[aldo_14]

This is an excerpt from the eurogamer review of PES6 (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=69110)

nd while we're on the subject of grating, let's address the differences between the PS2 and Xbox 360 versions, which hardly flatter the new boy. On PlayStation 2, you can play four versus four online. On Xbox 360, you can play one on one, or two versus two offline (Xbox 360 has no support at all for more than four players on one console, either). On PS2, you can choose from 33 stadiums. On Xbox 360, there are eight. On PS2, you have the PES Shop to work through, unlocking extra bits and pieces. On Xbox 360, there is no shop - you get what you're given. On PS2, the menus allow you to quickly flick between starting eleven and substitutes; to view the scorers during a game by hitting the pause button; to save off replays to your memory card; to edit virtually anything in the game; to play an International Challenge mode, based on World Cup qualifying, and Random Selection matches, where teams are randomly drawn players from a chosen continent (simply brilliant for multiplayer pick-up matches). On Xbox 360, of all of that, all you can do is edit the player names. You can't even save replays, which is just ludicrous - particularly given that the manual actually says you can.

And I remember the same thing with FIFA (including making the Xbox version, with far more content, incompatible with the 360).  (plus surely MS would be pissed off - all that money for next-gen exclusivity up to, er, the end of this year before any of the competitor consoles actually launch, they get a stripped down version?)

Moreso, now we have microtransactions by EA which sell players such things as...cheats, in game money, and tutorials.  Sometimes replacing stuff 'free' with the old-gen version of the game.  And MS talking a while back about selling game 'consumables', or the infamous Oblivion horse armour ripoff, or providing a stripped down version of Lumines where you have to buy lots of packs to get anything close to the complete PSP game.

And it's not just the 360; look at Sonys' decision to develop Grand Turismo on the PS3 in such a way that the basic game has bugger all and you have to purchase cars and tracks to get close to the current gen versions' amount of content.  No doubt Nintendo will have similar plans, too, if it takes off (if not already).

Am I the only one who thinks this is, well, ****?  We get less, pay more; what's the point?  Grr.

[asyikarea51]

NFSC has this too.

If I'm not mistaken, they're intro-ing a webstore of sorts whereby you can buy cars for $x amount of money instead of going through the rigours of unlocking them. Someone on the EA forums even mentioned lamers buying the kick-(TOOOT) cars and using them online on the first day of release and stuff like that (I just lurk there in the fat hopes of a demo, I don't and don't want an account there).

First episodic content, then in-game dynamic advertising, then this...

[Ulala]

Pretty sad, unlockables have always added an enjoyable and challanging dynamic to games in my opinion; I quite like them. I'm sorry to see them being replaced by having to shell out more effing money that I don't have. 

[Deepblue]

I'll just hold out for more developers like Bungie. Their method of delivering premium content was painless and fair. Some free maps, a few premium to begin with, then after a short time, all the maps are free.

DEVELOPERS, BE LIKE BUNGIE!!!

[Roanoke]

*I don't even want to repeat it*

sheesh.....

[aldo_14]

I'll just hold out for more developers like Bungie. Their method of delivering premium content was painless and fair. Some free maps, a few premium to begin with, then after a short time, all the maps are free.

DEVELOPERS, BE LIKE BUNGIE!!!

Why not free at the start?  Isn't that what we should be asking for?

[Mefustae]

Why not free at the start?  Isn't that what we should be asking for?

Of course not! I for one enjoy handing over my hard-earned cash for meagre enhancements of a game I already own. It makes the experience more visceral, y'know?

[Ulala]

Me too, except I'd rather hand over someone else's hard-earned cash instead. *goes through Deepblue's wallet* 

[Thor]

<bad pirate impression> yar!  tis be reasons like these that people be a pirating, mateys!  Pillagin' and lootin' be far more sound in reason then payin...I say to yee, yee game companies, if yees be wantin to stop the lootin,  stop chargin an arm an a leg, cause we already lost the other leg to the scurvy! yaaaaarrrrrr! </bad pirate impression>

serious, wtf...if a game is say $15, then buying additional content at a reasonable price is alright...but asking me to pay 50, 60, even $70 for an incomplete game is an invitation for me to go and <ahem> acquire it.  I have no problems paying for things, i want to pay for things, i just don't want to be <insert inappropriateness here> by some game publisher.  when will big corporations learn?

WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END!!!!!

[Ulala]

when will big corporations learn?

They won't, not as long as consumers have money (unlike me), which they do and always will.

[Fineus]

Pretty sad, unlockables have always added an enjoyable and challanging dynamic to games in my opinion; I quite like them. I'm sorry to see them being replaced by having to shell out more effing money that I don't have. 

Nevermind challange.. heck having unlocks in most games is what gives a game its lifespan.

In single player terms this is also the case with NFSC as apparently the cars are better balanced now - a fully tuned VW Golf now cannot go head to head with a Gallardo and hope to win because the Gallardo is simply a faster car. So if people are buying the fastest can in the game at the very start, they're going to rocket through the earlier stages with no contest whatsoever...

...which to me is tantamount to cheating.

On the subject of cheating I had a nasty experience with it and Oblivion a few days back. I wanted to buy a house but didn't want to save up the cash to do so - so I cheated just for that and got the cash and bought the house. Now unfortunately I've seen I could cheat and get any item in the game... level my player up instantly etc... and the knowledge that I could is making actually doing it the hard way slightly less fun than it was. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the game. But knowing that instead of spending 8 hours levelling up, I could just type in a command - it sort of dillutes the experience.

So it is with buying unlocks for games instead of earning them. If I know that for $10 I can buy the DB9 instead of unlocking it after 15 hours of gameplay - that's unfortunately quite a tempting thing to do. I'll just have to hope I can resist doing it and get the full enjoyment out of the game. But it's a shame I'm even being tempted by the publishers to do this. They might as well sell a fully completed save of the game so you can skip to anything you want without having to earn it.

[asyikarea51]

In single player terms this is also the case with NFSC as apparently the cars are better balanced now - a fully tuned VW Golf now cannot go head to head with a Gallardo and hope to win because the Gallardo is simply a faster car. So if people are buying the fastest can in the game at the very start, they're going to rocket through the earlier stages with no contest whatsoever...

To some extent I think this is false. In MW, if u cheatgraded (LOL XD) your car, the AI levels would increase based on what was installed in the hacked-out vehicle. But then again it was still easy to blast through the game in the early stages, because the cops were still at the lower heats...

As for NFSC itself, I'm undecided if I should get it (and spend $$$ I simply do NOT have in upgrading this old AGP board with a new high-cap HDD, AND bear with adverts), or stick to the arcade simulator.

[BlackDove]

I finished Carbon.

It's definitely worth having. Especially so if you're an Initial D fan.

[asyikarea51]

I'm an ex-Arcade Stage version 2 and 3 player. An utter n00b at ID though.

And soon to be an ex-Maximum Tune 2 player. Time to move on to another game... <--- semi-evil grin

Quite frankly, with all these things happening in home gaming, I just got plain cheesed off and shifted my gaming to the arcades.

[Roanoke]

I finished Carbon.

It's definitely worth having. Especially so if you're an Initial D fan.

I've grown to hate Initial D. Six years ago I could have had a Sprinter/Corolla for easy money. Now, every damn fool wants one (and will pay big money to have one too)

[BlackDove]

Yeah, I don't really care about that.

The only things they didn't copy into Carbon, were:

a) Your name isn't Fujiwara Takumi
b) You don't drive a Trueno (though I don't know if you can unlock it)
c) The mountain's name isn't "Akina".

Everything else is an exact duplicate, which I have to say I liked very much, because it handles just like the Anime. One on one down the mountain with two rounds (first time you're behind, second you're in front) is masterfully handled.

[Turnsky]

Yeah, I don't really care about that.

The only things they didn't copy into Carbon, were:

a) Your name isn't Fujiwara Takumi
b) You don't drive a Trueno (though I don't know if you can unlock it)
c) The mountain's name isn't "Akina".

Everything else is an exact duplicate, which I have to say I liked very much, because it handles just like the Anime. One on one down the mountain with two rounds (first time you're behind, second you're in front) is masterfully handled.

plus i don't think you can have tofu shop decals on the side.

[BlackDove]

You know, I can't say for certain. There were so many god damn customization logos.

I however named my crew "Project D" with full pun intended. Kind of funnay in the end when you own every territory, and as you pass by districts it says "Owner (or some other possessive term) Project D".