So why is everyone scrambling for these $10 titles? I mean, they were great games before, but even I waited to pick up some A-list title until these sales. Well, aside from the reason we're all strapped for cash, here's my theory:

Who here pays full price for titles? Most of us wait for sales, price match, or hunt for the lowest price available through department stores, toy stores, discount stores, even on-line stores. Well, now these same stores are clearing out inventories, and where is the only place left to find Saturn stores? Software/Computer retailers, where the price is not discounted from retail one penny. Who wants to pay $49.99 for Sonic Jam at Toys R Us when you can get it for $30 at Wal-Mart on sale, or in an extreme case $9.50 at Best Buy? Even Wal-Mart's normal price is on average $5 to $10 less than retail per title. But us gamers do not have these retail options anymore. Maybe I wouldn't have bought Steep Slope Sliders for $50, especially considering the N64 snowboarding titles just around the corner, but I might have bought it for $30, and I would have definitely bought it for $10 had I been able to find it (anyone want to part with these said games?). I bought Duke Nukem for $25 at Target. I wouldn't have paid $50 for it because A) I'm not a big fan of first-person shooters; and B) I had Quake 2 for the PC anyway. But Duke Nukem received great word of mouth, so I was waiting for it to go on sale. Better, it went on CLEARANCE so I snapped it up. Granted, I've had it for two months now and barely made it to level three, but I think it was a good buy. I wanted to pick up Quake for $10 so I could get Death Tank Zwei, which I hear was the best part of Duke Nukem. Alas, I couldn't find it at Best Buy, and now everyone has cleared out their Quake inventories. It is near impossible to find, even at TRU. I can't even rent it to get a saved game.

And come to think of it, there were no retail sales of Saturn software by the big retailers during the Holiday season, only clearance sales. Is this Sega of America's fault to not back the retailers to back their titles? Maybe retailers saw the lack of attention they were getting from SoA and that spurred them to drop inventories so quickly. Blame SoA? Sure does look that way...

Also, this sort of demand would have been calmed if the Saturn population would have been able to RENT before they BUY. But, who rents out Saturn titles anymore (or ever for that matter)? So most of us were just not willing to fork out $50 a game for titles we've only seen screenshots of.

Complete inventories have been selling out at Targets, Wal-Marts, Sears and Best Buys across the country. It shows that there was still a large Saturn market waiting to buy titles. It also shows we would have paid $34.99-$39.99 for our games without much resistance, $30 definitely, and $10 each in our sleep. Retail prices are about $49.99, but most retail stores discount titles $7-$10 during their weekly sales, which we never saw. $49-$10 = $39? And that's the price where most retailers started to see their Saturn titles selling well. Even then a $49 title at TRU is a $44 title at Target or Wal-Mart. So take the discount from there and do the math. Us Saturn owners are not just losing the quantity of retailers carrying titles, we're also losing the quality of retailers. I sure hope this sends a message to SoA, and better yet Sega Enterprises.