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Seanbaby

seanbaby

San Francisco, CA
OLD SKOOL

APR 05, 2006 10:28 AM

XBOX Live is working hard to destroy the meaning of money, according to 1up.com. On one hand, you can download the greatest game of all time, Geometry Wars, for about six bucks. On the other hand, you could spend that money to download a picture of the Charlotte Hornets logo or get a "theme."

These themes are nothing other than constant reminders of how you make poor decisions. Microsoft wants me to spend nonrefundable, real money for the ability to change my system menu colors? I think it'd be easier to convince me to buy a sick baby's diaper. Of course, that's the kind of thing you can't know about yourself until you're actually confronted with it.

Now they're taking it to a new level. Oblivion, the huge new RPG, has just released its first downloadable content. For $2.50, you can download a new outfit for your horse. It doesn't make it fly, or even turn it into a majestic unicorn... it's only an outfit. Fans of horse fashion might say that it's very easy for gamers NOT to pay for this stupid thing, and they're right. It's just insulting that they thought anyone would.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

APR 05, 2006 10:36 AM

especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.

Luminaire

Luminaire

Seattle, WA
August 2003

APR 05, 2006 10:36 AM

Tycho of PA fame had this to say, and I really agree with him:

I reject the idea that we teeter at the apex of some "slippery slope" - the slope you're referring to already done slipped. It slipped on mobile phones when people bought a vanity cover of the American Flag and a ringtone from Office Space and a strip of lights that twinkles on ring. Marketplace isn't a slippery slope - it's the codification of a recognized market tendency. You'd better believe there are motherfuckers riding those Goddamn horses along the shore of the Niben right now.



Half the people in my office bought that Goddamn horse.

Luminaire

Luminaire

Seattle, WA
August 2003

APR 05, 2006 10:37 AM

alpha_hazard said:
especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.



Nope, it costs money either way, actually.

https://obliviondownloads.com/StoreCatalog_ProductList.aspx?SubCategoryId=1

SirLoins

sirloins

Huntington Beach, CA
October 2005

APR 05, 2006 10:48 AM

There's one born every minute, and that's a low estimate.

Trust me, people will buy into it. Just like the whole buying ringtones thing.

xlascaux

xlascaux

I'm lost
September 2005

APR 05, 2006 11:00 AM

just wait until microsoft gets into pharmaceuticals

NinjaTech

NinjaTech

Minneapolis, MN
November 2003

APR 05, 2006 11:12 AM

I failed to read anywhere in the article that the price tag for the horse armor and other such nonsense is actually a brainchild of Bethesda Software, as they are charging PC users the same thing for the exact same mods.

Microsoft actually had little to do with the Oblivion nickle and diming other than probably saying "great idea!" to Bethesda.

aegies

aegies

Oakland, CA
June 2004

APR 05, 2006 11:30 AM

you're also ignoring the fact that there are free themes available, and you can customize some elements of the user environment; i had manko as my 360 background for a couple of months (until i had mixed and possibly offendable company over). now it's a nin wall paper. i think the marketplace is just that: a market place. it's somewhere for companies to screw up or succeed based on the merit of what they offer and how much they charge for it. microsoft is only making something like 35 cents on this particular piece of content per download, so really, blame bethesda. what i will blame microsoft for is fostering accessory consumerism, and fucked if it isn't working. there have been three seperate occasions where i was seconds away from buying additional faceplates for the fucking thing, and i already have a second one that i got from zero hour. and these are essentially useless save for their aesthetic value. that's not only good business for them, it's been fucking genius.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

APR 05, 2006 11:35 AM

Luminaire said:

alpha_hazard said:
especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.



Nope, it costs money either way, actually.

https://obliviondownloads.com/StoreCatalog_ProductList.aspx?SubCategoryId=1



I'm not talking about the market created by the creators, but the market created by consumers for their own creations. There will always be free content available, it may not be sanctioned by the company and it may be full of bugs, but the most popular content will be the free stuff and the stuff that makes the game more easy/enriching.

FreakPirate

FreakPirate

Canada
November 2002

APR 05, 2006 11:42 AM

If people are dumb enough to pay for that shit they deserve to have their money taken.

ZPO

ZPO

Olympia, WA
July 2004

APR 05, 2006 12:36 PM

Yep - FreakPirate has it right. Only one change - people dumb enough to pay for that deserve the privelege of giving *ME* their money.

KipFatal

KipFatal

Boston, MA
March 2004

APR 05, 2006 12:45 PM

so this was the revolutionary new "marketplace" they were talking about?

decedent

decedent

Boston, MA
December 2003

APR 05, 2006 12:55 PM

microtransactions are fucking evil, and unfortunately, they'll be a huge part of both sony and nintendo's upcoming plans as well. and i'm willing to bet that sony will push them harder than anyone else.

i don't plan on EVER buying any of this shit, even if it's something cool like new maps for online games. i even have 1700 points sitting in my XBL account right now from a card someone bought me, but i refuse to spend even one of them on something incredibly lame like a theme or gamer picture.

FrankMask

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN
June 2003

APR 05, 2006 01:13 PM

Given that I had to hack the fucking game to get it to run on my slightly behind the ball PC I don't think Bethesda is going to be getting any more money from me for a while.

aegies

aegies

Oakland, CA
June 2004

APR 05, 2006 01:48 PM

KipFatal said:
so this was the revolutionary new "marketplace" they were talking about?



no, that would be the aforementioned geometry wars, as well as online distribution of games like the source-based sin episodes, as well as game demos. not to mention that other publishers have released a lot of free additional content for their games (i think ridge racer 6 has something like an additional 20 cars freely downloadable through the marketplace). online content distribution is the future of gaming. it won't be the standard for 6 or 7 years, but it is definitely where it's going.

Coliwali

Coliwali

I'm lost
February 2003

APR 05, 2006 02:09 PM

Luminaire said:

alpha_hazard said:
especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.



Nope, it costs money either way, actually.

https://obliviondownloads.com/StoreCatalog_ProductList.aspx?SubCategoryId=1



Ok, Now that I’m over my 15 seconds of being pissed a them for charging for something which was free last time around, I’ve got hope. I mean, I won’t pay 2 bucks for horse armor. But I’d pay 12.99 for a dozen new, professional quality, quests of a reasonable length.

They are also hawking a downloadable sound track of the games. Which is kinda dumb, seeing as all the music is right there in the install folder as mp3’s.

Il_Palazzo

Il_Palazzo

Fort Benning, GA
August 2004

APR 05, 2006 02:25 PM

I guess I'm a moron, I plan on getting a Penny Arcade theme for my 360 eventually.

Downloading the X3 trailor was pretty sweet, though.

FreakPirate

FreakPirate

Canada
November 2002

APR 05, 2006 02:26 PM

Il_Palazzo said:

Downloading the X3 trailor was pretty sweet, though.



They have that online for free.

SomethingStupid

SomethingStupid

North Hollywood, CA
March 2004

APR 05, 2006 02:31 PM

Shit. I was hoping, for the sake of XBox 360 owners, that the much-vaunted "hooks" for the XBOX 360 included full-fledged mods. I suppose we'll still see, since there's time for that sort of thing, but this doesn't bode well. On the PC version you can download content that fundamentally changes the game for free.

alpha_hazard

alpha_hazard

Fort Collins, CO
April 2004

APR 05, 2006 02:37 PM

Coliwali said:

Luminaire said:

alpha_hazard said:
especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.



Nope, it costs money either way, actually.

https://obliviondownloads.com/StoreCatalog_ProductList.aspx?SubCategoryId=1



Ok, Now that I’m over my 15 seconds of being pissed a them for charging for something which was free last time around, I’ve got hope. I mean, I won’t pay 2 bucks for horse armor. But I’d pay 12.99 for a dozen new, professional quality, quests of a reasonable length.

They are also hawking a downloadable sound track of the games. Which is kinda dumb, seeing as all the music is right there in the install folder as mp3’s.




As I said before, I'm sure plenty of third parties will be offering the flying unicorn variation by the end of the month...

I hadn't noticed the soundtrack thing...that truly is foolish, especially since 90 percent of oblivion gamers are probably geeky enough to know that sort of thing.

If you can download new quests for 12.99 as opposed to paying for the packaged expansion varieties for 30 bucks, that's a step in the right direction!

Este

Este

Tucson, AZ
October 2005

APR 05, 2006 03:00 PM

I'm glad others find having to purchase themes are retarded. Putting it in the realm of digital downloading, I could buy 2 full songs from iTunes for the same as a theme. It's just dumb.

malkav11

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN
July 2003

APR 05, 2006 06:23 PM

alpha_hazard said:

Coliwali said:

Luminaire said:

alpha_hazard said:
especially since you could probably get it for free on the pc..hell, the one for free on the PC probably would make your horse into a flying unicorn with ninja throwing stars and fire breath.



Nope, it costs money either way, actually.

https://obliviondownloads.com/StoreCatalog_ProductList.aspx?SubCategoryId=1



Ok, Now that I’m over my 15 seconds of being pissed a them for charging for something which was free last time around, I’ve got hope. I mean, I won’t pay 2 bucks for horse armor. But I’d pay 12.99 for a dozen new, professional quality, quests of a reasonable length.

They are also hawking a downloadable sound track of the games. Which is kinda dumb, seeing as all the music is right there in the install folder as mp3’s.




As I said before, I'm sure plenty of third parties will be offering the flying unicorn variation by the end of the month...

I hadn't noticed the soundtrack thing...that truly is foolish, especially since 90 percent of oblivion gamers are probably geeky enough to know that sort of thing.

If you can download new quests for 12.99 as opposed to paying for the packaged expansion varieties for 30 bucks, that's a step in the right direction!



Not really. Each of the expansions for Morrowind added way more game content than all the microdownloads in development for Oblivion combined.

I don't think the concept is bad, I just think the value isn't there yet. I'm much happier with, say, the premium modules for NWN. Those are entire official campaigns, if short ones, and I think I paid all of 8 dollars for three of them. Yes, there are fan modules for free, but very few of them measure up to the professional work. (excluding the godawful original campaign.)

trocc

trocc

Chicago, IL
March 2003

APR 05, 2006 06:41 PM



On the other hand, you could spend that money to download a picture of the Charlotte Hornets logo...



just to be a basketball nerd here - Charlotte is home to the Bobcats now. the Hornets are in New Orleans. Or - Oklahoma City, i guess. kind of. i understand, it's confusing. wink

Gilby

Gilby

Bridgeville, PA
October 2004

APR 05, 2006 06:48 PM

Why would you get a horse skin, when the pc version has all kinds of cool mods? (One of my coworkers was showing me some of them today.) They have mods like a spell that makes everyone you use it on go insane and start to rampage, and a mode that makes stealth more realistic.

The marketplace is pretty cool. Free demos and trailers, including demos of all the Live arcade games. The themes and gamer pics are a scam for those foolish enough to spend the dough on them though. smile

Il_Palazzo

Il_Palazzo

Fort Benning, GA
August 2004

APR 05, 2006 08:10 PM

FreakPirate said:

Il_Palazzo said:

Downloading the X3 trailor was pretty sweet, though.



They have that online for free.



Wow, that's how much I paid for it on the 360, too.

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