Dear Jaybird,
What is your take on the modern state of video games? For example
there’s Fallout 3 which provided a good game, evoked nostalgia but
Bethesda decided to release downloadable content on a regular basis
until they unveiled the Game of the Year edition which had all the DLC
for a fraction of what one would have paid on PSN or XBL for
everything. Do you believe in Day 1 purchases of videogames or waiting
until the developer finishes the game (core and DLC) and releases it
as one package?
To Bethesda’s credit, at least they make some darned fine feelies
harkening back to the days of Infocom even if one must pay a premium
price in a limited window of opportunity for a real piece of the game.
Love,
Spivak
Dear Spivak,
I have downloadable content categorized into two separate categories in my head.
1) Downloadable content that makes things somewhat better for the player but is entirely optional. I put stuff like “immediately unlock unlockable content” downloads here. Sure you could play the game and get 100% to unlock the Black Lotus, or the Helicopter, or mirror image racetracks… or you can spend 2 or 3 bucks and unlock them right now. I also put stuff like pre-order bonuses in here. “Pre-order your game from Gamestop and you’ll get a free wacky outfit and wacky gun for your character.” Moreover, I *ALSO* put some of the stuff that Bioware does in here… like, they include a free download of a big and important piece of content with the new purchase of a game *OR* you can buy the game used and download it for 10 or 15 bucks. It’s a nice incentive to buy the game new which puts money in the pockets of the developers we like.
2) Attempts to squeeze every last goldanged cent out of the pockets of the players. I put stuff like “multiplayer gamebreakers” here. Double-powered sniper guns or five star running backs fall into this category. Added functionality that should be part of the game (like multiplayer, say) strikes me as bad form as well.
Now you raise an interesting point when you talk about Fallout 3
When it comes to stuff like bugs and bug fixes, etc, those things are inexcusable. Those things *NEED* to be fixed as a matter of course as a free download when the game boots. When it comes to content, however… well, this strikes me as more similar to “unlocking”. You can pay your 10 bucks now… or you can wait two years and get it for free.
Which is more important to you? Would you rather play this chapter and find out the backstory of this character you really like *RIGHT NOW*? Or can you wait? How much is 10 bucks worth? The people for whom 10 bucks is part of a week’s entertainment budget might say “yes, I’ll pay 10 bucks for 4-8 hours of entertainment”. The people for whom 10 bucks is the difference between a good mood and a bad mood are more likely to say “I’ll see you in Hell before you get this Hamilton from my clenched fist!”
Since the DLC that I buy is something that I see as something that just would not have been included in the game at all back when I started playing (seriously, can you imagine DLC for the original Fallout?), I see DLC as a bonus… and the fact that I have the option of buying it now for more or later for less is a choice in my hand, I see my options as being expanded.
And that’s a good thing.
Hope that answered your question,
Love,
Jaybird
The marketing scheme of DLC strikes me as egregious because of the increasing cost of videogames. PS2 games were 40-50 smackers, now they’re jacked up to $60 across the board regardless of the platform. The companies go ahead and make another sixty bones piecemeal so players aren’t griping about being double dinged. How did Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo settle on that $60 price and avoid accusations and investigations for racketeering? Why not keep the game price at $45 and charge for DLC? They’re still recouping the development and license costs.
Fallout: New Vegas + DLC strikes me as having a Really Good Story ™. On principle I will wait for all the DLC to be released, and internet spoilers be damned, because Obsidian et al. are already more than three quarters of the way to the palace of wisdom and don’t need the extra help. On the other hand Valve gives away content over Steam for their games. gaben isn’t going to be short on DiGiorno anytime soon. Video games are a big business but seeing the dichotomy is confounding.
As always it’s a delight keeping company with you even if it’s over the internet.
Now that I think about it, Broken Steel was an exceptionally irritating piece of DLC. “Here’s your depressing ending. If you want a happy ending, pay 10 bucks.”
On the other hand, I don’t know that The Pitt or Mothership Zeta would have come to us in the alternate universe where DLC does not exist.
Mothership Zeta was just a monty haul campaign with pixels.
Dude. The scenes outside of the ship? The first time you looked outside from the control room? Those were breathtaking.
Video games were $60 25 years ago. Seems kind of petty to complain that the real price per game has only dropped by 50% when the number of man-hours that go into a game has increased a hundredfold.
I also find that I can get more hours *OUT* of a game.
The best video games today (Rockstar games, Bioware games, etc) can easily get me to play for 60 hours.
There is no other form of entertainment I know of where you get a buck/hour out of a game… and taking used games into account, the ratio gets better and better.
Exactly. I’ve gotten thousands of hours out of certain games, hundreds out of others.
Yeah, with things like Heroes of Might and Magic or Dungeon Keeper I’m paying a fraction of a cent per hour at this point. I’d need a second computer just to calculate how little the cost is. Good computer games are incredibly cheap on an entertainment per hour basis.
I know I am a boring person that repeats themselves but if you’re complaining about the price of games I have one word for you:
Steam.
We PC users get some DLCs for free as well because the licensing terms for the consoles often mandate that all DLC be sold for at least a certain price, so even if a developer wants to give it away, they can’t.
Prompted by Jaybird I purchased HoMM5 on steam. I was impressed though I still get that squirming “what do you mean I don’t actually own a physical copy of the gaaaame” feeling.
HOMM5 incidentally has proven to be pleasingly difficult now that I have it on a comp that can actually run it.
Oh, I’m pleased that you like it!
Playing it on heroic difficulty has produced some humiliating failures.
I haven’t paid more than $30 for a videogame in about 6 years.
I admittedly am three years behind the curve, though.
I read this post this morning, then someone mentioned SWTOR at work today. Not only does the pre-order site follow [url=http://www.swtor.com/news/news-article/20110721]the exact same model this post described[/url] but also apparently the pre-orders of the ‘Collector’s Edition’ are 1) 150 bucks 2) sold out.