I remember when some of the hit N64 games were new, they would retail for as much as $70. I know it was mainly due to it being in cartridge format, but why did the cartridges make it cost more than optical discs?
Because optical discs cost pennies, probably a fraction of a penny today, to create a copy. Cartridges required a hard plastic encasing, with PCB, and custom memory modules inside. They were probably around 3 to 5 bucks to manufacture per cartridge.
Because optical discs cost pennies, probably a fraction of a penny today, to create a copy. Cartridges required a hard plastic encasing, with PCB, and custom memory modules inside. They were probably around 3 to 5 bucks to manufacture per cartridge.XaosII
well if a PlayStation game back in '98 cost $50 new, then if an N64 game cost $70 would the cost of the cartridge really have been $20 more than an optical disc?
[QUOTE="XaosII"]Because optical discs cost pennies, probably a fraction of a penny today, to create a copy. Cartridges required a hard plastic encasing, with PCB, and custom memory modules inside. They were probably around 3 to 5 bucks to manufacture per cartridge.NicAgent
well if a PlayStation game back in '98 cost $50 new, then if an N64 game cost $70 would the cost of the cartridge really have been $20 more than an optical disc?
To manufacture? Probably not. But it might've been fairly close to it by the time it reached the stores.
But you do have to take into consideration the fact that it was very unlikely that any one manufacturer made the entire cartridge. Chances are a seperate company made the plastic cases, another did the PCB/Circuitry, another probably manufactured the memory, and another printed out the labels. Then theres shipping costs for all of these goods moving around, plus a final large shipping cost to the US (probably from China).
The fairly difficult nature of producing cartridges probably only made it worse for smaller publishers who only manufacture about 100K - 200K units as they probably wouldnt get as large of a volume discount.
Most PS1 games didn't cost any more than $40 new, and those were for development costs moreso than manufacturing costs.
N64 games had to deal with the development costs as well as everything that came along with the solid state media. Don't forget also that with a disc you pay a flat fee for the media, while with carts, you had sizes ranging from 4MB to 64MB, and the bigger the cart, the more expensive the game, especially for the time. Look at the original prices for Super Mario 64 (which used an 8MB cart) and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (12MB)... cart sizes dictated everything.
No wonder PlayStation won that generation... however in today's world how come people are always raving about N64 and not PlayStation (i.e. classic video gamers vastly prefer N64 over PS)?
No wonder PlayStation won that generation... however in today's world how come people are always raving about N64 and not PlayStation (i.e. classic video gamers vastly prefer N64 over PS)?NicAgent
Yes well sometimes nostalgia can make things look...different than they actually were. :)
[QUOTE="NicAgent"]No wonder PlayStation won that generation... however in today's world how come people are always raving about N64 and not PlayStation (i.e. classic video gamers vastly prefer N64 over PS)?Teufelhuhn
Yes well sometimes nostalgia can make things look...different than they actually were. :)
Factor in that most people played PS1 and are only now going back to play N64 games. Also, PS1 games are easier to find or people already have them.
Once the shock and awe of seeing video playback from a video game wore off, you start to realize that no load times and great gameplay are a lot more important than flashy graphics that take forever to load and look like crap by today's standards anyways. A cartoony art style is timeless in comparison. That is why N64 games get more love today than PS1 games.
Once the shock and awe of seeing video playback from a video game wore off, you start to realize that no load times and great gameplay are a lot more important than flashy graphics that take forever to load and look like crap by today's standards anyways. A cartoony art style is timeless in comparison. That is why N64 games get more love today than PS1 games.
dchan01
Yes its definitely cartoony art style that wins & the fact that N64 had superior gameplay to PS1 games...
No wonder PlayStation won that generation... however in today's world how come people are always raving about N64 and not PlayStation (i.e. classic video gamers vastly prefer N64 over PS)?NicAgent
i play mostly older games and i think the ps1 is much better. i still enjoy my n64, just not as much. i'd probably say ps1 is the best system to date. you can't beat the games it has.
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