Micropayments. How the inustry plans to screw us all

Ok, it' s time to realize when we' re all getting screwed by the industry and this is the time. I' m not sure if anyone else has been paying attention to all this micropayment talk that' s been going on, especially since the GDC, but I think it' s a bunch of bull%$#@. It sounds to me like developers are basically saying, hey why bother to have players able to unlock that cool new bonus multiplayer level in the new timesplitters game by working through the game when we can just sell it to them for $1.99!! Yeah, that sounds good, and then rather than offering for free(gasp!! how could we have been so stupid) all those neat costumes for the latest soul caliber game, we can charge 25 cents a pop!! WE' ll be rich, rich beyond our wildest dreams!!! Hold on, of course these games will have to be online enabled right??? Yes, so of course the gamers can pay the fee to play online as well!!

This stinks worse than the crap I have to work with everyday (And you don' t want to know what I work with). It' s just a blatant cash grab it makes me sick. I personally won' t be supporting any of these features in the games that have them, and if Microsoft can provide them online, you better be able to believe that some hackers will be able to too. I' ve only heard Microsoft talking about it publically, but if they are, then you know Sony and Nintendo are ready to get there fingers into this new mone pot as well.

http://psp.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3138756
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PJQ/is_8_1/ai_110307521
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/tech/nextnews/archive/next030708.htm

On a side note, where the heck is everybody??? This place has been dead lately.

that sounds ridiculous to me. i admit, i am not up on the topic, but from what you posted, that sounds outrageous. Those were the fun bonuses of the game. Cheapass bastards!

if it were for say an add on to the game I wouldn' t mind paying a little for it to be downloaded to my x-box hard drive (or something). if it' s only for a small added extra like costumes or an extra weapon or some other small added bits and things then thats basically a load of crap. if gamers as a whole just refuse to buy these things then developers will just need to have them all for free anyway. Just don' t cave in when it comes round to it.

I' m still about anyway, I' ve just been busy recently decorating my room.

IMO it is a rip-off!

like 25 cents isn' t bad, but it should still be free

Tyler " Frag Master" Bealmear

One thing you mix in with it tho is that user created content (content created by actual gamers and put up for d/l, another feature mentioned::IE TimeSplitters::) also can have a price if the user deems it necasary and it' s not a requirment for all developers. I' m thinking they' ll do stuff similar to the $5 dl content packages you can get on xbox live.

if gamers as a whole just refuse to buy these things then developers will just need to have them all for free anyway. Just don' t cave in when it comes round to it.

I agree...

If you are getting tired of shelling out for items that were originally included, then do not buy the additional items. If the developers get too out of hand, don' t buy the game(s) that are incomplete without the extras included.

DOA 3 or Soul Calibur 2 w/o the extra costumes, weapons, or modes really isn' t worth having in this day and age...these are the things that people were looking for to make them want to buy these games. If the mentioned extras are gonna cost extra, you can bet people will think twice about making that purchase!

Especially me...

Videogaming is the contemporary interactive pasttime.

I don' t plan on caving in either and buying these extras. Problem is you' re screwed out of all the extras you would have normally gotten for free. I hate Big business.

i am of the opinion that you should be able to solve puzzles and stuff for them, but if you are just to lazy or aren' t good enough to beat the challenges, then you can also pay to have them delivered straight to you.

simple, do not play that game. Soon the sales will fall and cheeky puplishers will know not to do that. any game thats makes you pay after you bought it for 50quid is wrong.

Change is inevitable. Except from a vending machine.

Viva La Revolution! erm, I mean Viva La Wii!