The boxart for Sega's upcoming Samba de Amigo for the Wii just popped up on Gamestop's site bearing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection "Pay to Play" logo which Nintendo had announced awhile back would appear on games that had extra costs associated with them, either in regards to online play or premium content.
In the case of Samba de Amigo it likely refers to extra songs available for purchase, but the Wii has already proven to be problematic in this regard due to its limited storage space. Both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band have had to forgo downloadable songs for this reason. So how exactly is Sega going to pull off what Activision and Harmonix can't?
Fans of the original Dreamcast Samba de Amigo may remember that it too had "downloadable" songs which were in reality already on the game disc and were only unlocked by a tiny downloaded "token" which took up very little space on a Dreamcast memory unit. It's very likely that the Wii version works the same way.
The problem is, the downloaded songs on Dreamcast were free, which is apparently not going to be the case on the Wii. As far as I'm concerned, charging for content that is already on the disc is just shady, so hopefully this isn't the case.
[via GoNintendo]
Showing posts with label DLC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DLC. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
DLC CAN Carry Different Rating, Says ESRB
Last week I went on a little rant for myself in regards to the ESRB's policy of not allowing DLC to exceed the rating of the game it is intended for.
As it turns out, that isn't exactly true.
The ESRB forbids mandatory DLC updates from including content that would effectively change the rating of the game. Optional DLC, on the other hand, can carry a higher rating if the developer/publisher wishes to create such content.
While we can't expect any AO content for games like GTAIV due to the fact that (as Joystiq points out) none of the console manufacturers are likely to allow it, it does seem like publishers could get away with censoring their games to get a T rating (cutting out blood, gore, strong language and the like) and then making that stuff available as an optional download.
Basically a 21st Century version of the old Mortal Kombat blood code.
I really hope this means that World of Goo's profanity pack will hit the Wii after all...
[via Joystiq]
As it turns out, that isn't exactly true.
The ESRB forbids mandatory DLC updates from including content that would effectively change the rating of the game. Optional DLC, on the other hand, can carry a higher rating if the developer/publisher wishes to create such content.
While we can't expect any AO content for games like GTAIV due to the fact that (as Joystiq points out) none of the console manufacturers are likely to allow it, it does seem like publishers could get away with censoring their games to get a T rating (cutting out blood, gore, strong language and the like) and then making that stuff available as an optional download.
Basically a 21st Century version of the old Mortal Kombat blood code.
I really hope this means that World of Goo's profanity pack will hit the Wii after all...
[via Joystiq]
Friday, April 18, 2008
COD4 Variety Pack Goes Platinum
Infinity Ward are the Kings of the World. Not only has Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare been the number one game on Xbox Live for essentially all of 2008, but it now has the honor of having the most downloaded premium content pack ever.
In its first 9 days, the Variety Map Pack was downloaded over 1 million times. Considering Infinity Ward recently claimed that the game has 1.3 million people playing the game every single day (on Live alone), that's an incredible tie-ratio.
They even managed to get me to buy the damn thing and I am usually repulsed by premium maps.
You know what though? Infinity Ward did it right. The maps are seamlessly integrated into existing playlists as you are simply matched up with other players who have them. People without the maps will be matched up with those who don't have them. It takes no longer to get a game going then it did before.
In Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2, players are automatically booted from a server if a host loads up a map they don't have. In Halo 3, the months old Heroic Map Pack was only just added to regular playlists, now that the new 3-map pack is out. And that pack won't be added to playlists until sometime in July. Who wants to pay $10 for new maps when it's just a huge hassle to play them? Either make the maps free or implement them into the game in a way that people who do pay for them actually get to play them as if they had been included with the game to begin with. IW is the first developer to pull off the latter.
Ubisoft and Bungie could both learn a lesson from IW's integration of the maps as it has no doubt played a big part in their success. I'd love to see how many Heroic Map Packs Microsoft actually sold, because there was certainly never any major announcement about it hitting any kind of sales milestone. Releasing only 3 new maps was a mistake too. When Halo 2 had a 9 map pack a few years ago for $20 it's hard to justify a 3 map pack for $10. Microsoft got too greedy and it bit them in their ass.
I don't think it's a coincidence that COD4 didn't start topping Halo 3 on the Live charts until right after the Heroic Map Pack hit. Logic would dictate that a new map pack would renew interest in Halo 3, but the opposite happened.
[via CVG]
In its first 9 days, the Variety Map Pack was downloaded over 1 million times. Considering Infinity Ward recently claimed that the game has 1.3 million people playing the game every single day (on Live alone), that's an incredible tie-ratio.
They even managed to get me to buy the damn thing and I am usually repulsed by premium maps.
You know what though? Infinity Ward did it right. The maps are seamlessly integrated into existing playlists as you are simply matched up with other players who have them. People without the maps will be matched up with those who don't have them. It takes no longer to get a game going then it did before.
In Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2, players are automatically booted from a server if a host loads up a map they don't have. In Halo 3, the months old Heroic Map Pack was only just added to regular playlists, now that the new 3-map pack is out. And that pack won't be added to playlists until sometime in July. Who wants to pay $10 for new maps when it's just a huge hassle to play them? Either make the maps free or implement them into the game in a way that people who do pay for them actually get to play them as if they had been included with the game to begin with. IW is the first developer to pull off the latter.
Ubisoft and Bungie could both learn a lesson from IW's integration of the maps as it has no doubt played a big part in their success. I'd love to see how many Heroic Map Packs Microsoft actually sold, because there was certainly never any major announcement about it hitting any kind of sales milestone. Releasing only 3 new maps was a mistake too. When Halo 2 had a 9 map pack a few years ago for $20 it's hard to justify a 3 map pack for $10. Microsoft got too greedy and it bit them in their ass.
I don't think it's a coincidence that COD4 didn't start topping Halo 3 on the Live charts until right after the Heroic Map Pack hit. Logic would dictate that a new map pack would renew interest in Halo 3, but the opposite happened.
[via CVG]
Thursday, March 27, 2008
UTIII Gets Free Map Pack
With new map packs for Halo 3 and COD4 right around the corner, hyped for weeks and both of which cost $10 for not quite a handful of maps, it's nice to see Epic just drop a few new maps for Unreal Tournament III, unannounced and free of charge.
Available simultaneously for both the PS3 and PC (also a novelty nowadays), the pack includes a brand new Capture the Flag map called "Searchlight", as well as UT classics "Morbias" and "Facing Worlds".
I'm not a fan of premium map packs, especially when they include remakes of old maps (as both Halo and COD's map packs do) so I applaud Epic for providing content to their customers as part of the price of admission.
This of course brings up the question, if Epic is releasing free maps for UTIII then what's the holdup with Valve releasing free maps for Team Fortress 2? Undoubtedly they want to release them for PS3 and 360 at the same time but MS has a bug up their ass. Since UTIII is PS3 exclusive (also because Microsoft has a bug up their ass), it doesn't have that problem.
It absolutely kills me that the 360 has the best online gaming network hands down but they tarnish it with draconian policies. Everything from stupid limits on downloadable game sizes to forcing companies to charge for content to not allowing user mods is unbelievably short sighted.
Sony is much more liberal than Microsoft but their network is awful. If either one gets with the program they'll be a force to be reckoned with.
[via 1up]
Available simultaneously for both the PS3 and PC (also a novelty nowadays), the pack includes a brand new Capture the Flag map called "Searchlight", as well as UT classics "Morbias" and "Facing Worlds".
I'm not a fan of premium map packs, especially when they include remakes of old maps (as both Halo and COD's map packs do) so I applaud Epic for providing content to their customers as part of the price of admission.
This of course brings up the question, if Epic is releasing free maps for UTIII then what's the holdup with Valve releasing free maps for Team Fortress 2? Undoubtedly they want to release them for PS3 and 360 at the same time but MS has a bug up their ass. Since UTIII is PS3 exclusive (also because Microsoft has a bug up their ass), it doesn't have that problem.
It absolutely kills me that the 360 has the best online gaming network hands down but they tarnish it with draconian policies. Everything from stupid limits on downloadable game sizes to forcing companies to charge for content to not allowing user mods is unbelievably short sighted.
Sony is much more liberal than Microsoft but their network is awful. If either one gets with the program they'll be a force to be reckoned with.
[via 1up]
Monday, March 24, 2008
SCANDAL: Professor Layton DLC Already on Cart
One of the coolest features of the DS puzzle title Professor Layton and the Curious Village are the weekly puzzles that are available through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Every Sunday since the game launched a new puzzle has been made available for those who just can't get enough mathematical and verbal brain teasers. Since the already-out-in-Japan sequel may not arrive Stateside until the Summer or Fall (if it arrives at all), the downloads also serve as the perfect hold-me-over.
As it turns out however, the greatest secret of St. Mystere is that the downloads are all a wicked ruse. The alleged "downloadable puzzles" already reside in the depths of the game's code, awaiting a simple unlock key from that hive of villainy, Nintendo, to allow you to play it. Unbelievable. People shelled out hard earned money for the game and are entitled to every single puzzle it holds. The shame of Nintendo, charging people for...wait a second, these puzzles are free! Who cares if all you're doing is downloading an unlock key?
[via Joystiq]
As it turns out however, the greatest secret of St. Mystere is that the downloads are all a wicked ruse. The alleged "downloadable puzzles" already reside in the depths of the game's code, awaiting a simple unlock key from that hive of villainy, Nintendo, to allow you to play it. Unbelievable. People shelled out hard earned money for the game and are entitled to every single puzzle it holds. The shame of Nintendo, charging people for...wait a second, these puzzles are free! Who cares if all you're doing is downloading an unlock key?
[via Joystiq]
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Valve Wants TF2 Maps to be Free
It was just about a year ago that Epic was fighting with Microsoft over Gears of War's Hidden Fronts Map Pack. Epic wanted to give it away for free, while the big M (their publisher) wanted to charge for it. They "compromised", charging $10 before making the pack free last September (long after everyone had stopped caring about Gears of War).
Well, here we are once again, but this time it's Valve who wants to give away maps for its Orange Box FPS, Team Fortress 2. Problem is, according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, they "don't have full say over that". Eurogamer's article isn't clear on whether Lombardi is referring to Microsoft, or EA (the publisher of The Orange Box). EA has been one of the biggest proponents of premium DLC on Xbox Live, stirring up controversy by charging for all sorts of stupid things from cars you can unlock for free just by playing Need for Speed Carbon, or outright selling in-game currency in The Godfather.
Maps for Team Fortress 2 on PC have already been made available for free through Valve's Steam service though, so the stumbling block would seem to be Microsoft and not EA in this case. Sony has proven to be much more lax about this kind of thing, Epic's Unreal Tournament III, for example, already supports downloadable user modifications, including maps and game modes. If it's the case that Team Fortress 2's maps are made available for free on PS3, hopefully Microsoft will follow suit.
Are we really paying $50 a year for Xbox Live for the privilege of having to pay for content that has been available for free on the PC for weeks?
[via Eurogamer]
Well, here we are once again, but this time it's Valve who wants to give away maps for its Orange Box FPS, Team Fortress 2. Problem is, according to Valve's Doug Lombardi, they "don't have full say over that". Eurogamer's article isn't clear on whether Lombardi is referring to Microsoft, or EA (the publisher of The Orange Box). EA has been one of the biggest proponents of premium DLC on Xbox Live, stirring up controversy by charging for all sorts of stupid things from cars you can unlock for free just by playing Need for Speed Carbon, or outright selling in-game currency in The Godfather.
Maps for Team Fortress 2 on PC have already been made available for free through Valve's Steam service though, so the stumbling block would seem to be Microsoft and not EA in this case. Sony has proven to be much more lax about this kind of thing, Epic's Unreal Tournament III, for example, already supports downloadable user modifications, including maps and game modes. If it's the case that Team Fortress 2's maps are made available for free on PS3, hopefully Microsoft will follow suit.
Are we really paying $50 a year for Xbox Live for the privilege of having to pay for content that has been available for free on the PC for weeks?
[via Eurogamer]
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