Lumines Live! Creator Defends Content Downloads

Eurogamer reports that Lumines Live! creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi is defending the extra content downloads required to play the entire game on the 360. From the article: "Mizuguchi told IGN that one reason for the download/pricing strategy was technical ('We have to include everything in 50MB') but that the other reason was the desire to let people customise Lumines. 'We want people to look at Lumines and, depending on the artist, or the season, or the music, we want to give them different reasons to consider buying the game,' he explained." Relatedly, the Live service hit 4 Million users, Microsoft has announced. "Microsoft reckons it's on track for six million users by June 2007. 'We openly welcome other console platforms to join us in [the online] space,' [they say], a bit mockingly."

Content Download = BS

[Conception]

So, I don't mind the add-ons. I think it's totally awesome to be able to expand the game... but Lumines does it in such an underhanded way that I will not pay any more money for that game.

A) First like all other live games, they say many times, "Pay to Unlock the full game!" all over the place.

B) When you do, there is no indication that any of the other modes are optional. You don't actually discover it till after you've played the first level or two and the screen pops up and says, "HAHA, you suck! Give us more money, fool!"

What they should have done is have the options listed as Main Game and Download Content. As you download the content, it adds items to the menu. Perhaps a "Test Downloadable Content" section or something for the try before you buy action. It's not what their doing, it's how sneaky and evil they do it.

So...

[CaseM]

So they have to fit each component in a 50 MB "package", but who said that had to charge more than $20.00 for the whole thing??

The mere fact that the "Full Game" (according to the description in XBLA) has locked content inside of it is gonna piss a whole lot of people off.

A Question of Semantics

[LukeCage]

The problem is not that the game is downloadable. The problem is not the price -- it is actually fairly reasonable for a puzzle game. No, the problem is the semantics used. The game is listed as "Unlock the Full Game", not "Unlock Mission Mode and a Few Trial Modes". This sets the expectation that the player will have access to ALL of those locked modes that you see in the trial version of the game, not a handful. Furthermore, the developer's assertion that he is allowing the player to "download and customize the game" is pure hogwash. If he is, where is the granualarity? There is, at present, the "Full Game" (really just a "base game"), a future skin pack, and an additional pack of mode unlocks. That's hardly "customization". Since Microsoft pushed the microtransaction model so hard, why isn't this company taking advantage of it and offering individual skin download or genre packs for a small discount? The fact is that this is a simple example of publisher greed and comes very close to a bait-and-switch method of dealing with gamers. Microsoft needs to step into this as a consumer advocate and offer a refund in MS Points (and a corresponding revocation of the ability to play the game) to anyone who feels shorted by this situation.

Re:Content Download = BS

[Babbster]

Yeah, see, I don't think YOU read what the poster said. What he's saying is that the way in which it was implemented is nasty. First, there are no ancillary downloads listed (the only way to know if there are addons for XBL games while browsing the Marketplace) and, second, when you go to buy the game it tells you you're buying the full game. In other words, it's not about having to pay more for additional content but rather about the presentation of the game within the structure of the MS online store.

Nobody's pissed about the downloadable content

[fahrvergnugen]

Nobody's pissed off about the downloadable content. Well, nobody reasonable, anyway.

As usual, it's all about expectation management. When people spend $15 on the most expensive XBox Live! game, they expect a complete experience, even without the add-on packs. When people see an option for a game mode in the main menu of this (relatively very) expensive game, they expect to be able to play that game mode without buying an add-on pack. When these expectations aren't met, because that game mode is merely 5 minutes' of play time followed by an advertisement for the add-on pack to unlock the rest of the greyed out menu options, people naturally get pissed off. When this pattern repeats itself multiple times in the same game, people naturally get REALLY pissed off.

Nobody likes paying to receive advertisements. Unfortunately, that's exactly what it feels like to play Lumines on XBox live. If the base Lumines game were cheaper (say, $5), we'd put up with it, but when the game is the most expensive one on the service, people naturally get pretty pissed off about it.