Yeah they already have that crap with games like Battlefield, luckily I could care less about multiplayer.

Yep I regret my choice this gen too, I only went with 360 cause PS3 was a ridiculous $600 at the time.


This would however be a great opportunity for Sony to once again be the undisputed king of console gaming, as I guarantee this move would piss tons of gamers off, myself included.

You speak like the only thing that matters in the gaming industry is the next AAA title. Why did you bring up the Modern Warfare angle but ignore my Rockband example for DLC?

Consider the popularity of casual gaming through browsers, social networking sites, tablets, and phones. Sure it might not be 'hardcore', but it's kind of impossible to deny the success of that market or the fact that they do produce games. How much does it cost to get Farmville? Is it really $60? I used $50 as an example of how it's easier to convince a lot of people to buy a small thing for cheap than it is to convince people to buy a big thing for a lot.

As for the Free to Play model just about every MMO out there besides World of Warcraft and the new Star Wars game don't charge monthly fees anymore. Not only did they get rid of the financial entry barrier and monthly subscriptions, some have even turned around to proclaim increased revenue greater than they ever had while operating with the classic 'pay first' model.

Again, are you actually paying attention to the industry or just to your particular niche preference?

I think expansion content (known nowadays as DLC) is great in principle, but was understandably manipulated beyond recognition by big business. For example, Roller Coaster Tycoon's "Corkscrew Follies" and "Loopy Landscapes" each doubled the content of the original game and were entirely worth the expansion price. Like mr dave mentioned, there are plenty of publishers/devs still making worthwhile and fairly priced expansion content (lots of indie games come to mind), but when it comes to "AAA" titles you can almost be sure the expansions are going to be a ripoff. Publishers know that their huge fanbases will gobble them right up.

I'm perfectly fine with the Rock Band DLC. I have no interest in those music games, but if you think it's worth the money then I'm sure it is. I think I've said it 2 or 3 times already, but I'll repeat it again to be clear: DLC has potential and can be awesome when it's worth the price (Shivering Isles, GTA IV expansions come to mind). It's when they rip you off (and on Xbox, at least, this seems to be the majority of cases) that DLC makes me mad. I'm pretty sure we're on the same page with that.

Which is what I was referring to with the $60 base games you pay for. I fail to see how it's a 'free to play model' whether you're paying $60 upfront, or $10 a month.

You seem to be grossly misunderstanding my words.

That's fair but I don't get where DLC rips anyone off. It's a product offered to the public like anything else. You make the claims you don't care about multiplayer or anything besides the base core experience of a game. So why get upset about a facet of the industry that exists solely to expand multiplayer or core experience. It's not like you need to buy DLC in order to finish the main game.

As for free to play that is EXACTLY as it sounds. You go to whatever webpage, create an account, download the launcher, download the game, then play. As much as you want, as often as you want. For no additional cost besides what it normally costs you to check this website. Games like...

Team Fortress2
City of Heroes
Dungeons and Dragons Online
Lord of The Rings Online
Everquest
Age of Conan
Hellgate London
Champions Online
DC Universe

And that's just off the top of my head, any one of those. Free. That's not to say there aren't different levels of service for people with free accounts vs. people with premium accounts but the fact remains, the core game and access to the core game has now started shifting to being free. Every single title in that list has made the announcement that they noticed both an increase in players and an increase in revenue after switching to a free2play model. They make more money off micro-transactions than they did from monthly subscription fees.

The new Mechwarrior and Splinter Cell (or maybe it was Ghost Recon) have also been announced as being F2P releases when they launch later this year.

Really though, outside the AAA / 'hardcore' gamer demographic, there really aren't that many games being launched at $60. Especially not when you factor in mobile and casual gaming into that mix. The next gen consoles are not where it's at for the industry, whoever bridges the gap between casual / portable market and the next gen is. The WiiU is interesting but I really think Nintendo dropped the ball with the original presentation and arbitrary 1 tablet per console limitation.

It's true that I could just as easily ignore it all since it doesn't affect me directly. DLC is obviously not a ripoff to anyone who buys it and is satisfied with it and I don't claim to speak for anyone but myself. But there's no denying that developers go where the money goes, so you get a bunch of people buying MW3 and suddenly the market's going to be flooded with COD ripoff's trying to break off a piece of the customer base. Meanwhile an incredible game like Dark Souls gets a tiny fraction of the sales COD gets, discouraging other developers from making a game of similar depth and detail. So I could just ignore it, but it doesn't change that I don't like the direction that the game industry is headed, and their "nickel-and-dime"ing of customers these days.

Ah ok, it's true that outside of console gaming, I don't pay much attention to the gaming industry so I wouldn't know too much about these free to play games and I consider iphone games and stuff an entirely different industry personally. I'm envious now though that I don't have a good gaming build PC. :banghead:

Dark souls, it really is an infuriatingly difficult game, I've died so many times at the second boss I've managed to buy everything off the local merchant.

Did you play Demon's Souls? I got about half way into that but Dark Souls is supposedly harder. Is it harder?

I wish. :(

Stupid ****ing 360 :finger:

No, I will most definitely be getting it now though. As frustrating as the game manages to be I'm in love with it, every corner I need to change my approach, bum rushing just gets you dead and the feeling of finally working out a successful tactic makes it all worthwhile. I'm going from Slamming people with morning stars to sticking them with a rapier before they land a blow in the same battle just get to the next campfire before running low on health.