Author Topic: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.  (Read 6051 times)

Offline idolminds

  • ZOMG!
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 11,939
Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 04:34:13 PM »
There goes that series.

Quote
The latest issue of Famitsu has an interview with Kazunori Yamauchi for the new Gran Turismo on PS3.

+ They'll release 2 versions for the new Gran Turismo (they use the same "Gran Turismo HD" name of the E3 demo for the product names) for the PS3 soon. Both support online multiplayer.

+ The proper GT5 is going to hit in 2008. GT HD is meant to grow the rich network service before GT5. The online modes are based on the 4 modes in GT4:Online beta (Quick Race/Tuned Race/Private Race/Time Attack) and several other modes are added. The online will be launched worldwide at the same time.

+ Gran Turismo HD: Premium is essentially a GT5 prologue that uses the full graphics power of the PS3. (Pictures show a 3D spectator crowd, very detailed car models with interiors.) The weather changes while racing. It comes with 2 courses (both original and new, city and nature) and 30 cars including new ones. You can buy additional 30 cars and 2 courses (real circuits) later online. This version (or both GT HD, not sure) is a pure driving simulator and almost a tool. You don't get cars in in-game events, you just do whatever you want with games and courses or buy new ones via online.

+ Gran Turismo HD: Classic is what adopts the GT:HD playable demo at E3 and meant to showcase the online aspect. A race is done with about 20 cars. Apparently this version starts with no cars or courses. You download a car for 50 - 100 yen (0.43 - 0.85$) and a course for 200 - 500 yen (1.71 - 4.26$). Over 750 cars and 50 tracks are available for purchase. Users can define race events freely and can hold online race events by themselves.

+ Not all cars and courses are available on the release date, they are added monthly. Some models may be a limited release for 1000 units. New playing modes and tuning parts may be available via download. It's still undecided if they allow trade among users in fear of real money trade.
Holy cripes on toast. At $0.50 a car, 750 cars will cost you $375! 50 tracks at $2 is $100! Now, you may not want all 750 cars, but I know most people will want the tracks to race the cars they do purchase.

Offline scottws

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 6,602
    • Facebook Me
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #1 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 05:21:41 PM »
Lame.  Bad idea.  I have a feeling it will fall flat on its face.

Offline iPPi

  • Senior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,159
  • Roar!
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #2 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 05:47:24 PM »
Failure.

Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 06:04:14 PM »
Maybe not in the Asian markets.  They've embraced this micropayment shit like nobody's business.  At least with MMO stuph.  Time will tell if that'll fly with this kind of thing.  But yes, my guess is that in the US this would bomb so far into the fucking ground it isn't even funny.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline sirean_syan

  • Global Moderator
  • Post-aholic
  • *
  • Posts: 2,544
  • ...
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 06:19:54 PM »
Doom and gloom. This is one of the signs that the launch of this generation of consoles is generally not a happy occasion. If this manages to take off at all, we're only going to see more of this crap.

Offline shock

  • Poster Child
  • ***
  • Posts: 994
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #5 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 06:53:36 PM »
I love Sony.
Suck it, Pugnate.

Offline gpw11

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 7,182
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #6 on: Wednesday, September 20, 2006, 09:17:32 PM »
Sony just totally doesn't get it.  It's kind of the same with anything- they see someone do something and it work out so they figure they should get on it.  Then they fuck with the formula and it bombs.

Paying for extras isn't entirely a bad idea.  It works in some cases.  Obviously we'd all rather have them come free, but there are extras worth paying for that probably wouldn't exist were they to be free.  Sony sees this and just goes totally gung fucking ho with that.  "Microsoft offers arcade games at a few dollars a pop and extra content.  Nintendo offers old console games for pretty cheap.  What can we offer?  I know!  We'll sell them empty games and then offer them the content to actually...you know...make them games."

Offline Antares

  • Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,179
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #7 on: Friday, September 22, 2006, 05:29:57 PM »
f that.

Offline PyroMenace

  • Senior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3,930
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #8 on: Friday, September 22, 2006, 10:55:20 PM »
I cannot possibly express the sheer volume of lack of interest that I have for Gran Turismo, however as much as I have always neglected the games they now have earned themselves lame points, and any other franchise that wishes to continue in this negative direction will further root a new hatred for Gran Turismo.

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #9 on: Saturday, September 23, 2006, 06:42:49 AM »
How do I hate this.  Let me count the ways.  I don't pay $500 for a console.  I don't pay $375 for one game.  I don't buy games that depend on being online.  I don't buy games that don't become completely mine when I take the box home.  Have I missed anything?  Let me think . . .

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #10 on: Saturday, September 23, 2006, 08:29:39 AM »
Well, this seems....REDICULOUS....

...Unless they plan to support this game FOREVER. Chances on that: highly doubtful. Chances of the public liking this idea to pay for what pieces you want: even more doubtful.

Episodic gaming (HL2 Episodes and Sin Episodes) make way more sense than this crap. At least w/ an episode, you can guarateed yourself, for $20, 4-6 hours of gameplay -- which is about the size of a $30 retail expansion pack. Makes sense.

So, when will there be a GT Edition w/ everything at retail stores? I wonder...



Offline Quemaqua

  • 古い塩
  • Administrator
  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 16,498
  • パンダは触るな。
    • Bookruptcy
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #11 on: Saturday, September 23, 2006, 09:29:38 AM »
I hate episodic gaming and I hate this crap.  I want to shell out a decent amount of money and get a decent amount of game in return.  I don't want to spend five cents or five dollars or whatever on something that should have been in the game proper in the first place, and I don't want to spend half price getting a measy 6 hours of gameplay.  I would finish a 6 hour game in a single sitting, and there's no fucking point in doing that, to me.  Opinions vary widely on the whole episodic thing, but I'm definitely one of those who doesn't like it at all.  I don't mind having episodes in a game, ala Duke3D or Doom, but I want them all in a single package.  I don't want them standalone.  I want to access them all from the same executable when I boot the game up.  I don't mind paying a little bit of money for something cool in a game, either, as long as it's a VERY reasonable amount of money for something REALLY work paying for, and ONLY if the game itself is already a complete and satisfying game by itself.  Oblivion, for instance.  I don't mind spending a few bucks on official mods that are actually cool, because the game is already perfectly awesome without them.  I don't NEED a wizard's tower house because the game already has purchaseable real estate, but if I happen to want that, it isn't expensive and it's awfully neat.  That's okay by me.  This GT thing is absolutely not.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

  • Forum god
  • *
  • Posts: 18,049
  • OWNet 4 Eternity & Beyond
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #12 on: Saturday, September 23, 2006, 10:12:02 AM »
I hate episodic gaming and I hate this crap.  I want to shell out a decent amount of money and get a decent amount of game in return.  I don't want to spend five cents or five dollars or whatever on something that should have been in the game proper in the first place, and I don't want to spend half price getting a measy 6 hours of gameplay.  I would finish a 6 hour game in a single sitting, and there's no fucking point in doing that, to me.  Opinions vary widely on the whole episodic thing, but I'm definitely one of those who doesn't like it at all.
We've seen 6-7 hour games games charge that price for retail price, even.

Quote
I don't mind having episodes in a game, ala Duke3D or Doom, but I want them all in a single package.  I don't want them standalone.  I want to access them all from the same executable when I boot the game up.
Yes, I like that, myself -- though, all those episodes are more or less chapters to the overarching story and should be played in order. :P Also what I like about PK -- all under one EXE entirely, where you can select to go w/ the original campaign or the Battle out of Hell expansion.

This is also what I like about NWN -- it's all under one EXE file. You have a "Campaigns" section (for all the Official NWN Campaigns & Expansions) and a "Modules Section" straight from main screen, after you select "Single Player" option.

I also like what Dungeon Siege series does. They don't change the old original EXE, if you install an expansion. They create a new folder and create a new EXE file for the expansion, once you install that. You still have the old original DS2.EXE and saves and can play the game as it was being played originally and all. In Broken World expansion under that EXE file, once you create/select/import your character to start a new game, you can select to run the old DS2 campaign or the new Broken World campaign within the new EXE for the expansion packs -- with all the new features (the new classes, more magic spell slots, and game balancing changes) added.

Quote
I don't mind paying a little bit of money for something cool in a game, either, as long as it's a VERY reasonable amount of money for something REALLY work paying for, and ONLY if the game itself is already a complete and satisfying game by itself.  Oblivion, for instance.  I don't mind spending a few bucks on official mods that are actually cool, because the game is already perfectly awesome without them.  I don't NEED a wizard's tower house because the game already has purchaseable real estate, but if I happen to want that, it isn't expensive and it's awfully neat.  That's okay by me.  This GT thing is absolutely not.
I find what Oblivion's doing is WAY more acceptable than GT. I just wish they'd put those mods on disc, myself. :P I wonder how many mods they are planning to actually do for Oblivion. And as much as they say there probably won't be an expansion, with the way the game ended, I am hoping and waiting for one....That or for Elder Scrolls 5 to pick up right from after the end of part 4.

The next GT has an edition that comes w/ NOTHING?!?!? And then you have to pay to get tracks and cars and stuff??? What the hell is that?!?!?

Offline Antares

  • Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,179
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #13 on: Saturday, September 23, 2006, 10:35:40 PM »
Isn't the whole play/reward system of a game like gran turismo supposed to be set up around unlocking better cars and tracks as a reward for beating parts of the game?

What the hell is the point of the game if you have to buy everything to unlock it?

Offline Cobra951

  • Gold Member
  • *
  • Posts: 8,934
Re: Goodbye, Gran Turismo. Welcome to micropayment hell.
« Reply #14 on: Sunday, September 24, 2006, 05:37:36 AM »
Now it's a reward for spending money.