Would You Buy Additional Packs?

[Curved]

Im curious to know if people would be willing to buy additional tracks, ships, weapons, music, and such through packs after omega. -- I know if they were priced around $2-5 each, and perhaps eventually added new game types like non-linear tracks and online play, I would definitely buy them. Considering it seems that they have a pretty good content pipeline over there at Studio Liverpool, I think they could make a good return off of a small investment.

So, what do you guys think? $3 for a map, a ship, and a music track?

(no, there isnt any plan for this)

[Space Cowboy]

Doesnt that defeat the object of having DL content in the first place?
I mean, sure people might be happy to pay for extra content, but I think alot of people would rather get it for free, right? ;)
I know that M$ have embarked on a similar venture with Halo 2. First they charge for extra MP maps, then after a while they release them for free over Xbox Live, or in a DVD pack for $19.99.

Personally I think its just a penny pinching exercise on the part of the devs.
Yes, the devs put their work into supporting a game and creating new content, but at the same time thats part of the responsibility of a game developer if they choose to provide DL content.

EA are a good example of after release support. They provided numerous maps/patches/content for free after BF1942 was released. Yes there were expansion packs that they charged for, but they were overall more complete and expansive than mere DL content.
Thats just my humble opinion anyway :)

[Curved]

I think you would find it interesting that the developer studios usually get around a dollar of your purchase -- not in profit, that is their net income per purchase. :P -- I dont know if it works the same way for Liverpool, and it seems they have a very close relationship with sony; possibly liverpool is owned by sony, but when it comes down to it, I want more content, and I am willing to pay to get it.

And anyway, whats wrong with supporting a game you love? As far as Im concerned, I am paying them to give me entertainment, which is better than not being entertained but saving a buck.

[Drakkenmensch]

Considering how huge the game will already be by then, with all the free download packs, at that point I'll be in severe Pure download withdrawal for sure - there's no way I'll be able to resist purchasing extra download packs!

[Space Cowboy]

Yeah but if one dev can offer updates & DL content for free, then why not others?
It just a simple money making excerise. Remember these guys are still on £25,000+ salaries, alot of them drive cars and own houses that most of us will never be able to afford, have no sympathy for them, especially when they are owned by one of the biggest and most wealthy electronics giants in the world.
*No disrespect to the devs intended, Im merely making a point* :)

[Lance]

.
Curved, the Liverpool studio is part of Sony, acquired when Sony bought Psygnosis back in the 90s
.

[Curved]

:P Well, devs wages really isnt the topic here. If they provided pay-for-download expansions, would you buy them, regardless of how unfair it seems?

[Space Cowboy]

Understood. :)
No I woudn't buy them. Like I said, It defeats the point, I wouldnt buy them because I know for a fact that devs can provide after-sales support for free if they are passionate about their creation.

[Lance]

.
well, they could [if they weren't made to work on another project by their bosses], but that doesn't mean they shouldn't get paid extra money for extra work
.

[Curved]

Well, to tell you the truth, its not really in the dev's hands. Its in the publisher's, and all they care about is making money (which they are very good at).

[Space Cowboy]

Curved: Exactly, you just made my point for me :)
Anyway, If the extra content was of top quality and there was enough of it, then i maybe tempted, but as it stands, no i wont.

Lance: I know what you mean. :)

[Curved]

Personally, I would spend $15 for integrated online support alone if it was provided in a pack.

[Space Cowboy]

If it came as a patch in some sort of DL pack that would be great, but as it stands Pure is unpatchable. The game engine, as far as we've been led to believe, is unpatchable. A shame really because it could fix so many things. :(

[Curved]

Well, in that case, let me hope for a next one on the psp, and let me hope that it has integrated online play. :P

Edit: Oh, and its patchable, they just wouldnt want to do it because people could then hack it. It would just be a matter of making it so it ran an executable off of the stick as opposed to the disk, which they can already do, and then just use the assets off the disk.

[Space Cowboy]

You just know its going to come our way :)
With the sucess of Pure they would have to be mad not release a sequel. My guess is Q4 next year maybe, just like the original WO and 2097 that followed.

[Curved]

Hehe -- I wonder how they pack their files, anyway :P -- that might be something interesting to look into. ;)

[Space Cowboy]

I think someone has already looked into this... Im not sure.
it would be great to insert your own playlists and textures, but maybe we'll find out when they activate the music mixer on european release. The ability to import your own custom bill board textures should be activated too. :)
Its gonna be fun!

[defor]

a few weeks ago i finished the code for parsing the .wad files found on the dvd into component files, so far without filenames, but thus far the files, xml, video, at3, etc are easy to extract or modify and repack.... BUT the issue in creating our own packs is twofold:
all addon packs are encoded and signed like normal retail psp executibles.. so while the wad is there, unless someone over in the dev community cracks the encryption, we can't get insight into what is actually IN the packs.
the other issue is in the lack of understanding of the folder and file structure.. so far, for every file extracted, the identifier is 8 bytes of unknown data.
On the psp disc, the data is completely unencryped and easy to understand, and (i have not tested this theory due to the lack of funds to purchase a 1.0 or 1.5 psp) by patching, and using a ms loader, one could easily modify the iso with a ppf or other patch to inject our own mods.

I don't mean this to be a discussion about hacking the psp or otherwise, simply just some thoughts into what I've found so far.
If anyone has experience parsing lookup tables and is interested in contacting me, I'd love to work with them on this.

[Hybrid Divide]

I'd buy them. :)

[Space Cowboy]

Wow Defor, thats fascinating stuff. It would be nice for us to be able to incluide our own music.

Back on topic though: I probably would buy them if they werent over priced.

[rejj]

This is a fairly hard hypothetical to answer, since it is reliant on so many "if"s

If the packs had enough content, were all high quality, and genuinely felt like they were adding to the game and if they were appropriately priced -- then I would buy them. The game itself is fun enough, and if I could get a bunch more of that game for a reasonable price then that sounds like a good deal to me.


I mean, people are buying that damn Halo 2 map pack.. (not me, I hate halo, heh)

[yawnstretch]

Im slightly surprised; I would have thought more people would want to pay for extra pure. I foresaw the problem being one of how - ie. how could they charge for files without being ripped off by sharing?

[Dogg Thang]

Well I'd pay for extra content with no problem at all. I'd love to have that option. I have admittedly always been nervous that publishers might deliberately hold back content from the initial release to sell it to you later. But if the initial game is worth the money (no doubt about that with Pure) and the extra content is good then I'd gladly pay for it.

[Space Cowboy]

Yeah, Bungie deliberately did that with Halo 2. I find that behaviour sickening to say the least. Thats like buying a car from somebody and then they tell you that you cant have the seats or the tyres till 6 months down the line, oh and yeah you have to pay extra.
Such BS! :evil:

[Mogaar]

Yeah, I would definitely pay for extra content. Anything that increases the longevity of the game, you know?

[Curved]

I just extracted most of the main data wad, and damn does it have alot of crap in it. -- Its mostly XML (it seems like everything in the game is data-driven). A couple things I found out are that they use .mb, which is the maya binary format, for models and tga for the textures. They use some sort of secondary file packer for storing textures, so I havent been able to access any yet. :P

I have a feeling that there is a file somewhere that tells what the directory structure should be, so Ill hunt for that.

If anyone wants the unpacker I made, Ill give it out.

[Thruster2097]

Anyway....
I would pay for downloadable content the same way that I have paid for downloadable content on project gotham 2 for the xbox.
But seeing as SCE are handing them out as free downloads, then I'll quite happiy accept that. :D

:curved
No thanks, I don't want an unpacker.

[Rouni Kenshin#1]

No paying would just be wromg this is the same reason that i hate mmorpgs they want you to shell out 50 bucks for the game and then just keep acsking for more.

if i buy a game i shouldent have to pay for it again. :evil:

[Curved]

straight from the game(muhaha):
[edited out by poster -- just remembered that this counts as SCE content :P]

[phoenixx]

I'm so happy about the gamma tracks - I'd definitely pay for new tracks.
A feeling like wipeout 64 years ago: Teams and handling were 1:1 from wo 2097, but: new tracks! to my mind it was the continued 2097. Which I had to pay for (I would't have bought the N64 otherwise).