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Four Add-ons Planned For Sins of a Solar Empire

Posted by Soulskill on from the a-quantum-of-content dept.

With the first add-on pack for Sins of a Solar Empire arriving in just under a month, publisher Kalypso Media has announced that three more add-ons are on their way as well. Gamespot has an early look at the first add-on, Entrenchment, and a couple of additional screenshots are available at Shacknews. The game's creative director, Craig Frazer, also explained their reasoning for making small expansions rather than large ones: "If PC gaming is to survive, the industry will need to be open to change. We went out on a limb with our anti-DRM stance and it paid off really well. We tried an unusually long beta period and that worked as well. Micro-expansions are just another experiment we are trying out to improve the market. These small expansions give us the opportunity to provide highly focused, high quality content within a reasonable time frame. Micro-expansions also reduce the development risk associated with 1-3 year cycles. With lower risk, we can be far more progressive in terms of gameplay and content."

6 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. Micro-price? by Alex777 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I only hope these micro-expansions also have a micro-price.

    What they ought to do is offer one pack of expansions that includes all the expansions released up to that point, with appropriate discounts if you already have a subset of the included content. I can't see a la carte expansions ever working.

  2. Re:You can't knock Kalypso Media by nschubach · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anti DRM unless you want patches (and maybe addons...) and you can overlook the DRM they include with Stardock Central and Impulse... Other than that, sure. They are TOTALLY anti-DRM. /sarcasm

    --
    Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
  3. "If PC gaming is to survive?" by ElMiguel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Have WoW's 10+ million subscribers suddenly decided to abandon PC gaming?

    Seriously, when has PC gaming been a bigger industry than in the last few years?

    1. Re:"If PC gaming is to survive?" by Draek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Have WoW's 10+ million subscribers suddenly decided to abandon PC gaming?

      One game does not an industry make.

      Seriously, when has PC gaming been a bigger industry than in the last few years?

      The issue, I believe, is not about size per se but rather the fact that DRM is pissing off enough customers that the *stability* of it is in question. And once the market is deemed too unstable, the shrinking customer base is almost sure to follow.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
  4. "Blizzard gaming" is not in any danger by Scott+Kevill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    PC gaming is.

    If anything, WoW harms the PC gaming market more than it supports it. Gamers spending all their time (and money) on WoW are less likely to buy other PC games.

    --
    GameRanger - multiplayer gaming service for PC and Mac games
  5. Re:You can't knock Kalypso Media by Asm-Coder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know if it has a sig.bin file, but I do remeber installing it. I didn't need to enter a cd key or anything else. I just popped in the cd, clicked next a few times, took the disk out and started playing. No hassle whatsoever.

    Brad Wardell, the author of "Sins" is partly responsible for the "Gamer's bill of Rights" that keeps getting posted on /., and has a nice article explaining why he chose to forgo drm in "Sins", which I can't find right now, but I'm sure someone will post a link to.