Sony just announced over at the PlayStation.Blog that the first of their "premium" LittleBigPlanet Sackboys, based on Old Snake (from Metal Gear Solid 4) and Sephiroth (from Final Fantasy VII), will cost a whopping $1.99 each. These are just the first of the "premium" Sackboys to become available, with other designs "from our PlayStation family and even some outside the family" to come.
Now it would be one thing if these acks did something that other sacks couldn't do, like stab, or shoot, or realistically shrivel up in cold water, but instead all they have going for them is their resemblance to other videogame characters. As a fan of the Wii's Check Mii Out channel, I'm accustomed to downloading my videogame icon look-a-likes for free. Two bucks is hardly highway robbery, but it just feels bad to be charged for something my instincts tell me should cost nothing.
These "premium" sacks seem even more overpriced when you take into consideration that some other finely crafted sackboys (such as the seasonally available Halloween and spacesuit boys) will be free to download, and the most detailed and hard-to-make looking sacks (such as the frog and the gorilla) will only cost $0.99.
Despite all this bellyaching, I'll likely be buying all of these suckers, because I'm rich and cool. That doesn't mean that I'm not puzzled by these prices. Any of you care to explain why Sony is doing their LBP DLC this way? Is it simply because... they can?
[Via PlayStation.Blog -- Thanks, Adam!]
Contest:
6:17 PM on 10.30.2008
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Not everyone in the entire world possesses a credit card, Sony.
Pricks.
my preorder code for kratos *finally* worked yesterday, so at least i got that.
@ thebza
If you actually read the Playstation Blog, it says that both the Space Suit and the Halloween costume are going to be available for free from 11/6 to 11/19. A bit late for Halloween, but at least it'll be available.
Personally, I think they're cool, but not worth any more than free. Also, it's Sephiroth.
/endrant
I seriously, seriously weep for the future of DLC. This is why we're being taken advantage of.
Those focus groups sure have been effective. They are squeezing every penny out of gamers. Props to them.
THATS LIEK GETTING ONE COSTUME FREE!!!
Also, Does want the Old Snake(or can I say "Old Sack") costume even at 2 bucks.
You can buy prepaid credit cards at your corner store. If you want the damn thing bad enough give Visa or Mastercard some money and buy. Stop complaining about having or not having credit cards. That argument died years ago with the advent of ATM cards and Debit cards.
I'm not really sure where you are located at, but I do recall these things being available to me when I was in Holland. And I hate to break this to you but just about everyone has a checking account. And if you don't is it honestly that hard to go, get money from the bank (or loanshark, or your parents) go to the store/bank/quicky mark set the $20 on the counter and say "I want a prepaid Visa or mastercard" It's Simple problem solving that you should have picked up from your first time playing a video game.
As for the price of the scrote boy? it's cheaper than the Yoda for SCIV. Which I kinda find offensive. I mean.. Yoda should have come packaged with the game as an unlockable... (you can play as Darth Vader but not as Yoda? O_o) I honestly don't bite for shit like this. I bought Mega Man 9, but refuse to pony up more cash for an extreme mode, or to play as Protoman.
That's incredible logic.
"Oh well. I was already raped before. No harm in being raped again."
I'm sorry for being a jerk, but gamers are fucking stupid.
And before you tell me not to buy it, don't worry. I won't, but you will, and that's why I'm mad about.
As time goes on I'll be the least bit surprised when we begin paying for halves of games and have to purchase the rest later. Look at Megaman 9, Siren, Lumines on XBLA, and Pain.
Meanwhile TF2 and Burnout get free content and you're going to try and tell me that paying for this shit is justified in any way. It's absolutely disgusting.
And no, I won't be buying any DLC bullshit like this.
But it hurts so good.
The people who are "whining" are not going to buy it. But they are also "whining" because others will still buy it. And there are enough out there that will plunk down the money on this, and in turn, every gamer will look exploitable in the eyes of publishers/devs.
That's the main complaint here. The actions of every other moron that will carelessly waste their money on bullshit like this will end up affecting everyone else who do not want to be nickel-and-dimed.
That is exactly what I'm worried about.
And if you don't agree, vote with your wallet (though with all the FF/MGS/Japanophile fanboys out there, won't make much difference).
Now what they REALLY need is a Blasto sackboy.
Sorry, I respect the work that went into making these sacks. But they're nothing more than different textures, and I'm not paying for that.
well, you can really only lose your virginity once, so after that is it really so bad you're raped again?
I bet you two downloadable costumes that it won't cost that much. Seriously. EU PSN has always been reasonable for price conversion and Sony has got their act together regarding content, stop being so damn bitter.
Proto Man in Mega Man 9 was worth $2, because the character played completely differently from Mega Man, and ended up providing me with about 6 additional hours of fun I would not have otherwise had. That's more fun for my buck than I get out of two McDonald's double-cheeseburgers, which keep me full for about 5 hours.
Old Snake Sackboy, on the other hand, would only amuse me for about 15 minutes, unless of course he has snappy codec dialog, QTEs, or other solid gameplay properties all his own.
So for those keeping track-
Proto Man > Two cheeseburgers > Old Snake sackboy.
(It's also worth noting that LBP is a $60 current-gen game and this DLC is frivolous and cosmetic, but MM9 was a $10 arcade game that had some fundamental features stripped so that people would pay more. There are plenty of differences here; bad ones. I don't think you're being reasonable.)
GAME DEVELOPERS LIKE TO TURN A NICE PROFIT
For the record, I'm not going to buy them. Probably.
Wut?
Oh fuck it. I don't really care that much. :)
Jussayin'.