Download Packs

[richchestmat]

I'm returning this game for a refund. I have been mis-sold this game. Stuff that is advertised in the full product is now pay extra for. I paid £35 for this. I'm not paying anymore.

[tapioca]

I expected to wait for Wipeout HD to buy a PS3, but after many considerations, i might as well be attracted to a 360. I'm getting sick of Sony's arrogance. Prices, lack of features, lack of exclusives… Those download packs are just icing on the cake. As a longtime sony user, i never thought i'd say this one day. Microsoft was supposed to be the big evil, right ? Do they plan on making a portable console ? Oh, and there's still Nintendo.

[Mobius]

I've just had a though, are SL getting much of the money per download, because if they are costing that much, they should get some royalties, heck, they made it, how does the system work, I dont know.

Anotherr question, are we just being tight (no!) or are Sony once again brassing off what could be called a hardcore fanbase, who are - or were - loyal due to a sucessful series. They have tried to whore us out before, and im not falling for that one again.

Im off to the wonderful world of rock and roll, cya later Sony!

[lunar]

I suggest that the use of the word 'cheeky' to describe insolent greed is inadequate to the task.

Well it`s just the British way of understatement. If an online race is described as "a bit rough" then translate that to "total and utter carnage".

I do think there`s a bit of over-reaction going on here, though. Firstly, as Lance also said:

Sony is not the only corporation that behaves like this; it is the standard mode of operation for corporations. You should be used to it by now. It is of course, still evil.

Nintendo and Microsoft are generally thought to charge a lot more for DLC, and I think this is true. I`m very surprised at how much Sony are charging, and I think they`ll come to realise it`s not a good move.

And secondly, if somebody could point me to the part that said all the DLC would be free, I`d be glad to admit that Sony has broken some sort of contract or Act of Parliament. Pure did not create any precedent. As Lance said, and I`m not getting the quote marks out again, Pure was just a way of trialling the service. If you don`t like DLC, get out of 21st century gaming. It`s just that the price is too high for what we`re being sold, and they deserve a bit of flack for that. I`ve noticed even on Eurogamer they`re moaning about the price, so it`s not just us. But then, equally, there are some people who expect to get things for nothing because it doesn`t suit them to shell out, and with those people Sony can never win.

[stin]

Mobius, you just read my mind there! That is exactly, what I`m thinking.

stevie

[Seek100]

Hmm, I was absolutely ecstatic when I logged on to the zone a few minutes ago and saw the news... Then I read it.

I'm not gonna rant like some people have here. I will only say this: Sony, you've lost a lifelong fan and a (formerly) ardent supporter and advocate. After the unmitigated disaster of the PS3 (try releasing a decent game or two on it) this is just the last straw for me. Anyone who asks I'll advise them to get a 360 and steer well clear of Sony.

I can't believe I just said I'd advertise Microsloth, but there you go, least of evils and all that...

[Rapier Racer]

Hmmm any good 360 deals out there?

[Lance]

I hear that the ones that make the little grooves on the disc are going cheap.

[Tomahawk]

Ahhh, c'mon guys! There's no need to be talking about returning your copy of pulse for a refund or to buy a 360 and throw all your PS1s, PS2s and PS3s out of the window and replace them with a 360! Pulse still is a great game, the best futuristic racing game on the PSP up to date for me. If you're really going to take drastic measures like I mentioned above, you're kicking the butt of the game's developers who have really done a great job on pulse and not Sony's! As it has been said before the only thing that seems to piss off almost everybody (including myself) here on this board is the price for the download packs. So the best way to show Sony or whoever is responsible for setting a price for DLC way too high like the pulse packs is: Just don't buy it! You've got 24 beautifully done tracks and 8 great teams on your UMD! The price you all have paid for the game itself was right, the price for the download packs now isn't. So I have to repeat myself: Just don't buy the DLC. Imo that's the only way to show that this kind of rip off is not going to work to whoever is responsible for it.

[Rapier Racer]

And what if they go and pull the same stunt with Wipeout HD? Even if they delivered new teams that worked online £3.50?

[Tomahawk]

I'll be doing the same thing like I do now. I won't be buying the DLC for HD if it's set at too high a price. I'd really love to be racing a few laps on the new tracks right now, believe me, RR. But I've chosen not to support this kind of rip off and if Sony is going to do the same thing with the wipeout HD DLC, then I'll be surely doing the same. I'll buy the game for sure and I'm also sure that I'll be pretty happy with what I get on the disc. If the price for DLC is too high, I just won't be buying it. Simple as that. I'll be having more time to spend on other games like FF XIII or I'll be doing more sports in my sparetime.

[Amaru]

Well, I already bought the Mirage Pack which entitles me to some form of opinion about the quality of my "purchase" so, on that part, I won't complain too much about the price of the pack or the rather lackluster Edgewinter but I will agree on the fact that the way the Mirage ship is implemented negates the majority of its potential appeal and same goes for the two new tracks who already started clustering the already frail Infrastructure experience.

Summed up, compared to the overall quality of WipEout Pulse, this first expansion pack disappointed me, as a client, and I hope it will be either fixed or that the uppcomming packs will not follow the same trend.

That said, the original WipEout Pulse remains a great game and the Mirage Pack does offer some extra offline challenge but its acute negative impact on the online experience should be reconsidered by the development team if they if they want to see this title's popularity not fall more than it is already doing as of writing moment.

[Frances_Penfold]

For me, it's the technical issues that are the big problem here-- How does a mac user buy this stuff? As a North American user with a North American PSN account, how do I purchase and download the tracks? I gather that PSP units can be tied to only a single PSN account-- how is that going to work for buying DLC when my PSP is tied to my North American PSN?

But those of you complaining that Sony is worse than Microsoft and Nintendo about these things-- I don't see that.

Microsoft has and is pushing microtransactions in a BIG way with Xbox Live and arcade. The Xbox runs some $6 billion USD in the hole since it's creation, and arguably its main purpose is to fight off Sony dominating the living room media center. As we all know, Xbox 360 was rushed to market and has big reliability issues. It's hard for me to see Microsoft as a gentle giant that is looking out for consumers' best interests.

Nintendo, it is true, doesn't do microtransactions, at least yet. But they are also incredibly conservative with developing and releasing software. So while Mario Kart DS and Wipeout Pure released in roughly the same time window, there has been NO action towards releasing a second Mario Kart game on the DS platform. And the Nintendo online system is really barebones, and you can forget about having any sort of patching or DLC, ever. I love Nintendo, and always will, but if there's one thing you have to give to Sony, it's their more aggressive software and hardware releases.

So, I think it makes sense to let Sony know what you think about the sales scheme for DLC on Wipeout Pulse-- and it is understandable to be angry-- but let's not over-react!

[Rapier Racer]

Yeah thats exactly the problem with paid downloadable content it can and most probably will create divides online, even if it was reasonably priced like £1.50, some people are tightwads just kidding.

It's hard for me to see Microsoft as a gentle giant that is looking out for consumers' best interests.

lol yes, great quote you did there.

[Dogg Thang]

I'd hesistate to class it as a 'microtransaction' - announcing four packs coming together at €20 with enough content to justify maybe one transaction. And turning it into a 'which is worse' issue sidelines many of the problems here.

[supersocks]

[Frances_Penfold]

I'd hesistate to class it as a 'microtransaction'

Heh, I just remembered somebody's tagline from Neogaf.... "MACROtransactions, bitches" (or something to that effect)

Not sure where the line between micro and macro starts and ends, though

[The Gracer]

haha, oh wow. this is brilliant.

i already paid like 60 NZD for this game....i really dont think a PSP game is worth more than that full stop. Being charged for the extra content we were promised from the start (even before the start) is a bit of a let down, really. i wouldnt mind so much if the game itself was a little cheaper, but i cant really justify paying another 20 dollars to complete my game when i could have used that 80-90 dollars buying a game for my console.

[NeXaR_QroN]

I've been told a single PSN download can be installed in up to 5 PSPs, but I don't really know if that's true.

Can anyone confirm this? (or viceversa)

If it's true, I may consider picking it up in share with my friends. No way I'm paying 5€ for an offline ship and 2 half-tracks on my own. Not on top of the 40€ (well, 39,95) I already paid for the game.

It is a pity Sony have to screw SL's work like this.

[defor]

Personally I couldn't care about the cost.. every modern game system on the market right now is pushing their respective "marketplace", and personally i've been a huge fan of both sony and microsoft's setup.

The big issue that comes to mind is as follows:

I live in the US. Having a PS3 means that I can download and play content from other regions' stores although Sony doesn't like me doing this for whatever reason.

First off, my collection of legal, and rare, import PS1 and PS2 games is larger than my domestic collection, and gems like PaneKit PSX on the Japanese playstation store let me finally carry one of my favorite games with me wherever I go, as toting my SCPH-1000, controller, and lcd doesn't work too well, and fear of destroying a game currently worth over 150$ on the market currently doesn't sit well.

To get this done, I had to get a prepaid card, and create a fake user account due to regional restrictions. Now, sony has always endorsed regional restrictions of playstation games.... up until the psp and ps3. All's fine and good, but now i've QUASI-LEGALLY bought a game that appears it may or may not cease to be mine if the network one day up and says "you can no longer sync this to your PSP, because you don't live in Japan."

Next up is the matter of Wipeout. I don't want to even explain how bad my search for WO3SE was back in the day. Now up comes the PSP, truely regionfree, and first out of the gates is Wipeout.. Yay! regionfree games and system! ERR... NOT SO! So now that I've paid 30$ for my US copy so i can play my american friends, 19$ to replace the disc after the UMD case fell apart 2 years later, 45$ for my PAL copy to play on Kai and actually attempt to beat TT's that everyone else in the community is competing with, and 55$ for my Japanese copy to play with two of my college buddies from Japan, I've made quite an investement. Personally, I don't mind having to buy import games and the like to compete a collection or get added features, but I don't do it because i need to be "first off the line".

Next is Pulse, and I found an import copy for 35$ and have my US copy on reserve.

After looking at the structure of the files, etc, I'm HOPING that unlike Pure, all regions will share the same GID so that saves, ghosts, expansions, and skins can be shared. The ability to use my US PS login reinforces this, but suddenly, the release of Pulse's pack as a pay-only download on the EU store means that if this DOES NOT happen to be the case, unless someone starts stocking prepaid cards like for the Japanese store, I'll have a copy of the game that I can never get expansions for, and even if prepaids do come out, is a crackdown on store accounts going to lock me out of content I paid for? Now, if the american packs work on the PAL release, that'd be pure gold, but I'm not placing any bets.

A word from SL would of course make this matter easier to stomach.

My final question is in regards to ALL store-based purchases and game systems:

What is the real lifetime for modern game systems once they become "vintage"?
Over half of my purchases on XBL add content to games and a number are full games. When the Xbox 720 / Playstation 4 has been out for a few years and I want to play my 360/PS3 games or do multiplayer with a friend, how's this going to work with Microsoft/Sony no longer supporting or running the backend servers for the systems?

For addon content, will I be doomed to never experience it because I didn't buy it when the service was running? When my system's drives die, does that mean a few hundred dollars of gaming is down the drain? At what point are WipeOut Pure's pack no longer going to be hosted online, and I'll have to rely on a backup copy i happen to have made for reinstallation, but someone who is interested, will never be able to get them (legally)?

What ever happened to physical media and the ability to freely use your games...?
Don't get me wrong, I love the store concepts, but having a rather large vintage gaming collection makes me wonder if XB360 and PS3 games will be truely as "playable" 20 years down the road as any Nintendo or Atari game is to this day.

Sorry for the rant, hopefully SL hasn't locked me out of my import copy simply as a result of sony regioncoding regulation.