I suspect that this is true for quite a few people, as it's not that dissimilar from how I got into TrackMania as well. Unfortunately it's a bit of an unfair comparison. Though I don't think it was entirely necessary to be a "highly informed" buy per se to see the value in TM2:Canyon. For example, my own route to TM2 came via almost no current information about it at all prior to purchase. Rather, I simply saw it in the context of the existing games.Biendeo wrote:This may be because I bought TMUF 3 years ago for $20 at a store, and I had never bought any other TM games.
When I first transitioned from TMNF to TMUF at the end of 2008 I was frankly staggered at how much game was there. So much so that I went and did a bit of reading (Wikipedia, I'm lazy), and then learned that TMUF was a compilation package of two previous full-price games as well as integrating the Stadium environment. Knowing this, and seeing the USD25/EUR20 price-point of Canyon, it seemed pretty obvious to me that this was merely going to be a first-step into something new.
I think the key issue here is not price alone, it's time. If one were to have first played TrackMania in 2003, and then seen it grow over the years into TMUF, it would be apparent that TMUF was an endpoint and not a starting point. I expect that there will be a package deal in a few years time, maybe it's even going to be called ManiaPlanet: United. It will probably cost $20-30, and include all the TM2/SM/QM environments developed over the years. Anyone prepared to wait until 2017, or whenever it is, will likely get the deal of a lifetime. Me, I'll probably be spending USD25 every six months between now and then to get each and every piece as they come out. Some may say (my wife included, I suspect) that I should just wait. But I am perfectly sanguine with my decision to be an early adopter in this case. That comes with a price, but it's a price I think is fair.
