After the controversial rumors about price points for XBLA titles Braid and Castle Crashers, people have been eagerly awaiting an announcement from The Behemoth regarding the latter's true cost. Braid, as we all know, hit Xbox Live at 1200 points, but there were fears that the Castle Crashers price could be even more excessive. Those fears can be put to rest, however, as Dan Paladin has officially confirmed 1200 MS points for the upcoming co-op action game:
Hello everyone on the internet!
The price for Castle Crashers will be 1,200 Microsoft points. This month’s only online multiplayer XLA game launches on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008, so get ready to grab some friends and prepare to smash stuff!
Domo arigato Mr. Roboto
Thank you
Love you
-dan
So there you go. These new expensive prices may leave a sour taste in the mouths of some, but after Braid launched at 1200 points, there was no way Castle Crashers would be any cheaper. It looks like XBLA has officially adopted 1200 as a far more regular pricing tier, which I shall dub the "Microsoft knows it can make people pay this much" tier. It shall likely be reserved for the few XBLA titles that gamers actually want. At the very least, the considerable buzz surrounding The Behemoth's game suggests that it will be very much worth the extra four hundred points of pretend Monopoly money.
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Contest:
7:36 AM on 08.14.2008
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Going to buy it...maybe.
Going to buy it? Yes.
We gamers are a spoiled bunch.
That said...1200 is better than 1600.
*positions itself in his unmovable waiting position*
Then XBLA users will start avoiding games because "they are cheap because they are not as good as Braid.. etc etc splurge splurge gurge".
When games that hit 'our shelves' are started to be price pointed higher due to favourable previews/hype/reviews it will be hilarious. And this is where we are leading, or so it seems.
So can these games.
Period. I don't care how they justify it. It's overpriced, and I for one will buy more Rock Band songs and not buy these games.
Probably.
Anyways, I find it hard to spend 800 on a game since I rarely play XBLA titles, so the more I spend on XBLA game, the more I feel I wasted.
With these two games being the first 1200 MSP XBLA games though, it sets as good a benchmark as you could possibly want.
$15
I'm down for purchasing it, if it's as good as everyone claims.
Fuck knows why everyone is whinging. The MS points system is sucky and retarded, but £10/$15 for one game is nothing.
It's called heart. 99% of games don't have them.
Also I finally realized that the art reminds me of cyanide and happiness.
It doesn't necessarily set a standard for pricing.
That said, I'm buying this game, fuck yeah. 15 bucks isn't a bad price, and anyone who is complaining is a bit unjustified.
Plus, there's that whole Target MS Points thing going on this week.
Also, the two Behemoth XBLA titles being on that list leads me to believe that Microsoft isn't the only reason for the pricing.
Now I just need to find some people to play co-op with XD!
But fight the fucking power once in a while!
I was silently debating paying 2000 points.
1200 is fine with me.
And seriously. Its fine with you people to. Get over yourselves.
Penny Arcade was 1600 points. Also, the fear is that this may set a new price standard even though it's "just two games." The old standard was 400 or 800 points for arcade games, but now you would be damn fortunate to find a 400 point game. The standard is shifting up, 800 is the new 400 and 1200 is the new 800 -- it's inevitable at this point.
@Heretic
Gamers aren't necessarily hypocritical. Braid is a short game and many people had a problem paying the $15 because they demand some longevity out of their investment -- Castle Crashers promises extensive replayability. I'm not of the camp that agrees that $15 is too much for Braid, but for many this is no matter of hypocrisy; it's a matter of economics.
People who buy CC and not Braid or not hypocrits. That's like saying someone who complaing about Super Mario Galaxy's price and then they bought Mad World. They aren't necessarily hypocrits, could be that they like certain types of games more than others.
@HarassmentPanda: That's why I said "1200 points or more" :D
Also, 400 was never the standard- MS has always used 400 points for retro revivals (eg: TMNT, UNO, Time Pilot, Joust), 800 for reinvented retro games/ new games (eg: Geometry Wars, Pac Man Championship, Assault Heroes), and 1200 points for, well, those three games.
No, Microsoft, don't raise the price! I'm not sure if my wallet can take it anymore!
Oh Microsoft! I love your summer blockbuster titles! Give it to me!
What? 1,200 points?
...ok.
I'm just guessing here, but I imagine that it might have something to do with how having a physical copy tends to make people feel like they actually own something.
I dunno.
At least they'll have enough money to maintain Newgrounds servers for another 10 years...give or take. Oh, and make new games of course. Can't forget that.
Ever since the pricing was announced for Braid, the internet has been buzzing with shouts of protest and anger, because for some reason, paying more than 10 dollars for quality is just absurd (And yet, people bought Two Worlds for 60 bucks.) But honestly- I would have payed 20 bucks for Braid if Microsoft had made the pricing so. I’ve said it plenty of times before, but Braid is a quality game, with a thought-provoking story and challenging platforming. Plus, the gameplay is between 4 and 10 hours (depending on whether or not you go for the stars) for all of those who have a time-to-money pricing ratio.
There’s another reason that people are getting upset, namely because its not the pricing they’re used to. People are afraid that if enough people buy a game above the average price, Microsoft will make it the new standard. Luckily for us, there’s a few things that Microsoft do well, and one of them is fair Arcade title pricing. They’ve always had the same pricing tier for games, with prices ranging from 400 to 1600, in increments of 400 points ($5.) 400 has always been for retro revivals/coin-op classics, (eg: Time Pilot, Ms. Pac-Man, Joust, Astropop, etc) and 800 has usually been for new games, or updated versions of classics (eg: Geometry Wars, Alien Hominid, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Aces of the Galaxy, Assault Heroes, etc.)
1200 points has never been a standard for anything, but that’s because it has only been used for 3 games- RoboBlitz, Braid, and Castle Crashers. Penny Arcade had the highest XBLA sales ever with 1600 points, and no one complained as much because it was a really good game (Not to mention that it’s episodic- 3 episodes at 20 bucks each equals the same price & content as the average disc-based game). I assume that the only reason that these prices have been used accordingly is because Braid & RoboBlitz have been two of Xbox Live Arcade’s longest titles. Knowing this, we can guess that Castle Crashers will either be really long, or just have huge replay value as XBLA’s first original 4-player beat ‘em up.
The last (and only legitimate) reason people have bothered to complain is because they don’t know whether or not the game will be good. But hey- that’s why every XBLA game is required to have a trial. Try it out for yourself before judging it. Or, if you really value others’ opnions, then read a review. The Penny Arcade game, RoboBlitz, and even Braid are amongst the highest rated XBLA games to date, and have done exceptionally well as far as sales go. Castle Crashers has also been one of the highest-anticipated Arcade games coming out this year, and had amazing reception coming out of Comic-Con. I think it’s safe to say that Castle Crashers, just as Braid, RoboBlitz, and Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One before it, will be worth every penny that Microsoft pulls out of your wallet.
Plus, at least its not Yaris.