Yeah I received this friday from play.com

Great game.

I am pleased to that I was not blackmailed into taking 2 off every piece of hardware by distribution channel.
As usual I would be better buying my software & hardware peripherals from Play.
The Indies out there really should not be pressured into purchasing these titles by distribution on the basis of ' you'll be sorry you won't get the stock'.
As per the way the market is, bide your time, I can assure you prices are slashed for a reason.
It is time that there is a more level playing field out there in the land of game pricing. It's a tough business to make margin.
Cheers to all the Indies.

I might consider buying this if there was something by Melvins on the play list , oh yeah I couldn't resist it at all then!

This is'nt really a news story its just free advertising for Play.com.

Thanks again MCV for supporting all the Indies out there. Maybe you could run another story on CD-wow or any other off shore companies that avoid taxes.

I disagree. MCV is a trade site not a consumer portal so its hardly advertising is it? If anything its drawing independents attention to the fact of the price activity which might actually do them a favour

Hi Bongo,

Play is offering the cheapest deal in the UK for one of the most hotly anticipated titles of the year – a game that has a lot of controversy attached to its price tag. HMV and Gamestation's deals are also mentioned.

We feel this obviously newsworthy for cash-strapped consumers - but, more importantly, other trade members who would like to know how the competition has dealt with such a potentially difficult SRP.

If you'd like to air your views on the matter, feel free to email our letters desk - even better if you use your real name and/or store.

Tim

@Tim

It reads as free advertising to me too.

The fact is MCV don't appear to have a editorial stance on anything.

Where are your stories regarding the lack of Nintendo product?

When are you going to query EA's ludicrous trade prices?

Have you never been informed of how every Ubisoft game is cheaper in Woolworths than from Trilogy?

Or are you to scared for your advertising revenue that you ignore these scenarios?

They have had it at this price since the day it's UK release was announced so they havn't slashed anything of the price, it's still the same as it always was.

The band in a box has been 99.95 quid on Amazon for yonks, 5-6 weeks in fact so this is hardly news and looks to be little more than warmed over press release. I'm sure the writers on MCV would like to do more, once apon a time MCV used to make some seriously telling points.
There's stories out there, I for one would like the comments section enabled next time someone suggests that games and games alone are a special case and resale/2nd hand sales should be banned - maybe next time someone there makes a statement like this you have a Q&A and we can ask them if they've never bought anything used and what is just so special about games as opposed to DVD's, cars, furniture, Cd's and all other items that have a design, development and production process in the same way games do?

To all these people moqning about Free advertising it is a big saving therefore newsworthy. Would you be complaining if Play were giving them away free and you managed to get a copy?

I think not!

This is up to the minute industry news that I for one am interested in as are many others I would assume.

@ all the moaners (who I suspect are retailers) complaining about the article... there are more people in the "Games Industry" than just retailers you know...

"MCV is the leading trade news and community site for all professionals working within the UK and international video games market."... notice, it says "All Professionals".

Those of us who actually make the games you lot sell, actually like to buy them too (believe it or not). Simple answer is, do something news-worthy yourself and you might get on the news pages too.

Personally, with so many games in the market that demand the gamers attention (especially multi-system owners like myself), any news of lower prices is welcomed and I'm glad MCV think it's worthy of printing.

Thumbs up to MCV from the developers. b d

Errr....I'm not sure how this is news exactly. I'm pretty sure that play have had it for this price for weeks!

I think this is newsworthy and relevant as its a new release and has been talked about for a while.

I do however completely understand why some people may think of this as blatant advertising, simply because there are aspects of this industry such as GAME/EA that are never talked about by MCV directly. Because of this there is a level of distrust between readers and MCV, myself included, I now read every article with a pinch of scepticism as I can't fully trust a company who is selective in the stories that they consider newsworthy.

Who would have thought that the announcement of a price drop would spark a House Of Commons debate :)

I still think we in Britain are being played for our cash. While I understand that a slight mark up in price from the North American cost of games is required I think too many companies are upping prices to a ridiculous level in order to exploit the UK market. On top of that we always get the games months later. It's like being told we have to pay twice the price for getting something delivered late!

Pay your money and take your choice. If you want Rock Band that badly then get your cash out and stop moaning.

I don't have any problem with paying £40 - £45 for a new release in a store, especially when you get value for money in games like GTA and The Orange Box. On top of that, I'll come out in support of trade-ins as well. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford any games I might want but I prefer to chop in my last game and get £15-£20 off the new one. Something you can't do online.

If you can't afford Rock Band, just stick to buying Ninjabread Man on Wii instead.

Tim.

Why so quiet? No response to any of the above comments?

I'm with Scotty about the rip-off culture regarding games and peripherals. I'm happy to pay £40 for a game and know it's likely to be more than the Americans had to pay but the rip-off part of Rock Band is the whole Band-in-a-box issue. The Americans got the game, mic, drums and a guitar for the equivelant of around £70 give or take on exchange rates. The same for the UK was over twice that at about £180 rrp (now £140 with reductions). That's just stupid! Having the money to buy the game is one thing but paying over twice as much for the EXACT same thing is just wrong!

@17

Judging by the amount of UbiDays stories, team MCV are probably at the event in France and so not able to respond to comments.

Seriously though. Those whinging about them not covering stories like the EA/Game stuff might like to consider that if they can't get comment from either company, nor any insiders they can't do a story. A bunch of indies complaining about something that may well just be a scales of economy thing rather than a conspiracy isn't grounds for a news story...

I did a short stint at a newspaper long before my current job and I soon learnt that even if people want to hear a story, it's very rarely because of advertising concerns and more because there is no evidence or substance to the story...

Thanks Brett - hit the nail on the head there. I was indeed off at Ubidays, so apologies if I've taken longer than you would have like to respond.

I'm not going to bang on about why the above is newsworthy - I've already made the point, and appreciate those of you that understand where I'm coming from.

As for the other issues you mention, rest assured we are aware of them and are looking into all of them. Advertising considerations have never gotten in the way of a good story at MCV - and never will.

Sadly, we require more evidence/comment than one retailer pointing their finger and getting upset (no matter how justified) – and sometimes this takes time.

That said, we really appreciate you using our comments board to point us in the right direction - long may it continue.

Cheers,
Tim

@20: Apologies for my previous comments, i just can't help myself to a good conspiracy theory sometimes. Obviously us posters can talk about it but it makes sense that mcv can't say anything until they have something to back it up with otherwise we get into the whole slander bs.

*hangs head in shame* lol