studies show: cheap is a good thing

I feel a little like a snobby gamer when I brag that the Wii was a mere $250 and the games are typically $40 and under, $50 for a brand-new release. Really though, all I am is low on expendable income. Seems like more game companies are targeting those like me out there with limited bank and (less like me) limited time to engage in button-mashing and eyes-glazed-over gaming. The New York Times features a small piece on the latest installment of the Ratchet & Clank series for PlayStation 3, "Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty". This title is different because it is exclusively downloadable for the PS3, and it only costs $15. What makes R&CF:QfB stand out from most cheap downloadable console games? This one utilizes the engine already designed for the full-size physically purchasable games so that this downloadable title, which only takes 3 or 4 hours to complete, looks, sounds and plays very similarly to its extremely popular already existing titles.

"Booty succeeds because its developer, Insomniac Games, has been able to employ the artistic and technical resources it built to support its major retail releases to cook up the piquant, juicy little nugget of gaming that is Booty. As Ratchet, our furry wrench-wielding hero, battles goofy interstellar pirates in search of his lost robot friend, Clank, the lagoons and caverns he traverses look, if anything, better than the environments in Tools of Destruction.

And you’ll still be able to afford a decent dinner."

Download the Game, Then Keep the Change