Tecmo Upgrades Ninja Gaiden Via Xbox Live

joinder writes "IGN is reporting at that Tecmo will be releasing an freely downloadable upgrade of Ninja Gaiden via Xbox Live, including 'improved AI' and 'full 360 degree control of the [in-game] camera', as well as new enemies, bosses, and weapons. As far as I know, this is the first time such wholesale gameplay and content changes have been made on a console title - fortunately, the Ninja Gaiden upgrade is free if you have Xbox Live. Could this be a symbol of a positive trend to come, or a negative one that would equate to the bugfix/patch crazy world of the PC gaming world?"

Comments

downhill, for x-box anyway

[dfenstrate]

The reason why console games are so vigourously play tested is because once you make a playable disc or cartridge on a system, there's no such thing as a do over.

This will probably only encourage laziness on the part of some x-box designers.

Re:downhill, for x-box anyway

[BrickM]

Maybe it's just the marketing-speak, but this doesn't seem like a bugfix to me, just like the extra tracks and cars in PGR2 weren't a bugfix. This content adds all sorts of new stuff(enemies, weapons, etc), and a few enhancements to the actual gameplay (camera and gamespeed), but none of those things are bugs. At least, no more than leaving CTF out of MechAssault when it launched (and including it in a download over Live 6 months later) was a "bug".

I have no problem with Blizzard-style patches

[Anonymous Coward]

And that's regardless of the platform. Blizzard has always tweaked gameplay to make it more balanced after delaying the game multiple times to make sure it would be finished upon release.

I see absolutely no difference here - in terms of content (in terms of content, this is a whole other story). They're fixing issues that gamer had, and increasing difficulty for the online tournament.

This sort of patch is great. Keep them coming.

Fishy

[netfool]

Maybe this part of MS's long arm:

1) Developers make a great game
2) Have developers not include all the features
3) After the game has been released and sold well, have developer release the extra features and levels etc which are only available through XBox Live
4) People will want those extras and will get XBox Live
5) Profit

GENIUS!
[/conspiracy theory]

Horrible precedent

[Anonymous Coward]

If the network were free, I'd have less of a problem with this. But XBL isn't free.

People without paid network access have no means of obtaining these patches. Tecmo sure ain't shipping patch CDs. Even Microsoft themselves provide multiple distribution formats for their countless Windows and Office patches, but not here. And all of a sudden, Xbox owners without XBL are second-class citizens who are missing out on more than just network access by foregoing the monthly MS tithe. Bad precedent, but miraculously, nobody will ever notice.

Put another way, the application of XBL changes. The application of Xbox is to play games. The app of the remote control is to enable DVD playback. The app of XBL is to provide online competition, cooperation, and communication. But now, XBL is a patch delivery system as well. And what happens when Xbox owners who don't have XBL (and weren't previously interested) start to see it as such? They get XBL. What does that make this? Paid patching, that's what. Now, what happens when Microsoft starts seeing paid patching as a revenue stream (thereby making its use as a selling point to publishers quite attractive to MS)? QA goes down, because both pubs and MS will see post-shipment bugfixing as nothing but a good thing - MS gets XBL subs, pubs can be lazier and can meet ship dates by shipping buggier code. Welcome to Windows gaming, console fans. How stupid we've been these nigh 20-30 years.

Re:Can Thief do the same thing, then?

[Hassman]

Since when is this a patch for NG? A patch implies that the game is flawed somehow, which is not the case.

This looks like additional content like other games release. Some realease maps, others new mechs, even others new weapons.

This is a perk, not a patch.

Wow

[Peteloaf]

I absolutly cannot believe all the negativity. Tecmo, in an effort to both add replay value to an extremely popular title & address user complaints (camera mostly), is releasing a free add on for Ninja Gaiden and all that everybody can do is insult both Tecmo & Microsoft? I don't uderstand. What should Tecmo have done? "Fixed" the "problems" before release? How are new enemies & weapons a problem? The camera, maybe, but I dare any user on this board to name 1 third person action game that has a flawless camera - especially a game that moves as fast as Ninja Gaiden already does. Had Tecmo offered to give every body who owned Ninja Gaiden $100 would you all still cry foul? What do you people want?

Re:Wow

[drinkypoo]

What should Tecmo have done? "Fixed" the "problems" before release?

Yes, they should have fixed the problems before release - no quotes, either. Namely, errors in AI, and the crappy camera, both things they're sneaking into this update, too. The extra content costs them money and probably won't really make them any so in order for there to be any significant return on that investment it has to have another purpose, and that purpose is probably distracting gamers from the fact that they're patching bugs in a console game. Console games ARE supposed to be fixed before release.

This might be a bright day for Ninja Gaiden players, but it implies a dark future for all console games and gamers, the beginning of the end.