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Wolfenstein Xbox Map - Downloaded Or Unlocked?
Thanks to EvilAvatar for pointing to a Boomtown.net article discussing whether the new Xbox Live-exclusive Return To Castle Wolfenstein maps released a couple of days ago were actually downloaded. It seems the size of the files downloaded from Xbox Live were way too small to have been an actual level, despite the official press release indicating it was a "downloadable map", so it's possible the maps were on the game disc all along, and all that was downloaded was an 'unlock levels' message. The Boomtown article puts its own spin on this: "Providing these levels as a sweetener for Live Subscribers would be all very well, if extra development - over and above that of the game itself - is involved. But if the levels are already developed and present on the disk, then the publishers are inviting flak from the many Xbox gamers who don't have broadband."
This is just a plain invitation to hacking if I ever saw one. Any bets on how long it will take to figure out a way to "patch" the game to unlock the levels already on disk (assuming this is true)? Even better yet, if there are already levels hiding on the game disc, will it take very long to figure out a way to "unlock" these extra levels?
... this is just another blatant tar and feathering for MS? I might have taken this article more seriously if it was made out like the game felt incomplete without those levels.
Sorry, no sympathy here. Non XBOX-Live subscribers wouldn't have gotten the levels anyway if the maps weren't on the disc. Pardon them for saving you the download time.
"Derp de derp."
Just like /. to go off and assume the worst.
Maybe the maps were buggy and to save d/l time they put the incomplete maps on the disc, and the patches to the map on XBox Live.
XBL is still a fantastic service. The fact that MS runs it should in no way detract from that.
I remember Sonic Adventure 2 for Dreamcast doing the same thing... there were costumes and menu themes that you could unlock by downloading files from the game's website, but each file was only 1k and so they must've been just "unlock this" messages. I think there were some new go-kart courses that you could download, too, but those weren't actually included with the game... you really did download those. Granted, there's a lot more space on the Xbox's hard drive than there is on a Dreamcast VMU... Sega at least had an excuse to offer files like that.
I produce electronic music and write little games. Have a look.
"If you make unlockables, you should make a way for people w/o X-Box live (like those w/o broadband) to get them."
I'm a little torn myself. One of their competitors (and my personal favorite), Nintendo, has games with "unlockables" that involve plugging in a Game Boy Advance, sometimes with an associated GBA game. While I of course have a GBA, I'm sure there are people out there that have a GCN but no GBA (probably similar to the number of people who own a Virtual Boy, but bear with me) that aren't able to, say, play the original Metroid game in Metroid Prime. The packaging doesn't announce this (simply a vague reference to "links to Metroid Fusion"), and so it's also possible to buy Metroid Prime without knowing this, but should Nintendo really make it possible to unlock GCN game features without a GBA?
Part of me wants to say that the customer more or less knew what he was getting into when he bought the product. And the game is complete and useable in and of itself without this "bonus" map. Should the publishers be obligated to their customers that don't spend the extra money on other products to unlock these features? Should Devastator only have been sold as a set instead of six individual Constructicons with an "unlockable feature?"
Right now I'm leaning towards letting Xbox players have this without broadband, but only because there's a difference between being able to buy a GBA/Transformers/etc. and being able to buy broadband.
"But if the levels are already developed and present on the disk, then the publishers are inviting flak from the many Xbox gamers who don't have broadband."
Kinda like getting the "early peek" of unpublished news if you're a slashdot subscriber?
Christ, deal with it - you pay extra for Xbox live, you're rewarded with extra levels. You pay for slashdot subscription, you're rewarded with banner-free pages and early peeks of articles. Same difference!