Elixir wrote:This is a wall of text to cover up the fact that you're wrong. All I did was search in Japanese and found those 35-65k yen prices. I'm no aftermarket expert, anyone can do this, it's public information. Nobody's buying the Cave Shooting Collection for $1000
Wrong? what are you talking about? no I'm not, most people in the west don't buy directly from the Japanese market period, wouldn't know how to nor where to look and what to read about the goods mainly because of the langage barrier. For them reality is what they can manage to buy even if it's not the amount it goes for in Japan, which they often ignore anyway, and yes they pay the awful prices from western outlets, which even Japanese sellers abuse going through eBay or instance and notoriously so.
Those who've always been in sync with Japanese prices were always buyers and collectors who put more effort and time to develop their research skills there, always a minority anyway.
Elixir wrote:I'm probably the most qualified person in the entire scene to speak about what people want, I get to listen to port begging on an almost daily basis. They want their games on stuff they're currently using, they don't want last-gen region-locked Xbox 360 games. They can't be magically ported either (unless the game engine is also ported, like STGBuilder currently is for Switch). I understand "basically just port everything in one go and sell it as a collection" mentality, but realistically that isn't going to happen - it's a financial waste, and if this were the case, M2 would have just ported Ketusi from PS3/360 to PS4. They didn't do this for a reason.
Oh come on, I've been in this from the end of the 90's and shmups specifically from the mid 00's and I know just as much as all of us that it's always been populated by people who before everything play on a variety of hardwares, lots of which is imported just like many of the games, because that' show it is, always was.
After the turn of the 2010's when platforms like Steam and frontends like RA began to gain importance, a new kind of sub-demographics, often slightly younger, added itself to the broader shmups population; punk-ass-bitches always whining that they want EVERYTHING ON PC AND LOCALIZED (AND CHEAP!
) because buying foreign consoles and import games is too hard or too expensive for them, even if they have had all the time in years of bitching to save the money and learn menus to fucking play like everyone else.
Years of whining and being dicks to people who dared to play on anything but PC, of condescenscion for people who just do it like they always did because that's how the market with its Japanese specifics is, and they can't help it, because they know crying for years to get PC ports that end up shitty and then complaining more gets us nowhere.
Anyone who's seen Japan make and sell shmups for decades can tell there's a large part of it all that never was and never will be fit for the PC dollar-store business model, it'll never bend to that form of economic culture and practices, and will always be awkward with localizing and selling licences overseas.
Pretending that's not, I mean coming from someone younger than you I'd understand, but...
PS1: The Collection reprint was just an idea which I do believe would have been right
like I said in the early years of the current console gen, they didn't do three prints on 360 for nothing, I doubt they've lost any money, so they could as well have made another one for the Xbone soon after which wouldn't have been too hard (sure PS4 might have been harder), or make sure all would be available and working on digital.
Anyway I got mine for 260€ and I remember well we've spent about two~three years telling people to buy a 360 with that box as the best solution, to play Cave games at the very least.
Now that it's beyond too late they keep whining, and whining, and whining. For fuck's sake, I'm sure most of'em spent more money on shit games on sale than on the price of a JP or Jtag 360 + the cave box back then.
Anyway look, I know you've inherited a portion of that sub-demographics at your own place, but if you adapted your vision and narrative to their narrow one now, if you think what they say is representative of all the shmups scene and market, well, I mean go on and deny everything you want, present, past, tell people they're wrong for whatever reason, I'll think you're wrong too *shrug*, go on it's the internet man, nothing to earn there but either braindead followers or rabid haters, while each sub-community seems to develop its own favoured narratives and ideology, I mean fuck it, to each their own, their hostility has always been misplaced, irrational, and it's not the handful of members still visiting this godforsaken forum that started it, and that's a damn fact.
PS2: note to guys who don't like to read people taking the time to develop their thoughts (especially when it's arguments you don't like of course, because when it goes your way even if it's huge you congratulate and give thanks, of course. people are so simple it's boring), say then, why don't you stay on shitscord circlejerks ? where you can shitpost meaningless whatever at higher frenquency than on old forums software, and let those with the most influence and popularity guide the herd ? mmh ?
PS3: and before you place a 'what about your own hostility?' I reply the one between shmuppers never made sense still doesn't and the bulk of the shmups crowd is not to blame for it. But against the exclusive, divisive mentalities and narratives, where the social media nesting phenomenon and giant egos are a lot responsible for the sad status of things in several aspects, it is totally justified.