I think when it comes to the 3rd world, these companies should either step up or shut up, really.

Bear with me, I'll talk about Brazil since that's where I live. A good Wii game here is around 100 dollars. Now, our average wage is about 4,5 time slower than USAs one (I tried to use median instead of average but couldn't find Brazil's median wage. That being said, since the difference between USAs median and average is only about 38%, and Brazil's income distribution is even worse, it''d either actually tip the scale so it's even more expensive for brazilians or make very little difference). That basically means that they asking 100 dollars for a Wii game here is about the same as asking 450 U$ for a Wii game on the USA. That's like, over twice the Wii's price! It's ridicullous.

And think about it, we're talking about software. It's not like there's nothing they can do, there's plenty they can, but they don't think it's worth it. If it's not worth, than stop complaining and forget we exist for christ's sake.

Now, you may say "I'd save up and buy a single great game instead of 9(!)". That means you value games a whooping lot, but you can't realistically expect others to. I'm sure there's a point you wouldn't buy them yourself. I mean, let's say a game cost the same as a Ferrarri, and you could afford it, saving for a year or so. Which would you buy? Different people will set the bar at different points, but there is no one certain point. Fact is that, for most people, the amount of entertainment a game can get you can easily be surpassed spending the 450 U$ somewhere else, and that's the point. They'd never buy it, cause it's not worth. Hell, Two people can eat for a month with a game's worth if you're kinda cheap around here.

"Oh, but then why could they save even more for the console?", you ask.

Well, it's very simple, really. They're not paying that price for the console. You see, usually when you buy a console you do so that you can play games on it, so you kind of average the consoles price on each game you buy. Which means if you get a Wii and twenty new games, in the US, you'd spend U$ 1200. That's $60 a game, or 10 a game for the console.

Now, when someone in Brazil looks at it, with games at (the equivalent of) $450, and the Wii priced at (again, equivalent) even more ridiculous 35 hundred dollars (yeah, really. I mean it. Amazing, no?), that means the same Wii with 20 games would cost 12 and a half grand :D. Or U$ 625 a game, with the console being worth $200 a game (against US's 20!). It's simply too expensive, most people would never look back at such offer, even if they are avid gamers.

But, say they can get games for free. They get the same hypothetical console with 20 games for "just" the console's 35 hundred bucks. That means 175 bucks a game, against the 625 bucks a game we had before. It's still a lot worse than the american deal, and that's why videogames sell a lot less here than in the USA. It has nothing to do with culture or gamers. People had a lot of contact and love videogames here just as much, but only the most die-hard or "richer" find such and offer acceptable, beacuse value is just too low. But even for most of these, this 175 a game is just borderline good enough, so the U$ 625 we had without piracy is away off-limits.

So it's all about value, and the console and the games have a lot more value if you can pirate. The difference is so big, that the higher price point will be too high even for most people who find the lower cost acceptable. But then, not many people will find it to be so, while they'd do if the deal looked more like it does in the USA. That's basically why console sales are low on most poorer countries while piracy rates are high, and it just makes sense.

I'd just like to remember I pulled no numbers from my ass :). Think about them a little. I really hope you understand the point I am (well, we are) trying to make, as the numbers themselves and several studies and people from the industry have said many times. The guys from Valve talked about how it was all about value, and I believe this again shows how right they are.

Anyway, sorry for the long text, and the edits were mainly for spelling.

Pirating refers to theft, SALE & PERSONAL PROFIT of others' goods. Downloading a game, without resale, is not called being a pirate.

Unless you've been brainwashed. Keep that important fact in mind.

Well the problem is that games aren't returnable, right?

I myself have several avenues that allow me to play games I can't afford.

For consoles, I have Gamefly, and I can buy a used game at gamestop and return it for a full refund within a week.
For PC I just pirate it to see if it was worth it.

When Total War: Medieval II came out, I was in Best Buy ready to purchase it. I convinced myself not to, and went home and pirated it, and found out the game was incredibly broken and buggy. Thanks internet!

Medieval II is broken and buggy? I seemed to have no problem with it, other than archers looking a bit useless sometimes.

ever tried using the merchants?

Oh, that's so true. So true I tried them once as I started palying and just forgot about them until now :D

Still, you can easily conquer the game on any difficulty without ever using a merchant, so that's not a big deal if you ask me, absolutelly not a deal breaker. There's no way you can tell me the game is worth it's price with merchants but not without it :P

well, when it's the exact same game as the one before it because everything they added is broken, then, yes it is a deal breaker.

Oh, that makes more sense. I mean, anything that's broken is pretty minor anyway, so even if those worked, I still think the upgrade was too small over Rome. I actually spent more time playing Rome than Medieval II because of that. I still really liked the game, but I understand it lost a lot of appeal for being so much of the same.

i did end up pirating empires too, but then I bought it once I realized how amazing it was.