This can't be right...

I was checking around on Amazon today and it seems as though they must have made a mistake.

They've got Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas listed at $29.99!! Granted, if you look on their main page for games, it actually has a little graphic that says, '57% off', so I guess it's legit.

That's cool so long as they don't do the usual bait-and-switch of getting you to pre-order something and then just as it's about to ship sending you a message saying that the price has gone up.

Gabe has a good little newspost (with responses from developers) that sort of rants about how the game industry likes to release all of their games in the September to mid-December window. Just scroll down a bit. It's the newspost with the title I can't reference here for fears of scaring off people who don't like flowery language :) But title aside, it's not a bad little rant about too many hot games being released all at the same time.

I can relate, but I'm coming to terms with the fact that not all games need to be purchased the second they come out. And if you're one of the lucky few who can hold off on getting them when they come out, you can usually pick them up a few months later at greatly reduced prices! Amazing!!

I did like this response from a dev.

"Most of us in the industry are as puzzled about these release schedules as you are. Why would you release games in such a way as to get them buried under a landslide of other great games? From a money-making standpoint, this makes about as much sense as releasing the pilot of a new TV series during the SuperBowl. No TV producer in their right mind would ever do that. However, this happens every year in our industry and there's really only one reason I can think of. It's the same reason so many sequels get made for games -- people like to play it safe. And it drives most of us in the trenches mad."

It is rather sad when you seem games where this has happened. Beyond Good & Evil is the best example of this that I can think of from recent years. BG&E is an amazing game that came out last fall and frankly should have sold about a zillion copies. Instead, it got middling sales at best and was actually being given away with copies of Prince Of Persia and Splinter Cell. Why? Because it was a new franchise that was released right in the middle of this silly rush.