Good old Australia overpricing (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

+1

It gets better

As far as I can recall, (since I didn't buy this - don't think any smart gamer did though), Diablo 3 RRP'd at $90 during launch. And CoD:MW3 RRP'd at $109 in some department stores (I think it was Big W or Target, since I saw it in one of either brochures last year). Skyrim, too, RRP'd at $99-100+. More recently, triple A titles (MP3, Dishonored) are going for $79 RRP, which is the mid-ground. $50-60 RRP is for handheld games or mid-tier titles (not indie). Indie retail RRP (see Torchlight, Amnesia, etc.) are $30-40. The lowest of the low, like SEGA's games, start off at $55-59 and drop to rock bottom ($25-30) within a month or a few. Even bargain bin trash still go for $12+ normally. Online prices differ, of course.

It's considered overpriced norm. Most of us wait for a price drop or import from elsewhere (USA, UK, etc.)

Quiet, you; the grown-ups are talking.

No respawn points when you get taken out by a croc though...

+1

To be (a little) fair, from what I've heard you guys have higher average wages than us and your dollar is (now) worth more compared to the US dollar, more than it used to be at least.

Paying 2x as much for games is a bit excessive, though.

That's why the trade system exists :P

Are you getting that from EB games....I never
EVER

Shop there I either do my retail business irl at JB-HI-FI and target or k-mart for console games (if they have cheap prices) or buy my games digitally on steam for pc

When the R 18+ classification comes in on January 1st Australian will be no different. Games traded from other regions are censored.

lol not sure if serious or just really bad troll

You really shouldn't try to talk politics if you have no idea what you're talking about.

First of all we elected the Labor Party. Australia elects parties rather than candidates. Kevin Rudd was the leader of the Labor Party at the time of the election and was replaced by Julia Gillard later.

Censorship is governed by the Classification Board which is a statutory body of the Federal Government. The main reason why some video games were banned in Australia was due to a loop-hole in our classification system where video games did not have an R 18+ rating. This means that any games that didn't fit into the MA 15+ were "refused classification" and were illegal to sell in Australia.
This loop-hole was not fixed for a long while despite extreme amounts of outcry from the public. After a meeting of the senate it was decide that video games shall be granted the R 18+ classification and censorship of games meeting that requirement will cease on January 1st 2013.

There is no law suggested called "no more violent games in Australia" and where ever you heard that is woefully wrong. The closest suggest law to that would be the one related to a mandatory internet censorship filter spear-headed by Stephen Conroy the Minister for Communications. This has also caused major outcry and doesn't appear to have much chance to pass.
Censorship also has nothing at all to do with the price of games and is fairly irrelevant to the conversation.

Do you feel smart now?

i do

lol

-1

Higher than whom?

Average Aussie wages are lower than the US. That's a fact backed up by OECD figures.

I wouldn't pirate my games, but it really sticks in the craw how some games can be half the price or less in other, wealthier, regions.

NZ is prosperous enough in world terms, but we certainly earn less than the Aussies, and MUCH less than the US average.

Baffling why we suffer such unfair pricing on certain items, while others are exactly the same price. Maybe someone at Steam's pricing department lost their wallet in one of Rotorua's sulphur lakes on their last visit to NZ, and has been bitterly exacting revenge ever since?

it's pretty common in the german store as well. sometimes they just lower the prices after a while but don't lower the prices for the bundle (and you can already be happy if they lower they price in other stores at all - alice and darkspore for example are still 50€ in the german store)

No, no and thrice no.

They get paid LESS than the US (Kiwis get even less than that), so they DO get it both ways (although not in the good sense!)