Game Gadget - How to improve it

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

I've been speaking to someone at PQube today, as they're handling future promotion for the Game Gadget.
I'm setting up this thread so you can give them feedback. Please keep it constructive, as they're well aware of the device's current reputation. Based on the chat I've had they genuinely want to try and turn it around, so will certainly be interested in anything useful you guys as consumers have to say.

Cheers
Darran

[subzero]

with all the negativity and way customers were treated (myself included) i think its probably too late!

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Maybe, but that's hardly going to help this is it

[Antiriad2097]

Isn't the core thing to deliver on the promise of 'the iTunes of retro gaming'?

A wide catalogue of games at sensible prices, not a few Mega Drive games at £2.99 with no updates.

In these days of 69p iOS gaming, it has to compete with that otherwise I'll stick with my PSP and dodgy ROMs.

[Antiriad2097]

...oh, and since we're looking at the iOS comparison, why not get some of those developers to port stuff to the GG. There's a fair few games on there that would be infinitely better with a dpad and buttons. I've bought a few games only to find the touchscreen controls render them unplayable. Make it easy to port iOS games too, if there's a devkit to make that a painless process it makes it less of a pain to get the big names like Minter involved.

[DreamcastRIP]

I've been speaking to someone at PQube today, as they're handling future promotion for the Game Gadget...

And from your post in the gg thread,

I've spoken to one of the guys at PQube today who will be taking over PR for the Game Gadget...

So he's just a PR guy then.

The gg evidently needs one hell of a lot more than just a swift PR makeover to help solve its myriad problems.

The guy in question can polish the gg turd all he wants with fancy words and PR spin but it'll still be a turd.

[DPrinny]

Games that we cant already get on other consoles on those collections

[The Laird]

It needs games more than anything.

Nobody is going to buy a machine that has no games.

[alistair_thomas]

I think the biggest concern is the many promises made ("we have games good to go/developers on board/announcements soon" etc) that have then either been neglected to follow up on or treated as though they were never made in the first place. An explanation regarding this would be a good start for their customers.

There may well have been problems and hiccups regarding announcements but without any official word, the majority of followers (myself included) are inclined to believe its all simply intentional lies to try and keep people interested.

[subzero]

Maybe, but that's hardly going to help this is it

maybe because im bitter and dont want it to succeed?

[Liamh1982]

Just be honest - if people have constructive criticism, allow them to have their say. Don't have the Soviet-era Pravda lot modding the forum - it's not all sweetness and light, don't pretend it is.

[DPrinny]

It needs games more than anything.

Nobody is going to buy a machine that has no games.

People got the Vita..................

[killbot]

1. It needs more games. And the games there are need to be cheaper - £2.99 is too much for old Mega Drive titles. I can buy a lot of them in physical format, boxed and complete, for that kind of money.

2. Oh, and how about something other than Mega Drive games? Since a deal appears to be in place with Sega already, let's see some Master System and Game Gear titles. I doubt Nintendo will get on board given they already have their own eShop for this kind of thing, but maybe Atari can get involved? Some 2600 games would beef up the library and the credentials of the machine. Be aware of the prices though - £2.99 is a touch high for MD games. It would be batsh1t crazy for 2600 titles.

3. Don't conduct business negotiations on Twitter. It looks amateurish, especially when the party you're trying to talk to just snubs you with the world watching.

4. £60 is steep for the machine. Given that it's basically just a handheld Mega Drive and similar devices are already available at under £50 with tons of games built in, the GG should be priced to match those. At £60 the temptation to buy a PSP and mod it is clearly too much for some people. How about selling it at £39.99 and cutting the number of free games to 3? At that price the machine looks good as an impulse buy.

5. Stop trying to shut up customers who point out your mistakes or dare to ask when they'll be rectified.

[The Beans]

If they don't know what's wrong by now they must be stupid.

Honestly Darran, even the most unskilled PR cretin will have the marketing nous to give a magazine the old sob story about how they so want to turn a bad product around if only the community out there would forgive, forget and give us some constructive feedback so we can move forward etc etc. It's what PR companies are paid to do. And it never really works once a product is synonymous with the word "sh1t".

The thing has to deliver what they said it would. It's just not looking even remotely likely. A thread on a forum isn't going to come up with a miracle fix because there simply isn't one now.

My advice would be to bin the Game Gadget entirely then redesign and wait a couple of years before relaunching it under a completely different name and with a large amount of games immediately available from day one.

[The Laird]

It needs games more than anything.

Nobody is going to buy a machine that has no games.

People got the Vita..................

Not many people though, from what I hear the Vita has been far from a success and it has a massive library compared to the Game Gadget.