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Lumines Heralds New Costs for Xbox Live Games
Game|Life reports on the upcoming release of Lumines for the Xbox 360's Live Arcade. Despite the high interest in the unique game (previously only on the PSP), gamers may be frustrated to learn that playing through the whole game will require additional purchases. From the article: "But then, once you hit a certain point in the 'Mission' or 'Vs. CPU' modes of the game, you'll be asked to pay up again for the ability to keep on progressing. All in all, you'll have to spend another 700 points ($8.75) to get the rest of the levels, bringing the real cost of Lumines Live to nearly $24. What lesson can we take from this? Clearly, Microsoft understands that there's a major disconnect here between what they'd like to make off direct-download game sales and what customers are willing to pay based on their perceived value. That's why, rather than go with straight dollar amounts, everything is priced in 'points.' 1200 points seems somehow cheaper than $15."
While this may end up being the truth, right now it is just a rumour.
So you pay $15, you get the first half the game. If the game blows, you're only out $15, if the game is good, you cough up $10 to get more content. Seems like a better idea than blowing $25 per game regardless of quality.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Perhaps the point system makes an easy way to decouple the prices from local currencies and allows parents to give their kids a bunch of points to spend each month. I used to go rent games at the video store when I was a child. Now some of that might be replaced by parents giving their children points to buy games.
... when you take into account that the PSP version originally retailed for $40.
If this is true, it's proof Microsoft is going to destroy Live.
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Why was the first 6 monthes of Live popular? 5 bucks a game? What happened around June? Tons of new content all for 10 bucks a pop. Personally I'd buy 2 or three games for 10 bucks, but I'm sure as hell not buying legacy games for 10 bucks, I'm also not buying crap like Cloning Clydes or Bejeweled for 10 bucks a pop. I mean if it was 5 dollars I'd probably pick up both of them. If I had to pay 15 bucks for Luminies I'd be happy to pay that much but at the same time for 15 bucks I should get the puzzle pack and Versus for free. Instead I could go get Luminies for 20 bucks on the PS2, and that should contain both these modes and I'd get a CD/DVD for it.
That being said Gamespot is saying it's likely bogus but us raising our voices against it should help it even if they were considering it. http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_blog_entry.php?
My thoughts exactly. I have never purchased one of these games, but my only concern is that customers know they are only purchasing "Part 1" of the game and are not under the impression that they are buying a full game.
Nobody has any problem with additional optional content, since the user still has that choice of whether they want to shell out additional cash. A game like Lumines sees NO benefit from limiting its delivery to episodic releases.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
The thing about Xbox is that if you keep charging for more and more functionality. MS finally has the AOL model, where they have you credit card and are going to chanrge for all sorts of things on top of the recuring subscription fee. As a casual gamer, I can't see paying all those fees. I like to buy the game and be done with it.
1200 points seems somehow cheaper than $15
That's the trick casinos use - issue chips and cards and hide the clocks so that you mindlessly keep plugging in cash.
Then again, this incremental pricing model isn't necessarily a terrible thing. I love buying used games, but sometimes I trade in a game for one third the price I bought it for because I didn't enjoy it. It'd be nice to pay for the first half of a game to see if I like it before shelling out the rest.
Is this the same Nintendo that was charging $20 for GBA ports of ExciteBike, Ice Climbers and the NES version of Xevious? The Nintendo download service isn't going to be free, and I wouldn't get too excited before you see some pricing.
That's why almost all 360 games, and all Xbox Live arcade games have Demos. If you don't play a demo and just buy a game and don't like it, it's your fault. I've downloaded... well let's put it this way I've played close to 15 demos on Xbox 360. I played 0 on the PS2, I played 1 on the PC in the last 5 years and that was for work (game company).
I tried Test Drive Unlimited last night, the controls were a little stiff, but damm if I didn't like driving with 10 real people in free drive, that's an easy "must buy" for me. I tried Just Cause and it was an interesting game however the controls completely sucked, and the game wasn't that great, I'm waiting on reviews for that one.
Except that there's a demo for all arcade games, and I doubt lumines will be any different.
This is greed at best, and honestly I'd call it bait and switch at worst.
1200 points seems somehow cheaper than $15
While I'm sure that plays a role (it must, or gas wouldn't be priced out to tenths of a cent), I don't think it's the largest reason MS uses points - or even the largest reason it's easier to spend points than money.
The big reason to use points, if you're MS, is that it allows them to sell points outside the Live system. You can buy redeemable cards in Best Buy et al, which makes them convenient stocking stuffers. Yes, there could be other ways to accomplish the same result, but:
Points are, as the article suggests, easier to spend. But not primarily because people are somehow "tricked" into not thinking of 1200 points as $15 - it's primarily because people see 1200 points as money they've already spent. The disconnect is between the perceived value of the points when purchasing them and the perceived value of the points once they've been purchased. People tend to have a reasonably good grasp of the concept of sunk costs.
When purchasing points, it's easy to dump $20 into it, thinking of how many little purchases that will cover. Once you've got the points, though, you know you're not spending any new money.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
This just sounds like a new spin on the old shareware concept. Having to pay for the initial trial wasn't necessarily unheard of during the shareware days as well (though usually it involved buying a 3.5" disk or CD).
not most... ALL
IIRC it's a requirement that all XBLA games have a free trial version (which is really just the full version but locked out of full functionality)
As for the articles clam that the arbitrary point system is to confuse people, I'd have to disagree. I thought the same at first myself but after using it for a while I actually think it's a great idea... The Xbox Live Marketplace is GLOBAL if something costs 400MP in the Us then it also costs 400MP in Canada and 400MP all through Europe and 400MP in Japan. Rather then trying to localize the price of things for every currency in the world they just made their own pay scale, and IMO it works really well.
After having purchased a few things it becomes easy to follow. in US dollars 400MP = $5 exactly considering most game expansion packs, XBLA games (pretty much anything other then themes and pictures) cost 200, 400, 800, or 1200 it's fairly simple to figure out in your head how much they're worth in real money.
As for Lumines being the most expensive XBLA game to date, it's really not all that bad considering the PSP version is a whole lot more expensive, Not to mention you'll be able to play the free demo version to your hearts content before deciding to actually buy it.
Collector's Edition
So really, why is everybody complaining?
Because the groupthink notion of "making money is bad, unless I'm the one doing it" permeates this board like a cancer.
This business model has been suggested before but I never thought it would start so soon.
When I purchase a game I expect a full game that I may play as often and as far as I want to what would be considered the end. This episodic content or toll-bridge gaming model is exactly what I don't want but of course it means more money for the game companys so they will continue to push it. Yes, vote w/ you $ of course but keep posting to any and all forums so that they get the message. We want a full game but will be willing to pay more for EXTRAS like maps and expansions. Oblivion(I am ignoring the horse armor) had it right with the new areas in the game because the game was so full and large to begin with. You can spend hundreds of hours in that game without ever worrying about extra content. The content was cheap compared to what it gave you. I really hope that is method of toll-booth games fails miserably.
....... Thus ends my attempt at wit or whatever