IGN/GameSpy Tries Hitpoints, Lusts Non-Gaming Market

Thanks to Washington Post/MSNBC for its fairly hagiographic profile of the merged IGN/GameSpy website/game matchmaking network. Among the more interesting comments: "IGN/GameSpy is letting some subscribers download entire games instead of just patches. Firaxis's Civilization III: Play the World is one of the debut titles under the program, called HitPoints... [which] gives away games on a frequent-flier-style basis, determined by how many and what kind of GameSpy subscription programs a user has signed up for." It's also revealed: "Chief executive Mark A. Jung would not mind the company being a Best Buy Co. or Circuit City Stores Inc. He cites Viacom Inc., the vast entertainment and publishing conglomerate, as an example of the multi-brand company he wants IGN/GameSpy to be, one that builds on his core audience." Does IGN/GameSpy accurately represent the mainstream?

Comments

the company being a Best Buy Co. or Circuit City

[Grand]

Id rather drive to the store, stand in line, and drive back home instead of sitting through a bunch of flash ad's on their site.

Hardly worth it.

[Ykant]

Points to download games. Not a bad idea in and of itself, but I have a problem with how much you have to purchase in order to get the points. It's an annual $24.95 (which will automatically renew every year) in order to use their software(GameSpy 3d) without being interrupted by (very annoying when you just want to get on with playing a game) ads. This is their base products, and I would imagine that this is their biggest seller.

The average game seems to cost around 600 points. How many points do you receive for the $24.95 annual subscription? Goose egg. Zero.

Now, they really push the $79.95 package - no ads anywhere on the GameSpy network (and you must admit, they've got some obnoxious ads), a newsletter, and some magazine subscriptions which will likely get you goodness-knows-how-many more additional junk mails and telemarketer calls at home.

For an extra $10, you get a membership on IGN. And for your $89.95 subscription, you get 1,200 points. To get the "best" deal, 3000 points (which will get you 5 games on par with Prince of Persia SoT or Civ 3), you've got to sign up for the $89.95 subscription for two years. Maybe this is a good deal for someone, but it's not me.