In these two vids (audio only) FourZeroTwo and Major Nelson discuss the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map pack. The upcoming maps are discussed, why they chose Crash and Overgrown from Call of Duty 4, how they made the decisions they made regarding map construction and map choice.
The interview is fairly Xbox360 orientated, but the information regarding the maps is universal to all platforms.
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
Since there’s numerous mumblings and grumblings lamenting the cost of the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map pack DLC I thought it was the perfect time to bring up the subject of the virtual market place compared to the real world.
So here’s how I’ve traditionally gamed:
Essentially I’m only paying full price for the first game and I’ll get a decent percentage off the purchase price of each future game as long as I do it before the trade in value plummets.
This scenario for me provides the best balance between value and playing. Some players, like a friend of mine called Mike, keep every title they have ever played (but he also has every copy of GamesMaster published too….) so it’s not something that everyone will do.
The thing is, when you buy a physical copy of a game you actually own a tangiable product. You can hold it, you can look at the artwork (like I do with my Hardened copy of Modern Warfare 2), you can lend it to your friend(s) and, should you wish to, you can sell it on to fund further game purchases.
However, there’s a cloud on the horizon. Many publishers are looking at ways to get us to download titles. And they will only be available to download. Okay, that’s convenient. You don’t have to trudge into town and queue up in Game (why are their shops so small!?) – you just turn your machine on, make your purchase, wait 10 minutes (or 30 hours if you are being throttled by Virgin Media for daring to use your connection) and there it is – your spanking new game, ready to roll.
So what happens then when you finish the game, get fed up with it, or find that it’s a big stinking pile of turds? Well……nothing. You could delete it – but that’s the equivalent of giving £40 to Sir Fred Goodwin. You paid your cash and literally have nothing to show for it.
What happens if your machine blows up? Content begone! If you had a physical copy you can just reinstall – but in most cases with a download it’s a one shot deal!
Although DLC (down loadable conent) is convenient, it only truly benefits the publisher. As a consumer you have no real rights, recourse or even resale value to the content. I think there needs to be more safeguards in place to protect consumers and improve the support available for DLC. For a start, if you purchase a title, you should be able to re-download that title to your account as many times as you like in the same way that you can reinstall your physical software. I’d also like to see some sort of loyalty value associated with a title/publisher – if I can’t physically trade in then surely that’s not too much ask.
Moving completely to DLC in my case would mean that I would purchase maybe one title a year compared to the five or six on average that I have previously bought (on console). If I don’t think something is value for money then I don’t buy it – no matter what the hype.
What are your thoughts on this?
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
Come March 30th Activision release the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Map pack on the Xbox360 to combat “mapathy” (PS3 and PC a month later). It’s apparently going to cost 1200MS points and contain five maps (two from CoD4) and possibly some other graphical but useless content.
I don’t know how much 1200MS points are as I’m on PS3 and work in pounds, shillings and pence but it’s probably about £8 (USD$12) if the World at War map packs are anything to go by. **EDIT: from this blog I found that 1200MS points is £11.** Apparently, there is much resistance to the price, I’m not sure if it’s because there are two “old” maps or some other issue but you can get the general idea from this forum thread at codnation and this blog post at the Gaming Shed Blog – there are probably numerous other grumblings elsewhere, but these are two that came up straight away.
But the main issue with whether to buy the map pack or not is whether you want to play online or spend your time being kicked from games for not having the maps.
I didn’t get World at War until really late – Novemeber-ish 2009 – after all the map packs had been released and found online play virtually impossible. It would allow me to join a lobby…..tick tick tick down the time until game start and then – BOOT, you don’t have that map (well why let me join the lobby at all?!)!
With over 4 million players, I think that those who choose not to purchase the map pack are going to find themselves in a similar situation with no way of opting for non-map pack lobbies. Although non-map pack lobbies would resolve the issue, I get the feeling that those making the green off the game already know that, which is why it’s not going to happen (and is an issue that I’ll comment on in another post).
If you want to continue playing the game online then, realistically you’re going to have to stump up the £11. Personally I don’t think that is a vast sum of money – it’s just over £2 per map. Yes, even the “old” maps. When it comes down to it, the old maps are not going to be direct ports – they’ll be updated graphically, and probably with slight differences to suit the MW2 environments. At a time when many players are getting fed up of the same maps it will add some variety and will generally be welcomed.
The word on the street is that the new maps are:
*CoD4 maps
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
Every now and then the format wars raise their ugly heads with the respective fanboys venting their spleens at anyone who slights their chose idol. PC vs MAC vs Xbox vs Playstation vs WII……
Well here’s my take on it. Obviously this is my opinion, and your opinion may differ, but that doesn’t mean that we have to have a no holds barred deathmatch to resolve the issue because you know what – it really doesn’t matter which lump of plastic any of like best. What matters is whether or not we have fun with it.
I started out on PCs – customisable, upgradeable, infinitely tweakable: rocking! Except that all that freedom allows douchebag cheaters to pretty much do what they like. I still use a PC for many things – writing this for example, doing audio/visual stuff and whatnot, but not playing games anymore. It gets too expensive and takes up too much time trying to stay somewhere near the top of the game in terms of specs. If PC gaming is your thing – great. Keyboard and mouse – love it!
I had a PS1, then the PS2…….then Sony kept delaying the launch of the PS3 so I got an Xbox360. I hadn’t had an Xbox and I’d never paid to play a game online before. The console I liked, Microsofts content policy I never liked. I paid for the console, I paid for the game, I paid for my internet connection…..and now you want me to pay to have the ability to play the game online!? That must be to connect to their super fast dedicated servers right? What!? No dedicated servers! I’m paying to have the ability to play on someone else’s Xbox and be at the mercy of not only their connection, but their whim as well….that doesn’t seem like such a good deal to me! So when the Red Ring of Death appeared and the Xbox was shipped to the fabled land of RepairCentreville I got a PS3.
So the PS3 is my main console – it’s part of the media centre actually as it’s also a blu-ray player and streams media from the computers without any problems. It’s also free to play online via the PSN – which makes shitty connections and petulant rage quitting more acceptable than when you are forced to pay for the privilege.
As to which is better between the 360 and PS3 – I prefer the 360 controllers, I prefer the flexibility of the PS3. If I could I would mate them and create a bastard child of Sony and Microsoft and christen it the PS360. It would be awesome and I would be hailed as a god, only for me to abuse my power and destroy the earth while trying to create a console-cum-toasted sandwich maker.
But wait, I haven’t mentioned the WII. I know. I have, or rather my daughter has, a WII too. WII Sports, or any ACTUAL Nintendo title – wicked. Pretty much everything else – dung. You can’t compare the WII to other consoles, it’s like trying to compare Wind Surfing with Racquet Ball.
Anyway, that’s my shorty post after my mammoth ping offering. I’m going to shoot people in the face for half an hour.
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
I’ve been on the internet for just over a decade and been making and involved with websites for a large proportion of that but this is the first time that I, or my content has had the top three results for any search term other than the site name.
Currently, on Google, my Wings v Ken video and this blog are in the top three slots for the search query “Wings of Redemption vs Ken Burton” – how cool is that:
Wings of Redemption vs Ken Burton Google results
Now if I can just replicate that success on my proper websites I can retire this time next Tuesday.
And in other news, tejb is officially NOT dead. Although he may as well be dead to the Xbox360 community – he’s bought a PS3 and has been playing Heavy Rain:
Xbox vs Playstation – why choose? Get both!
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
I had a couple of posts I was going to make tonight, but I’m going to have an early night (almost 1am here).
I’ll be posting an updated YouTube vid peeps list at the very least tomorrow. But for now questions:
Do you use headphones when you play?
Are they stereo or surround?
Are they available for the PS3?
I’m currently using a pair of Sony headphones. They’re great, the sound quality is awesome, but as they are only stereo it can make pinpointing approaching difficult with lots of swinging direction back and forth.
There don’t seem to be that many headphones available for the PS3 with the majority of main brands being aimed at the Xbox360 (damn you Bill Gates!).
Peas and loaves.
Find me on PSN – evaDlivE
