Can’t wait for more of this stuff!
Sweet!!!
Not much into Mec games but what the hell. And Microsoft will be offering free content for Splinter Cell, NBA 2K3 and NFL 2K3! Nice…
You have to wonder though if this will end next year. When Microsoft starts charging monthly payments so you can use the Xbox live. I wonder if they will start charging for downloadable content? So if you want that extra Mec map or that extra Mec you’ll have to pay MS a small fee. Could happen…
It was rumored they would add a CTF mode. MechAssault badly needs it.
And some save points in singleplayer. I just got to a mission where I get ambushed at the end by a very powerful mech. When you die, as I did, because I was positioned poorly for the attack, you get the pleasure of repeating the entire level. THANKS!
That’s a nice deal. It’s just what the Xbox needs.
Question:
There’s no way to save this content to removable media, is there?
This could raise problems in the future, if you want to go back and enjoy this stuff, but Microsoft’s “no longer supporting” the XBox 1.
Proprietary network gameplay and content like this are a step backwards towards the lame kind of shit we saw in Email X-Com, where no one can play the game now because the only way to play is through the official server that no longer operates.
Hmmm…that’s an interesting thought. I could the hard drive filling and then you’d have to get rid of stuff.
It’s not a foregone conclusion that they’ll charge monthly for Xbox Live - the details of the fee after the initial “$50/year” trial thing is done have yet to be determined.
Part of the reason for Microsoft to get a couple hundred thousand subcribers wrapped up for a year of service is to figure out how much money those people will cost them each month. How much of Microsoft’s bandwidth do most Xbox Live games consume? Most of it is directly between players with one player as a host right now, but obviously scores and matchmaking and stuff comes from MS’s servers. How many people will download content? How much bandwidth will that eat up?
Determining the cost to actually run Xbox Live, now that it has been built, is going to be a major determinant in the price structure. It’s quite possible that they’ll just continue to offer a $50 one-year package in stores, with maybe $40 a year for renewals (since you’ve got the headset and there are no other associated cost of goods like shipping, retail markup, etc. $40 direct to MS is more than they actually make on the starter kits now).
Maybe they determine much of the cost of running the service is a third of the people doing a lot of downloading. Then it makes sense to go for a lower cost but charge micropayments for most of the downloads. But maybe almost everyone downloads, and you just make them “free” but make the rate higher.
Maybe they’ll do like with cell phones: you can pay $50 for a year of Xbox Live service, or you can pay $15 a month but if you do that and sign up for two years they GIVE you an Xbox and a free game.
Anyway, new MechAssault stuff is cool. Yes, CTF will be added. I understand there’s another game mode in the works where each team has a base and you actually fight over resources that you use to spawn in new Mechs when you die - the winning team is the one that destroys the other’s base. They were even talking about that back at E3. I’ve also heard rumor of some improvements to the lobby, which in my opinion can’t come quickly enough and are even more welcome than new maps or mechs.
I don’t know if they’ll be doing monthly payments because you could just go buy another starter kit. If they do go monthly it will most likely be cheap.
That’s a common console thing. Some people like it, I hate it. I don’t want to be penalized for one wrong move. I have not finished many games because of this mentatlity.
Then it makes sense to go for a lower cost but charge micropayments for most of the downloads.
Hmm, what is this micropayment thing you speak of? That sounds like a great topic for a thread here at Qt3. :P
PC fanboy shot:
“Can’t wait for more of this stuff!”
Wow…so console gamers can finally get what PC users have had for years. :twisted:
Uh, yeah. That’s exactly why we can’t wait for it. We already KNOW how good free content updates are for games because we have that on the PC, and we can’t want to have that with console games as well.
I don’t know if they’ll be doing monthly payments because you could just go buy another starter kit.
You could, but you’d have to get a new gamertag, all your records in all your games would start over from scratch, you’d have to rebuild your friends list… there are a lot of drawbacks to just buying a new starter kit.
Besides, the current starter kits are a limited-time offer. Who knows what a “starter kit” will consist of when they decide to stop selling the current version. Those might only come with one month of service.
“Uh, yeah. That’s exactly why we can’t wait for it. We already KNOW how good free content updates are for games because we have that on the PC, and we can’t want to have that with console games as well.”
But you’re a PC gamer too. Why does downloading stuff get you excited? I don’t get excited about downloading PC content. Why should a new map for a console game get me excited? I’m not saying this to be argumentative, but downloadable content doesn’t build enthusiasm in me anymore. For a console gamer who isn’t used to new content, yeah, I can see the appeal. For veteran PC gamers it’s cool but hardly exciting.
“Can’t wait for more of this stuff!”
Yeah wait until the patching starts then the fun really starts.
Are there really such things as “console gamers” and “pc gamers” anymore?
Sure, there are small numbers of holdouts, but it seems to me that, thanks to the games being shared between PCs and Consoles now, plus the general fact that EVERYONE has a computer nowadays, that there is no real bifurcation of users these days.
There is for me. I dabble in console games. I spend 95% of my gaming time playing PC games.
I also think there’s a difference in the kinds of games released for each platform. There’s some crossover, but not much, really. There are a lot of poor PC translations on the console side.
Hey guys, this is Bill Gates.
I’m glad that your all enjoying the Xbox. And rest assured that more exciting games will be coming your way.
Let me address the patch issue that this anonymous person just posted.
There will be no and I mean no patching on the Xbox. That’s just the way it’s going to be.
We’ll hopefully I’ll see you guys on line!
My Xbox tag is: Gmoney
Chet, would you mind verifying this last one using your big brother ip tracking techniques?
I disagree. I think it’s maybe MORE exciting for a veteran PC gamer, because we (are at least I) know what we’ve been missing in our console games for the last 20 years. Extensibility. I love that I can download a new strategy game scenarioon my PC. I would be thrilled if there was an official new BF1942 map to download with a cool new vehicle. This ability to keep adding to games I like is one of my favorite aspects of gaming on the PC.
I hate that I’m FORCED to do this to make my PC games work as intended quite often, and that it’s a pain to find stuff sometimes. Those shouldn’t be issues with Xbox Live (knock on wood). It’s just taking a game you love and getting more of it a couple months later–something consoles haven’t been able to do on a grand scale thus far.
We’ll hopefully I’ll see you guys on line!
that should sort of answer if thats really Bill Gates or not…If thats not enough I know Bill Gates personally :D
-Contrai