OXM Article on failure of faceplates

[tacohead]

http://www.oxm.co.uk/article.php?id=24558

[SpaceGhost2K]

I said a lot of the same stuff in OXM November 2008. Except I blamed them for their own failure. People wanted their faceplates to be personal - a game they liked or their gamertag or something or something to identify it with themselves. Instead we got these generic images that weren't even particularly cool, and they wanted twenty bucks for them. Had they started off with Kameo and Perfect Dark and PGR3 where the public could actually get them, things might have been different.

[Variation-XBA]

Exactly Spacey. The idea was great, the execution was terrible.

[SpaceGhost2K]

If you go to the link, you can see my comments there with the others. Nothing really big.

**EDIT** Actually, wait. I didn't see the original article at OXM. I saw the one at kotaku.

[Symmetric-XBA]

Unf. I don't see xbox 360 faceplates as valuable as before. Sure there are limited plates, but with the slim 360 and the "next gen" version of the xbox a few years out, I don't see a rising value to something that can't be used in the future. Maybe i'm completely off the mark here, but once the 360 we know today becomes obsolete, then whats the point? Do you think that the value will actually rise in these limited faceplates once consumers can no longer use them? Thats ultimately the point of a faceplate, to cover the front of your xbox, and when you can no longer use them, then whats the point?? I find myself asking these questions about the consoles too. Granted the limited consoles you can do more with than just a faceplate, however, I'd hate to be dropping thousands of dollars all for something that not only will decrease in value, but become obsolete and pointless.

[hellonearth159]

I think the value of faceplates will continue to decline because the pool of collectors continues to decline. Those of us that monitor eBay have seen very rare plates that used to go for several hundred dollars now go for well under a hundred. The pool of people interested in this hobby was always limited and with the loss of mainstream support from Microsoft, interest has withered away. If you are collecting faceplates as an investment, I'm afraid you will not be happy to hear this. On the other hand, if you treat faceplates as an art form and as another way to enjoy your favorite games, then you can find some beautiful plates at very reasonable prices right now.
For my part, I hope to still see the occasional "Official" faceplate as part of a game promotion. I think the cost to publishers is on par to most other promotional items.