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Major Nelson Frames the GH II DLC Discussion
Yesterday we discussed the mighty expensive Guitar Hero II downloadable content. Some readers had serious complaints, and their views jive with a lot of other commentators out there. Prior to an event related to the game Joystiq had the chance to sit down with Microsoft's Major Nelson, who attempted to frame the conversation and point out the difficulties associated with this project: "I used to work in the broadcasting industry and in music for a long time and I know that content is not linear. It's not like you go to iTunes, and you're buying the same thing. There's testing that's involved, and there's also licensing involved. There's a lot of elements involved. When there's music involved, that brings up a lot of licensing issues ... You have to consider the Leaderboard. People like to say it's the same [as on the PS2], but the licensing is not the same. You have to re-license it. It's a different platform. While on the surface it may look fairly simplistic, and people are saying 'XYZ should be done,' but we're not Red Octane. I work for Microsoft, and we're just the conduit at this point."
People, chill out. This is not some great travesty. If 3 songs at $10 dollars is worth it to you, then buy it. Otherwise don't. Quit yapping about it.
Microsoft may just be a conduit in this case, but what about the Gears of War map releases that are due out, soon?? Mark Rein of Epic said that Epic wished to release the maps for free, but 'pressure' from Microsoft, who plays the role of both Gears of WArs' publisher, and the "conduit" Xbox Live Marketplace led them to stall the release (supposedly until an arrangement can be met). Garage Games has also mentioned that they have received 'encouragement' from Microsoft to charge for their DLC for Marble Blast Ultra.
So... perhaps Microsoft is just a conduit in this particular instance, but I'm starting to suspect that they're still involved in the decision making process.
And don't take my argument the wrong way -- I think everyone deserves to be paid for their work, but I also believe that the creators of content should be allowed to decide what they should charge for that work. Certainly, a body that would benefit from that work simply due to its existence should not be included in that decision.
It seemed like only a couple years ago, buying a game meant becoming part of a community, especially when extra content could be created by the fanbase as well (Half Life, Quake, etc). Your price of admission to the community (and any updates that were released for it) was the game.
Then between the 2 of us we have 1 honest boycott. I bought pack #1, but won't buy the other two (just don't like them as much). That'll teach them! Damn them and their capitolist ways!
You said : You failed to answer why it costs MORE than the game.
He said : The contracts have to be renegotiated on a new platform
That pretty much sums it up. I bet the owners of the songs got greedy and wanted to get paid more per songs since they know how popular Guitar Hero is. Don't be surprised if the next Guitar Hero costs more and has less songs.
I think you mean "jibe," as in "be in accord; agree" and not "jive," as in "a form of dance or slang talk."
God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
I've already been snookered, having bought both 1 and 2 for the PS2. Now they want me to pay another 90$ (180$ to match the set of guitars I have now) for content I already own, plus charge me 2$ a song?
Thats like saying you already own Office 2x for the Mac, you deserve to get Office 2x for the PC for $39.99. Different systems, it doesn't matter if it is mostly the same. Don't buy it if you already own it, it is for the people who don't already own it.
-- toolie