Microsoft Taking Advantage Of Xbox Gears Of Wars Players In 'Dark Corners'
Microsoft is offering a smoking deal for some upcoming Gears of War 2 add-on content available in July. As in "crack-smoking."
The $20 All Fronts Collection, which drops July 28, includes the three multiplayer map packs that have already been released for the blockbuster shooter, as well as a new set of arenas, dubbed Dark Corners, for players to gun one another down while yelling various immature insults.
Given the fact that the three earlier map packs cost a total of $20, All Fronts is plenty of bang for your Microsoft Points. But if you already own the others and just want to add Dark Corners, you'll have to cough up an additional $20.
Variety gaming blogger Ben Fritz on the heist:
Let's get this straight: People who download via Xbox Live get a portion of the content available at retail for the exact same price. And remember that distributing content on XBL costs substantially less than selling it at retail, since there's no manufacturing costs, no shipping costs, and no retailer to split the proceeds with. So Microsoft's profit margins are much bigger on that $20. Sounds like a major rip-off to me.
That's our Microsoft!
Microsoft raping the wallets of loyal Gears fans [Variety]
(Photo: GarotaDesastrada)
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Comments:
As someone who doesn't play any of these games, I have no idea what this article is saying.
However, I suddenly want to buy whatever it is they're selling.
Microsoft just wants profits that reflect how huge Xbox is.
True they don't have the overhead, but you can also buy Microsoft Points on sale if you look out for them. Most of the time it essentially makes whatever you buy with points 25% off.
I think the crux of many gamers' complaints was that if you already paid $20 for the maps that were available for download. You are forced to essentially rebuy them to get the newest couple maps (that would typically retail for $5-8).
I would put money on it that the new map pack included on the disc will also be available as an a la carte download. Just as done with GTA IV.
It does suck, but hey its capitalism baby! People will pay for this, I can't fault them for getting the most money for the product they can.
who the hell are you calling immature, you pansy? you're a pansy, your mom's a pansy & your dad is too much of a pansy to even be called a pansy, so we call him a petunia. ya pansy.
;)
@henwy:
I agree...Microsoft has done this before on the first GoW and Forza 2. For $20 on the greatest hits collection, you got the full game and all the DLC for each game.
This sounds like the people that complain they bought a 360 on launch day for $400 and now its only $200. Sorry, thats the way it is, if you want the good deals wait a year and pick it up at gamestop.
@mac-phisto: who the hell are you calling immature, you fag? you're a fag, your mom's a fag & your dad is too much of a fag to even be called a fag , so we call him a faggot. ya fag.
[/fixed to reflect real XBOX 360 players]
@theblackdog & harlock_JDS: yeah, well i was trying to be a little more civil. but obviously you got where i was going with this...
Gaming news an pictures of bikini clad women, its an easy draw.
I always have mixed feelings about this, I usually lean toward the "dont buy it if you dont want it" side but mostly because they are games I dont care about or play (such as RE5 and GoW2 in this case). However on the flip side I could see people complaining about having to essentially pay for the same thing twice, or even in this environment paying 60 dollars for something then being told "well we could have included it but we didnt so give us 5 more bucks". Again not particularly my problem at the moment but I like the fight because lets face it, we get nickled and dimed for everything else in life, is it really so much to ask not to be on video games?
I used to have a friend that no matter if we won or lost he would just yell obscenities until the other team lost. Immature, annoying, hilarious.
I love the way video game companies always use semi-good looking models to hawk their wares.
That first chick is a twig and has no butt. The second one is oddly proportioned and has backfat, which might be fine but it's only LOWER-backfat which is disturbing.
Come on, video game companies! How can you expect to be taken seriously if you don't hire at least beer-quality models?!
@Jeremy82465: Back in the day, companies supported their content after release and made changes and additions for free. Unfortunately, that has been killed off for all but the rarest PC games and is nonexistant in console games.
@WiglyWorm: Don't you get it?
Girls hawking videogames always need to be in that "attractive, but not too attractive" category.
You want to give the game playing neckbeards the impression that they'd have a chance with the woman in question, which for all the nerdly hubris they know would never happen with a girl that's insanely hot.
You'll find that the girls in maid cafes work under the same principle.
@bender123: You know i was gonna post saying how those 2 situations are different but ive had EPIC and M$ justifying this BS enough i cant be arsed doing it with a 3rd party too.
@henwy: I think that is the point of the story! Warning consumers in advance of their purchasing it so they know how to get the better deal.
@U-235: Where? I don't think I have ever seen the points on sales, unless you purchase something else first (how many Xbox live months have we gotten free now, but are already subscribers!)
@WiglyWorm:
>nonexistant in console games.
For what it's worth, that's not the fault of content providers and from what I've heard, Valve's going to do a huge update of the 360 version of TF2 at no cost to their customers.
@WiglyWorm: "I find your lack of butt disturbing."
I'll blame the ill-fitting bottoms before claiming back fat. Either way, semi-naked rather svelte girls, guns, video games - one of the more appreciated recent photos.
@Jeremy82465: The reason you can disconnect your headphones, they are useless in 99% of the games unless your idea of entertainment is listening to others freak out while playing video games... wait... that is REAL entertainment! now they just need to hook up video and we got some funny-ass youtube clips to upload!
Yeah, Valve has always been great about this, and I believe always will be whether they port to consoles or not.
Long live Valve!!
@WiglyWorm:I love the way video game companies always use semi-good looking models to hawk their wares
It gives the programmers/player the illusion that they actually have a life, that way they work/play longer without actually going out and getting a life! (Ducking and running..POW)
If Xbox ever allows mature, interactive content featuring women in their games, you will never see these gamers come up from the basement ever, ever again!
Video game companies love doing this kind of thing, splitting content across several packages so you have to buy them all if you want the full gaming experience. With something like optional multiplayer content developed after the fact, though, it's justifiable, even if in this case it's a little douchey toward their loyal customers that buy all the new content as soon as it's released.
At least it's not like the latest generation of Pokemon games for the DS, where you have to own EIGHT other Nintendo games, plus have happened to show up at particular Nintendo-sponsored events, to unlock the full content of the game. Less-than-one-game-for-the-price-of-eight is just an insulting deal, really. Thank God for emulation and hacking.
@Canino:
I was just going to say the same thing. Gears of War? I'll take 3 of them, whatever they are...
@mac-phisto: Yo dawg, I heard you like teh ghey so I put teh ghey in your ghey so you can ghey it up while you're being ghey.
Oh, and you're ghey.
(In all seriousness, you can mute certain players so you don't have to listen to their nonsense.)
@discordance: I wonder if they actually tell the girls what they're hawking. Then again, the neckbeards aren't likely to quiz them on their knowledge of Locust Hordes.
It's like Morgan Webb. She played Atari once and likes to be photographed in a bikini! Yay! Let's put her on the teevee and call her an expert!
Anyone else have a problem with the rampant overuse/misuse of the term "rape"?
Man, I was a little drunk last night, & I was FIERCE on Halo 3. Throwin' elb's, chucking like 50 grenades down a hallway, landing stickies, flying through the air, killing people with my pistol, & dropping crazy energy drains. It was intense!
@metaled: We've gotten the occasional deal at Toys R Us when they have 25% off all Xbox accessories and don't exclude points cards.
@ingenieur: I did the same thing last night! It was hella sick, yo. Only I was playing Eternal Sonata.
@WiglyWorm: not all updates cost money. i can list a slew of games that i've played recently that have free content. also, anyone who games on xbox knows that if you wait 6 months, the downloads are usually free anyway.
also, i support the content-for-cash concept. it gives games more playability & actually saves most gamers money by keeping games popular.
take, for example, burnout paradise. that game came out 14 months ago & premium (as well as free) DLC has helped keep the game popular despite the release of other popular racing series. hop in any online room & it's full of players, despite the release of a few competing racing games (forza, 2 nfs games, midnight series).
@metaled: The best is one-way audio, such as in splinter cell pvp where your opponent can hear you if you have them in a chokehold (spies choke out mercs instead of killing them).
So one minute, your strategizing w/ your team mate, then the next, you're grabbed from behind and someone lays some smack before you're defeated. Of course, since its XBLA, they'll obviously be using one of many ways to infer that you are a homosexual.
This reminds me of what Valve did with the Orange Box. I had just recently scooped up Half-Life 2 and Episode 1 on the cheap in anticipation of being able to get the new content (what was to be the Black Box) when it came out.
Of course Valve turfed that at the last minute and I was left with the prospect of forking over full price for the Orange Box for what I had just bought.
End result; I was NOT happy, used my friend's accounts to play Portal and Episode 2 so I could see how they are, and I'll wait until Episode 3 comes out and get the whole package then, when Valve will undoubtedly pull the same stunt.
It seems that Microsoft is just getting greedier and greedier by the minute. I remember playing Gears of War on Xbox and being so excited, wondering when it would come out for the pc. When it did I bought it, and what a letdown. It was a straight up port, plagued with bugs and anomalies. There is an official patch which did nothing, two unofficial patches that did a little, and you have to edit your registry! I understand not all their products are this way, but if you are pc gamer like me, Microsoft just shoves you to the back of line and gives you a crap product with little tech support. I am personally done with them when it comes to gaming, and will never buy a 360. Even burned and lesson learned.
Actually, all three map packs cost $25 if you don't buy a new copy of the game, in which case you get the first map pack for free.
What makes me angry is that I purchased the first map pack on Tuesday, the night before this package was announced. No refunds!
WRONG, they are offering a Dark Corner's only pack for a discounted price of 1,600 MS points.
It's called JOURNALISM people: [gamerscoreblog.com]
@henwy: While I'm no Gears of War fan, I will say that map packs can add a whole lot to the longevity and continued enjoyment of a multiplayer game. Purchasing new map packs isn't exactly "superfluous"; at least, no more so than buying a video game in the first place.
@flamincheney: Yeah I agree, this stuff will find its way to the marketplace (if it hasn't already).
@Coach Cal Is My Dream Weaver: Not really. I have more of a problem with people on comment threads declaring terms "overused".
(Just messing with you....sort of)
@ingenieur: Hah I suck at Halo when I'm drunk. Getting stoned works a lot better.
Once in college I played Halo 2 when I was tripping on shrooms. Now that made it a bit hard to concentrate on getting head shots.
Gears of War sucks, but I like the picture. The girl in the background giving the models a "WTF?" look is priceless.
Personally, I never purchased any of the Gears of War 2 map packs. So buy buying this I'm getting 19 maps, a new act of campaign, a strategy guide (which retails for $19.99 still,) and a poster all for $20.
Well, Honestly, it looks like a good deal for me.
So don't buy it? It seems completely optional. Beyond optional and into the superfluous even.