Current and Future Gaming

[Duke Dudeston]

Hey guys,

Now I just want yo start off by saying how I enjoy video games as much as the next person.
I have played a wide variety of different games, and recently I have started to see a trend that originally came from mobile games, the so called free to play (or f2p).
Now I don't mind that developers need to make some money from either adverts or in game purchases, they need to make a living. It is just when some developers will only allow you to get through x amount of the the game and then force you to buy additional bits (like a gun or armour etc) that are already in the game but require real money to buy rather than in game currency, with no other means to buy it.

This is coming over to console/pc games where you spend 30-50£ on a game and then they give you options to purchase in game currency, for me this takes out the fun in playing the game, knowing people will spend all that money to get the item / vehicle etc that they want from day 1.

I have no problem with dlc packs, as long as it adds to the game and shouldn't of been part of the game in the first place. Day one dlc should be abolished.

I think more and more games developers should do what Rockstar done, although not originally intended, and that is to restrict content until a certain time.

You buy a game and you have to progress x amount before being able to purchase additional content. Dlc should be to add new life to the game, not be an extended feature that should have been included from day one.
I saw dlc for WWE 13 on PSN a week before the game was released. All wrestlers alternative costumes and other such, surely these should have been in the £45 game anyway?

What are your thoughts on this?
What do you like or dislike about f2p or freemium games? What do yiu think of currency packs and day one dlc?

[Lieutenant Fatman]

I agree. Games we pay for should not have these microtransactions, they often ruin the experience. And costumes etc used to be unlocked by playing the game, such a shame this is no longer the case in the majority of cases. Thankfully there are still some games makers with the integrity to stay away from these microtransactions.

Agreed on day one dlc as well, very poor show when companies do that.

[Duke Dudeston]

It is a shame, I know why they do it, its just a shame that they try to encourage you to do it, I have been tempted in Gran Tourismo 6 to buy some money packs to help boost my cars to make it easier, but then I am like why should I, that is why I bought the game.

The reason they do it, is to try to help preven piracy, and the like, especially with the case of these "Elite Passes" which gives you full access to the online content (Call Of Duty series, WWE, pretty much every EA game) which makes sense, as the developers don't make the money from pre-owened or "borrowed" titles, so to make money, they sell these online passes, that is fair enough in my eyes, they are just asking for the money they are entitled too.

But it is games like "Jetpack Joyride" and the like, where they say,

here is this simple free game that you can play, it is designed to be played at your leisure and for fun, the idea of the game, is you steal and ride a jetpack, avoiding obsticales and collecting coins, which are used to upgrade and buy additional ingame content

But they offer microtransactions, to buy coin packs, that is like them saying...

However if you don't feel like actually playing the game, and want the achievements (or trophies on PSvita / PS3) then give us some money, and we will make it easier

I worked out, if you want to "pay" to unlock everything in JetPack Joyride... you have to buy enough coin packs for 640,501 coins, so the best way to buy that is to spend £10.99 to get 1,000,000 coins.. now there is a rip if I have ever seen it, 1million coins, what are you going to do with the remaining 359,499, its just not worth the payment in my eyes! It will of course take away the entire point of the game.

But my main point was with games that allow you to progress at a steady pace, then as soon as you get to the actual fun, when you are hooked, they start making it harder and harder to progress (not impossible) unless you part with your cash! And lets say you do part with your cash, they still expect you to watch an advert or something when you are about to make a transaction (my friend found this out with Simpsons Tapped Out) he was like "Hold on, I have to watch this 2min video, before I can give them money to continue playing this stupid game!" He then decided he wasn't going to part with his cash, and removed the game from his device.