NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

[Ziero]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition on Xbox 360 faces a similar problem. The Gold Edition is really just RE5, the "Gold" part of "Gold Edition" is all download content, redeemable with a voucher. That's awesome if you don't have the internet! Very misleading and unforgivable on Capcom's part.

This is where once again I have to sing LBP's praises. Not only did it's GotY remake come with the full game, it also came with the Metal Gear Solid DLC pack and costumes, World History DLC Pack and costumes, Monsters DLC pack and costumes, and the original Animals costumes set on the disc itself, it also included 18 fan made stages already packed into the game. But that's neither her nor there.

[DakAttack]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

That's the dumbest thing I've heard all week.

How? The difference is tangible media, which isn't necessary anymore save for the hard drives we store the digital copies on. Nobody asks for tangible copies of the internet so they can read their favorite web pages, right? So why the hell are tangible copies of video games so important? It's not.

Maybe you both are just strange and require your game data to sping in circles around a central point? I don't know...

[cidbahamut]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

I've already explained my concerns but I'll reiterate for your benefit.

As long as the game is something that's being run entirely locally, I want a physical copy. I do not want to rely on the company remaining in business to access game content a few years down the road after they've gone under and taken their DLC servers with them. Those servers won't be around forever but I expect to be able to play the full game whenever I damn well please be it five months from now or five years from now. Unless the game requires those company servers to function, I see no reason not to offer physical counterparts.

What is so hard to understand? I want to be able to play the full game when a given company is dead and gone. DLC prevents that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

I don't see what's so difficult to understand. Companies come and go, licenses change hands, franchises that might once have been a priority become de-prioritized.

Unless you're going to host all the software on a dedicated service like Steam (which is not going anywhere), then you have reason for concern when you have to go through EA, 2k Games or whomever else to get your download content.

Hell, look at how Sony and Nintendo have struggled to get classic games on PSN and Virtual console. They had enough for a good long time, but it fizzled because as the years go forward, studios close, merge and fall under new ownership.

You're not going to be able to find a copy of Battletoads/Double Dragon by Tradewest because Tradewest no longer exists and the people that own the rights to Double Dragon now do not have the rights to Battletoads because that was a creation made by Rare, which Microsoft now owns. And like other Rare IPs, the minds behind those IPs have long since moved on to other jobs or other developers.

Nintendo and Sony have done the best they could with this. Now by fragmenting content from games as DLC, we now have difficulty revisiting our favorite games in the future. Unless you're a really big company, nothing is certain and even with big shots like EA and Activision, nothing is a sure thing.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

Atari was big and look at what happened to them. There is no certainty with DLC being available after a company goes tits up. I'm a collector, how do I collect DLC? I don't, I want physical media.

[DakAttack]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

So the reasoning is simply because you want it. Ok.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

If you can't understand our side, then you are being very narrow minded.

How about we do away with cash and live on digital money. You choose a institution where you keep all your money in. It's all digital and you never touch a dime. All you have is a card that you use to make purchases, a debit card. The company goes under and whatever you had in the bank is gone. It's yours but you can't access it anymore. C'est la vie? And don't tell me its not the same either. I pay money for my DLC so I should have access to it whenever you want just like you would want access to whatever is yours whenever you want. But then you can't access it and you should just roll over and take it?

[Ziero]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

That's generally the reasoning for most things in this world.

As someone who still buys comics and cds, I can see their point. But at the same time, I also realize that for many games, disc based DLC and "expansions" just aren't worth it.

Valkyria Chronicles for example was a very low selling, sleeper hit game. So much so that neither of it's two sequels are on a full home console, they've both been relegated to the PSP (which sucks =( ). But it still managed to squeeze out some new content DLC to meet fan demands. Had these been disc based, they would have never have seen the light of day, but being purely DLC, Sega was able to give fans more content for a game they loved.

If a game gets re-released, I can see adding any previous DLCs to the game disc. But for the most part, a lot of these games aren't popular enough for that, so new DLC has to remain purely digital content.

And again, there's still those numerous full games that are still DLC in and of themselves. Games like Castle Crashers, Fat Princess, Scott Pilgrim and Flower don't have any kind of physical media attached to them at all, if they did they would have never have been made in the first place. Where do those types of things fall for people who feel the need to have a physical version of their add-on content.

I mean, I can understand the point, I do it myself for other things. But even still, if 5 years down the line your PS3 breaks...even that physical copy of your game will be useless. If the possible failure of network and company in the far distant future is such a big concern for you, then it is in your best interest to make your own backups. External HDDs are cheap enough nowadays that buying one would probably only run you the same price of a physical game anyway, so grab one and store all your DLC content on one as backup or something.

The reason companies are moving away from disc based stuff is because of freedom, they have a lot more liberty to make these smaller bonus add ons and quirky little games without worrying about the cost effectiveness from all the issues that come with physical media. Less reliance on physical media means more possible content or add ons from lesser known, smaller studios.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

The reason companies are moving away from disc based stuff is because of freedom, they have a lot more liberty to make these smaller bonus add ons and quirky little games without worrying about the cost effectiveness from all the issues that come with physical media. Less reliance on physical media means more possible content or add ons from lesser known, smaller studios.

No, the main reason they are moving away from physical media is because its more coin jingling in their pockets and because our society is based on wanting everything fast fast fast. Why wait till the game gets delivered to your door or waste time and gas on going out looking for a copy, just d/l it while you are at work or eating supper. I understand the concept of saving money and time but I disagree with giving up the security of having physical media. I still pull out my NES and play games and, I hope to god, I'll be around to say I still pull out my old moldy PS3 and play games too. I'll even pay an extra for a disc copy if need be.

[DakAttack]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

If you can't understand our side, then you are being very narrow minded.

How about we do away with cash and live on digital money. You choose a institution where you keep all your money in. It's all digital and you never touch a dime. All you have is a card that you use to make purchases, a debit card. The company goes under and whatever you had in the bank is gone. It's yours but you can't access it anymore. C'est la vie? And don't tell me its not the same either. I pay money for my DLC so I should have access to it whenever you want just like you would want access to whatever is yours whenever you want. But then you can't access it and you should just roll over and take it?

That's exactly how it is, right now. I don't carry cash anymore, all my money is transferred directly into my account through computers. I use a credit card to pay for everything. If my bank did go under, it's all insured by the FDIC, so I can get it back. Money will always be relevant, but your games wont be.

Why waste resources?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

If my bank did go under, it's all insured by the FDIC, so I can get it back.

But you are taking it out of context now aren't you? I never mentioned that your money would be covered by any clause, just like DLC is not. Thats the point I'm making, would you put your money into an institution that didn't have something like the FDIC and hope for the best? Probably not but yet you are saying that we should do that with our money for DLC.

[DakAttack]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

But you are taking it out of context now aren't you? I never mentioned that your money would be covered by any clause, just like DLC is not. Thats the point I'm making, would you put your money into an institution that didn't have something like the FDIC and hope for the best? Probably not but yet you are saying that we should do that with our money for DLC.

Video games don't pay bills; money does. Video games don't put food on the table, or buy houses, or cars, or pay medical bills; money does. Money is important, video games are not. The day I can hand the bank a copy of MW2 to pay off my student loan is the day I'll start giving a damn about physical media.

[Raydeus]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

Thinking about it I realized I have yet to find a DLC add-on that was actually worth it's price. Which is why I don't remember ever buying any DLC except for preordering the first ACP for XI.




Does anyone have a DLC they have bought and thought it was worth every cent?

[DakAttack]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

Does anyone have a DLC they have bought and thought it was worth every cent?

Every DLC I've ever bought, which is tons of shit. Actually, Gyromancer is probably the only one I never got around to finishing before I sold the Xbox 360. That game was too long and too repetitive.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: NPD: 6% of console gamers use DLC

Ziero, how can you seriously say all that when things that were considered standard in prior generations - things like alternate costumes or optional sidequests are not the kinds of thing I want to see nickel-and-dimed out to me. I won't pay for them and I won't support the developers who think I'll put up with it.

Its one thing when Sega drops a $5 mission pack to Valkyria Chronicles 2. That's content that came out months of the games release in Japan. Its 22 extra missions, the main game already has over 200 to do and nothing is withheld from the main story. its fluff, take it or leave it. Sega didn't take it this content out to get the game out to get it to market faster.

And since PSN is a sure, ongoing ongoing thing, I'm never going to miss out on this content because Sega lets them host the data.

This is VASTLY different from what Bioware does. They took out the Shale DLC well in advance, all for the purpose of getting the game approved more quickly. I recall Tycho at Penny Arcade recalling the nonsense of the process of obtaining this DLC and after jumping through all the hoops to get it, the character it added was bugged as hell.

If I got the game for my 360, first and foremost, I should be able to access the free DLC of Xbox Live itself. That's not the case, though, I have to sign up for some dumb fucking EA account I'm never going to use for anything other than this DLC and this is only to redeem the voucher to get the DLC.

But that was late last year, if I were to buy a new copy for 360 now, I'd have to cough up the money for the "free" content because the vouchers expired. Apparently because EA feels people who buy games new months after release are as dirty as people that buy it used, I guess.