xboxers seem to like paying a lot for what they get. They cry cheaper than PC but end up paying much more.

for gamers like guild wars they could state they will support it for a set time like 5 years or 10 years.

but the past idea of mmo's being played forever is kinda gone, most now have been developed for short time play like a year or so... once the updates catch up players come back after getting bored.

@mondaysalmon

its more then just porting, there's all kinds of legal and licensing issues too, just assume it add s up to $10

@ EternalDeathSlayer

Exactly my thoughts. How many MMOs have said they will have console versions and then they don't come out? A lot. Why? Because MS and Sony have regulations and profit desires they refuse to make exceptions to.

So this guy is taking a "wait and see" approach to those issues? Wow, that worked out so well before dude! No wait, it didn't.

He better work this out or change development platforms ASAP, in my opinion. Someone needs to be extra blunt with the boss if they want to have a job in a year.

You can also buy PCs from HP, Dell, Gateway, Dellienware, iBuyPower (they suck though, I wouldn't recommend them ever), or any other PC company out there.

Or you can realize that this zombie MMO is going to suck anyway and walk away from this non-issue.

@Locke FFXI and FFXIV say hello. DCU Online, too.Also, all current consoles have USB ports, thus, all have keyboard access. PS2 did, too. Mindblowing, I know.

Also, subscription fees pay to keep servers running, GMs working and a revenue stream from which to generate new content. Go to Aeria games and lookat what a crock their model is - since they won't come out and say it $10 is 1030 Aeria points.

Want a "Gunner Gold Pack" for SMT: Imagine Online? That's fifty bucks. Most of it is expendable items, too. One time use. Half the gear you will see in in-game stores will only be purchaseable in Aeria points, not the in-game macca currency.

Its also better than paying microtrasactions on top of fees for Live. Fees should be covering the stuff they withhold and want you to pay for. Its nonsense. They never charged for content in the previous incarnation of Live nor was content withheld for sale.

You guys who complain about monthly fees better check to make sure you're not paying %60 per game plus content on Live. I can play one MMO and it just be the game and the monthly fees and be set for a while. Those desparate to have the latest and greatest achievements plus horse armor and paying out a lot more than I am.

I don't buy it. I don't know enough to about MMO's to have an educated opinion on how they should be charging gamers, but Guild Wars seems to still exist. That alone suggests to me that you can do the one time purchase (expansion packs excluded) MMO. Not having a monthly/annual fee does not necessarily mean that Strain will be forced to "try to squeeze revenue out of players after they've made the decision to play the game." Again, all of this is moot anyway. WOW isn't going anywhere until The Old Republic comes along, and even then, it's too early to say whether Old Republic will be good enough to dethrone WOW.

EVE Online has the best system, in my opinion. You don't buy the game, but you do pay a subscription fee. World of Warcraft, on the other hand, if you want the up-to-date game, requires that you buy the original game plus two expansion packs (soon to be three expansion packs), and that only includes one month of play if I remember correctly.

The bottom line is, a company needs financial motivation to continue to support a game, and I like continued support. An MMO, ideally, is not something comes out and it's done—it's a virtual world, and it can't remain stagnant. I think Blizzard is just taking advantage of their extreme popularity and could still make it by without charging as much as they do, but I don't think WoW would be what it is today without some sort of on-going payment plan. For all the bitching about WoW, you have to admit that it's a fuckton of polished content and more just keeps getting added to it.

Furthermore, most people who play MMOs play them a lot more than any other game. The number of hours logged really adds up, so if over a year you end up paying the price for less than three non-subscription games to play one MMO, I don't really see how that's a ripoff. $15 a month or whatever is one or two decent lunches, or about two hours of minimum wage work . . . really, why make such a huge deal out of this? I'm broke, and I was broker back when I played WoW (which, incidentally, had nothing to do with my finances at the time!), and I could deal with it.

I'm convinced that people are put off by the principle of the thing, especially if they're not used to it, and not the actual investment . . . but when you think about it, if you're playing a game somewhat frequently over the course of four months, is $60 not worth that? It's a game and a social platform and unlike other games, you are getting more and more over time.

That's another way to think about it . . . after a while, an MMO really can be a new game essentially. Yet people have no problem paying for sequels that are more or less the same sort of updates you get in MMOs. Look at Assassin's Creed 2, for instance—same premise, updated moves, new environment, and furthering the plot. Sounds a lot like an MMO patch/expansion to me.

But again, I really think EVE is doing it right by ONLY charging subscription fees, and NOT charging for the game and its expansions.

I was super psyched for this game until I read this. Thanks a lot.

Until someone can sweeten the pot for Microsoft and Sony, they ain't going to budge.

@Locke

You probably won't believe this, but the extra cost of buying a computer is to make up for not doing it yourself. Some people don't want to build a computer or simply just can't.