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Console War in Singapore

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Being an avid gamer myself, the topic of console war is always close to my heart. Before I reveal which camp I belong to, let us take a look at the new dashboard I have created using figures from www.gametrader.sg. Approximately 60,000 game posted on the platform from Jun 2010 to Aug 2015 are visualized in this dashboard.

Some key points to note on launch date of some consoles in Singapore:

  1. Feb 2012: PS Vita launched in Singapore
  2. Jan 2013: Wii U launched in Singapore
  3. Dec 2013: PS4 launched in Singapore
  4. Sep 2014: Xbox launched in Singapore after a year it was launched in US and Europe.

Who is leading the console war? Our 3 charts below can provide some indication:

1. Market Share

Market Share

Based on the number of posts on GameTrader.SG, market shares of PS4 has increased tremendously from 2014 to 2015. It is now at 44% of the combined numbers of posts of PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Xbox One is the tiny portion over at the bar chart for 2015 which account for 2.58%.

A point to note is that PS4 has close to a year head start compared to Xbox One which was release in Sep 2014. Desperate for getting their hand on a next gen-console, gamers may not have the patience to wait a year for Xbox One and have move on with PS4.

2. Price

Price

Price of PS3 and Xbox 360 games have been declining steadily over the years. With the launch of the new PS4 console, we see a greater drop in PS3 game pricing. The average PS3 games also cost about 35% of a PS4 game.

While Xbox 360 game is the lowest among the XBox and Playstation family, Xbox One game remains slight pricer than PS4. Could price be a reason why PS4 popularity is higher? Anyhow, a quick check on Qisahn for the game Watch Dog shows that Xbox One and PS4 price is the same at $39. Perhaps the data could be bias since trading for PS4 game is a lot more than Xbox One.

Nonetheless, it is good to know that game prices are decreasing over the years!

3. No. of Game Titles

Game Titles

The number of game titles definitely plays a part in the popularity of a console. Again, we see the number of titles traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 is about 4 times more than Xbox One. Without a doubt PS4 titles are stronger than Xbox One. However, most big titles Metal Gear Solid V, Grand Theft Auto 5 and Final Fantasy 15 are usually available on both platforms. At least what we can conclude is that more titles are being traded on GameTrader.SG for PS4 compared to Xbox One.

Other findings

If you have time to play with the dashboard, you will be able to find other interesting insights. For example, pre-owned game cost about 35% less than the brand new counter part and average of preowned PS3 game can be as low as $22. Of course, some games are even cheaper depending on the seller.

Have fun with this dashboard! You can try it here.

PS: You should be able to guess which camp I am now 😛

 

Original Post by jaxxie.me on 2 Sep 2015.

Game Tech news, GameTrader.SG's Comments

More of Final Fantasy XIII and Next-Gen PSP

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Final Fantasy Versus XIII

Haven’t got enough of Final Fantasy XIII? Check out this all new gameplay trailer for Final Fantasy Versus XIII! Blew my mind totally! FF Versus 13 is going to be an action RPG that could be similar to Kingdom Hearts and Crisis Core. While no release date has been announced, I doubt this game will be able to ship anytime this year.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Just when I was getting excited over this FF versus 13 trailer, one more great news for FF fans. Square-Enix would be producing a sequel to the original FF XIII titled FF XIII-2! While I certainly hope it would not be another sequel that disappoints fans as in FF X-2, I am keeping my finger cross hoping that Square-Enix will be able to deliver a great sequel to FF XIII.

Next Generation Portable (PSP 2)

Sony has officially announced the new upcoming PSP2 codename NGP (Next-Generation Portable). According to Sony, NGP features graphics that are comparable to the PS3, GPS for location-based services, cameras, two analog sticks (real sticks unlike the old PSP), Wifi, rear touch pad, OLED multi-touch screen and many more. Sony’s probably hoping to counter the poor performance of its PSP-Go launched last October. And yes, no more cumbersome UMD. Instead game will be available on a new flash storage. I forsee yet another a tough battle with piracy for this PSP successor.

What? Sony is also making its PSP titles available on Android tablet? This is indeed a brave move. If an Android tablet can play PSP games, why get a PSP console? Yet another sign that mobile gaming is now converging. Very soon you will be playing Monster Hunter on your Ipad. Not to mention Sony is also coming out with its own version of mobile phone, the PSP Phone.

Game Review, GameTrader.SG's Comments

K-Pop for Dance Central?

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Dance Central (DC) is an awesome game. After playing this game, a couch potato can be transformed into an amateur dancer in matter of days. Learning dance routine using Dance Central is a lot simpler for noobs like me who struggle with mass dance and Singapore workout. Just like any of the other Harmonix’s games, Dance Central offers downloadable new songs which you can get from Xbox Live. However, most of the songs available aren’t what I usually listen to.

Given the  rise of K-Pop, I hope Harmonix can consider getting K-Pop songs into Dance Central. Most of the K-Pop songs have dance routines that are suitable for Dance central. Imagine if songs such as ‘Sorry Sorry’, ‘Gee’ and other hot Korean pop songs are available for DC, wow…I would definitely by throwing my money to get those songs.

I just can’t stop myself from embedding some SNSD’s dance routine!
GEE

Genie

Hoot

And while I am at the topic of K-pop, what about having REAL Korean stars teaching you how to dance? Download Girl Generation virtual dancer for DC! Wow, that will be even more cool. Ok maybe they can have a new Dance Central K-Pop Remix game. I will be the first to buy this title.

Maybe Harmonix can also consider user-generated-content. User can choreograph their own dance routine and upload to the internet for all to download. This feature would be cool too!

Game Preview, GameTrader.SG's Comments

Tokyo Game Show 2010

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5313 km away an exciting party for gamers is ending today. It is the Tokyo Game Show 2010 which runs from 16 September to 19 September . Like a child left out of a party, I cannot get first hand news from the TGS 2010 and had to look through the net for any updates. Some interesting upcoming games were showcased at the show. I will now provide a run through of these titles:)

1. Ni no Kuni

This game is a team-up between Studio Ghibli producer and Level-5, a Japan based game developer. There is a PS3 as well as a Nintendo DS version for this game. Studio Ghibli is well known for creating wonderful animated films such as Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. Ni No Kuni has a rather sad story line. It follows the adventure of a 13-year old boy who mother died suddenly. In order to revive her, he heeds the advice of a fairy and enter a parallel world called “Ninokuni”. For any who had watched Ghibli Studio’s production, the scene of the game has an uncanny resemblance to other Studio Ghibli’s film. As a matter of fact, the studio has been employing computer 3D graphic technology in some scenes of their animated film for some years. This may explain why some of the scenes of Ni no Kuni has flavours of Studio Ghibli’s animated film. The DS version is scheduled to be released this holiday season while the PS version will only be out next year.

2. The Last Guardian

This beautiful game about the friendship between a boy and a giant creature (that looks like a dog and eagle) named Trico is set to warm the heart of the player. Hmmm, but I do wonder what kind of game can the developer made that surround just these two characters. While it is announced that this game is going to be an action-adventure puzzle game, I hope that this game will not just be a level of puzzle after another. We will have to wait till late 2011 for this game to be released.

3. Metal Gear Solid Rising

Snake has retired but can Raiden bring new life to the MGS series? In MGS: Rising we get to slash enemies playing as ‘Ninja’ Raiden. The ‘free slicing’ mode allows the player to cut through space freely. The physics seen in the video above is really cool! For all you MGS fans out that, this game is due 2011 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

4. Deus ex:Human Revolution

For those who prefer the English version, here is the link.

This game is the third part of the action game series Deus Ex by British video game developer Eidos Interactive (it was later bought over by Square-Enix). Just watching the video makes me wonder whether this is a game or movie. This title is available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

5. Final Fantasy Versus XIII

This is a video leak from TGS 2010 for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. In this video, we can only have a very vague idea of what this Action-RPG game is going to be like. A scene of the player slashing a behemoth was shown in this trailer. It gives us a rough idea of the kind of slash and kill game play that FF versus XIII is going to be. Instead of the usual turn-based attack of FFXIII, now I really get to cut down a real behemoth! Cool!

6. God of War: Ghost of Sparta

GOW is now on PSP! We don’t have to wait long for this one, it is going to be released this coming year end holiday.

7. Gran Turismo 5

More video released for TGS 2010. Get ready to be blown off by the new stunning visual effects! GT5 is out end of this year.

8. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

A revive of the Castlevania franchise, this new title has Hideo Kojima’s input as an advisor. Looking to be a cross between Devil May Cry and God Of War, we will see soon whether this game can indeed revive the Castlevania series around October of this year when it is released.

Going 3D?

Sony who is pushing for 3D gaming in TGS 2010 even had a 3D panel at TGS 2010. Currently, Xbox 360 is unable to serve 3D content to players unlike PS3. But wearing a pair of glasses and the need to burn a hole in your pocket to get that 3D TV may put off players who are thinking of going into 3D gaming. Especially with the ‘glasses-less’ Nintendo 3Ds coming out probably before next April, players will be spoilt. Wearing glasses to play game? No way! Well, it might be still too early to see whether 3D gaming to kick off. But until the price of 3D TV drops, it is likely to be a barrier for most gamers to go 3D.

So that’s it. A round-up of the games featured in TGS 2010. Of course there are games that I have not covered. Among them we have, Asura’s Wrath, Yakuza: Of the End, Fable III, Killzone III, Monster Hunter Portable, Patapon 3, Tokyo Jungle, Dance Evolution and many more. Darn…they should have a Singapore Game Show too. I guess our gaming industry is just not matured enough.

GameTrader.SG's Comments

Selling tips for seller!

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Are you having trouble selling your games? Here are some tips that we would like to share with you:)
First of all, register with GameTrader.SG and start posting you games (ok…that is obvious)!

Now for some real tips!

1. Pricing:
Buyers are mostly price-sensitive. Copy of the same game don’t really differ much from each other if they are from the same region. Therefore, you need to set a reasonable price for your games to attract buyers.

For pre-owned games, the pricing would definitely have to be lower than the brand new games for obvious reason. To check out the current price of a brand new game, you can either visit any game store and ask or simply go online to game store websites where such prices are usually published. Some of these stores also sell pre-owned games. Benchmark your own price against theirs. Google ‘buy pre-owned PS3 games’ will return you a lists of game stores selling pre-owned PS3 games online for example.  Ok for the few who don’t wish to manually google, just click here.

Alternatively, you can simply search GameTrader.SG for the game you are going to sell and look at the price other people are quoting.  Games that are sold will still be on our website and you can use it to gauge the price you should put for your game.

Our GameTrader.SG platform has an option for you to indicate whether your price is negotiable. By indicating that your price is negotiable, you may be able to attract bargain buyers. However, do note that you might also attract buyers who think you are desperate and may give unreasonable prices for your games.

Last of all, prices of games do fluctuate! After posting your game, make sure you update your price accordingly to the market price (ways to obtain the market price is described above). The rule of the thumb is that games get cheaper as they get older. To update your price on GameTrader.SG, simple go to “My Profile”, select the game that you wish to change the price and click the ‘Edit’ button.

2. Information:
To entice buyer to buy from you, it would be good to include a description of the game. For example, you can add information like ‘disc is scratched free’ or ‘game is a week old’ etc. The region of the game would be useful too especially for PS3 games where games with different region code may vary slightly. For PS3 games, Gametrader.SG allows you to specify the region whether it is R1, R2, R3, R4 or even R5. 

Furthermore, if your game has additional bonus such as unredeemed online content or comes with some free  gifts, do put them down in the description. This will enable you to differentiate your game from other sellers’.

3. Adding an image to your game post
When posting your games on GameTrader.SG, you should add a game image to your posts. Humans are usually more attracted to visual cues than boring texts. Having an image will subtly increase your chances of selling. GameTrade.SG allows you to either upload your own photo or simply just select an image from Google image search for those who hate uploading images.

4. Making the deal
Most of the time, the collection method of the games are by meet-up. Buyers and seller may have different places that are convenient to them. As a seller, if you prefer to meet, say in the East, you can perhaps offer some discount if buyers are willing to accomodate your meet-up location. Alternatively, if you are willing to meet everywhere in Singapore, that will also be a great incentive for buyers to buy from you. You can also have special service such as delivering the game to the buyer doorstep with additional top-up.

For the other seller who might opt for postage to seller, you may want to consider sending a registered mail. While my personal experience is that non-registered mail is seldom lost in Singapore, it maybe better to registered your mail (of course at additional cost) to prevent dispute in case the mail is lost.

5. After the transaction…
Your relationship with the buyer need not end after the transaction. Most probably, the buyer may want to buy games from you again! If not, it doesn’t harm to make more friends anyway 🙂 . With many multiplayer games in the market, you can add your buyers as your PSN or Xbox 360 Live friend and start playing games together!

You can also ask your buyer to write feedback on your GameTrader.SG wall after the transaction. These feedback will help you to build up your reputation on GameTrader.SG.

That concludes our tips for seller! Hope it is useful to all your sellers out there!
We had about 642 games sold through GameTrader.SG platform as on 11th Nov 2010. We hope you can sell your game soon and add on to our lists of game sold! Good luck!:)

Game Preview, Game Review, GameTrader.SG's Comments

Feel the beat of Rhythm Game!

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  By now, most of you should know about Dance Central. This latest game belongs to the genre of rhythm games, also known as rhythm action, and is developed by Harmonix Music System (the same guys who brought you Rock Band and Guitar Hero). Dance Central is the perfect game that utilized the full-motion capture capability of the Kinect. Unlike previous dancing games like Para Para Paradise and the older Dance Dance Revolution, your full body movement is captured by the system and your moves will be evaluated by the game.

 I simply cannot hide my excitement for Dance Central. But alas, the uniqueness of the Kinect System makes the game possible only on Xbox 360. So PS3 owners like me can either get a Xbox 360, or wait for the PS3 version which could be coming out according to Kotaku.com. I do wonder how I am supposed to dance with the PS Move motion controller. I think the experience will still be better with Kinect controller-less system.

I remember the very first rhythm-action game I had played was PaRappa the Rapper. It was on Playstation One and I really enjoyed the music with its’ weird but funny lyrics. Oh I still remember the master of the Dojo, Chop Chop Master Onion! Hayatatatacha! Kick! Punch! 

Then came the time when Dance Dance Revolution started sprouting at arcades all over the place. I bought a PS Dance mat with the game and started dancing my way at home. It was so addictive that I played for many long hours straight sweating like a dog after each session. Who says gaming makes you fat? And I think Dance Central will be a perfect ‘slimming game’ that can easily beat the Wii Fit.

 

After the success of Dance Dance Revolution, we see the rise of another dance machine, Para Para Paradise. I am, however, no fan of this game. I have seen youngsters flaunting their dance skills in front of the machine but I simply couldn’t get the beat and mechanism right. I failed terribly during my first and last try on the Para Para machine. But I do really have to admit that some of the Para Para-ers were really great dancers. With Para Para Paradise, dancing in front of a machine is one step closer to the real dance.

 

More rhythm-action games soon followed such as Beat Mania, Drum Mania, Rock Band, Guitar Hero and my favourite Taiko Drum Master! I am now waiting eagerly for the release of Dance Central and hoping to see it soon on PS3. This would probably be a game that all gamers can play with their girlfriends or wifes. Perfect!:)

Game Review, GameTrader.SG's Comments

Final Final Fantasy?

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Will FF XIII be the last FF of its kind?

Final Fantasy XIII was released with much fanfare and excited many FF fans around the world (I myself included). However, FF XIII had met with some criticisms mainly on the linearity of the game and lack of side quests. Having played and completed the game, I’ve found this FF title enjoyable and certainly worth playing. While the game may really be quite linear at times (sometimes you just have to keep walking through monster-littered path until you reach the next cut-scene), the battle system is by far the most fast-paced and challenging of all times.

Now after completing FF XIII, am I looking forward towards the next installment? I am afraid not. Final Fantasy XIV (now even the Roman number is getting a bit messy…) is going to be a MMORPG similar to FF XI. I, myself, am not any MMORPG fan. I prefer the good old FF RPG style. According to some reports, FF XIII maybe the last FF installment that features the ‘old’ single player RPG. The way to go for future FF installments is going to be MMORPG.

FF14 is going to be a MMOPRG

This is a real bad news for FF fans like me who still prefer the single player RPG style. I hope SquareEnix will not forget about gamers like me and keep making more FF installment like FF XIII. I do see why SquareEnix is moving on to MMORPG. After all, MMORPG has a longer playing hours then traditional FF titles. Furthermore, subscription-based games can generate more revenue for them.
After playing almost the entire FF series (I’ve even tried FF I, II, III, IV, V and VI), I feel that the awesome fantasy world created by Square should be left to explore even after the player completed the game. However, after completing all possible side-quest, there is simply nothing to do! This could be the reason why SquareEnix is moving on to MMORPG, a realm where the virtual fantasy world could be perpetual (if they keep updating with quests and attract enough players).

FF XIV gameplay - Picture Courtesy of SquareEnix

Therefore, I would like to propose a new genre for the FF series, SPMMORPG 🙂 . It stands for ‘Single Player Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Basically, the game will still feature a main single player storyline similar to past title (with nice cut-scene of course!), but after completing the game, the player can now explore the world in a MMORPG setting. If any of the SquareEnix staff happens to read this article, do help me propose this idea for FFXV. I am sure that game will be a hit! Or at least I would be buying it!

Anyway, kudos to the FF XIII team for coming out with such a nice game. Hope to see a better FF XV!
By the way, there is a poll for favourite FF female characters at our forum here. Do cast your vote!

PS: For those who don’t own a PS3 or Xbox 360 but wish to see how the game is like, there is a person who painstakingly uploaded the entire full gameplay with cut scene onto youtube! Below is the second video of the 90 over parts. Amazing stuff!