I am truly sorry I haven’t posted too much of substance lately. But as all ways other things have been pulling me away. Getting a better job for instance… Anyway, I still DO game and have been trying to keep up with everything that has been going on. I’m all most finished with the PC version of Dragon Age Origins and I am getting a copy of the XBOX 360 version to finish that version. All in contemplation of first Witch Hunt, the DLC featuring my favorite witch Morrigan.
Second, with the new Dragon Age 2 coming out, you supposedly effect the world based on what happened in Dragon Age Origins and Awakening. Well, I have some XBOX 360 playing to do, considering I’m not buying Dragon Age 2 on the PC. Why? More than a year after launch and my Dragon Age Origins still crashes with no warning. So no thanks… But this article is not about my love of Dragon Age.
Perhaps however, Dragon Age is an awesome example of what is going in gaming in 2009/2010/2011. The game began with eight SKUs. Yes, eight: PC Deluxe Edition, Regular PC Edition, Digital Deluxe Edition, Regular Digital Edition, PS3 Collectors Edition, PS3 Regular Edition, XBOX 360 Collectors Edition, and XBOX 360 Regular Edition. The Deluxe and Collectors Editions featured free Day One DLC. Then, as with every other Bioware game(good on Bioware by the way), they have rolled out lots of DLC for players to purchase. Also, with Dragon Age players are able to create new campaigns for people to try out. Which is great… There is SO MUCH content coming from Bioware and other companies this year that many of the games are getting ULTIMATE EDITIONS that contain all of the content for one price. This, I guess is if you don’t have internet or a fast internet connection. This crazy amount of content is exactly what I love about this new era of gaming. However, where EA/Bioware is a wonderful universal provider of great content for all tastes. There are other companies who are a little less interested in supporting their products post launch. But this article is also not about developer/publisher dedication to DLC…
I’ve also been really excited over the past few weeks with XBOX LIVE ARCADE’s Summer of Arcade. Where one game comes out every week and these games are supposed to be the premiere titles coming out exclusively to XBOX 360. But just in general XBLA and PSN has been incredible in the past six months. There are lengthy games and the prices usually run from around $10-$15. Which considering the length of SOME of the content this is certainly warranted. Gone of course, are the freebies of E3s, Comic Cons, and PAXs; of the past you know, 2007…. But this matured content of the XBLA and PSN of the present is probably an OK replacement. But this article is not about that either…
Finally, I’ve recently(three months ago) canceled my subscription to Netflix and I went all rental on XBOX 360 Zune Marketplace and PSN’s Video Network. I certainly love the content on both services and their ability to get the content to you faster than most outlets really makes them stand out from any disc based rental service. Good on you folks. But this article isn’t about rental services and digital distribution either. Well, not really anyway…
What this article is about, is the announcement of Sony providing a Premium service called Playstation Plus and XBOX LIve going up ten dollars starting in November of this year. Playstation Plus has been out for a couple of months and the offerings it has provided have been pretty unusual to say the least. Now PSN’s main service was to provide consumers with a way to play multiplayer games for free and provide content for them to download; you know like demos, trailers, etc… Like XBOX Live but free.
Their service was never as good as XBOX LIVE and the small install base for the PS3 in the first couple of years of it’s release didn’t help this too much. If I had a friends list in a game, I would only see those people if I was in that game. I usually, don’t use PS3 for multiplayer games. In the cases where I have, I have found that finding someone to play can be everywhere from excellent to impossible. It’s strange, but even today, it seems like PSN just isn’t quite measuring up to XBOX LIVE and it can’t all be cross game voice chat. If it is, then Sony is making a BIG MISTAKE by not implementing this.
Playstation Plus however, is a content driven rental service. Where the player gets to keep free games and limited time full games for as long as they keep subscribing to the service. Once you stop subscribing, you lose everything. Anything you haven’t actually purchased, you lose. Mostly it’s just like a premium version of the PSN video game store. That’s about all… But you STILL have to pay $50 for the privilege.
Lest you think I have a problem with PSN… Microsoft just announced the following:
“I wanted to let you know that as of November 1, 2010 we are increasing the price of an Xbox LIVE for some members. This price increase only affects Xbox LIVE Members in Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom or the United States.
US
Current
1M Gold: $7.99
3M Gold: $19.99
12M Gold: $49.99
Starting Nov 1, 2010
1M Gold: $9.99
12M Gold: $59.99…”From Major Nelson’s Blog
This is insane. Yes, Microsoft has made improvements to XBOX LIVE since it began. But some of that was to compete with Sony’s Free Service. Some of it is useless trash like Facebook and Twitter support. Until you can have all the functionality of those two FREE SERVICES there is little sense in needing to feel like paying for them or even having a use for them on XBOX LIVE. Oh and Last.FM which must be the sole item open during your session. It’s just music and a slideshow but you can’t even browse the Marketplace while it’s playing and it stops all downloads. I’ve used this marvelous free service twice on the 360. All it made me want to do is get it for my PC so I could actually use it while I was doing something else. And the wonderful, incredibly SLOW; new interface of the XBOX LIVE that uses the Avatars and a panel style interface. There is so much graphical background processing going on apparently that many times the XBOX 360 pauses for a minute or two between menus options. Thanks Microsoft, that was an upgrade worth paying for.
Microsoft makes some money off of EVERY PIECE of content that is sitting on it’s XBOX LIVE VIDEO, AVATAR, AND GAME MARKETPLACES. Considering there is more throw away content on XBOX LIVE than ever before, they certainly seem arrogant to feel that they need more money for it. Avatar items, gamer pictures, themes, all essentially worthless pieces of content that are paid for with the same money that people spend on game add-ons or movies. They want us to pay more? Perhaps we should stop paying completely. After all, Sony doesn’t seem to be having trouble providing many of the same core services for free.
I have been a Microsoft gold subscriber for 7 years and I certainly love the XBOX 360 in general. But when someone from Microsoft PR says,
“"Since launching Xbox Live in 2002 we have continually added more content and entertainment experiences for our members, while keeping the price the same," Hryb wrote. "We're confident that when the new pricing takes effect, an Xbox Live Gold membership will continue to offer the best value in the industry."
I just couldn’t keep silent. The reason they are raising the price is that they aren’t launching a new console this year and Kinect is probably not going to sell very well at $150 so they are hedging their bets. After all, servers cost money and we are in a recession. But don’t tell me you are doing me a favor when I probably spend $50 a month on content on your service in addition to the $50 I all ready spend every year. Why not charge developers more? Well, then they might pull some of their support from XBOX LIVE and we can’t have that. That could COST Microsoft money. So here we are folks. As it is, Microsoft requires companies like Valve to charge for their otherwise free content. Why? Because they want the money and don’t have the confidence in their digital distribution model the way that Valve and Epic do.
I understand that everyone needs to make a living. But in a recession people don’t just cut back on things that are expensive, they give them up. Perhaps Microsoft, didn’t get the memo. But then most of those guys who make their decision probably think cutting back means getting rid of one of your 7 cars.
No comments:
Post a Comment