Lucky for Anya, Santa heeded her wish.
If only I knew it was the gift that keeps on asking.
Skylanders is a video game available in Wii, NDS, PS3. The basic pack comes with a Portal of Power and three character figures. You place the character you want in your game on the portal (which is connected to say the PS3). Here's the gimmick: you need more characters not necessarily to finish the game but to enjoy it more as you get to unlock more quests.
It only took a couple of days before Anya was asking for another character (costs about $20+ a pop). And come Boxing Day, none can be found on the shelves or at local online shops. And as much as we were on a tight budget, I hate to see the game get chucked altogether. So what's the last resort? Ebay of course. And as expected, the prices of those items located here have skyrocketed due to demand. It was actually cheaper to buy from a seller in the US.
It all felt preposterous really. Spending more on an already expensive game. I felt trapped.
But Anya was on her good behavior most of the school break. And she waited patiently for the parcel to arrived.
Watch the saga unfold.
Undeniably a brilliant business scheme.
And to be fair, the game is good. Even the husband plays it.
But too bad for the kids with cash-strapped parents.
How much do you dread seeing the phrase "Collect Them All!"?
2 comments:
just make sure you make her earn any future figures and you'll have an endless supply of rewards for good behavior, grades, chore-barter, etc.
The minute I see "collect them all" I turn away and don't buy the product. It's how they suck you in.
When the kids were little I'd explain this to them, how the company would sometimes suck you in with first week's edition only $2.95 (or whatever) then subsequent week's issues/supplies etc would be at the regular price, usually far more than my budget could allow, considering there were four kids.
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