Hangout The Games Hangout Thread

[Sky]

Nah not what I meant. If they aim for 1080p - and they should - Wii U can't hold a candle. It is nice that Wii U upped its hardware to be a decent console but it is still no "opponent" for M$ and $ony.
I certainly don't mind Cloud for Smash Bros. (Is it a DLC btw or free of charge?) Heck I feel annoyed that I don't own a Wii U in the first place so I can't even enjoy that game...

 

[xi0]

Nah not what I meant. If they aim for 1080p - and they should - Wii U can't hold a candle. It is nice that Wii U upped its hardware to be a decent console but it is still no "opponent" for M$ and $ony.
I certainly don't mind Cloud for Smash Bros. (Is it a DLC btw or free of charge?) Heck I feel annoyed that I don't own a Wii U in the first place so I can't even enjoy that game...

Well, isn't that sort of a buyer-beware type of thing anyway? I mean, with 3rd party titles available on most systems. Some versions are generally ports and are often pretty poorly made. But I'm fairly sure it would still sell pretty well if it was an option.

Some of the DLC characters were attainable for free (I think Mewtwo at least), but characters since then were fully DLC. They release a bunch of things in waves (extra stages, costumes). I think Cloud is the 5th DLC character announced, and the previous 4 are something like $15 or something in a bundle and they tend to be a $3-$5 separately.

 

[Sky]

Heck will this DLC nonsense ever end? Back then you could simply unlock stuff by playing the game...

 

[xi0]

Heck will this DLC nonsense ever end? Back then you could simply unlock stuff by playing the game...

Pretty sure you still can, just not the DLC ones... and this is pretty tamed compared to other companies IMO

But yeah, it's turned me off from console gaming in general... the characters are at least cheap. None of the cosmetic stuff really matters to the experience.

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

Heck will this DLC nonsense ever end? Back then you could simply unlock stuff by playing the game...

Prolly till they empty our pockets.

 

[Sky]

In Tales of games you have to pay like 5€ for a costume set... That is ridiculous... 10€ more for a story dlc.
Though as far as I can see, EA is pretty much the worst kind of cancer in this part of the world.

 

[kkck]

Pretty sure you still can, just not the DLC ones... and this is pretty tamed compared to other companies IMO

But yeah, it's turned me off from console gaming in general... the characters are at least cheap. None of the cosmetic stuff really matters to the experience.

I wouldn't say it's cheap. If you buy a new game you are usually paying 60 or 70 dollars. How much is smash? 60 dollars? at 3-5 dollars each character you end up adding a solid 5% to the game at least per character. Buy the pack for 15 dollars and you added 25% extra to the game. You made super smash into a 75 dollar game. Add cloud and its an 80 dollar game. At which point a nintendo executive snorts a solid ton of cocaine. Of course, this is still significantly less aggressive than what other companies do (say, candy crush or lol (yep, I went there)).

 

[xi0]

I wouldn't say it's cheap. If you buy a new game you are usually paying 60 or 70 dollars. How much is smash? 60 dollars? at 3-5 dollars each character you end up adding a solid 5% to the game at least per character. Buy the pack for 15 dollars and you added 25% extra to the game. You made super smash into a 75 dollar game. Add cloud and its an 80 dollar game. At which point a nintendo executive snorts a solid ton of cocaine. Of course, this is still significantly less aggressive than what other companies do (say, candy crush or lol (yep, I went there)).

Cheap compared to other DLC? I'd say so. Plus, it's up to the buyer whether they want them or not. It isn't like Smash is a story-driven game with such DLCs locked behind a paywall. I don't like it but it's pretty tame compared to other things, that's all.

And the LoL stuff isn't DLC. It's purely cosmetic and has no effect on your ability to play/win games. F2P games are full of microtransactions, and if they're purely for cosmetic purposes I see nothing unethical about it. That's how the company makes money after all.

 

[Doraku]

Character DLC ain't a problem. It's in disk content that has to be unlocked with a special "tool" like Amiboo that sounds very stupid to me.

 

[kkck]

Cheap compared to other DLC? I'd say so. Plus, it's up to the buyer whether they want them or not. It isn't like Smash is a story-driven game with such DLCs locked behind a paywall. I don't like it but it's pretty tame compared to other things, that's all.

And the LoL stuff isn't DLC. It's purely cosmetic and has no effect on your ability to play/win games. F2P games are full of microtransactions, and if they're purely for cosmetic purposes I see nothing unethical about it. That's how the company makes money after all.

Well, my point wasn't about it being cheap or not. DLC is for the most part "cheap". At the low end you can spend a few dollars to get something or spend a little more to get more for every dollar. In general a few dollars is not much however if you sum it up... You get people who spend hundreds of dollars on a game. It's not about having the money or anything like that. It's about people spending tens, hundreds or thousands of dollars on a single game. Sure, you can't spend money on lol to win however it is a game where people still spend easily hundreds of dollars a year. In the article I posted you see people who have spent enough money over the years on lol that they could have easily bought all major consoles and their best selling titles. And still have money leftover. With lol it doesn't matter that you don't get an option to pay to win, it's still basically the same business model as candy crush. Just checking the lol forums you easily find quite a few people who have spent over 100 dollars on the game, if not more. Of course, there are other games which do a more significant effort to prey on addiction but that doesn't make lol faultless here if it is literally replicating their business model (it is true they are a lot cooler about it though).

 

[xi0]

Well, my point wasn't about it being cheap or not. DLC is for the most part "cheap". At the low end you can spend a few dollars to get something or spend a little more to get more for every dollar. In general a few dollars is not much however if you sum it up... You get people who spend hundreds of dollars on a game. It's not about having the money or anything like that. It's about people spending tens, hundreds or thousands of dollars on a single game. Sure, you can't spend money on lol to win however it is a game where people still spend easily hundreds of dollars a year. In the article I posted you see people who have spent enough money over the years on lol that they could have easily bought all major consoles and their best selling titles. And still have money leftover. With lol it doesn't matter that you don't get an option to pay to win, it's still basically the same business model as candy crush. Just checking the lol forums you easily find quite a few people who have spent over 100 dollars on the game, if not more. Of course, there are other games which do a more significant effort to prey on addiction but that doesn't make lol faultless here if it is literally replicating their business model (it is true they are a lot cooler about it though).

So? If they think they're paying for quality, what's the issue? They aren't charging people to play their game or use their servers. Preying on addiction? Really?

I don't know, I think you're way off comparing something like LoL to your run of the mill mobile game. Mobile games that GATE the actual ability to PLAY behind pay-walls. League, Dota, and CS:GO are nothing like that. Recently there was some backlash with LoL selling color variants of some skins and the model to buy them was pretty stupidly structured as well. Guess what? They stopped making them. When it comes to game devs people speak with their wallets, nothing else. I've easily spent over $100 on LoL in this manner and I never felt like Riot didn't deserve my money. If I felt that way I wouldn't have done it. As for people who have some sort of compulsion to spend their entire salary on stuff in LoL or Valve games, that's their own problem, not the developers.

 

[kkck]

So? If they think they're paying for quality, what's the issue? They aren't charging people to play their game or use their servers. Preying on addiction? Really?

I don't know, I think you're way off comparing something like LoL to your run of the mill mobile game. Mobile games that GATE the actual ability to PLAY behind pay-walls. League, Dota, and CS:GO are nothing like that. Recently there was some backlash with LoL selling color variants of some skins and the model to buy them was pretty stupidly structured as well. Guess what? They stopped making them. When it comes to game devs people speak with their wallets, nothing else. I've easily spent over $100 on LoL in this manner and I never felt like Riot didn't deserve my money. If I felt that way I wouldn't have done it. As for people who have some sort of compulsion to spend their entire salary on stuff in LoL or Valve games, that's their own problem, not the developers.

My point is not about gameplay, at least not that alone. True, lol is a legitimate game of skill where you don't have the option to pay to win or continue playing and whatnot that is actually fun to play. My point however is about the actual business model which is pretty much the same as any other fremium game (just slightly less predatory). Even the menu where you buy riot points looks exactly the same as they do in literally every other sales menu for fremium games. Why even sell riot points? Why not just sell the skins directly for cash?

 

[xi0]

My point is not about gameplay, at least not that alone. True, lol is a legitimate game of skill where you don't have the option to pay to win or continue playing and whatnot that is actually fun to play. My point however is about the actual business model which is pretty much the same as any other fremium game (just slightly less predatory). Even the menu where you buy riot points looks exactly the same as they do in literally every other sales menu for fremium games. Why even sell riot points? Why not just sell the skins directly for cash?

That's something that almost all game does where you use actual money to buy an artificial currency. There is the "nefarious" look to it with it making people not realize how much money they are actually spending. But honestly, functionally it allows a lot more freedom for purchase. They already receive the money when you buy the currency and then you choose when and how to spend it. There are two different sales per week for characters and cosmetics. They also have refunds in case you change your mind about what you spent them on (in addition to currencies you can earn just by playing). It also exists due to regional differences. I think Africa is the only continent without at least one server. You can buy different amounts of currency with different IRL currencies. This circumvents the problem with exchange rates as well. On the Europe West server you have the option to buy with Euros and British Pounds for example.

But of course there can be an argument to be made that it makes people think of things differently in this "fake" currency. But honestly I don't see it as being predatory, people are irresponsible regarding things like this on their own IMO.

 

[riki]

Unsurprisingly, Kojima left Konami and starting a new studio.

 

[Jammin]

Can't wait to see what he and his team will put together now that they are free of the evil empire of Konami.

It'll be interesting to see how close his ties to Sony are too.

 

[riki]

People are hoping that Sony will buy the right to Metal Gear, but we'll see.

Oh, Nintendo has filed a patent for a touchscreen gamepad, which may be a hint for their new console, codename NX.

 

[Jammin]

I wish that was a possibility. There is nothing I would love more than Konami selling some of their franchises. Can you even imagine a world were Sony owns Metal Gear and/or Silent Hill? Or Suikoden!!!

*sigh* There is no way that could happen but what wonderful dream world.

 

[Doraku]

Kojima doesn't waste a single day to come up with new project after he left Konami, huh?

I'm excited about his upcoming projects though, hopefully it's as good as MGS.

 

[riki]

He and Sony just announced that they are collaborating to make a new PS4-exclusive title

 

[Notice me Escanor senpai]

I wish that was a possibility. There is nothing I would love more than Konami selling some of their franchises. Can you even imagine a world were Sony owns Metal Gear and/or Silent Hill? Or Suikoden!!!

*sigh* There is no way that could happen but what wonderful dream world.

It could happen actually.The new head of the company made it clear he wants to focus on pachinko machines and gambling(Konami does that too) instead of making AAA titles.It seems they make more money off of that.And they also want to focus on games for smartphones.
If Sony makes them a good offer, they might consider selling some of their franchises, including Metal Gear.One of the gripes the new head of the company had with Kojima is that the franchise didn't make enough money for his tastes(what a douche) and that Kojima took too much time to release the games.They don't care about consoles anymore, so it's entirely possible they could sell even Metal Gear, assuming they get enough money to fill their pockets.