360 Marketplace a Scam

[dragon2611]

I hate microtransactions . . but I'm for digital distributions . . for example fairsized expansions, homebrew, full games, etc are great.

But I'm not for micro-selling of content that should be free, especially if its just a small alteration or unlocking of code already on the game. . . extra car colors, teams, characters, weapons . . basically cheats.

There is a difference.

yeah GRAW has a map pack you can buy, but then i think Thats value for money because its about 800mb of new content

The oblivion stuff is a rip off i only bought some of it cus i has some left over points from getting the graw mappack (i didnt relise it had gone half price)

[Quactaur]

Uptil the 360, most console games were fairly bug free; though there were bugs, more were ironed out during playtesting that PC games, where many games have regular patches. Now that the next generation can update the game, i fear that developers may be pressured to rush games out faster, as any bugs can always be patched later.

The same with extra content. If they build a new map for a game and sell it, that's great as it adds value to the game, but if as i suspect in a lot of cases they add contentt o the disc and intentionally lock it off until you pay, that's something else. Intentionally creating the need for microtransactions is just a pathetic way to leech money. I don't want to have to pay for every new weapon i want to use on an FPS because they're all locked out, what's on the disc should be free.

Episodic games annoy me too. Instead of paying ?40 for a good long game, you're paying ?9.99 again and again for a few levels; in the end it'll work out far more expensive. Paying in installments is an old business trick to make the amount of money you're paying seem more acceptable, and as the games industry starts to edge towards i fear more and more for my wallet.

[kingroach]

Someone should compare the contents from all multiplatform titles.. like all EA and Ubisoft games are available for all platforms.. If the PS3 or Wii version has more content than xbxo 360, then 360 owners are getting ripped off.. if they are all the same then 360 owners just have the chance to have few extras..

[Menge]

i think that charging for content that's already in the disc is stupid. it makes customers mad. even if you have the content ready by shipping time, you shouldn't distribute it with the disc if you're going to sell it later on.

developers wanted to do what they do: optimize. but that doesn't work well for the consumer. they feel a bit robbed.

in my opinion, if content is READY for a certain game, developers should include it with the original game. i mean, it's in their own interest to provide the best experience possible for their customers: the more feature packed your game is, the better!

as someone said earlier in this thread: i'm all for digital distribution. but no microtransactions. they're just another way to milk the customer...

[lol911]

well, if you get angry at this you need to get angry at human nature and the world we made for ourselves in general...greed comes before all, i'm afraid.

Well, yes, of course you can rant on human stupidity and how idiotic society really is for years... but this topic is about the 360 marketplace :laugh:

[Brandon]

Uptil the 360, most console games were fairly bug free; though there were bugs, more were ironed out during playtesting that PC games, where many games have regular patches. Now that the next generation can update the game, i fear that developers may be pressured to rush games out faster, as any bugs can always be patched later.

Yep. Like with COD2 and 3. You couldnt play online (well most people couldnt play online) before the patch came out a month and a half later.

If they are going to do that, they should give the gamer some kind of "free" download - maybe a map or something to compensate for their loss.

[Brandon Live Veteran]

i think that charging for content that's already in the disc is stupid. it makes customers mad. even if you have the content ready by shipping time, you shouldn't distribute it with the disc if you're going to sell it later on.

Actually - if the content is ready (and wasn't going to be a part of the original game anyway) - I see no problem including it on the disc.

The main reason to do so is for all of the Core System owners. Without a hard drive, downloading these sorts of add-ons takes up precious memory card space. So if they can minimize that for some specific add-ons / unlockables, it does make sense to do so.

It's a difficult position and I can see both sides of the argument. My feeling is that Live Marketplace and services like it should provide a facility for additional content targetted at the "hardcore" fans of specific games. Nothing on there should be required or necessary for the game to feel "complete." And nothing on there should be content that was part of the original game and then "ripped out" just to make a few extra bucks (I'm looking at you, EA).

But to me I don't really care if it's already on the disc or not. If saying it can't be on the disc is a way of "moderating" the publishers to make sure they don't do stupid ****, then maybe that's worth consideration. But really I don't think it will change anything since it's not exactly hard for them to pull the content off the disc before shipping even if it was originally supposed to be there. So all you're doing is hurting Core System owners and taking up unneeded storage space.

[TrueShadow]

I'm not sure if anyones already mentioned this, but microsoft does not make the content that goes on xbox live. They recieve from the publishers, test it, and if it works, they release it. & as for some of the oblivion downloads, i believe that the larger parts are already there, but i think that when the game was released some of them might have been unfinished or cut from the original game. So what they could be doing is simple bug fixes & then unlocking it for the player. The reasoning for like new cars being small could be that most of what they have to do is just skin the dimensions of the car.

But regardless all of the content comes from the developers, and not microsoft, so attack bethesda or the other companies.

[stanley porkchop]

But regardless all of the content comes from the developers, and not microsoft, so attack bethesda or the other companies.

:yes:

[AlphaPrime]

I can understand charging for extra content that is made months after the game release like bonus maps/levels, but to purposely withhold existing content for the sole purpose of making even more money from the already high price of the initial game is just plain greedy.

[neoadorable]

Well, yes, of course you can rant on human stupidity and how idiotic society really is for years... but this topic is about the 360 marketplace :laugh:

my comments answered the relevant questions. yes, it's "wrong" to charge for content that's already there. it's greedy. it's what i expect. they'd charge us for air if they could get away with it.

[v0ltage789]

Well like I said in reply to the news post, when we buy software for consoles or PC nowadays, we don't really own it, we own the right to use it. So it would make perfect sense that you would only be paying for the rights to "use" an addon pack. Is this crappy? Sure it is, but is it a new concept? Surely it isn't.

[GNRambo]

Spartan_X is behind this all! GET EM BOYS!

[Rodrigo]

CORE SYSTEMS Crybabies. :p :)

[Huleboeren]

CORE SYSTEMS Crybabies. :p :)

:huh:

[Menge]

Brandon: i see your point. and it does make sense. the thing is just that people paying for something they already "have" makes them feel robbed or hurt in some sense. just that :)

the strategy really is better for the core system owners. but then again, if you expect to download extra content for games or if you are a hard core gamer, you should get a hard drive - hence the better package, no?

i don't know. i think in the end this is a moot point.

it's customers' feelings against logic. i'm a programmer, but if i were to decide that for my company, i'd go with making customers feel their money is really well spent :)

either way, i have to say that the xbox marketplace is really bringing innovation to the content distribution market. it's a really good initiative.