Booster Packs and Addons

[DrDevin]

What are everyone’s thoughts on this new trend?

EA has a couple BF2 "booster packs" now which expand the game by adding a small amount of content for a small price. Many games through steam are also becoming episodic with 6 hours of gameplay for 20.00.

On the console side the XBOX marketplace allows users to easily buy little extras to customize their character or the environment.

I have a few issues with this new trend. First of all it can be really expensive! Take Oblivion for example. At 49.99 (a local store price, Canadian) it can last up to 200 hours which works out to 0.25 per hour of gameplay (or 50/1.00/2.00 etc) depending on how many quests you do). Again HL2 is 29.99 through steam. At 15 hours of gameplay (or so) it costs 2.00 per hour of gameplay.

With these new small add-ons costing .50 to 10.00 you are losing a lot of value. Buying new horse amour for oblivion for lets say 1.00 could be the same cost as 2 hours of gameplay!

Episodic content also seems to be removing some value from games with 3.00+ for each hour of gameplay and probably little replay value, not to mention a lot of old content could be used leading to a stale environment.

My largest concern (besides money) is play balancing. Do I need the content to remain competitive? Is that fair? Can I beat my friend at Halo on my XBOX but on when we play at his house I lose because he has all of these different weapons? How do LAN party tournaments work? Can many different weapons/characters be easily balanced and do companies even care about how balanced something is when only a few people might pay to get it?

My final concern is that developers will start leaving out content in favor of making it available for a cost. It is already happening. Games such as the Sims 2 are missing content that has obviously been omitted in favor of expansion packs. Developers might even focus on creating new content when issues still exist with the main game (ie BF2).

 

[Snowden]

Episodic is fine with me, but booster packs and addons are not.

 

[Spoonoop]

I much rather go out and buy a full game or expansion.

 

[TheHamster22]

It all depends what the addon is; I mean its kinda poor play by the companies if they make you pay for just a few new weapons or skins or a couple of new mp maps.

However I'm ok with paying for an expansion along the lines of Opposing Force for Half Life; it all depends what you get really.

Although yes, newer trends for addons do seem to be somewhat money making schemes then anything else ;(

 

[ríomhaire]

A game's worth is not just length. Take a film, which would you prefer, to see a brilliant hour long film for €4 or a really bad 6 hour long film for the same price?

 

[Snowden]

After receiving so much additional content from Valve, buying a simple horse armour addon for example, feels a little odd.

 

[StardogChampion]

I much rather go out and buy a full game or expansion.

Then comes the problems when a certain feature requires an expansion to use it.

 

[Cole]

After receiving so much additional content from Valve, buying a simple horse armour addon for example, feels a little odd.

Thankfully us Pc Owners will probably be able to go download a simple horse armour addon thats completley independent from bethesda.

 

[boglito]

First of all, episodic content and booster packs are completely different.

I'm ok with episodic content as long as it has the advantages it is supposed to have.

Booster packs is another matter. The booster packs to bf2 makes me not want to play the game anymore, because it gives an edge to people who pay more as opposed to people like me who only have the "full" game. It's like valve would make a booster pack to cs where only people who pay an additional 10 bucks get better weapons and eq. From valve that is pretty unthinkable, from EA, that is what I've come to expect.

I understand why bethesda are going the road they are goind, and I dont have any strong oppinion on that since I'm not very interested in ES4. As my friend (who is an oblivion-nut) says it all depends on price, payment option, and what you actually get. I wouldn't mind paying extra to get something that made my already good games better, as long as it doesn't ruin online gaming.

I don't see how I would pay even one dollar to get armor for my horse, but that's not to say there is no extra content I would pay for. I will certainly pay for more HL2.

.bog.

 

[VirusType2]

What are everyone’s thoughts on this new trend?

I have a few issues with this new trend. First of all it can be really expensive! Take Oblivion for example. At 49.99 (a local store price, Canadian) it can last up to 200 hours which works out to 0.25 per hour of gameplay (or 50/1.00/2.00 etc) depending on how many quests you do). Again HL2 is 29.99 through steam. At 15 hours of gameplay (or so) it costs 2.00 per hour of gameplay.

With these new small add-ons costing .50 to 10.00 you are losing a lot of value. Buying new horse amour for oblivion for lets say 1.00 could be the same cost as 2 hours of gameplay!

I think maybe you've got some of your facts wrong. Oblivion is about 44 hours long, not 200.

If you instead want to consider how long you will spend playing it, then wouldn't it be a fair comparison to do the same for the other games?

Unless you were doing that. I'm not sure, but I probably spent alot more than 15 hours playing HL2 since I beat it a few times.

Theres more I could say about games like MMORPG's and RPG's and monthly fees but I gotta go.


Basically as long as there are people that will buy something, companies are more than willing to sell it to you.


If there is a game I really like, I will buy an expansion pack - although it never seems to be as good as the original does it? I agree about the game being a bit stale becuase they re-use sounds, textures, monsters, weapons, etc. etc. They need to keep some things but make sure they offer enough new things to refresh the game.


BTW its not really a new trend is it? I bought expansion packs for games when Atari still made Home computers.............

 

[DrDevin]

Booster packs is another matter. The booster packs to bf2 makes me not want to play the game anymore, because it gives an edge to people who pay more as opposed to people like me who only have the "full" game. It's like valve would make a booster pack to cs where only people who pay an additional 10 bucks get better weapons and eq. From valve that is pretty unthinkable, from EA, that is what I've come to expect.

I completely agree. I don't think any sort of edge should be given to those who pay extra money.

Basically as long as there are people that will buy something, companies are more than willing to sell it to you.

Also very true. I can see companies making more money off of less work which is great. I think 6 years of development and care by valve should net them some rewards (as for other good devs). I just don't want it hurting game content.

If there is a game I really like, I will buy an expansion pack - although it never seems to be as good as the original does it? I agree about the game being a bit stale becuase they re-use sounds, textures, monsters, weapons, etc. etc. They need to keep some things but make sure they offer enough new things to refresh the game.

Yes it depends on how much they reuse. That is why I'm looking forward to seeing what real episodic games are like (with Sin and EP1).

BTW its not really a new trend is it? I bought expansion packs for games when Atari still made Home computers.............

I was refering to mini expansion packs such as boosters and the fact that large single player games could be broken up into smaller segments (with the story having possible direction from the fans). Also digital distribution makes expansion packs in general easier to acquire and market.

 

[Garfield_]

No to single episodes and booster packs, Yes to full games and expansions