Posted August 04, 2009
Of course the PC developement is easier & more profitable. First the PC rocks. Second the PC would lack a LOT of the licencing fees and none of the external certification. Finally its their comfort zone, not hard to make things easier when you've been doing them for 20+ years
DarrkPhoenix: I say it's more that many (most?) PC gamers still very clearly remember expansions (before they were bastardized into DLC). We remember paying 50-60% of what the original title cost, and getting at least 20 more hours of gameplay out of it. Since you already brought up Oblivion DLC, I'll continue using it as an example. For many of the folks who had played Morrowind, then bought both Tribunal and Bloodmoon, the horse armor DLC (and the 4-5 additional ones that followed) were like a slap in the face. It was insulting. But I think that console owners (and someone correct me if I'm flat out wrong about any of this), not really ever having had proper expansions, didn't see such minimal DLC as an insult or ripoff in anywhere near the same way that PC gamers did, and I think this divide it history and the resulting perceptions is still quite strong when it comes to DLC across most titles.
This is quite true but the advantage of DECENT DC is that it adds a moderate amount of content to a game for about the price of a $10 GOG. A good 3-4 hours for au$13-15 isn't a bad deal, still better than you get from a DVD. For stuff like the Fallout 3 addons or the new gears of war maps & story chapter thing, thats a pretty good amount of replayable entertainment for that amount of cash. On the other hand, the Jedi Temple level for The Force Unleashed wasn't what I'd call good value, it was short, didn't really add much to the game and wasn't integrated into the main game but was basiclly treated as a campaign in and of itself. Kind of shoddy but I picked it up on special for half price so it was probably worth that.
By sharp contrast, The Lost & Damned addon for GTA4 was a proper full on authentic expansion in the finest of PC tradition. A new campaign of about 10-20 hours (depends how much you powered through it and ignored the environment in favour of nothing but missions), a good solid fully acted story interwoven with the original, heaps of new (and actually GOOD) music, new friend activities, vehicles, guns, digital penis... the works and for less than the price of 2 GOGs! Its an object example of how DLC should be done (aside from the platform exclusivity, that part is "teh ghey") and I'm eagerly anticipating The Ballad Of Gay Tony and expecting something of the same quality.
This is quite true but the advantage of DECENT DC is that it adds a moderate amount of content to a game for about the price of a $10 GOG. A good 3-4 hours for au$13-15 isn't a bad deal, still better than you get from a DVD. For stuff like the Fallout 3 addons or the new gears of war maps & story chapter thing, thats a pretty good amount of replayable entertainment for that amount of cash. On the other hand, the Jedi Temple level for The Force Unleashed wasn't what I'd call good value, it was short, didn't really add much to the game and wasn't integrated into the main game but was basiclly treated as a campaign in and of itself. Kind of shoddy but I picked it up on special for half price so it was probably worth that.
By sharp contrast, The Lost & Damned addon for GTA4 was a proper full on authentic expansion in the finest of PC tradition. A new campaign of about 10-20 hours (depends how much you powered through it and ignored the environment in favour of nothing but missions), a good solid fully acted story interwoven with the original, heaps of new (and actually GOOD) music, new friend activities, vehicles, guns, digital penis... the works and for less than the price of 2 GOGs! Its an object example of how DLC should be done (aside from the platform exclusivity, that part is "teh ghey") and I'm eagerly anticipating The Ballad Of Gay Tony and expecting something of the same quality.
Post edited August 04, 2009 by Aliasalpha
