[Note: This is not intended to call out Nick or Grim, or any of the commenters in Nick's blog]
Today I was jamming to some Rock Band, playing the same fucking songs that come with the original disc, not that they’re not fun songs, but, you can only 5 star them on expert so many times. I was thinking about buying some of the extra packs, because I have not purchased any of them yet, as much as I want to, I am a poor college student that needs to eat. While I was pondering whether or not to add some MS points, I started remembering all the fuss that happened when Guitar Hero 2 came out. If you don’t remember, here’s a
link. And, in the interest of proving a point, I am going to give an excerpt from the actual blog, followed by blurbs from the comments.
“I can't even fathom how much ecstacy was being snorted when the decision makers behind this pricing decided consumers would be okay with this great service. If you pay for this s**t, you are a f**king a**hole and you are part of the problem (no offense if you've already been raped this morning). You're sending the message to publishers that this is okay, that you'll bend over and take anything they have to offer.”
“DO NOT PAY FOR THIS! What the hell people?”
“DO NOT PAY FOR THE FUCKING PACKS ASSHOLES!!!!”
“seriously, if you buy these packs you are letting someone rape you, and possibly rape a family member.”
“D O
N O T
B U Y
T H I S
S H I T E”
“500 points is mental! No way M$! I didn't drop the soap, so stop trying to fuck me!”
“Fuck them, they are not getting a penny from me for this bullshit!”
“If you buy those Song Packs then the terrorists have already won....DON"T BUY THEM!!!!!”
“Please, if you've bought even one of these packs so far, give me your address. So I can come to your house with a baseball bat. And knock some fucking sense into you.”
Get the point? If you even considered dropping 500 MSPoints on the packs, you were a heretic. Now flash forward to today. Rock Band tracks are 440 MSPoints, cheaper by less than one dollar, and we cannot fucking wait for the next week to get here to see what new goodies Harmonix has to offer us. We even are back on good terms with Guitar Hero 3, as seen in the
blog announcing the Classic Rock Track Pack.
“…the Classic Rock Track Pack can be yours for 500 Microsoft Points. The songs included in the pack are Boston's "Peace of Mind," Journey's "Any Way You Want It," and Foreigner's "Juke Box Hero." If there was ever a time to scream "DO WANT" at the top of your lungs, now would be it. Seriously, feel free to go crazy.”
So my question is, what happened? I know the first GH2 packs were songs that were already on GH1, and that accounts for some of it. But that can’t be the one deciding factor can it? Have we the gamers become more lax with our microtransactions? Has the quality of the microtransactions risen so we don’t mind the price as much? Or did we just pull whatever it was out of our asses?
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To some extent yes, Ive always though having to pay for things like extra maps is absolute garbage. Unfortunately I don't think that we will be able to buck the trend.
Well, the Rock Band songs are both cheaper, and offer more. The fact they cover 4 instruments is alot better value, and the fact you can buy songs separately is great. Frankly, I didn't have a problem with the price of the Guitar Hero 2 packs, and bought a few. Sure, they cost more than the song on iTunes, but a lot of extra work goes into taking that song, and making it work with Guitar Hero. I'm not really bothered.
I think we all got sick of complaining because nothing will stop the game companies from getting every last dollar out of our wallets.
I thought the song packs released so far for GH 2 and 3 were complete and udder crap. With Rock Band (even though I dislike much of the bands DLC) they used some good songs from some good bands and on top of that you can play the same song 4 different ways. While I'm not really defending the DLC, I'm just stating my personal view on the matter when it comes to crap from GH 2 & 3 to a game like Rock Band.
As far as I'm concerned, the games themselves seem to be a substantial enough value that I wouldn't mind paying for extra content. And especially this content, seeing as though none of it is even remotely required and a lot of the DLC is actually rather desirable - i.e. Rock Band's Police and QotSA packs. I don't mind paying, so long as I'm getting something good for my money.
I also think that, at the time, we were probably less accustomed to this sort of DLC. Or not. I don't know. Just a thought.
Yes, it is a system that shouldn't exist. Gold subscribers already pay $50 just to have a subscription and I have to keep paying for DLC for games that I already spent $60? Is this a joke? It would be great if MS decided that since we already pay them $50 a year for our sub that DLC for games would be free but they would never do that for us. DLC makes boat loads of money so why would they basically say no to more money? The second GoW map pack, according to MS, was purchased 500,000 times. They made $5 million on a damn map pack. The system isn't going to change for a very long time, unforunately.
I agree with Sharpless. When I finally get Rock Band (and Guitar Hero III), I'll likely buy every bit of DLC.
I agree with Sharpless. When I finally get Rock Band (and Guitar Hero III), I'll likely buy every bit of DLC.
It's just the console games starting to mirror PC games to an extent. I had an argument about it with my friend who is a PC gamer about paying for DLC. He thought it was absolute crap, but I asked him how many expansion packs has he paid for other games he's paid. What's cool now, at least in Halo 3 for the time being, is that even if you don't have the new maps yet, you still have the option to go into matchmaking with the original maps.
I know that certain games can kiss our entire asses for some of the shit they want us to pay for, but there are some worth shilling out some coin for.
I still can't see how people think all DLC should be free. Sure, you paid your $60 for the game, but that covers the cost of making the game itself. The point is, if you don't want this extra content, don't pay for it. It can still be just like the old days, where you didn't have to buy extra stuff.
I have never been content with how Activision has sold their GH DLC. The packs of three songs, the prices. As some people have already said, I've found that the Rock Band content is not only slightly cheaper, but offers quite a bit more. While I've always been a GH fan, and have always wanted their to be significant DLC with that game, I was never as compelled to own MORE than I have been with Rock Band. I do buy DLC weekly, and I've been playing the game consistently since launch, usually with friends. I believe the DLC for Rock Band enhances an experience, versus "giving me more crap to play by myself" (which is what I believe I'd be getting with GH DLC).
If that makes any sense. It's late. But I will say this: Rock Band has changed the way I listen to music; I can't listen to a song without thinking "This would be GREAT to play in Rock Band." I've never felt that way with the Guitar Hero games. There's just so much more value in each of the tracks.
I'm so worked up, that if it weren't 2am, I'd fire up Rock Band right now.
Usally DLC is not necessary for the game it self. They did not make the game so you would NEED the downloadable content to progress.
DLC is something the publisher add's later to try to make the game exprience more enjoyable for those who frequently play the game. And just like the game it self, extra content takes time and money to create. So why shouldent they charge for it? (provided it's GOOD downloadable content). it's your choice to buy it, it's the players choice. The person screaming about "Don't let them rape you". Fine, if that is what you beleive it is, then you are entilted to that opion, and it's your loss.
Not to mention, not ALL DlC costs money. Look at the plasmid packs on Bioshock and the diffrent outfits on Dead Rising. That is FREE DLC (Most likely becuase it was not enough individule content to charge for it). But it's a gift from the publisher, which shows that not all game companys are trying to take every dollar in your wallet.
In short: If you don't like the DLC, or feel your being cheated: Don't pay for it, and shut the hell up.
(None of that was directed at you Coonskin, btw).
Bah, I was writing a somewhat long comment but it got lost thanks to a network error.
Anyway, basically people where complaining for more reasons back then, different groups of people were complaining about:
A)Price
B)No option to buy songs individually.
C)Not the songs they liked from GH1.
D)Lack of new songs.
E)The fact that it's DLC.
Right now RB's DLC is cheaper, we believe that it's more demanding to get a song in RB than to get it in GH, we can buy only the songs we like and we are more used to DLC pricing in general.
Being able to pick and choose the songs I want makes the pricing scheme acceptable to me.
Rockband's DLC is new songs we haven't been able to play before. GHII 1st DLC was played out in GH 1.
I've never paid for DLC.
I personally never owned the original Guitar Hero, so when GH2 had DLC that contained songs from GH1, I still bought the packs that interested me, even though I knew it was a rip off.
As for GH3 and Rock Band, I don't have RB yet, and I fucking love Boston.
DLC has different content, and some of it is worth it to me.
I'm gonna have to agree with Nick. When I buy DLC for Rock Band its not just for me its for my friends who will be coming over to rock out with me. The weekly content has continually kept my girlfriend excited to keep playing, which for her is unheard of. So if I have to pay an extra 440 points for 3 Oasis songs but am guaranteed I will have at least a couple hours of fun playing those songs with her than it is worth it for me.
This afternoon we have a date with the B-52's.
Its just not the same as buying extra armor to make your avatar look fancy in a single player game.
Wasn't Guitar Hero II's DLC just rehashes of Guitar Hero?
Yea, I think the big problem was the songs were already in GH1.
besides, the RB songs are cheaper, even if its only a little cheaper. Hence using the word "cheap". I think.
Yeah, I agree with Nick here. I think the fact that Rock Band doesn’t force you to pay extra for a 3-song pack when you only really care about one or two of the songs in the group is enough alone to put it above Activision and their Guitar Hero DLC structure. Plus, as others mentioned, you’re effectively getting twice the content (Rock Band has vocals, guitar, bass, and drums; Guitar Hero III has lead and rhythm guitar or guitar and bass), and for less money (the Rock Band 3-song packs are 75 cents cheaper). And hey, no one’s forcing you to buy songs you don’t want to.
Mister Coon - they're just backpedalling. It's like I said before, gamers get together, and subconsciously or not, start forming some opinions, like "that's way too much money" or "Rock Band is cool!", even if, under further examinations, their positions are conflicting. Part of that ol' monomind, I guess. Rational thought also doesn't factor into a lot of blog posts, comments, and forum entries.
Guitar Hero also was one of the first games to do it, so the pricing came as a bit of a shock. Remember the bitching about horse armour? That was another effect of the first wave of microtransactions. Now they're everywhere, and no one really cares as long as they aren't on the disc in the first place.
Now where's my PGR4 DLC?