Every day is the "End of the Week"

Does anybody remember the days when Animal Crossing: City Folk first came out, and every single Wii owner was playing it?  The days when if you didn't have it, you missed out on all of the gaming fun?  Well, you probably don't; it didn't last very long.  But I certainly do.  I was that one member of a gaming website who didn't have the game.  Usual reasons; cash was tight around the house.  So I told my parents, "whenever we get the extra money, I want that game!"  And I eventually got it, too.  I was so excited, and I ran to my laptop to get on Skype and let my friends know that I finally had it.  The response I got?  "Oh. Cool."  There was no "Awesome! Wanna play??"  or anything similar.  No excitement at all.  The game was yesterday's news; nobody really cared about it.  $50 wasted.

This kind of story isn't really all that uncommon, though.  The same thing has happened to lots of people in the gaming world, and it's one of the reasons behind single-player games retaining their popularity.  I personally tend to stick to my Zelda and Star Ocean games that I can play perfectly fine by myself, so that I don't have to worry about the fun dying, and I can think of at least 5 other people I know that are the same way.  Let's face it, guys, gaming fashion is just like clothing fashion -- popular today, absolutely ridiculous tomorrow.

This poor kitty's attire is an accurate representation of you playing World of Warcraft.

This can be good for places like GameStop.  It means they get more trade-ins, which means they get more used games to sell (and since used games are cheaper, they're what a lot of people go for anyway).  It can also be good for the companies, since during the game's month of fame, it tends to fly off of store shelves, and as long as they get their money, they're happy.  But it puts a serious strain on the average gamer's wallet.  Granted, most people trade in these games once they become unpopular, so they don't lose the full $50 (and in some cases more) they spent on the game.  But they still lose quite a bit of their hard-earned cash.  It's enough to make one wonder why anyone would bother wasting so much money.

No, it's cool.  These 2 games will keep me entertained for about a week;

they're totally worth this much money!

It's a bit of simple psychology, though.  When it comes to fashion, most people think about keeping up with what's popular.  It never crosses their mind that it probably won't stay in fashion very long -- all anyone knows, or cares about, is that it's popular now, and without it, they're kept completely out of the loop.  And nobody wants that.  It applies to shoes, clothes, and video games.  Yes, even you, my non-conformist friend.  As much as you would like to distance yourself from the ideas of dressing in the "trendy" brands, you're just like those people in following video game trends.

Well, the Nintendo DS was fun while it lasted.  Now where's your 3DS?

So, what about those who can't afford to keep buying games they'll only play for about a month?  Well, I really don't know what to tell you guys.  Get what you can on release date, and hope you're getting the ones that will stay popular for a long time, like Brawl did. (Deny it all you want, guys, but Brawl stuck around much longer than most games.)  And, if you're already behind in getting a game, I suggest not bothering, lest you get it just as the game loses its popularity.  But, that's just me.  What will you do?


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