The Price is Blog, Right?

I hate to break it to you, but the 4th digit in my analysis of TPIR car prices is even less exciting than the 3rd digit.  As you can see, it is fairly evenly distributed, so I’ll keep this post short and sweet.  Like the 3rd digit, the 4th digit rarely features the number 0 (3% of the time, which translated to 6 out of 200 cars).  1, on the other hand, is the only number that I’m guessing is significantly over-represented in the 4th spot.  So I guess that’s good to know, especially since 1 is often an unpopular guess, for any digit.  Everything else looks, to me, randomly distributed, and the minor fluctuations are likely not statistically significant.  For analysis on how the third digit might predict the fourth, or how the fourth might predict the fifth, I can only say the same thing I said yesterday, which is that my sample set is not large enough to make conclusive predictions of that kind, and the repetition of certain prices for the same car over and over cancels out any effect we might see.

I suppose that, with this database, you could start to memorize the various prices of every car, and for a short time, you’d do very well if you were on the show and played a game for a car.  I will try to make this dataset available to you all soon (comment below if you have a suggestion on how to do this).

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out my analyses on the 1st digit, 2nd digit, and 5th digit, all of which are much more interesting and useful than the 3rd and 4th.

Last night I was watching an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond (dedicated blog soon to come, as soon as the Frasier blog gets underway, of course), when Debra made a joke about The Price is Right.  I didn’t think much of it–though I did recognize that Raymond used to be on CBS, so the cross-promotion made sense–but then Ray made another TPIR joke later in the episode, and Debra responded with a third.

The episode (#176) is titled “The Contractor,” and it appeared in season 8 (2003).  An extended search for any information about this historic event yielded no illuminating results.  I wish I had more insight, but it seems no one cares.  But I wonder, were the Raymond writers forced to do some product placement?  Was the favor repaid by Bob on TPIR?  Or did Raymond just want to write a few TPIR jokes, of his own volition?  If anyone out there has any insight into this event, won’t you please share it with priceisblog@gmail.com?

It was especially coincidental that I saw this piece of cross-promotion last night because on June 17 and 18, two characters on CBS’s soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful will take a trip to see a fictional taping of The Price is Right, with Drew and Rich guest-starring as themselves.  It doesn’t sound exciting enough to get me to watch a soap opera, but almost.  I can handle admitting that I watch TPIR and Raymond (which won MULTIPLE Emmys for best comedy series and for its actors), but the Bold and the Beautiful is one step too far.

Aw, who am I kidding.  Setting the DVR to record right now.

Just a quick update to let you all know the “The Price is Blog, Right?” now appears on the THIRD PAGE of a Google search for “the price is right blog,” even without the quotation marks!  This is as high as I’ve ever seen it, so congrats for visiting the site and adding it to your blog rolls (keep it up!).  As always, the site appears on the first page of a search for “The Price is Blog, Right?” in case you want to get here faster.

I’ll be returning to car statistics this week.  After all, we still haven’t profiled the third and fourth digits!  In the meantime, here are two TPIR blooper videos for you to enjoy, one with a poor choice of words by Bob, and another featuring a contestant’s malaprop.  Too bad the second one gives away the punchline in the video title.  Oh well.  Enjoy!

I have a dream, a dream of a perfect game on the Price is Right, but not just a traditional perfect game… a PERFECT perfect game…

Someday, all six winning contestants on the row will guess the exact retail price of the item up for bids and get $500 bonuses…

Someday, all six of those contestants will win their pricing games, including two cars, one won on the Golden Road, a $25,000 winner on Punch a Bunch (or $25,900 for you true afficionados), and, of course, a $50,000 winner in Plinko…

Someday, all six contestants will spin $1.00 on their first spin at the big wheel, and on the bonus spin/spin-off, four will spin $.05 or $.15, winning an extra $10,000, while the other two, one in each showdown, will spin $1.00 again, winning an extra $25,000…

Someday, both contestants in the showcase will bid the exact retail price of their own showcase, and the producers will be forced to give both showcases to both contestants…

Someday, everyone will help control the pet population by getting their pets spayed or neutered…

Someday, we can make this dream a reality. Someday.

A recent tweet led me to the information that a new version of The Price is Right video game may be released later this year, and I felt I had to warn you all.  Though I haven’t played the new version, I own the original version for Wii, and it might just be the worst video game ever.

I was incredibly excited when it came out.  Obviously I love TPIR.  And what could be better than a way to play the games without having to travel to LA, wait in line, and hope that you’re one of the 9 people picked that day to play?  It seemed perfect.  The $40 I paid for the game was, I thought, worth it.

Then I started playing, and try as I might, I could not find one redeeming thing in the entire game.  I did find a lot to hate.

1. The loading time is incredibly slow.  Half of the game is watching a black loading screen with a little twirling logo in the corner.  And then, once you get to the games, there is often a ton of pointless introduction that you can’t skip.

2. The product descriptions are often way too long, and you can’t fast forward through these, either, even if you’ve heard them before.  One of them, a can of beans or something, goes on to tell you how many cups are in one serving and how many serving are recommended by the USDA.  It’s hilarious how long it lasts, but only the first time.  Then it’s just annoying.  Did no one proofread the scripts?  Did no one realize how frustrating this would be?

3. The products begin to repeat after just a few hours of gameplay, and at this point, I never see anything new.  I’ve heard that the new version has twice as many products.  Great.  A few more hours.  That’s really not good enough.  Most game systems today, including Wii, have the ability to download new material on a regular basis.  Why can’t the TPIR game take advantage of that?  Besides, a simple search for cheats yields one of many gaming websites that lists the price of EVERY PRODUCT in the game.  Cheats can be fun, but they shouldn’t destroy the game.  The TPIR game could become cheat-proof with regularly updating prizes and prices.

4. You can barely see the products, anyway.  Most of them pop up in a tiny window in the corner of the screen.  The majority of the screen is taken up by terrible animations of the contestants and audience members that no one in his right might would care to look at.  Why not make the live-action product videos full screen while they’re playing?  Or at least an an OPTION for that?

5. The gameplay is ridiculous.  In “3 Strike” mode, you play until you get 3 strikes at either contestant’s row or at the wheel… but you CAN’T get a strike on a pricing game or in the showcase?  How does that make sense?  And even if you LOSE at contestant’s row and get a strike, you still move on the pricing game.  What??  Normal mode is a bit more straight forward, but it’s too slow and boring.  Why isn’t there a mode where you can just play pricing games?!  Apparently that mode exists, but you have to beat a “challenge” on EVERY pricing game before that mode is unlocked.  Some of these challenges are easy, but some seem impossible.  I’ve been trying for a while, and I’ve beaten about half of the challenges.  When you do beat a challenge, a classic video is unlocked.  Ridiculous.  Why not unlock the GAME??

6. When you lose a game, most of the time you don’t get to see the actual price.  The tuba music plays, and you move on to the wheel, but you don’t get to see what you should’ve guessed.  I know this is a small thing, but it’s incredibly frustrating.  On the actual show, they ALWAYS show the price when the contestant gets it wrong.  It’s much more satisfying.  It must be something psychological.

7. The game makes no good use of the Wii remote.  This is forgiveable, I suppose.  It’s really not a game made for motion detection.  But the Wii remote is used for spinning the big wheel, and it’s incredibly dissatisfying.  I feel like what I do with the remote has almost no effect on the wheel.  The remote is also used in “Hole in One” to putt the golf ball, and the gameplay is even worse than putting in Wii Sports, if that’s possible.

That’s all for now.  But there’s definitely more, and if I think of the rest and want to rant again, I may repost.  I LOVE TPIR, obviously, and this game is a disgrace.  Yes, it’s fun to finally be able to play some of the pricing games, but it’s almost too frustration to make it through all the bullshit before, after, and during those games.  Whoever made it, and whoever authorized it, should be ashamed.

There are rumors that the new version may fix some of these problems, but from the review and screenshots here, it seems that some of the main issues will remain.  We’ll see.

NOTE: A recent comment asked about the TPIR game for the iPhone.  I have JUST downloaded the game and need a bit more time with it to review it.  I’ll let you know what I think soon.

Yesterday’s post led me to another TPIR YouTube video of a contestant cheating… rare, I know, but apparently it happens.  And she gets away with it!  I guess if you can find a new and clever way to cheat, and it makes Bob (or now Drew) laugh enough, you’re on your way to winning.

Bob’s sarcasm at the end of the game is brilliant.  “You know, I’m pretty sure she’s won this!” and “Boy this is exciting now, isn’t it?”  The best part by far: “You know you ruined my show?  You’ve ruined the game.  This would be exciting!”

And yet, that segment would’ve been lost among the thousands of other old clips had she not “ruined” his game.  I guess tragedy plus time really does equal comedy.