Dark Forces / Jedi Knight bundle came to Steam.

[GeneralAdmission]

Well, I had hoped Horse Armor would backfire, but the consumer base lapped it up and said "Thank you sir, may I have another."

Somewhat mystifying, since every comment I've seen online to date concerning Horse Armor has been, at best, dismissive, but more often, derogatory.

I would say we have already encountered at least one example of the paying-for-bugfixes model. Crytek openly stated that if sales of Warhead were good enough they would consider back-porting engine optimizations to Crysis. It may not be a classic example, but I think it clearly fits the mindset.

The idea that Call of Duty can sell 2-3 million people a map pack of 4 multiplayer maps for $10 is just depressing. The fact EA can sell cheat codes for $5 is depressing.

For the love of something holy please tell me these numbers refer to the console version.

My problem with DLC has a lot less to do with the concept itself than it does ignorant consumers supporting poor value products, basically. That can be said for almost all aspects of gaming right now though, really.

I have to agree. The industry may try the outrageous, but it will only work when the sheeple follow. Yet the reality exists that if consumers had the will or interest to act in unison, we could bring any business to its knees almost instantaneously.

Anyone have Borg technology on hand? ;) Paradigm Shifter? :D

[Paradigm Shifter]

For the love of something holy please tell me these numbers refer to the console version.

No, no, Codemasters wanted you to phone up a £1.50 a minute helpline (for five minutes) to get codes to unlock the cheats in GRID without completing the game. PS3/360/PC... all the same. Worse, the codes were tailored to the specific code on the back of the manual, so they're different for each persons game.

I thought that was an absolute piss take, to be quite honest.

Anyone have Borg technology on hand? ;) Paradigm Shifter? :D

Sorry, nope. :(

...

The problem with people and the 'micro-transaction' model, is that people don't notice how it adds up. They think, "Oh, $2, that's OK!" but what they fail to take into account is that if that's done twenty times, that's almost a whole new game. "Microsoft Points" are the biggest extortion racket going. Especially because you have to buy them in fixed lots, rather than buying what you want.

Digital downloads are like that too - "Oh, it makes it easier for people to get games/videos/etc... etc..." but the problem is, it destroys the competitive possibilities that mean that prices come down.

The games you can buy on XBox Live... (the full games)... they're, what, two or three times what you can pick the game up for if you find it in the bargain bin (still sealed)? Steam is another good example... if you buy what they've got on sale, it's a good deal. If you don't, it's cheaper to buy it in the shops... often by a lot...

[StingingVelvet]

To be completely honest, I did buy Horse Armor. I did it to see how the idea worked, how the content worked and as a trial run of DLC. I think that pack sold a lot mainly on that sort of trial run.

I didn't buy the other DLC, though I did get the Knights of the Nine disc package for that specific expansion, which came with all the regular DLC as well, so I got to play it all eventually. I found "Mehrune's Razor" to be worthwhile, the rest to be terrible.

As I said though, I thought Fallout 3 did it well, so Bethesda seems to have learned what works and what doesn't. There are companies inflicting far worse DLC crimes.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Mehrune's Razor was OK. Knights of the Nine was very good - I loved that quest. Frostcrag spire I quite liked (mostly because it meant I could make spells without having to kowtow to the Mages Guild. ;) The others were worse than useless. Short quests, boring additions. :(

I dislike the idea of DLC... I wait until it comes out on DVD, then gets cheap, or I don't bother at all.

About the only DLC I've ever downloaded on a console was the free DLC for WipEout Pure on the PSP - which added about another 30 tracks on the game, so it was worth it.