EA shaft 360 owners?
Discussion
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/74 <-- Original Article.
I know EA are the big evil in the computer games industry these days, however this really does smack of 'nickle n' dime' operations from them. I can see the point, you pay for additional content for a game your enjoying; however I get the sneaky suspision that what EA are looking at long term is releasing a game and then you pay again and again to unlock content already on the disk. So say you get GT4 for £40 and you want to race on Monaco, that'll be £1.50 please squire.
First we have games with adware in them, now EA are looking at micropayments for content... I don't like where this is heading. Opinions?
I know EA are the big evil in the computer games industry these days, however this really does smack of 'nickle n' dime' operations from them. I can see the point, you pay for additional content for a game your enjoying; however I get the sneaky suspision that what EA are looking at long term is releasing a game and then you pay again and again to unlock content already on the disk. So say you get GT4 for £40 and you want to race on Monaco, that'll be £1.50 please squire.
First we have games with adware in them, now EA are looking at micropayments for content... I don't like where this is heading. Opinions?
Sorry, for not keeping up with the thread. I've been looking to see what develops... *lery voice*I like to watch 
Oh, obviously you didn't get the memo, that's exactly what Sony plan to do with the next Gran Turismo. You'll have to buy the cars and tracks seperate.
Add-on cars and tracks yes. Otherwise there is no game. I fail to see how this is anything other than a good thing. It's ALWAYS been great that you could buy an update to a PC game to give it a new lease of life.
It only works if the initial game purchase is proportionately cheaper.
Problem is that the initial purchase price isn't going to reduce; I believe the RRP for a PS3 game is £50 - £60; now true I remember the days of the Atari ST where triple A titles cost this; however you'd get substantially more for your cash than a plastic DVD case, a flimsy 'manual' (often in the case of PC games ending with the phrase 'Please refer to the manual on disk for more details') and a registration card.
The GT game in question seems to be a bit of a dark horse. For everyone I find saying it's going to be a £10 near freebie I find an identical number of people saying it'll be a full GT game with the exception of classic mode; which will be released content free with punters expected to fork out cash... a few have intimated that the downloadable 'classic mode' content will infact be content on the disk already.
Worst case estimate for GT and All possible content is $230usd... that is a bloody expensive game!
Their are tacticle ways around the 'one game for all time' reducing the media quality being one; the disk wears out due to scratches and such... punter goes and buys another copy. Perhaps I'm weird but I went through three sets of F-19 Stealth Fighter disks (two paid, one sent by Microprose when I sent a begging letter... bonus).
The problem with piracy is that if they can find a way around the protection, either by releasing disk images of the content or be simply stealing account details 'somehow' then they will. It's one of those situations where to paraphrase Leia said "The more you tighten your fist, the more content will slip through your fingers". I belive they've managed to already bend the 360 in to playing copied disks, I'm sure Live is already being worked over for holes found in it's content delivery and update mechanisms.
The problem is; those who leech from 'alternate' sources have zero intention of ever paying for a game... and they'll work exceptionally hard to make sure that's the case; ironic really.
I do agree that EA are pretty much a cruft company; the problem is that everyone else is following their lead! Hopefully given time they'll pull a Dell out of the bag.
jimbro1000 said:
_dobbo_ said:
Oakey said:
ThePassenger said:
So say you get GT4 for £40 and you want to race on Monaco, that'll be £1.50 please squire.
Oh, obviously you didn't get the memo, that's exactly what Sony plan to do with the next Gran Turismo. You'll have to buy the cars and tracks seperate.
Add-on cars and tracks yes. Otherwise there is no game. I fail to see how this is anything other than a good thing. It's ALWAYS been great that you could buy an update to a PC game to give it a new lease of life.
It only works if the initial game purchase is proportionately cheaper.
Problem is that the initial purchase price isn't going to reduce; I believe the RRP for a PS3 game is £50 - £60; now true I remember the days of the Atari ST where triple A titles cost this; however you'd get substantially more for your cash than a plastic DVD case, a flimsy 'manual' (often in the case of PC games ending with the phrase 'Please refer to the manual on disk for more details') and a registration card.
The GT game in question seems to be a bit of a dark horse. For everyone I find saying it's going to be a £10 near freebie I find an identical number of people saying it'll be a full GT game with the exception of classic mode; which will be released content free with punters expected to fork out cash... a few have intimated that the downloadable 'classic mode' content will infact be content on the disk already.
Worst case estimate for GT and All possible content is $230usd... that is a bloody expensive game!
jimbro1000 said:
As already mentioned one of the big problems in the game industry at the moment is that some games take too long to play. You could buy a console and one game and (if dedicated enough) never need to buy another. For the games publishers this means that it is more profitable to create rubbish games that only last a short time than it is to create long-winded, high quality, high content games. It also mitigates the problems of piracy - it isn't so bad if a game is being illegally distributed if even the pirates and leechers have to pay money to get to the real content. Then again look at the level of fraud/theft in the big online subscription games - most people are happy to pay while others will go to great lengths to steal accounts.
Their are tacticle ways around the 'one game for all time' reducing the media quality being one; the disk wears out due to scratches and such... punter goes and buys another copy. Perhaps I'm weird but I went through three sets of F-19 Stealth Fighter disks (two paid, one sent by Microprose when I sent a begging letter... bonus).
The problem with piracy is that if they can find a way around the protection, either by releasing disk images of the content or be simply stealing account details 'somehow' then they will. It's one of those situations where to paraphrase Leia said "The more you tighten your fist, the more content will slip through your fingers". I belive they've managed to already bend the 360 in to playing copied disks, I'm sure Live is already being worked over for holes found in it's content delivery and update mechanisms.
The problem is; those who leech from 'alternate' sources have zero intention of ever paying for a game... and they'll work exceptionally hard to make sure that's the case; ironic really.
RobDickinson said:
EA shaft everyone, from bad convertions & franchise games to switching off online play in non current games, to selling content/unlocks.
There the dregs of the 'puter game industry.
There the dregs of the 'puter game industry.
I do agree that EA are pretty much a cruft company; the problem is that everyone else is following their lead! Hopefully given time they'll pull a Dell out of the bag.
Edited by ThePassenger on Thursday 16th November 00:53
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