Ubi to Charge for Xbox Downloadable Content 43
bippy writes "Ubisoft just announced that a four map pack for Rainbow Six 3 Black Arrow will cost $5. This comes on the heels of THQ's announcement that they will be charging $4.95 for a downloadable mission on Full Spectrum Warrior."
knew it was coming. (Score:3, Interesting)
Not really new news (Score:4, Interesting)
They have the same thing for PC's... (Score:3, Interesting)
This is a good thing. People can release a game engine, and you can just download free or cheap games to play with that engine.
Garage developers can start doing total conversions on Halo etc now.
Gaming group (Score:2, Interesting)
Horrible timing since Halo 2 is out in 33 days. The last map they issued for Black Arrow was good but not worth
Not new (Score:2, Interesting)
Microsoft already had the idea of 'premium content' well-established even before the Live service launched. It's part of while you have to have a valid credit card associated with your account, and is also part of the parental/protected controls, in that you can have a password associated with accessing a live account.
Like I said when talking about the Full Spectrum Warrior content, I definitely wouldn't pay five bucks for one map, but I have no problem paying five bucks for four. Can't wait for it to come out, along with the spawn-camping patch.
Re:They have the same thing for PC's... (Score:3, Interesting)
You just won't really see third party developers releasing cheap mods on XBox Live though. Microsoft exclusively controls all MoD (means of distribution). These days, the big developers only have two distributors to chose from (MS and Sony) but they still have a lot of leverage. Both companies desperately need one great game to bundle the consoles with to push sales. In Microsoft's case, that's Halo (they basically bought Bungie just to have that one great title). For Sony, it's probably still the GTA franchise. Yes, they eventually release it on other platforms but if you want to play a new GTA game now, and not just in a year and a half, you still need to fork over the cash for a PS2.
And with the next-generation consoles just around the corner, MS just won't piss off any major developers (and encouraging competition and cutting into a developer's bottom line is one good way to piss someone off - probably not enough to make them go, abandom a lot of their know-how and switch to the PS2/PS3 but you never know).
Then there's the legal side: you not only need to have a legal editor of some sort (how long before we see shrink-wrap licenses in video games) but you also need to be able to legally distribute derivative works.
And even if you could, you'd still need Microsoft's cooperation. Sure, you could distribute your modified maps and what not over the Internet. However, that kinda defies the point of having a console in the first place (which is to work out-of-the-box, always, no setup required). And with Internet-only, non-Live distribution, only people with modified XBox's would benefit.
Ubi needs a new pair of shoes (Score:2, Interesting)
Sadly, Black Arrow has felt like a failure to me, the maps aren't as fun and the clan portion of it is just silly and creates an unbalanced dynamic that wasn't as heavy in the first RS3. I see it as such a disappointment that I've stopped playing Black Arrow altogether and gone back into RS3 despite it's glitches...lean walking, grenade tricks, etc...I've noticed a lot people I play against were let down with Black Arrow as well.
To be a little more on topic, the $5 for a few maps reinforces my belief that Black Arrow doesn't share the same fun factor as the previous iteration. If they offered the first RS3 maps, unaltered, for download for $5, then I might consider it. But in the meantime I'm gonna put that $5 on a preorder of Halo 2, and I suggest you do the same.
Charging isn't the problem - problem is storage! (Score:3, Interesting)
I think we're missing one of the BIG points here, and one of the big negatives of the Infinium Labs Phantom console...
It's the lack of any long term storage options for things you've purchased. What happens 5-10 years from now when your XBox hard drive breaks? What happens 2 years from now, when the XBox is all but abandoned?
Do you have any recourse for getting these levels that you've paid for BACK?
PC expansion packs come on DISC, or you can back them up to disc, at very least. What responsibility will these companies take to customers that lose their info, in the long run or even short run?