Our beloved Nintendo fined!? Yep, but what does that mean for the ordinary gamer? Our staff discuss this in this weeks Roundtable.

What are your thoughts on the recent Nintendo finings, and what do they mean for us gamers?

Dennis: Kinda suits them, although the fines could've been spread over more companies. To be honest: $60/70 a game is waaaay to much... I'm just a (poor) student.

Jim: I must say that this came as quite a shock for me. First thing i thought was, "Why Nintendo, why not Sega?". As far as i noticed, Nintendo games were never more expensive than Sega games, what's the deal?

As I read on, I found that this was also only for the time before 1998. Then my brain just completely exploded, "What the balls? Game prices then are exactly what they are, they've always been rediculous, whats changed?"

So in a nutshell, I'm completely baffled by it..

Lammie: It's absolute bollocks! I'm with Jim, I can't see what the fuss is about. Nintendo games have been the same price for the last 8 or so years, if anything, they have gotten cheaper.

David: Uhm... I can recall NES games for $30/40, not for $60...

Modox: The finings themselves are completely acceptable, Nintendo have been co-operating with the EU trade people since 1997, they fully expected to be fined. The problem is with the amount, it's a ridiculous amount of money, especially considering the fact that Nintendo are now complying with trading rules and have fully co-operated with the investigation.

As for the fact that they have been fined, people shouldn't be too harsh, Nintendo do deserve it. They were part of a cartel with European distributors, who have also been fined. In the NES and SNES days Nintendo had as much power over retailers and developers as Sony do now, more even, and they exploited it. They were a fairly nasty company when they wanted to be, but they have made a complete turnaround in the past few years, partly because all the developers they mistreated moved to Sony and their new Playstation.

So basically, yes they deserve to be fined, but certainly not this much.

James: I totally agree with Jim- Ninty's games have been the same price for ages. In fact, they were much more expensive a few years ago (remember the original Turok on the N64?)

Ash: I have read Game Over (I can't remember the author's name but I do suggest this book, get your library to order it for you!) and I didn't know how much Nintendo exploited their power in Japan and America (Europe is barely touched in the book). But if it was the same in Europe I'm not suprised.

I do agree though, the price is a bit stupid, and why did it take so long to fine them? I hope Nintendo manage to get the price down some how but we'll see.

Conor: I was really surprised about the whole thing. Not just about Nintendo being fined for price-fixing ("What? our Nintendo!?" I thought) but also the amount. Aprox. 150 million euros! I thought it was outrageous at first but came to realise it was a good thing. Nintendo have loads of money, they won't miss this fined amount.

Having started my first job, money seems that bit more earned and so I do give more concern over what I spend it on. I'd like to think that the price I'm paying is the best I can get, so this price-fixing angers me a little. Any actions over high prices is welcome by me, maybe other companies will be more conscious of their prices. And that is nothing but a good thing.

So was this fining right? I'll leave that up to you. We stay with Europe for next week, discussing now Nintendo could combat the eclipsing Xbox sales.