen. The first two titles were critical hits but commercial failures. Sega canceled development of Shenmue III and 15 years years later, Sony parades the Kickstarter relaunch during their E3 2015 press conference.

It’s hard to say for sure, but chances are the only physical copies of this game will initially be in the hands of people who backed the Kickstarter. If you’re willing to purchase a game that doesn’t even exist yet, I doubt you’d be willing to turn it over for less than you originally paid for it. You can buy a digital version of Shenmue 3 once the game releases, but I’m confident that the “exclusive backer-only” version will be a very rare game from this generation.

Shader - One Lil Netbook - $Priceless

Shader is the rarest game that I know of. I can’t explain it because a) I’ve never played it and b) there’s no video of this game on YouTube. Here’s an article on Kotaku that explains the story of how it came to be.

The important thing to know about this game is that it only exists on one little netbook. The game can’t be copied, therefore the only way to experience it is to have the netbook in your hands.

Shader is perhaps the rarest game in the world, but I think that we may see this approach from another developer in the near future.

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In closing, rare games still exist and will continue to exist in the digital era. They’ve changed from what we’ve always known and they will continue to change. If you’re a collector, you may have the hardest job of this generation as you can no longer just collect niche JRPGs. We’ll be on the lookout for more rare games, but if you have any predictions, we’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

@drockalexander

Sound Shapes PS3 Demo Review 7/10

    The Sound Shapes PS3 Demo starts off by introducing you to the controls and the goal of the game. In it’s favor, both are pretty simple. You use one button to roll into a faster moving ball and the left analogue stick to move in the 2D plain. You can stick to many of the “Sound Shapes” that you traverse and you must avoid the red ones. At the end of the level you reach a record player which completes the level. The idea of the game is that you make music as you play. The way that works exactly is hard to explain in text, though the Sound Shapes Demo does an excellent job of doing so in game. I will try to explain it just as well.

    The levels are broken up into smaller segments that fit your screen. Once you reach the end of the segment, the game seamlessly switches to the next segment of the level. You can freely go back and forth if you happen to miss a sound orb. These sound orbs are placed in a horizontal order and when the beat reaches that orb the sound is added to the track for the rest of the level. At the beginning of the game there are no sounds. It’s silent until you get your first sound orb. Once you’ve gotten that it’ll play every time the rhythm loops itself back to that part. By the end of the level you’re experiencing the entire song and it’s quite exhilarating. It does feel as if you created the song yourself.

The circles are the added sounds. The grey bar is the beat moving across the plain.

    A game like Sound Shapes will live and die by it’s soundtrack. In the demo you only get to experience 2 of the songs. This was enough to determine the quality of every other working part, but left me wondering what the rest of the soundtrack was like. I didn’t expect to be able to play any more songs, but a video showcasing small bits of the rest of the soundtrack would have been nice. The Sound Shapes Demo could have even touted itself by listing how many songs you’ll get to play.

    While playing the demo, I often questioned the replayability of the game. Other music games like Guitar Hero have higher difficulties and scores that extend the life of the game. In the Sound Shapes Demo there was only one difficulty and after playing the first two levels, perfect completion didn’t seem like it’d be a challenge. I don’t think Sound Shapes needs these things, but for longevity it does need something. That’s where the Community feature comes in. Sadly, I have little idea what the Community feature is. They don’t let you experience any of it in the demo. All that’s given is a short explanation that basically says it’s where you download player created levels.

    The Sound Shapes Demo also shows off the level editor where you can create your own level. It reminded me of LittleBigPlanet. It was simple to use but offered the opportunity for challenge if you wanted to make a masterpiece. Again, this portion of the game interacts with the Community Feature, but the demo didn’t allow me to figure out how exactly. Obviously, I’m pretty sure that if I make a level I can then upload it to the Community server where other people can download my level and vice versa, but it would have been nice to see exactly how that happens. Both the level editor and the Community feature seem to be big parts of the full game, but were mostly absent in the demo.

Coooooooooooool

    The music is the main draw of the Sound Shapes Demo but the graphics are quite the treat and complement the beat through and through. I loved the bright colors that saturated the plain as I rolled through. It brought about a sensation I would imagine people have when they go to a rave. Some of the shapes in the world pulsate with the beat which nods the attention back to your awareness of the music. Small things like this remind you that Queasy Games, the developer, knows what it’s doing.

      One thing that’s unique to PSN games is that sometimes when you buy it on PS3 it’ll unlock it free for the PS Vita as well. That also holds true in the opposite order. This is definitely a bonus to purchasing the full game but I wasn’t able to find this information anywhere in game or on their website. In the Playstation Store it shows that both items are separate purchases. After purchasing the PS3 version, I found out that indeed the PS Vita version unlocked with it. I was still left wondering how they interact though. I imagine they are the same experience on both platforms but can I transfer the same save file back and forth? These questions certainly held me back from making the purchase.

    The Sound Shapes PS3 Demo receives a 7/10. It was a very strong experience but failed to really solidify itself as a must buy. The demo should have included a tease of the soundtrack, a trial of the community feature, and further information about what a purchase would include. I really enjoyed what was there, but with all the questions I had, I was sitting on the fence as to whether I would buy it or not. Luckily, the scales tipped in the games favor because it happened to be on sale for only half the price. If not for that, I probably would have debated too long and eventually forgot about the game.

    I would wait for another sale unless you already have a PS3/PS Vita Combo and it has a transfer save file feature. If those two variables ring true then I’d purchase this game for $15 easily.

- lvl 99