Kickback I think you are missing the point. You pay to play WOW and Ultima Online just like X-Box Live, that is not the point. I think everyone expects to pay for classic games like Mario. These two things are expected and have nothing to do with this topic. My point is that when you buy a game it should come with what is needed to play it, online fees are expected for some games. Also gamers should not have to pay another $50 or more to get everything in a game. Twin Twist you said "Sony will not expect ANYONE to purchase everything." but that is not true. Sony is making 750 cars, most of which will probably suck and will see little to no downloads, but someone will buy them all. How many Transformers fans do you know who buy every Transformer that comes out? I for one try. I think you both are overlooking the possible end result of the Microtransaction craze that is now just starting. If a popular game has $50 in download content then some one will buy it but that is $50 less they will have to buy other games. Why do we buy cheap games that we would not pay full price for?, because we get tired of a game and need another to play but if you can buy download content that extends the life of a game for months then why go buy another cheap or otherwise. Ultimately I think that this will mean less money for new games, which are becoming more expensive, and lead to fewer games being made. Plus it has the possibility of causing longer delays for new games since companies can just make downloads cheaper and with a higher profit margin. Now I'm not saying that microtransactions are all bad, there are many games on the current-gen systems and older that I would love to see extended but what is the trade off? If this will really affect the retail sale of games remains to be seen but it will have an effect, how big we will all probable see in the coming years. Yes GT HD is the extreme case but it will not be the last. I think the cap on microtransactions should be $15 or maybe $20 but over that we are looking at games that would cost close $100 to have the complete version. One think I do see as a result of this is gamers waiting till games drop 50% or more before buying.
No, I'm not missing the point. You're reaching for a point though. Just because you have to pay $50 to download some crap in a game doesn't mean *NEW GAMES* will take the hurt. In fact, I doubt you'll even see a decline. I mean, I don't see X-Box Live causing people not to go out and buy new games. And I don't see the "Pay as you Play" games causing people NOT to buy new games. Like Twist said, this is a brilliant move, people are stupid enough to get in to it, and Sony will make zillions off of it. All that really matters is how stable their online network is to handle it.
Fuck 'em, the sooner this crash comes the better. That may inject life into the walking corpse that is PC gaming.
This is why I kicked my online gaming habit after Everquest. Constantly paying for a perpetually broken game... um, no.
I miss the time when I could buy a game for one price and then enjoy everything related to the game. I like Gran Turismo. I played the first three to death and had so much fun with them. However, like most MMORPGs, I'm not interested in spending additional cash to get online content. If those cool little upgrades are not part of the game I already paid for, forget it. Damn. That's a shame. I guess the era of enriching and fun single-player entertainment is over.
People will pay massive ammounts of money for silly online crap. Look at http://www.gaiaonline.com/ That site is based arround avatar customization. Now everymonth they release a new rare item that can only be aquired via donation or trading with someone else. You dress and customize your avatar with gold, which is earned by posting, and surfing the site, or visiting the sponsors. Gold is used in a mock economy to buy from the stores or as a medium of exchange with other players. People spend large amounts of money to buy multiple letters to sell to other players, to get worthless in game gold so they can buy other rarer items, and what not. Everymonth or so they release new items for avatars which can be bought using the gold, making many people buy letters to sell to raise funds to re-do their wardrobe. It is pay for pixels, if people will buy into that, people will pay for anything.
It is? Because I have like, a zillion games in my collection exactly like that. And if I check the release schedules, I can see another zillion incoming.
So this isn't part of a regular trend? I guess I'm going by hearsay when I say stuff like that, so I'll admit - oops, I'm doomsaying based on little knowledge. Bad me. I guess, for me, it comes down to this - for singleplayer games, I don't want to buy more junk to enjoy the game. Not now, not ever. I was relatively irked that I had to sign up and be part of Steam to play Half-Life 2 and etc. I'm disappointed that I won't be able to play through Gran Turismo without shelling out cash.
Well, according to Famitsu, there isn't a game to play through, per se. :O Microtransactions are coming. You don't like it? Don't buy it. The old business model is still around. Will be for a long time. The two can and will co-exist for a fair while. Especially until the storage issue or network issues are resolved. But as soon as the big three can cut out the middleman (stores) they will. Big time.
I hate GT so I'm not bothered about this game in particular. What does concern me is that other games may follow suit, games that I actually wanna play. My problem is that it's impractical for me to get online with my PS2/XBOX and future PS3/360. There are two computers in my house, cable tv and generally wires everywhere. To get my consoles online would involve too much hassle, like drilling through fucking walls. So if this becomes a big thing what are people like me supposed to do?
