Also, if people are so offended stop moaning and vote with your money. Don't buy them, tell your friends not to buy them. If you want to make Microsoft care then use the only thing they care about: cold hard cash.

Valhawk

Mr.SithNinja

Anyway, am I the only one not understanding this? By skins do you me dashboard skins for your console, a costume for a character in a video game (wasn't there a Ryu outfit in Halo 3?) or is it this actually paying for an alternate costume for Hayabusa in the unreleased Ninja Gaiden 2 game?

Personally, for $2,50 each for any of them is bullshit. But I suppose there is always some people who buy them and pays that modeler and texture artist's (if there are such occupations) checks and makes it all profitable so why wouldn't they?

SS Ymer

Idiots buy content already on disc for 3 bucks or whatever, when they already paid 60 dollars for a full game.

Game company says "Oh wow, people sure do like being nickel and dimed! Let us nickel and dime them some more!" to the point where we'll be buying games for 70 dollars, and then we'll have to buy the access key to the first boss for another 5 bucks.

xerus`

Basically, I dont see why people are so up at arms against this. Sure, I think thier a bit overpriced and I wont be buying them myself, but thier is no reason to call people names becasue they do want these.

RuneX21

maraxusofk

xerus`

Alright, who wants to put money down on there being a Mjolnir Spartan Armor skin?

Parsifal

Spam: Cost to produce is low, cost to send to everyone is negligible in the big picture. Now if a few suckers buy it, they've justified the cost of filling everyone else's inbox with the crap.

DLC: Costs fairly little compared to a game. Depends, but normally it's fluff like costumes, or a new car, or horse armor. The cost of hosting it is insignificant, and bandwidth costs only go up a tiny bit as more people buy it. Now, if a few *cough* suckers buy it, they've just told the game companies loud and clear that they want to be charged for this kind of thing and are happy to pay for it. Well, that justifies the cost of producing it even if only a few fall for it, so why give everyone else what they're long since accustomed to getting for free?

So the people who buy DLC don't mind shelling out a floating, rising dollar value to get still less than you normally used to when bonus content was free. Those who resist and don't buy it get a bare-bones version of the game that is typically... functional, but why ever replay or explore?

...oh yeah, for the achievement points. That way I can show how good I am at the game - oops, no, they're cumulative - I can show how many games I've bought.

DLC is convenient, but it cheapens gaming for everyone, whether they buy it or not. Did you know at one time phone ringtones were free? The idea of charging for wallpaper was laughable! Yeah... well, this is where gaming is headed.

fuchikoma

@string_theory: How will costumes released at launch time for a game improve the quality of said already-released-at-that-point-in-time... game?
This will (unfortunately) provide revenue, but only after the game is completed, and in an unethical manner. DLC should be used for expansions and additions to the game, not as opportunities for selling you already created content that could--no--should have gone into the finished product to begin with.
It's already been created!

Yes, I believe it should already be in the game. If this paradigm of creating a game and launching it with additional content at release becomes the norm, consumers will eventually be looking at more and more modular products, and not in a good way.
I guarantee the price of a game isn't and won't be dropped because of content not being included. It's simply allowing publishers to stretch profit figures with the same amount of work done.
How is that acceptable?

I'm seriously shocked at all the defense given by people to companies when their sole purpose is to squeeze as much money as they can from the consumer: you. That goal does not give them a free pass on business ethics.
Again, when did this idea that companies have to lie, cheat, and/or steal become acceptable by consumers?

Of course, this is just a small product... but one would have to be ignorant to think that this business model of selling a divided-up game at a non-divided price isn't only going to grow and get worse if accepted.

@skullivan: Absolutely.

Arttemis

Ken Hikari

Instead of creating a well thought out, fully finished and loaded to the brim game with unlockables at launch, developers are using DLC as an excuse to churn out crappy half done games and then charge us up the ass to pay for content that SHOULD of already been on the disc to begin with.

It's laziness mixed with greed. Pure and simple.

Ken Hikari

MS is publishing the game this time.

SG79

Tzepish

MasterYong

And that's exactly what the greedy minds at MS knew people would be saying when they created this ridiculous point system where the MS points sold don't match the price of a game or two games or whatever (but always leave just enough for some gamerpics or wallpaper). It's VERY rare when you can use the points you buy for JUST the game or two games that you wanted to purchase with no leftover. It's such a scam it makes my head spin -- which is why I will no longer buy points. Hopefully the next question pack for Wits and Wagers will be 200, I'll buy that and be done with online transactions through MS and Nintendo (only Sony does this right).

Sloopydrew

Probably won't be getting it because I'll be wasting too much money buying new controllers as I hurl through the window in utter frustration at the game...

exkon

I thought it was bad having to pay 1 dollar for a new character in PAIN for the PS3. This is worse. At least in PAIN, the characters come with all-new special poses and personalities that can be funny & unique, and they're only a dollar. But over 2 bucks just for a costume? No thanks.

我不是中国人。

FiendishMoogle

Agreed, though I'm guilty of paying $3 (or was it $4) a pop for the three survival modes released for Sigma.

I'm not buying costumes, ever. What worries me is the potential of releasing a weapon or two at a cost.

It's a MS published game, so I guess it's inevitable.

SG79

They're fun, but not THAT fun.

Remember these days, folks. We are the last generation who will remember when games had free bonus content in them.

@skullivan:
Yes

fuchikoma

Playstation

The only possible thing Microtractions may eventually take away are what we like to call "Unlockables." We don't NEED to have these extra suits and of course only the "Hardcore" NG fans will feel comfertable paying for it. In our perfect world where everything should be cheap or free these suits should be unlocked for us with gametime or game completetion.

And we all know if it hits a bad point there will be enough gamers not paying and the suits will see the stats and reevaluate future moves.

I Spit On Your Comments

That is all.

Billkwando

Protip: Make a good game with decent content and it will make more than selling a half full game with extra content for sale.

tehFluffz

We're talking about extra costumes that cost as much as the average multiplayer map on Live, and maps are overpriced as it is. That's batshit insane.

For me the appeal of extra costumes is unlocking them by meeting certain conditions in the game. So now you can pay extra to have less enjoyment in the game because there's nothing to unlock outside of "achievements". Games just don't have hidden stuff in them anymore which is sad.

I would imagine that NGII will have some sort of Hurricane Pack DLC along the way that'll cost $10. Why not include the extra costumes in that? Because people are so quick to hand over almost $10 just for a few costumes, that's why.

skullivan

Al Bino

Prometheusxy

immelmann

Xerxes 8933A

Derigor

Zero_Beat

XanderSan

LosDaddie

Would have made an excellent wedding gift for my NG obsessed friend!

Reetesh

totally not as cool

horsekateer

Amun-Ra

Shad0X

string_theory

I would have been perfectly happpy if the skin never existed. It exists, therefore nothing has changed.

It provides a means to more funds for Tecmo, which should translate into a higher quality game.

If anything I see this as beneficial.

The only people who disagree seem to want any and all content to be included.

I have h problem with extra DLC like this, as long as it doesn't impact the game experience.

For example, Battlefield Bad Company's weapon DLC i have a HUGE problem with.
This though, not even batting an eye.

string_theory

NoMoreTrolls

Fitz Rhapsody

Antiterra

StealthMaster86

JakeDunn

If I could have bought the characters in Mario Kart Wii instead of playing the game like crazy to do so... well let's just say I wouldn't play the game quite as methodically (i.e. mad) as I've done.

This is wrong. So wrong. And I refuse to take part of it. I fell for it once and bought the extra characters in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance... and after realizing they were basically just new skins to old characters... I felt hustled.

The Whaleman

Nexus6

cheeses

I mean, if people buy useless themes and gamerpics, why not this? At least it'll be something I end up playing with.

Ashurahori

I'm looking forward to NG II, but it's bothersome to me that they've announced the DLC before the game has even gone gold. Indicating that they very clearly could have just included the costumes with the game. Well, at least it's not any kind of substantial material. If they charged you extra for the final boss fight or something... That would be pretty awful. This is just a dumb little optional thing hoping for stupid kids to spend their parents' money on something that adds nothing to the game-play.

I feel dirty just thinking about it.

Also, on an almost entirely off-topic note: Has the supposed multi-player for Dead Rising DLC idea just been totally scrapped, or what? I may be one of the few people who would still be excited about that, anyway.

Uzumaki_Kiba

Al Bino

FP_slomo788

Shiryu

Llost

Turn that into a cold sale and it doesn't feel rewarding at all.

Llost

maxax

But then I am a ninja gaiden fanboy.

fbdeluxe

KingBroly

hk458

Maldron

deathsyth8888

eastx

sariah

Crushing disappointment.

kiigan

EvilFiek