Bioware to Open Online Store for Digital Content

GimpyMcJackass writes "Bioware will be opening a new store for digital content starting November 10. Currently slated for sale will be a few modules for Neverwinter Nights, at fairly reasonable prices ($5 - $8 USD). Nice addition to the business model. Gamespot also has an interview with the usual Bioware suspects about it."

This is a good idea

[jbellis]

I would definitely pay that kind of money for community-created mods if I knew it had gone through some kind of BioWare QA process. Sifting through thousands (?) of mods on fan sites just isn't worth the time.

Re:This is a good idea

[mbourgon]

Yes. Now go tell me what modules would be good for a party of 3-4 people, levels 4-6. The nwvault search engine came out with 50+, of which we eventually found a half-dozen worth playing. I've seen levels marked "Level 4-6" where the first comment from the developer is "You really should be 9th level". NWVault needs to enforce the basic search stats. Not to mention that voting is scattershot, plus you can't get stats (except via the "beta" method) until it has 25 votes. There are probably thousands of modules with over 1000 downloads that don't have 10 votes...(though that would really be the community's fault)

FWIW, we're playing Hidden(lost?) City of Tamoachan, then probably Wanderer II, then the original D&D Giants modules, then some Spider-woman thing.

Oh, and good luck finding good epic-level adventures. I haven't seen any that are for a party of 30+. (hence my sig)

And for those of you who haven't played the following modules (single-player), go find these:

• Penultima
  
• Penultima Rerolled
  
• Shadowlords
  
• Dreamcatcher
  
• Demon (yup, sequel to Dreamcatcher is out!!!)
  
• Witch's Wake
  

Re:This is a good idea

[Ford Prefect]

I would definitely pay that kind of money for community-created mods if I knew it had gone through some kind of BioWare QA process. Sifting through thousands (?) of mods on fan sites just isn't worth the time.

Blame the fan sites, then. I've never played Neverwinter Nights, and haven't a clue about its modding community, but over in the land of Half-Life there are well-respected sites like Ten Four [telefragged.com] reviewing single-player releases.

In need of something to play? Click on the reviews index, sort by rating [telefragged.com], t

This is definitely not a good idea

[MilenCent]

I would definitely not pay that kind of money for community-created mods, since it destroys the feeling of community among NWN hackers to know that they've appointed a gatekeeper taking tolls. Sifting through thousands of mods on fan sites may not seem worth the time, but there exist multiple sites that rate mods anyway.

Re:This is definitely not a good idea

[eviltypeguy]

But, these aren't community created mods. These are QA'd, approved by Atari/WoTC, made by contracted employees of Bioware. Yes, one of the authors of the modules are from the community, but they signed a contract with Bioware for this work.

Bioware is not just taking any joe schmoe module off the 'street' so to speak and releasing it commercially.

Bioware is not taking anything away from the thousands of free module already out there.

Bioware is not killing your dog, stealing your firstborn or anything else.

What they're doing is providing people exactly what they asked for in surveys given to the NWN Community: More Official Bioware content.

I think it's a great idea! And most users do too, Bioware surveyed a significant number of the NWN community and this is what people wanted. More Official Bioware content.

Additionally, the sale of these modules will serve as a revenue stream that Bioware can use to fund the live team to continue to improve NWN and release new content to the community. So ultimately, even if lots of people buy these modules, not only will Bioware make a profit, but the community will continue to receive fresh content (even if they don't buy the modules) and a great game will continue to be supported well.

So before you go raining on their parade, read a bit more of the details? Ok?

Re:Boooooooring!

[Yoda's Mum]

Which is why Bioware's next big PC game is Dragon Age, a party-based Baldur's Gate-styled RPG. Though you won't get you're 2D goodness, the whole thing's 3D, just with the option to view it from the sort of perspective you could in Baldur's Gate.

On a side note, Baldur's Gate III will never happen. The story ended and Bioware are moving away from third-party properties for their games. Plus, the project that was going to be Baldur's Gate III (previously in development at Interplay by Black Isle, before its

Re:Boooooooring!

[lukestuts]

On a side note, Baldur's Gate III will never happen.

Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose I'll go play Doom III now.

You get what you pay for...

[JorDan Clock]

I personally wouldn't pay for this, but I do see where they are coming from. If they put a price on it, there's a huge amount of incentive to make a much better quality addition to their game.

Sure, one could go get a free module from someone else, but who's to say that's necesarily going to be all that great?

Yes, I know just because you pay for something it's not necesarily going to be good, but well, I have faith in Bioware. Their products have always entertained me (between bugs...) and I trust they w

Re:You get what you pay for...

[analog_line]

One has to wonder, what kind of protection will they be using to prevent these modules from being simply moved from one computer to another?

My guess is...the price. The real w4r3z junkies have gone and passed Neverwinter Nights by LONG ago. They're sinking their teeth into leaked version of Halo 2, burning Xbox and PS2 games, etc. Most people that still play Neverwinter Nights are the same kind of people that would normally pay $10-$15 for a decent D&D module in a hobby store. Those kind of people

Re:What an amazing innovation!

[TrueBuckeye]

While your sarcasm is noted, it is actually a large development for large game developers to embrasse the internet as a means of distribution. Up to now I know of only Stardock (The Political Machine, Galaxy Civilizations) that has used the internet as a major source of software sales. Valve/Steam is getting on board, as is Eagle Dynamics with their Lock On: Modern Air Combat upgrade (v1.1) which will be out soon.

So in my mind, this is actually noteworthy. I will most likely buy one of these modules j

First Valve, now Bioware

[Goosey]

The online distribution revolution is proceeding. I for one will not miss the days of brick and mortar stores having all the control. They were leeches on the gaming industry, a superfluous middle man that offered nothing and contributed nothing to the game you are enjoying.

I can only hope that this trend continues to the point that established studio's are able to break free from the publisher's leeching grasp. Publishers are still needed to fund start-ups, but for a company that is established and coming up with a smash sequel they are just another drain on the people who are making the game!

Of course I realize that this will all take a long time. No sane company, even if it had the biggest game of the year, would totally abandone selling through retail outlets...

Yet..

Internet connecivity...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was looking forward to Bioware "digital distribution" model, till I found out it requires internet connectivity every time you play the module.

Apparently they validate your authorization at runtime, instead of once at purchase.

I understand the need to protect their "IP", but I really think a scheme using your CD key to encrypt your copy of the module, such that it only has to authorize once would of worked better.

David (aka zzqzzq_zzq on the boards)

Re:Internet connecivity...

[thelexx]

Not to mention the fact that there is no guarantee they will keep their authorization server online indefinitely. What happens when you want to dig it out and play it again in a few years? This kind of crap is what kills otherwise good ideas.

Sweet!

[pat_trick]

Yet another excuse to not have to venture out into the daylight to visit a brick and mortar store and risk failing my "aversion to humanity" roll, -10 modifier.

J/K. This looks like an interesting idea, but I'll be passing on it.

Infinity Engine

[JeffTL]

I seriously wish they'd open-source a version of the Biowae Infinity Engine (used for Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Planescape: Torment) ala Doom, since it seems that the commercial viability of the engine is gone. Can we say native Shadows of Amn executable on Linux?

Re:Infinity Engine

[chrish]

I imagine they're entirely unable to do that because of the third-party IP embedded in the source code... the second edition AD&D rules for example. I know a lot of that information is contained in the data files, but I'm sure it extends into the source as well.

Re:Infinity Engine

[JeffTL]

I think most of that is in the 2DA files, and the rest could be scrubbed out -- noone else's trademarks are hardcoded as far as I know, this stuff's too old for patents, I don't know of any trade secrets, and the copyrights can be scrubbed out. Might take someone at Bioware a day or two to scrub and upload the .tgz, but it'd be a very affordable public relations stunt.

Live Team support is the key here.

[2Flower]

The main thing the Bioware Store is allowing for is ongoing support of NWN -- more patches, more free monsters, additional tilesets and skyboxes and placeables and so on and so forth. Free, patched right into NWN to keep from fragmenting the community.

All this content creation work is done by the NWN Live Team. And they need money to do it, because Bioware TRIED doing it entirely for free and eventually realized it was a money/time sink. Although Rob Bartel's "Witch's Wake" module was pretty damn cool, the