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Gran Turismo with NO cars!

Arreat

By Arreat
in Yoda’s Swamp

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Arreat Newbie

Arreat

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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153775

There's horse armor and then there's the kind of microtransactions that Famitsu is reporting (via: Beyond3D and the vitriolic NeoGAF). According to the Famitsu inteview with Kazunori Yamauchi, Gran Turismo HD will have two SKUs on the PS3. One of these games will ship with no cars, all of them will be purchased via microtransactions.

The other, Gran Turismo HD: Premium, will ship with two courses and 30 cars, with an additional 30 cars and an additional two courses online at a later date. The Premium game is being considered a prologue to the PS3's eventual Gran Turismo 5.

 

The microtransaction-focused game, Gran Turismo HD: Classic will be the online-focused entrant into the GT-series. In this game, players will (reportedly) start with no cars or courses available to them. Instead, they will need to purchase their stable of cars and courses to race on. The pricing reported in the Famitsu piece indicated that cars would cost between 50-100 yen ($0.43-$0.85) and courses between 200-500 yen ($1.71-$4.26). There are approximiately 750 cars and 50 tracks available for purchase in the GT: HD Classic. Let's do the math:

 

750 cars for $0.50-$1.00 (Sony will round-up, don't you think?)

50 tracks for $1.50-$4.50

A complete copy of the game will cost gamers somewhere between $426.50 and $975, and that's without factoring in whatever Sony decides to charge for the menus (since that's all you'll get with GT HD: Classic).

 

Does this sound a little familiar? It should. Phil Harrison alluded to a possible future like this one last June in OPM.

 

I'll give you an example; Kazunori [Yamauchi, producer of the Gran Turismo series] would kill me for this: Imagine Gran Turismo shipping on a disc with one car and one track. And then you can browse, online, a dynamic circuit of vehicles that's growing every day because either the car manufacturers are adding new vehicles or we're adding new vehicles. And you can see a specific-type car that's being called up and say, "I think I'll play with that one. Let me download and play it." Maybe the business model allows you to play it for a day; maybe the business model allows you to own it forever. But that content is now yours on your hard drive. Or [maybe you could download] new tracks, new music, whole games.

Now, is it possible that the game will be a full-priced title with a built-in download system that allows users to download cars and tracks equal to the number of the game's retail price? We hope the model ends up similar to this. However, right now, details are extremely sparse, and Sony has to have an answer to these questions -- most of the people who can answer are over in Tokyo, we'll update if we hear back.

 

Welcome to next-gen."

 

 

 

So just how many other games will follow suit in this microtransaction plan? So now not only are you trying to buy a seriously overpriced, and overhyped system, but now you get ghost games that will cost you (if you plan to buy everything it has to offer) that cost more than the overpriced system itself? Man, Sony sure is a marketing genius this time around.

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Davinq Newbie

Davinq

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...if you can afford a 600USD PS3...
Which I can't.
you can also afford to buy a small country and GTHD + downloads.
Which, unsurprisingly, I also can't. Sure my income is more than most at thirteen years, but most of it's going to the car/college. I'm glad I don't rely on Sony. The game doesn't even sound all that great.
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ChAiNz.2da Newbie

ChAiNz.2da

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Definitely seems to be the going trend.. and unfortunately not just in the console market. PC'ers are getting milked too :(

 

Oblivion does this with there Official plugin-ins (mods :rolleyes: )... ranging anywhere from $.99 - $1.99..

 

Same could be said for NWN, but at least their Premium Modules give you hours of gameplay rather than a car, or house, or horse, or a... you get the point ;)

 

I think it's ridiculous, especially if it's not adding any kind of depth to the game or if it actually limits your gaming if you don't decide to purchase something later on.

 

Expansions I'm all for...tiny little trinket/token "mods" aren't. I'll make them myself if I want it that bad.. :mad:

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Dagobahn Eagle Newbie

Dagobahn Eagle

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First there were full games which were complete when they came out (for real. Thought you youngsters may have trouble believing it). Case of point: Every SNES game.

 

Then there were games that were released unfinished, with patches partially fixing them. Case of point: Pretty much every game today.

 

Then there were games that were released very unfinished, with patches doing a minimum of fixing and a multitude of expensive expansion packs doing some more fixing. Case of point: The Sims.

 

I should've seen the next step (see post #1) coming.

 

It's a pretty ingenious move, though. Since every feature costs $1, people will probably buy tonnes of them. So instead of making a game with so and so many cars and tracks and sell it for $50, they make a game with equally many cars and tracks and sell it for $900.

 

Profit: $850.

 

But yes, it sucks big time. It reminds me of those jokes that frequent comics, movies, and so on about cars where all these essential things are "extras". This Uncle Scrooge comic by Don Rosa where brakes are "extras", this Norwegian comedy that had a train company sell coffee to passengers and charge them extra if they wanted cups for the coffee...

 

Sigh.

 

So... Who wants to buy my house? If you want it, I can also sell you walls, windows, doors, electricity, plumbing, and a nice garden:D.

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