Table Tennis demo soon

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 June, 2006

Plus: Rockstar mentality.

Rockstar's planning to release a demo of Table Tennis on Xbox Live Marketplace, according to lead designer Benjamin Johnson.

Speaking to Xbox.com a little while ago, Johnson confirmed the demo is on the way, but didn't offer any details about it. From which we'll infer that you play as Mr T. against Napoleon Dynamite using a floor tile instead of a bat.

Johnson also explained the rationale behind charging less than full price for Table Tennis. In essence it's down to consumer expectation. You drove it down with your expectations. Well expected!

"We definitely consider this one of our triple-A titles, but we also consider it to be priced fairly at $40," said Johnson. "We've become known for our open, immersive worlds - in terms of the Grand Theft Auto series and Midnight Club Racing 3."

So, new site tactic: constantly complain about game prices.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • oakie007 #1 6 years ago

    Shame I bought the game on day one......it may persuade a few doubters to buy it though.

  • Furbs #2 6 years ago

    Didnt they announce it as a budget title right from the word go? I think its more a case they realised it wouldnt sell at a normal price (good as it is), rather then them doing us a favour.

  • Blerk #3 6 years ago

    So, new site tactic: constantly complain about game prices.

    Did we not do that already?

  • trevd72 #4 6 years ago

    budget - £30 at the shops......i though budget was £10-£20. Mind you I am getting loads a fun from real budget goodness that is Live! Arcade

  • Moonprince #5 6 years ago

    Got mine from Tesco, £25.

  • #6 6 years ago

    Heh budget £30. That beautiful.

    So any lastgen game is a budget game then.

    You can get "Destroy All Humans" in GAME for £15 - howzat!

    BTW used all reward card points and got my copy of TT in GAME for £4.99
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/06 @ 10:48

  • Carlo #7 6 years ago

    @Blerk.

    We complain about everything! :)

  • Wrestlevania #8 6 years ago

    "[We] also consider it to be priced fairly at $40"

    Be that as it may, but as usual the UK gets stiffed by greedy publishers:

    $40 at today's exchange rate is approximately £21.43. Add on the obligatory 17.5% VAT and that still only comes to £25.18. The US retail price stated above will already include the profit margin on top of the unit cost, so in theory the UK distribution is making 'a killing' by adding the extra fiver to the sticker price.

    So yes, I think we're all entitled to have a good f---ing moan about the continued non-equivalence of UK games pricing.
    Edited by 3 at 02/06/06 @ 11:14

  • Furbs #9 6 years ago

    Budget is £1.99 from the corner shop. You kids today.

  • Chtulie #10 6 years ago

    If games were 5 hours of solid entertainment, without padding, for 20 euros each, I'd have a game collection (measured in units on the shelf) that might rival my DVD collection (measured in meters of shelf-space it needs).

  • HarryB #11 6 years ago

    budget is £30 in GAME when every other game is £50....

  • Chtulie #12 6 years ago

    US-price vs. Euro price:

    don't forget that in North-West europe we have a much richer, better and stronger economy, so the prices will reflect that. The US is better compared to eastern europe when looking at economic health, average income, education, etc. And you know how cheap going on vacation there is.

  • Wrestlevania #13 6 years ago

    Chtulie: "don't forget that in North-West europe we have a much richer, better and stronger economy, so the prices will reflect that. The US is better compared to eastern europe when looking at economic health, average income, education, etc."

    Bollocks--that's the whole point of the exchange rate system. What you're actually saying is that we somehow deserve to pay more, purely through geography alone.

    Which is pure shite, hence the whining.
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/06 @ 12:02

  • Flabio #14 6 years ago

    Quoted US prices don't usually include sales tax though, cause it varies from state to state.

  • Wrestlevania #15 6 years ago

    Flabio: "Quoted US prices don't usually include sales tax though, cause it varies from state to state."

    The highest possible sales tax for this sort of product (i.e. video games) is still only 9% as an absolute maximum. Which would mean the game would retail for the equivalent of £27.45 (after VAT) over here, which I suppose appears more reasonable.

    But it still amounts to UK prices having a further ~10% added on top, seemingly for the hell of it.
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/06 @ 12:23

  • THATinkjar #16 6 years ago

    I would probably have paid full whack for this game. It is that good, in my opinion.
    Edited by 1 at 30/08/07 @ 09:35

  • dk_rare #17 6 years ago

    Maybe Rockstar felt that we had been bled dry enough with the price of the 360?

    Or yeah, maybe they didn't expect it to be a hit.

  • Arnold__ #18 6 years ago

    The US economy is the largest in the wolrd, end of story. No comparison to Eastern Europe or the socialist /borderline communist Western Europe economies. California alone has the 5th largest economy in the world.

    When comparing the US/UK prices you are missing pieces of the puzzle. For example, Rockstar does not get £30 if the game costs £30, there are distribution costs, GAME/Tesco takes a cut etc etc. For example, Walmart may get $5 for every game sold while GAME takes £7 or £10 for every game sold, simply because rent, salaries, insurance and other overheads are higher in the UK than in the US.

    A fairer comparison would be to take the average wage in the US and divide this by the tax inclusive price of Table Tennis (average tax around 4%). Compare this to the average wage in the UK divided by the Table Tennis price. In short, how many copies of Table Tennis do the average american earn per year versus how many copies of Table Tennis do the average Brit earn. Then you can see who is being screwed over most.
    Edited by 1 at 02/06/06 @ 12:55

  • Arnold__ #19 6 years ago

    Not at all ManicMiner. I just find it weird dat UK/Germany/Sweden etc have such high tax and VAT rates, what do you think this is used for? To prop up socialist governments (taken to the extreme socialism becomes communism) where half the population does not work but instead received housing for free, healthcare for free, dole, and benefit upon benefit while suckers like me work 60 hours per week and are taxed to death to support their lout kids, their pensions, etc etc. Rather spend, spend, spend, be jobless and punch out kids, you will be better off! I believe these are the real reasons why products are more expensive in the UK than in US, which is why you are paying more for your PSP, your x360 and the reason why you will be paying $800 (£435) for your PS3 come november.

    But enough of that, this is about Table Tennis! Quality game.
    Edited by 2 at 02/06/06 @ 15:29

  • DrDamn #20 6 years ago

    Exchange rates go up and down all over the place. Currently what is $1.87 to £1 was $1.70 to £1 not so long ago. You can't simply look at exchange rates either. There are plenty of other costs that will vary from region to region too - translation, distribution etc.

  • optimusprym8 #21 6 years ago

    maybe my new 360 will have been delievered from M$ by the time this is released as true budget price... :-/

  • Whizzo #22 6 years ago

    It's 25 quid in Tesco and online, that's a budget price for the 360 and considering how good it is, it's worth every penny.

  • barchetta #23 6 years ago

    @ Furbs:

    Mastertronic? Last V8? Chiller?...... jumpers for goalposts. Wasn't it?