Xbox Live Market Place - General Discussion Thread 1

[IanE]

I don't think the game is dire.

The game itself is actually very good.

But the framerate. Now THAT is dire.

Being that the framerate is part of the game, that makes the game dire too.

[MartyG]

My d/lflew down the line ...

The frame rate improves a lot with the bumper-cam view it seems. The demo of Need For Speed Most Wanted was more jerky than the final game, so there's probably more optimisation to do. I didn't find it too bad, but the drifting, it's just wrong - it's backward, what happened to opposite lock?

[Lyrical Donut]

Played it for about ten minutes. the main games not up to much, would play better with a stick.

It'd be way too easy on the sticks..

[Gareth C]

Strategy videos for Madden up too - 160 points a pop - Jesus!

Presumable they show you a video of how to ask for a friendly quit when playing one of the endless string of cheesers online.

Or perhaps how to lob a pass 60 yards and still easily catch it when in triple coverage.

Yep, all in all this is the worst american football I can remember in 7 years. Cheers EA.

[Rushy]

Cheers EA.

And they take it one step further:

IGN Sports: I read how your strategy for Tiger Woods includes the ability to buy new courses. Does that mean you're holding courses back intentionally from consumer who buy the game in order to force them to purchase courses separately and spend more money?

Chip Lange: The Tiger team is taking a creative approach to it. You can either unlock or buy the courses, depending on your gaming preference. We look at this a lot like other stuff that goes on in the industry. IGN does this with premium subscriptions where there's a subscription service and you can get guides to games. I can pay for a subscription in order to unlock some stuff so I don't have to play the game all the way through, or now I can go this route. It's just another way to allow gamers the choice on how they want to play the game. That's the way the Tiger team is approaching this.

http://sports.ign.com/articles/737/737237p1.html

[Concept]

I'm sure the EA defending force will come up with a reason why breaking balanced game design is a good thing.

[PeteJ]

I'm sure the EA defending force will come up with a reason why breaking balanced game design is a good thing.

From the sounds of things they aren't breaking the design - you can still unlock the courses for free by playing through the game, but if you want to just blast through it you can spend money to unlock them.

It's not really game breaking, so long as it doesn't give the people who pay an advantage on live.

[Concept]

Sorry, sounds game breaking to me. Design of consumables isn't solely based on multiplayer.

What happens if you're playing the next EA James Bond (or third person adventure considering they don't have the licence any more) and players can buy their way up a few levels while the rest can just play through the game to unlock them?

It destroys structure, narrative or otherwise.

[John Beaulieu]

IGN Sports: I read how your strategy for Tiger Woods includes the ability to buy new courses. Does that mean you're holding courses back intentionally from consumer who buy the game in order to force them to purchase courses separately and spend more money?

Chip Lange: The Tiger team is taking a creative approach to it. You can either unlock or buy the courses, depending on your gaming preference. We look at this a lot like other stuff that goes on in the industry. IGN does this with premium subscriptions where there's a subscription service and you can get guides to games. I can pay for a subscription in order to unlock some stuff so I don't have to play the game all the way through, or now I can go this route. It's just another way to allow gamers the choice on how they want to play the game. That's the way the Tiger team is approaching this.

Good move - if there is one thing i hate about tiger woods its that all but one course is locked unless you play through single player. Most of my mates own tiger woods solely for multiplayer - more than one of them only has the first course unlocked (which they have mastered) and they would be more than happy to pay a couple of quid to unlock the other courses when they buy tiger woods 2007

[Matt]

Sorry guys don't see this is a bad move at all.

Why shouldn't people who don't have the skill, or don't have the time, not get to open the other courses? It's hardly "Game Breaking" - that'll be when they start selling "The Kick Arse Hole In One Driver" for 1,000 points.

They've opened up the game to more people, giving them more fun.

[Rushy]

They've opened up the game to more people, giving them more fun.

But why should they have to pay for the privelage? They've bought the game, got the content on the disc already but can't use it without paying extra or commiting 'x' man hours.

[PeteJ]

Sorry, sounds game breaking to me. Design of consumables isn't solely based on multiplayer.

What happens if you're playing the next EA James Bond (or third person adventure considering they don't have the licence any more) and players can buy their way up a few levels while the rest can just play through the game to unlock them?

It destroys structure, narrative or otherwise.

Yeah it is game breaking for the people who pay for the unlocks, but that is up to them.

If I buy my way through Tiger Woods, I'm going to be a lot worse than someone who has played their way through. It's no different than people using cheats to unlock, except for....

But why should they have to pay for the privelage? They've bought the game, got the content on the disc already but can't use it without paying extra or commiting 'x' man hours.

This. I don't think it is particularly fair for them to charge to see the final courses, when previously someone could enter a cheat code...but again, it'll be the players choice.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Good move - if there is one thing i hate about tiger woods its that all but one course is locked unless you play through single player. Most of my mates own tiger woods solely for multiplayer - more than one of them only has the first course unlocked (which they have mastered) and they would be more than happy to pay a couple of quid to unlock the other courses when they buy tiger woods 2007

Why not just unlock all the courses in the first place if people want that flexibility?

This system EA are talking about would be like buying a box of chocolates but stopping you opening the last few until you pay some more money for no whatsoever other than the greed of the chocolate company.

[John Beaulieu]

to my knowledge there has never been a cheat code to unlock courses in Tiger Woods, so it isn't like people are paying for content that was once free.

I know of a situation in which someone who plays Tiger Woods in multiplayer constantly (he is on tour so its pretty much a daily thing for him - hours and hours at a time) only has the first course open because he has never played the single player game. Now this guy would challenge the top 10 leaderboards with his course record, he knows the opening course inside out, he also uses the controller in such a way that he can get maximum power/spin shots every single time (he holds the controller vertically, striking the ball becomes a left to right motion on the stick rather than a up/down motion) and yet he can't play more than the one course .... this new method that EA are embracing means that he can play every course within the new game if he wants to just by paying a little bit more, something he will definitely find value for money.

[Yoshimax]

Yes but I think the point is he HAS already paid for the courses. The cost of the disc covers/recoups the development costs - Not the little ****ty unlock key they make him pay for. Pay for new downloadable courses - yes, for courses on the disc - no.