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Gears of War DLC, now without the 'Free' bit.
El Viento
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, the latest 1up yours podcast has an interisteng little section about 1hr 17 or so in, where they talk about the coming DLC for Gears, but apparently it;s being held up because the guys at Epic want to release it free, and Microsoft is insisting they charge for it....
http://zdmedia.vo.llnwd.net/o1/Podcasts/032307.mp3
This seems not to be the first time this has happened either. There's a thread over at GAF with more info:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147804
There have already been devs wanting to make available free content and Microsoft have insisted on a cost and there's been a Games Informer article on it, Microsoft deny price controlling, but the devs insist it's happening.
The one thing Microsoft really don;t want to do in all this is piss off CliffyB and Mark Rein I'd have thought.
http://zdmedia.vo.llnwd.net/o1/Podcasts/032307.mp3
This seems not to be the first time this has happened either. There's a thread over at GAF with more info:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147804
There have already been devs wanting to make available free content and Microsoft have insisted on a cost and there's been a Games Informer article on it, Microsoft deny price controlling, but the devs insist it's happening.
"But is there something that Microsoft isn't telling us? Could there be significant free content available in the Market place that the company is withholding?
Game Informer spoke with multiple contacts within the industry about the process that publishers and developers have to go through to get their content on Xbox Live Marketplace. We also found out that there is free content that companies want to offer, but Microsoft's mandating that consumers pay for it.
When a publisher has goods it wants to put up for sale, those prices must first be
submitted to Microsoft. As part of an agreement with the company, publishers have signed a document that hands over final say to Microsoft regarding Market place pricing. From here, Microsoft takes a look at the marktet and prices items to maintain a balance among items of similiar value.
Game Informer talked to Aron Greenburg, Xbox Live/Xbox 360 group product manager who denied that Microsoft has final say over Market place pricing. "It's ultimitaly up to the publisher," he told us.
However, according to our sources, it's not up to publishers, and free content is being with held from consumers under the speculated motive of Microsoft wanting to make gamers accustomed to paying money for goods above and beyond wallpapers. Said one industry insider we talked to, "they want you in the store and they want you buying stuff that is at full price. "We've even been told that the rules of the game may vary depending on how much clout your company has with Microsoft.
Greenberg denied knowledge of any motive to restrict free content, but admitted that the company does indeed adjust download prices. "there may be some situation or unusual case where there's content that's significant in nature and it would make other content look out of line, but I'm not aware of any case where we've told them that they couldn't offer it for free."
The one thing Microsoft really don;t want to do in all this is piss off CliffyB and Mark Rein I'd have thought.
El Viento on
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See also; new content for Marble Blast Ultra.
You know what? Sometimes I have no words for you.
To be fair though, can't you still download content with a free Silver account?
I dunno why I'm sticking up for them though - they should let Epic release it for free if that's what they want.
a big WORD to that. I'm already paying $50 a year, why force me to pay more, just so you can get a cut of it you M$ pricks?
you act as if the shit is gonna cost a million dollars. Releasing it for free is cool and all, but kindda dumb when you know people WILL pay for it. That's the world of business. Epic doesn't need to butter us up anymore. It's nice they love to release shit free for their fans, but Microsoft is the one who published the game and they did so to make money, not friends.
Besides, I WANT to give them money because Gears is awesome
Who pays the bandwith bills for various patches PC games put out. some of which have added content as well?
Good lord. If I wanted to play Lemmings I'd boot it up on my PS3. Just knock it off already, there's no excuse for a content provider being forced to charge for something by the gatekeeper. It's bullshit.
T-Nation blog
Yea, you gave them $60 for that previous content. You didn't them anything for this stuff, that's why it would be FREE.
Yea, Epic made Gears, but who paid for it to be made?
yea
yea
yea
No clearly you missed the point, your mocking of Decam's usage of yea shows this.
Some people, like you, will pay for it. Some people won't. This'll split the Gears online community when what Epic want to do is reward the online community and give them stuff for free, thereby not splitting the community.
You're an idiot... oh wait, Spruchy already pointed that.
No, I'm fairly sure the guy who's overly anxious to give the greedy ubercorp extra dosh even though the guys who made the content want it to be free is an idiot.
And that, Kewop, would be you. Microsoft's position here is flat out fucking wrong.
Both, of course. :P
No body would make any marketplace content if MS was raking in 100% of the money, and MS most likely wouldn't be hosting the marketplace if they weren't going to see a dime from it.
Short answer, both. Microsoft get an undisclosed percentage of every marketplace transaction, although you're effectively paying the devs.
you're missing the point because this isn't about paying for extra content, it's about the fact that content that the developer wants to be free is being priced anyway by microsoft
your reply is to turn around and say "it doesn't matter they're charging because i like the game anyway!"
okay, so you don't mind paying, but that's not the issue
I'm an idiot because MS is trying to make the 360 a profitable system and make up for the loses of the XBOX? Huh? You have no idea what they are even trying to price this at. Hell, MS let the first pack come out for free and now they want you to pay for this one. What's the problem? You want everything to be free all the time?
I don't care if it's free or not, but bitching and crying because someone doesn't want to give you free stuff when they have very little reason too is silly.
EDIT - I mean, it isn't like MS didn't spend a shit load of money to acquire Gears in the first place.
Oh, I know and understand that, but people are going a little overboard here. It's not like you're paying for shit on a stick which most of the microtransactions are. Also, it's not like you didn't get something free already. The complaints right now are just ridiculous. I understand, Epic wants it to be free, MS doesn't not. Do you also understand MS paid for this shit?
Would you want your friend handing out stuff he made for free, but you paid for it to be made? Yea, you're friend is being a cool dude, but you're taking a hit that you don't want to take. Now, imagine you were also trying to cover a hole your previous invention caused.
You're wrong in this case, in every possible way. Epic created content for their video game. They want to release this content for free. Microsoft isn't letting them, saying that they need to charge for it if they're going to release it. It's not right, it feeds into the RIAA-enforced conglomerate idea that publishers rule all content and the artists (or developers) come second. It's their fucking content, they created it, let them charge what they want for it.
I understand that you would pay if they released it for money, as would I. I want new Gears content just as much as the next guy. But I don't want them to release it for money, especially if it's an artificial charge that Microsoft is imposing just so they can make a buck. Newsflash, they don't need the money. It's not going to result in some sort of company-wide pay raise for all of their employees, nor is it going to charity, or back to the gamer in any form. It's just additional profits to one of the richest companies in the world.
That's flawed though as this affects how people are going to play Gears online in the future. New maps and weapons mean people unwilling to pay are at a disadvantage. They'll kill off some of the online userbase, rather than making it free and having more people willing to buy into Gears 2.
Epic isn't doing this just because they are great people. A developer can add to the value of their game by adding free content. If you look at Battlefield 2, the free added map "Road to Jalalabad" is the most popular in the game, while the booster packs are hardly played at all.
Porn is only free because air is.
And it requires a PSP anyway.
Currently playing: Infamous, Resident Evil 5
Need to play: Shadow Complex, Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank: ACIT, MW2, Alpha Protocol
But they own the game itself, so whatever is added to it still has to go through them. Which begs the question of why didn't they just let Midway be the publisher for Gears? That's a whole another thread right there, but...
I'm arguing that them wanting to charge shouldn't deem them as the devil.
I think the amount of people who would pay for it is far larger than those who would not. I doubt people won't buy the next game because some extra content cost $5-10. I just find it silly to go bat shit crazy when MS let the first content pack be free.
But hell, I'd love everything to be free, but getting angry because someone wants to charge for an IP they own... i dunno.
EDIT - I am a little angered that this is causing it's release to be delayed though.
Midway is the publisher for UT3, so I don't think MS has a say in charging for such things
Epic is adding content that Microsoft apparently had nothing to do with to a product they published. In a day where it seems like good will on the part of big companies makes the way in the minds of consumers, this is a fucking stupid move.