When games first launch, they are always $50-$60. Most games, however, go down in price and value over time. Not Nintendo first party releases!
I was just in Wal Mart the other day, and I saw Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii at $50, as it just came out. Next to it on the shelf was Super Mario Galaxy. Now, I owned Galaxy at once point, but I got rid of it, though I wish I hadn't. So I'm thinking "Cool, it's been out a couple of years, and now that the sequels out, surely the price has dropped. Maybe I can pick it up again at a fraction of the cost."
That was what I THOUGHT until I looked at the price tag. It is still $50. This game was released November 12, 2007. it has almost been 3 years and it still costs the exact same amount as it did on launch day. I think it's kind of ridiculous.
Super Paper Mario, released April 9, 2007 costs $40 used at GameStop. I haven't seen it new anywhere recently, but my guess based upon that is that it is also still $50 despite it's age.
I am fully aware that Nintendo is not the only company guilty of this. For example, Halo 3 still cost's about $50, but at least that has come down $10 from $60 at launch.
Worse even than this is that Mario kart: Double Dash!! for the Gamecube is still $30 used. Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent game well worth $30 as far as fun and greatness go, but it is still an old game for a system whose life span is now over.
As a hardcore gamer, I am always going to wind up buying that "next big release". If I don't get it when it launches, I'll get it later. In most cases, that saves me a bit of money, but it seems that with certain titles, I may as well just go ahead and empty my wallet, because they aren't coming down any time soon.
