Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world • Hacker News Board

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#41

Post by thmsths » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:04 PM UTC

MajimasEyepatch wrote: post #27

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #7

No video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.

Did you feel that way in 2005 when the Xbox 360 was released and $60 was the new standard? Because $60 in 2005 has the same buying power as $97.41 today. This game, in real terms, is cheaper than Xbox 360 games were.

I understand this, but the economics of software in general is that you have high upfront costs and then the marginal costs are minimal. Better tooling has helped keep these upfront costs from growing too much (developing a game in 2025 is MUCH easier than in 2005), the distribution costs have shrunk too and the size of the market has exploded. Given these is it really unreasonable for consumers to expect the prices to stay flat?

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#42

Post by jsheard » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:04 PM UTC

MajimasEyepatch wrote: post #27

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #7

No video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.

Did you feel that way in 2005 when the Xbox 360 was released and $60 was the new standard? Because $60 in 2005 has the same buying power as $97.41 today. This game, in real terms, is cheaper than Xbox 360 games were.

Nintendo pricing is unique because they barely do sales, if a $60 Xbox 360 game was too expensive then you could just be patient and let the price creep downwards all the way to be bargain bin if desired. OTOH the last Mario Kart game from 8 years ago (which was a re-release of a Wii U game from 11 years ago) still retails for $50 to this day, even as the sequel is about to drop.

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#43

Post by bee_rider » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

AllegedAlec wrote: post #26

bee_rider wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is pithy but actually I think it benefits too much from not defining with it is. I mean, it is a game, they are a game studio, if they “can” make a fun game with a reasonable amount of developer effort, they should. If they can’t they shouldn’t. The quote relies on there being some horrible side effect of creating the thing without thinking whether or not they should do it. I think there’s no chance that this go…

I grew up during the age of fads, and "Open World" is very much one of them that keeps on recurring. There's no reason whatsoever for mario kart to be open world.

> There's no reason whatsoever for mario kart to be open world.

My gut says the same thing (although Nintendo has pulled a rabbit out of their hat before, so I guess we’ll see… they’ve also had flops).

> I grew up during the age of fads, and "Open World" is very much one of them that keeps on recurring.

I dunno when you grew up, but I also grew up during an era of fads. I’m not convinced human culture is anything but a filtering and accumulation of fads.

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#44

Post by jihadjihad » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

badgersnake wrote: post #29

bee_rider wrote: post #6

I wonder if it will be fun. The open world Zelda game kinda made sense to me because those games have always been pretty open. You could always wander around. When I was a kid, I played Ocarina of Time as an open world game, I just wandered around and made up the NPC interactions in my head. And the 2D entries in the series had pretty big worlds. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if the trick can repeat outside tha…

Burnout Paradise did this to Burnout and imho, it made that game worse. If you haven’t played Burnout, go find a PS2 emulator and a Burnout 3 iso and you’ll have an amazing afternoon.

Burnout 3: Takedown was awesome but oh man, in 2025 my eyeballs cannot deal with the lower-res graphics/textures and short draw distance. Especially with things flying toward you at high speed!

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#45

Post by charcircuit » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:05 PM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #25

op00to wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games are more expensive, but the market of gamers is larger. We can do this back and forth all day! The clear fact is that when consumers are getting squeezed, there will be backlash against price raises like this. I have never missed a Nintendo console since the Wii. I won’t be buying a switch 2.

Super Mario Kart for the SNES cost $55 in 1992 ($128 in today's money). If it was worth it then, then surely a much bigger game for 60% of the price is an even better deal. The complaints don't really seem based in reality.

>If it was worth it then, then surely a much bigger game for 60% of the price is an even better deal.

Whether a game is worth it is different for different people. When you expand your audience beyond enthusiasts then people will not be willing to pay as much money for a game. Saying that enthusiasts will see it as a good deal when most of the audience are notenthusiasts. does not mean too much.

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#46

Post by weberer » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #21

hombre_fatal wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$80 today is still cheaper than paying $60 a couple decades ago. https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm Also games have only become more expensive to make since then and gamer expectations have only increased.

Games are more expensive, but the market of gamers is larger. We can do this back and forth all day! The clear fact is that when consumers are getting squeezed, there will be backlash against price raises like this. I have never missed a Nintendo console since the Wii. I won’t be buying a switch 2.

>backlash against price raises like this

There's really not much backlash. At the most, just some impotent complaints online toward random companies, and nothing at all toward the federal reserve. If people really cared, we would have seen a lot more politicians like Ron Paul.

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#47

Post by moralestapia » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #8

jsheard wrote: post #5

I'm sure it'll be fun, but I'm not thrilled about Nintendo bumping the price up to $80 even before paid DLCs inevitably get added on top. Plus if the last Mario Kart is any indication then the price will barely get reduced over the entire lifecycle of the Switch 2.

$80 today is still cheaper than paying $60 a couple decades ago. https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm Also games have only become more expensive to make since then and gamer expectations have only increased.

*sigh*

Could we please stop pretending that corporations do not wish to extract as much money as they can from our pockets?

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#48

Post by YesBox » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #7

No video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.

As a consumer i don’t like price increases. As an indie game developer, i hope this raises the floor (it prob won’t) because id like to hire people locally (ie in person). Steam takes 30% and the talent are in expensive cities. It’s a tough industry :D

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#49

Post by throw8393494 » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #7

No video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.

You can buy physical console/PC for 80$

Re: Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world

#50

Post by Pet_Ant » Tue, Jun 03, 2025, 4:08 PM UTC

ThatMedicIsASpy wrote: post #7

No video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.

Apparently the 1992 Super Nintendo version of Super Street Fighter 2 was $80 then. Close to $200 in today's currency.

So you are welcome to your opinion, but it's not like this is unprecedented, or even unreasonable.