Download Packs

[stin]

Yes, always check the type of credits if we got them in any country, if not, why not just e-mail to them and they should help you.

stevie

[P52Smith]

Going back to what Task said about the DLC being created after the release and the subsequent evidence as to otherwise:
also consider that the UMD only holds a certain amount of data and this may not've been enough for the extra tracks/ships!

Sorry for any bad grammer/spelling/mistakes but I am using my PSP to write this and it's not exactly easy!!

[Ash-Omen]

The game is around 500mb's in size and a umd can fit somthing like 1.5gb's

[CR4SH3D]

anyone noticed the new download agreement on the pulse site? wonder why thats suddenly there and wasnt before

also, technically there might only be 4 original tracks in these packs since its 4 white and 4 black and SOME of the standard in game variants arnt too different really

more locations for tracks and not just variants in each pack would have been awesome and justified the price a little more

i think what really makes it seem expensive though is just how much you got for free with pure

[P52Smith]

The game is around 500mb's in size and a umd can fit somthing like 1.5gb's

Ok
Just a thought!

Besides,
You only need 8 ships and leaving:
4 white runs
4 black runs
4 teams
out of the game means 1 of each can be released each time without making the files too big.
If this means that one track has to be held back (we've only seen Edgewinter before) then so be it.

I must say that I haven't got the pack yet because I don't like paying for stuff now when my birthday's March!

[Task]

Just to follow up on Task's point, the very first screenshot on IGN from 4th of April 2007 features Mirage prominantly. Other shots from that date feature Auricom. The first teaser trailer features Edgewinter track.

Now, we can't know whether they were finished or not. Quite likely not for the tracks (but, again, that's speculation) but there is no doubt some elements were in advance stages and I can't imagine that the ships weren't well finished given that Mirage and Auricom actually look the most finished of the craft back from April of last year. That's enough to disprove your point.

8 ) I'm afraid it isn't.
There's a point in time where what's going to be on the UMD is decided, and from that point on nothing can change it. This point in time would be something like 2 months before you can actually buy it in stores. You can easily give or take a month (perhaps even two) in either direction depending on the software being realeased and who's in control of the process, but you get the idea.
Sure, the extra craft might have been finalized, but they're hardly the majority of the content of any particular download pack. I'd estimate that about 10% of the time required to release a download pack was in the extra craft, skins, music, etc. combined. Tracks are what take all the time. The basics of a track might not take too long to put together, where the turns are, elevations, location of starting grid, all the basics, but then the environment, the sounds, and most of all the playtesting are what really take the time. So you can pretty quickly have a track that you can show a bit of demo footage for, but that's a far cry from having a track good enough to release. They put a lot of time into flying these tracks to make sure that they're as good as they can make them, Colin has already mentioned the insane amounts of tweaking done to a track before it makes the grade.

And that's exactly what I mean about it being pretty much impossible that the DLC could have been on the UMD. There's just no way the tracks could have gone through all the required playtesting and adjustment to be available at the time where the content of the UMD was decided.
The only assumption I'm making is that the DLC is of lower priority than fixing known bugs. With all the known bugs in the game, I'm taking that as evidence that they just didn't have the time to fix them, which should mean that they really didn't have the time to finalize the DLC until after they'd gotten the main game ready for release.

So there were images of DLC in trailers, this is hardly news to me, and you can see why it doesn't really change anything.

And now everyone knows just a little more about the software development lifecycle. 8 D

From that point, things get a little conflicted... But then I think the biggest issue is simply the price. Yeah, some people expect content for free but I think, if these packs were a good bit cheaper, there would be far fewer complaints.

Pure truth Dogg.
As always, price is the main issue.
Obviously, $10 US is an outlandish price for two (non-reversable) tracks and one (non-multiplayer) craft, and only a few people would be complaining about a $0.25 price tag (after being shown the flying coke bottle), hopefully the price will drop to an agreeable point between the two extremes.

[Dogg Thang]

I'd estimate

I think much of what you say is probably true, Task, but this is the important bit. You are just estimating. Unless you're on the team, you really can't know one way or another. It's an educated guess, possibly based on good knowledge, but you made some pretty definitive statements, representing them as fact. Which they really aren't. If you go back and look at your post I replied to, I think you'll see what I mean.

[P52Smith]

Ask Colin Berry

[Task]

Absolutely, Dogg.
Simply a very educated guess. Something that I wanted to make clear from the beginning:

I'm not in SL or anything, but I know enough about software development to guarantee that as much as anyone outside of SL possible could.

I'd also bet that we're not going to get a definitive statement from SL or anyone on this, not any time soon anyway, or else we'd already have one! 8 )

I think I'm making very reasonable assumptions though, so while none of what I say can be taken for absolute fact, it's a lot more likely than the idea that the DLC is already on the disk and the charge is just to make it available in-game. I'd put that in the same likelyhood category as "The US faked the moon landings!".

Granted, it's somewhat more likely that the DLC could theoretically have been put on the UMD somehow, but I'd never entertain that as a plausible theory knowing what I know about software development in general. Who puts bug fixes at a lower priority than DLC generation? I just don't see it being possible.

[Dogg Thang]

Oh, I think we can safely say that the content isn't in the UMD. After all, it's downloading about 10megs for the content and, if the Mirage was on the UMD, there wouldn't be an online issue.

And you're spot-on about priorities. And, given that many bugs made it through and at least some would have been known, I'd certainly hope they weren't putting anything ahead of fixing those. Totally agree.

[Amaru]

If the DLC already was on the UMD then I'd really want to know why it now bugs me with the same usual loading times I had when selecting a custom skin when now selecting the new ship or one of the two new tracks. ;P Of course, they could be simulating the loading associated with reading from the memorystick but that would be just as "useless" and evil as simulating loading times in emulators. XD

[sakerbax]

What i want now is some kind of answer.
I can understand this:

I cant comment on that right now, I'm afraid.

For the time being no answer would really sastify. But eventually, after things calm down, we will right?

[xEik]

Count me in the "Unfortunately not going to get the packs" group.
The person who decided the content/money ratio got it awfully wrong.
Even if I wanted to get the packs, no support for OSX means I cannot use the PSN Store

[P52Smith]

Hey, don't worry about it, I'll probably be on that list too!

[Hybrid Divide]

I'm not so mad about the price of the packs as I am about the fact that Mirage can't be used online. Will this be the same for the other online ships?

I'll pay for those packs, but is there any way that the multiplayer issue can be fixed?

[infoxicated]

For the time being no answer would really sastify. But eventually, after things calm down, we will right?

Not from me.

[Dogg Thang]

Complete 100% speculation from me here -

I imagine it must be quite tough for Foxy and the SL team. I suspect they initially didn't know what the exact plan was for DL content, hence nobody really being able to say anything. That or they were told they couldn't say anything in case it affected initial sales, though I doubt that as they would have held off with the content until after the larger territory US release. Either way, it would be tough and nobody on the team would be able to comment as it might be mistaken for an 'official' stance.

I'm sure everyone on the team just want people to enjoy the game. It must suck to read the comments on the way the content has been distributed but I'm suspect they also understand and probably anticipated the reaction.

Any answer that came from anyone connected would be jumped on by everyone with a hundred more questions. So I totally understand there being a radio silence on this.

And you know we still love you guys.

[DjManiac21]

I agree with you Dogg, I'm sure these reactions were mainly caused by the high level of secrecy and lack of oficial information around Wipeout lately...
Oficial page was without updates for more almost 2 months, no one mentioned anything about the packs and on top of that there are several misleading bits that drove people crazy, at least that's what happened to me and fellow pilots I know.

More info before hand would have been better.

[Alucioj]

Just bought the packs...

new Mirage ship is pretty cool and I like the two tracks preferable edgewinter white at the moment.

I really hope in time the playstation store can be accessed directly through the psp I had to use another laptop because my pc is only win2k; bit frustrating but at least I have work around.

Now I can use these tracks online

Probably the main reason I got this pack and will get the future ones is for the online experience, I dont wish to be kicked out of races etc.

On a side note, noticed more faint scratches on my psp screen when its switched off, annoying as hell!

-Also must I always keep the download on the memory card file?!, at first I wasnt sure how to access it but it loaded automatically through the UMD playing.

[DjManiac21]

Yes, you have to keep those files there, though they don't take much space