Infinity Ward & Activision

[r3t]

I remember the time when half of the Quake community was up in arms because they believed Team Arena should've been a free map pack. How times have changed.

[Don Carlos]

indeed r3t, indeed

[obsidian]

Vote with your money. Stop paying for services that you don't believe in having to pay for.

[Plan B]

Indeed.

I also never understood the appeal of paying monthly fees for games like World of Warcrack.
Apparently millions of people become so obsessed with a game they're willing to keep forking over cash for a product they already paid for, next to the other services (internet) they also already pay for.
Supply and demand gone horribly awry, but ideal business model, of course, that Kotick is licking his lips about.

Also, Mr. Kotick fails to point out exactly what services these hordes of COD players can't wait to pay extra money for.
MMO COD? Fuck off. Activision should invest in a decent server setup in the first place.

[Eraser]

Well, people want to play, so they pay.
While my principles agree with obsidian, I still pay €60 a year for an XBox Live gold subscription. Why? Because I have no alternative. I want to play my XBox 360 games online. If I decide not to pay because I disagree with paying for online gaming, then I simply shut myself out and I don't want that.

I do draw the line there though. €60 a year isn't a big hit on my wallet and I do think that XBox Live is an awesome service. One of the reasons why I never played WoW is because of the monthly subscription. I did play Guild Wars a lot, but that's not subscription based.

[Plan B]

Agreed, xbox live is a good service, or a number of services, actually.
Well worth the 60 bucks.

But I think a game should just be sold as a complete product, and maybe afterwards have some FREE dlc.
[slightlyparanoid]The way things are going now, the dlc is already finished on release, and then sold as an "extra".[/slightlyparanoid]

But yeah, anyway, it's a free market, if people want to pay, let em.

[urgrund777]

The way things are going now, the dlc is already finished on release, and then sold as an "extra".

It is.
And a lot of the time it's shipped on the disc already - you just can't access it, so the "dlc" is already there, just needs to be unlocked.

[Eraser]

True. More and more often you find free DLC vouchers packed with a game. They market it as a free extra, while in reality it's just a scheme to combat the 2nd hand market.

[MKJ]

the vouchers are for actual (usually unfinished at the time) dlc, but some games do indeed have 'dlc' on disc that require a few lines of code to be downloaded. AC2 and Brutal Legend come to mind.

its easily spotted by checking the filesize. 108kb for 3 new missions does not fool me.

[Eraser]

Bioshock 2's first DLC pack was entirely on-disc as well. And Blur includes a voucher that includes a vehicle and a game mode right from the start. It's not DLC but it's a clear anti-2nd hand market tactic as well.

[obsidian]

Even if you always buy your games, makes you want to pirate them and cut out all the bullshit, doesn't it. Good job video game industry, further alienate your customers in hopes of a quick nickel or dime.

[MKJ]

orly? mustve missed that in the casing

*checks*

[edit] no trace of such. sure its not a preorder thing, like with splintercell?
(most stores dont care about the actual preorder and just give them away if they have them)

[Eraser]

I haven't bothered to enter the code for Blur either. It's a bit useless if you ask me.

[Eraser]

Tim Schafer calls Bobby Kotick "a total prick"

"His obligation is to his shareholders," Schafer said. "Well, he doesn't have to be as much of a dick about it, does he? I think there is a way he can do it without being a total prick. It seems like it would be possible. It's not something he's interested in."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/schaf ... otal-prick

[GONNAFISTYA]

Tim Schafer calls Bobby Kotick "a total prick"

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/schaf ... otal-prick

That article's title seems to miss the big point Schafer was making about Kotick. These quotes about Kotick are far more compelling (and important) than just calling a prick a prick:

"We can approach it (game development) like we approach bars of soap, where you're just trying to make the cheapest bar of soap. He definitely has that that kind of widget-maker attitude. I don't think he's great for the industry, overall. You can't just latch onto something when it's popular and then squeeze the life out of it and then move on to the next one...

...Hopefully he'll go back to another industry soon. He could go to an industry that makes more money. Ball bearings… something that suits his passions more. Weapons manufacturing?"

Long story short: Kotick's business philosophy could possibly run the gaming industry into the ground and cause a second video game crash.

There were several reasons for the crash, but the main cause was supersaturation of the market with hundreds of mostly low-quality games.

Schafer calling Kotick a prick was simply gravy and of course was what the retarded media would focus on in their headlines.