Download Packs

[Asayyeah]

Do i have DL it : yes
Do i want to comment this DL :

[BARTgai]

we have to pay? no thanks, ill stay with the normal game... :-

[BravePotato7]

Could the gimick of paying for downloadable be Sony's way of making a buck from the lost CFW-piracy profit? That wouldn't really make any sense, cause you can litterally find ANYTHING online.

I'm mad as hell about having to pay for a download! Now I'd pay to download the whole game, but not freaking add on. Or rather I would pay more than say, $2 per DL. Psshhh. This is the kind of thing that helps internet pirates justify sticking BACK to mega companies.

[sakerbax]

Lol this is going to be a long thread =)

I'm also shocked with the news how did this happen?
This forum is full of avid supporters of the wipeout series, and even game creators wander around and answer questions like on the "10 things i hate about pulse" topic.
It's really a wonderfull forum for a fan of the game, and i really find it creepy that not even here did we get some kind of head's up.

ppl were all excited making predictions not complaining about their favorite ships being missing in the game etc.. and then Bam.. it's just not right.

sony store has some wonderfull psp games for the same price of this addn like beats and soon N+, how can they even think about making addons the same price of full games?
Cmon. i read somewhere on the forum that some tracks on the game were already designed since Pure, I think its fair to assume most if not all of these addon tracks and ships have already been outlined and have probably been tested already.

I can't dream of a reason that justifies a price of 1/6 of the lowest price ppl said paid for pulse on this thread. plus if anything would drive ppl to buy this pack would be so they wouldn't be left out of races online.

I wish they took a hint from blizzard and their expansions. release a bunch of tracks and ships all toghether and make it possible to use online with ppl with the same pack.
and while we're at it.. if content can be downloaded how about giving us a (free) patch for the bugs once they're fixed for the us release..

[BARTgai]

and the worst part is, is that you cant even use them online!

wow, this is really a shock...

[BravePotato7]

I think by shock you mean slap in the face to its fan base.

[Chrono]

I don't think Sony is completely to blame here. And as far as the discussion about gaming companies and digital transactions, Nintendo is the worst of them all. Their Virtual Console prices can be downright ridiculous, and are unfairly priced for games that I could A: emulate for free with a simular experience, or B: find a copy of the game for cheaper. Anyway...

Personally, the fact that Mirage can't be raced online isn't sony's fault. SL made it that way, or it's a bug, which shoulda been fixed before release. I could validate paying that money (which is find is outragious considering US players will undoubtedly pay less) if Mirage was raceable online. And the tracks, to my knowledge there isn't a black verison (major let down) and I'm confident (still haven't shelled out the bread for the pack yet) you can't do the tracks in zone. That's just upseting.

[Task]

Speaking as a software developer, I would have to say that since the game is regionalized (as in, adjusted for local languages) then the packs will be similarly regionalized. More than likely, the packs will only work with the version of the game from the region it was released in.
Of course, they could have a better implementation that allows any pack to be used with any release of the game, but if I had to place a bet...

However, the game is made for all regions to be able to play together, so a US pack of Vostock Reef should be able to play with an EU pack of Vostock Reef without problems.

In my opinion though, I'd say don't get any of the EU packs, wait for the US packs and the (presumably superior) US version of the game. Give it enough time and I'm sure they'll release packs in... packs... for a substantially cheaper rate.

I wouldn't be surprised if this high initial cost was just their way of making the most of the download pack, charge a high price when the pack is new, ding those who can afford to pay for the newest thing the most, lower the price a little later and get those who were waiting for the price drop, lower it a lot more and offer it as a bundle when interest has dropped to nearly zero.

Like Lance said, corporations, marketing, this is how they work. You choose to go along with it or not. They're testing the waters, seeing how profitable the DLC can be.

[Medusa]

Yeah well thanks a lot Sony - for such a big Microsoft "rival" you sure did well making sure I can't get the rest of my Pulse game without upgrading my PC system. Would've liked to use Linux on PS3, haha...this makes me question in a big way my plan to buy a PS3. Maybe HD would end up costing me 1000.00 by the time I get HD and all its packs.

I have to say I expected to have to pay for the DL content, but give me a break. I don't want another stupid ship. Tracks, sure, but I'm not going to have ships I'll never use taking up valuable mem stick space. Go to ** and have tea with Bill Gates, Sony.

[BARTgai]

woah, i fear this may get out of hand soon with all the angry members ...

[Ash-Omen]

This is fcking bull! i cant believe they have the cheek too make us pay for a addon that cant even be used online WTF?! and the price £3.50 ffs the same price as a full ps1 game so its £3.50 for 2 tracks (not reversable) and 1 ship LAME!

i was really looking forwad too these packs but im not willing too pay the stupid prices, why couldent they just have the downloads on WipeOut-game.com and be FREE! like with pure LAME LAME LAME LAME LAMEE!!!!!!!!

there ive had my complain.

[Medusa]

LOL, oh it's out of hand alright. TOTALLY out of our hands. Which is why we feel the need to complain!!

I have to say, what really gets under my skin are the hoops you must jump through to acquire the stupid packs. By the time I get a new PC, you can bet I'll have gone back to my W3O SE. It's pretty bad when wipeout fanatics are the first ones ready to jump the Pulse ship, is it not?

[Animagic]

Pulse isn't out yet in the US.
I won't be buying any packs but I've already pre-ordered my copy and paid in full.

I'm sure theres plenty to enjoy on the game itself without having to download the packs...
...but I'm upset that I won't be able to play as Harimau...

I think wishing for the pulse add on packs to be free one day is a pipe dream.
You either agree with the pricing or you don't.
Just look at it from the other perspective...
If you bought all the packs for 20 bucks and then 6 months later they were free how pissed would you be?
Exactly.

Eventually people will give in and buy it and thats what they're hoping for.
I don't know if I will at this price point, because I would rather spend the 5 bucks on remastered PS1 games for my PSP, which cost the same and give me much more.

[q_dmc12]

Being away from pulse for awhile, I can only sit back ponder and then laugh about this whole situation..... good point you made Jay

[Lion]

I hope Task is right about starting the price high to ping early adopters
I have no objection to paying for the download, but I have a serious objection to the price. $9.50 in my currency.

also, can we get some info on why mirage can't be used online? downloaded ships worked fine in Pure as long as both parties had the content.

[The Gracer]

Jay - does that mean the general consensus (read: WTF IS GOIN ON, THIS IS CRAP) will deter the companies from charging for DLC, or will it encourage them to jack up the prices to make the profit they expected off the people who are prepared to pay?

Or does it mean companies will just refuse to create DLC for games?

I hope this is not the case. To be honest, thinking about it after my first (heated)reaction, id rather shell out a few dollars extra to keep the extra cool stuff coming than flatly refuse and lose the privilege - it is a privilage and we shouldn't expect these things to just be handed to us.

To finish, id like to offer an apology to Colin, Rob and the team at SL for my (and perhaps our) reaction to this news. Rather than getting angry, we should be thanking them for the effort they put into this - and offering constructive criticism so that future updates can be better suited to our needs (er, wants) as gamers as well as the needs of the developers.

Sorry guys - we love ya really.

[Dogg Thang]

the fact that Mirage can't be raced online isn't sony's fault. SL made it that way, or it's a bug, which shoulda been fixed before release.

Sony own SL. It's a tricky distinction. Either Studio Liverpool couldn't get the game to work and let a game go with bugs, or Sony told them to get it out the door in whatever state it was in. Either way, both Sony and SL would have been aware of what worked and what didn't.

The difference, I guess, is that Sony could ultimately have made the call to delay things to get it right, put more resources on it, and decide on pricing and so on. SL probably had no hand in that.


Task, yes, this is how corporations work but that doesn't really greenlight everything and there are knock-on consequences. Ultimately, I think this will be damaging to Wipeout rather than Sony. It's only a small part of huge Sony but the perception of Wipeout will be damaged here. It's unlikely to kill the game or anything dramatic like that but perception plays a huge part and can get to a stage where people see a game or franchise as damaged goods. Already, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet that the next Wipeout (HD) will be pretty buggy and will come with a limited amount of content, the rest being held back as add-ons. I imagine (hope) they'll revise the pricing but I would be unlikely to get myself into that.

And, as I said in my more detailed post on it, the fact that these teams are shown as standard is quite simply misleading and that is not something that happens with comparible games on something like Live.

[Lion]

a thought just occurred to me.
I don't think the prices are likely to drop. Motorstorm content for the PS3 hasn't moved in price and some of that has been out since pretty near the console's release.
Speaking of Motorstorm content, it makes for a good comparison; the most common price for addon packs is $4.90. They do go all the way up to and even past the same $9.50 that is being asked for the pulse packs (most expensive is 11.50, for a 9 race event, 1 track, 4 vehicles with 3 skins each, music, and additional unlockable content), it's just not as common.

would you pay UK£1.80/US$3.49/EU€2.57 each for the packs?

to my mind it's a price that would initially have had me saying "its a bit high" but I'd probably buy it anyway.
at the current price I am not likely to get the packs unless someone buys me them as a gift

[jacen]

Pulse still is a great game, ...

exactly.
pulse kicks ass, so why the heck should i buy download content?
i still play pure sometimes, and would more often if it would have infrastructure mplayer ...

i would have got the mirage pack if the volume/price ratio would have been ALOT better, but i don't feel i am missing some key factor here ...

Nintendo, it is true, doesn't do microtransactions, at least yet.

what about classic games?

It's really a wonderfull forum for a fan of the game, and i really find it creepy that not even here did we get some kind of head's up.

i like to believe that this is purely a marketing decision and, if it were for SL, they would have released the pack free of charge.

[Nadia Elenova]

I bought Pulse and with it 24 tracks (white and black runs) for 40,- euros. There's no way I'm going to spend another five just for 2 more tracks and another ship!

That's right, I'm not going to pay 5€ for this pack, they should make a better offer when all packs are released.