“We don’t set the prices of our games, that’s at the discretion of the retailer. In this specific instance, the process has resulted in a price difference, but the process itself is not something we completely control.”

High street specialist retailer GAME lists DMC4 with an RRP of £49.99 on PS3 and £39.99 on Xbox 360. Both Play.com and Amazon.co.uk list the same pricing.”

First of all, at current exchange rates, the 360 SKU of DMC4 costs the equivalent of approximately 80 dollars. This means that the PS3 version is selling for essentially $100.00. So, a moment of silence for our British gaming compatriots, because that is fucking insane. This also means you don’t get to bitch about games being too expensive anywhere on the internet.

Second, the more I think about it, the more I really do wonder if this is aimed at recuperating costs associated with the difficult retail costs associated with Sony’s rapidly transforming strategies for the PS3 over the last 12 months. At least here in the states, hardware price drops are frequently eaten by retailers (although people are welcome to correct me if I’m wrong, as this is the case at Frys, Best Buy, and Gamestop at the very least), and retailers already make next to nothing on hardware. Will other retailers in the UK and EU decide to follow suit?

-Aegies

While it would be awesome for them to allow the user to choose the game, I fear that we will have to suffer through something that is only so-so. My guess is that we’ll either get something that is over a year old (Catan, anyone?), or that we’ll get some new XBLA game that was never going to do that well to begin with. Hell though, at least they are doing something.

Chufmoney

[via 1up]

You may have noticed that the LIVE service has been having a few issues over the past few days. This includes things like signing in, matchmaking and account recovery. Not everyone has had problems, but I know some of you have and I wanted to give you and update. While the service was never completely offline, problems like this are not acceptable. The entire LIVE team has been working day and night to ensure that you can have a great LIVE experience. While we’re not done yet, I wanted to let you know that things are getting better each hour and that no one on the team is going anywhere until the job is done. Thanks for your patience.

Edit: As people have noticed, we have made good progress. We have a bit more work to do, but we’re doing much better now. I know some of you still may be having issues, and we’re working on those. Oh, and Happy New Year to those that are celebrating.

At least they are working for the money they take from you every month. I would like to see Microsoft give something like a free week of service–as WoW has done when they encountered server issues–but I doubt that will happen. Back to computer land for me!

Chufmoney

[via Evil Avatar]

I guess I actually do know how I feel about it–it’s shitty! They can get anything they are willing to pay for at anytime, but have to wait for free shit, and that is wrong.

Thanks for the update, Microsoft, I really appreciate it. But could you shit a little less on my cheap ass friends?

Chufmoney

First off, if your 360 is red-ringing, don’t call. In fact, if your 360 is having any problems at all, don’t call. Many people aren’t aware that the recent warranty update to the system only covers the 3 red lights failure specifically. This means that disc read errors and general console shenanigans are still sort of your problem. Why sort of? Well, that brings me back to specifically not calling 1-800-4-MYXBOX.

Why not call? Well, you tell me. Do you want to talk to someone in India (who I’m sure is really very nice, actually) walking you through every troubleshooting step that you desperately walked through when your console first gave you its red-lit harbinger of expiration? In english that is often broken to be polite, I might add. If your 360 is well and truly throwing off the three red lights, then you have already done everything the phone rep is required to make you do.

If your 360 isn’t red ringed, and is suffering from other errors that still make it just as unplayable, then calling is silly. You’re either going to let it slip that your console isn’t actually red-ringing, or you’re going to have to act like you’re going through the same motions. It’s lose-lose, as you’re wasting everyone’s time.

So what do you do instead? Go to service.xbox.com. Sign in using your Passport account, fill in your serial number information, and submit a repair request. Specify that your console is giving you the three red lights whether it is or not. In the event that you have a much too overactive conscience about fudging this little item (in the event that you’re receiving disc read errors in reality), look at it this way: your console will, at some point, red ring. You probably already know this (deep down in your heart), and the repair people at Microsoft’s service center also know this. If your console isn’t red-ringing yet, it will still likely have some of the wear that presents itself before the console fails regardless, and that’s enough. They’ll look at it and replace it with a refurbished unit (most likely) with new heatsinks, a new drive, and maybe even a new processor. It’s cheaper to replace these components than it is to fix them. All you’re doing is getting a head start on the anticipated failure of your console.

It sucks that we’ve been put in this position, but best to get it over with now instead of when (like me) you’re in the middle of, say, playing through Halo 3 on Legendary for the first time. There’s nothing quite so sadness/rage inducing as to have your 360 red ring next to your shiny new exorbitantly priced Master Chief helmet.

When you fill out your request online, there are no hoops to jump through save for filling out your information for the location you want them to send your console to. Here’s some more helpful info: Microsoft requires a signature for delivery of the empty box, and your replacement 360. If you’re unlikely to be home when UPS would deliver (usually between 9-5 PM in your time zone), then have it delivered to your place of employment, or to the place of employment of a roommate or friend. If you have it delivered to your place of employment, make sure it’s addressed to “YOUR PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT, C/O YOUR NAME”. Also make sure that the floor of your employer is listed in the address (this part fucked Chuf over on receiving his in a timely fashion).

Another suggestion is to fill out the repair request as soon as the box dies, especially if it happens Friday through Sunday. Requests for shipping filed on the weekend go out Monday morning. Shipments via UPS 3 day on Monday will generally arrive Wednesday or Thursday. Send your box off as quickly as possible, but remember that shipping only occurs on business days. If you take your console to a UPS location (oh, yeah, find out where UPS locations are near you, like UPS or package shipping stores) late on a Friday, that console isn’t leaving the store til Monday morning in all likelihood. It sounds overly anal retentive, but this could all greatly affect how long it takes to get your console back.

I’ll explain to you how these factors can effect this. I filed my request on a Monday night (when it happened), But I didn’t get my box for the system until a week later, because I listed my home address on my claim form. I leave my house at 7:20 or so in the morning and often don’t get back to my apartment til 7:00 at night (or later), so UPS couldn’t deliver the box. I had to reroute the package to my work.

I sent my console back the day before Halloween. Microsoft received it that Friday (November 2nd) and shipped it back on November 14th, which was a Thursday. I would have received the console back on Monday, but because of my original address issue, they again sent it to my apartment. UPS won’t allow a recipient to reroute a delivery until the first failed attempt. I ended up getting my system on November 19th. That’s a total turn around of 21 days including shipping, almost a week of which could have been avoided if I had just put my work instead of my apartment. The good news is returns are speeding up, and when you fill out a service request online, you can track your repair status there. That’s all for this time, but next time, I’ll mention the one snafu with the repair tracking that I experienced, and my luck thus far dealing with the consequences of receiving a different console than the one I sent in.

-Aegies

This method is not without its critics. The obvious problem that many find with this approach stems from the fact that a violent video game is being used to draw these children. Many of the kids that are coming to the “Halo nights,” couldn’t even go out and buy the game legally, but that probably adds to the appeal of the events. Ken Kenerly, a pastor who runs a church out of Atlanta, in response to critics, asks, “With gamers, how else can you get into their lives?”

Some churches have been much more accepting than others. The Southern Baptist church has recently sent out an email to over 50,000 young congregates, teaching them how to spread their faith through Halo 3. Other organizations, like the group Focus on the Family, still hasn’t made up their mind about what stance they should take on this new form of proselytizing.

Neither Aegies or I have any problem with this. Despite the fact that neither of us are religious, we understand where these people are coming from. They aren’t being malicious, they’re just using new venues to spread a message they think will help us. So, I guess what I am trying to say, is, don’t be a dick to these people, they are doing what they are doing only out of love.

Moreover, we should all look at this as a good thing because it is doing two things. One, it is opening people’s minds about video games and violence, and two, it is making people more aware of the medium. These are good things, people.

I bet Jesus whores the rocket launcher.

Chufmoney

Teamxbox reported today that they have found a listing for a new 360 SKU on both Amazon and ToysRUs’ website. The SKU, while not called by the same name, is still a 360 without a hard drive. It is still 279$, but now will come with some arcade games — and possibly an HDMI port. We also suspect that the system will come with a memory card, possibly of the 256 MB variety.

Personally I don’t think that the SKU is going to make a damn bit of difference for the sales of the console. It just seems like too high of a price for a system that hasn’t been promoted enough as a casual system. Aegies, on the other hand, feels that the lower price and bundle will help sales come this holiday season, especially if it is promoted with Scene It. We both feel that ultimately the 279$ price tag is going to hold back most of the casual audience.

What do you guys think, does a 279$ xbox appeal to anyone besides those whose console has red-ringed and are seeking a cheap replacement?

Chufmoney

Because of this, I had to violently mask my sexual arousal at the leaked screenshots from the Japanese Xbox site for Ninja Gaiden 2, which feature even more outrageous ninja antics, including dismemberment (arms AND legs!), decapitation, and disembowelment by sword, axe, and FUCKING WOLVERINE CLAWS.

As a matter of fact, why hasn’t Tecmo gotten the license for a Wolverine game? Microsoft quickly pulled the page offline, but the damage was done, and the “surprise” was somewhat spoiled I suppose for one of Microsoft’s big Pre-TGS announcements. But really, who cares? It’s coming, it’s coming reasonably soon, and unfortunately for those who went with a PS3 instead, this time it’s being published by Microsoft, which limits its potential to migrate to the black behemoth.

So aside from claws, what else is new?

We don’t have the full details just yet, but we were able to pick up some early information. Perhaps as a way to counter many of the complaints about the series’ difficulty, one of the central gameplay changes is a new health system that will automatically heal players to a certain extent. We don’t know exactly how this system will work, but it seems to be similar to Halo 1′s setup where a certain portion of your life will recharge if you can stay out of trouble for a few moments, but another portion of your life (your “armor,” to continue the Halo comparison) will remain missing until you make it to the next save point.

Between those save points, you’ll bounce from New York to Tokyo to the Netherworld, and as you can see in the new screenshots from the game, come across an area called the Aqua Capital with gondolas and a river running through the center of town. It’s hard to say much definitively about the game’s New York appearance, but a “stage select” screenshot released by Microsoft suggests that the Statue of Liberty will make an appearance.

I’m actually a fan of the idea of something of a stamina recharging mechanic for the title, as buying elixirs over and over again was one of the few really tedious aspects of the last game. But knowing Team Ninja, this also probably means the enemies will be even more aggressive/dangerous. Since I’m at work, I’m trying not to embarass myself with the visual manifestation of my lust for this game. Suffice it to say though, I’m excited. Release is expected in the second half of 2008.

-Aegies

If you read the site a lot (and thanks if you do), you may remember my previous optimism for the title. It’s pedigree establishes legitimacy for me, as I’m a big fan of the Hitman games, and its thematic motifs are what really sell me, as it has a very heavy Michael Mann (director of Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice, etc)sensibility going on. It’s the closest we’ve really come yet to a heist based game, and that’s something I feel like I can get behind. And the characters are interesting.

The good news is, it largely delivered on its promise in the time I spent with it. While admittedly short, it gave me time to get comfortable with the controls and the squad and cover mechanics. The cover doesn’t work as it does in, say, Gears of War or Rainbow Six Vegas; instead, you’ll walk up to cover (be it a column or wall or other object), and the game will lightly attach you to it. Move the stick lightly, and you’ll stay attached to cover, and lightly tapping in the direction of the corner will switch your shoulder to that side. You hit the L-trigger to go into a tighter over the shoulder aiming perspective (we might as well call the left trigger the “aim” button in third person shooters at this point), and if you’re attached to cover, the L-trigger will pull you around the corner a-la-Gears to aim and fire from the cover position. You can also blind fire. Really, there’s not a lot new to the game in this respect from the recent horde of third person shooters we’ve seen for the last 9 months, but I suppose we’re in an “ain’t broke” phase in the console generation, and hey, it works.

The squad based mechanic is a little different than we’ve seen in other third person shooters though, as the X button cycles you through the four members of your squad while the B button assigns positions or targets to them. It’s similar to the Ubisoft squad shooter mechanic, and to a degree it is, but it’s streamlined and much simpler to use, which is good, because if you don’t, you’re going to die. A lot. But! Your squad mates will often come to your side and revive you. I say often though because they’re supposed, but there were a couple times where I lay on the ground writhing in agony, waiting for a squad mate that would never come. This is bad when you basically won’t die unless all your squad members are dead (or so I surmised after about 45 seconds without any criminal assistance).

The demo level was the Japanese skyscraper scene that’s been such a prominent fixture in the trailers for the game. I started on the roof, as we came out of a stairwell and eliminated the light complement of guards on a helipad. I then went to the edge of the building and rappelled down to the ledge of the office where an old acquaintance of Kane’s is holding a briefcase he and his cohorts have been tasked with retrieving. I moved forward and placed an explosive charge on the window and stepped back as the window blew inward, and then we moved in and took out the guards and delivered a little revenge to the target. I don’t want to get too expository so I’ll leave it at that. The graphics look good, and they get the job done. Kane & Lynch isn’t winning any beauty contests so far, but it has a lot going on the screen and the engine has come a long way from Hitman: Blood Money, with much better texture detail, a lot less random shininess, and improved character animation. The faces on the main characters especially are pretty expressive, and Kane’s ugly scar and Lynch’s receeded hairline are convincingly rendered.

The demo ends with a showdown with the police outside of the building as your team tries to make it to their van. Again, it’s a very convincing heist scenario with some heavy Heat influences, which is about three different kinds of awesome. We didn’t get a chance to see the co-op in action, and it was too loud to get an idea of the dialog that’s played so prominent a part in the trailers, but the game looks good and performs well, and it’s fun. The only problem is that official release dates are still saying late this year, and I can’t see the game doing as well as it otherwise could in a less crowded release season. I can tell at this point though that they’re getting my money.

-Aegies

-Aegies

Preamble:
We worked hard to get this beta done July 26th. Since then we’ve been working on logistical issues, MS cert, what would be involved to make everything work internationally, number of keys, and a bunch of other boring non-game stuff. Most of it is just related to being the first 3rd party console game to offer a beta.

Now there are even more logistical issues coming up. Streetwise is pumping up their servers in an effort for charlieoscardelta to be able to handle the beta traffic. Additionally, since they are testing the new servers right now they can’t really update them. So putting up countdowns, changing and testing the scripts to gather info for tokens, etc would have to wait a bit.

24 hour notice:
But we’ve been playing the beta internally, and it’s so much fun we are dying to play with you. So… let’s blow off waiting for the site and just consider this the countdown — there will be a way for people to register for the beta starting 5pm PST tomorrow. Some of those will be playing as early as tomorrow night.. tick tock tick tock.

The roll out:
The beta is going to roll out in waves. Rather than just putting a million people in the beta and hope nothing goes wrong, we will ramp up the playercount over time.

As fourzerotwo mentioned, right now some friends/family are testing. The press will be joining in the next couple days — including those of you who make it into the first wave.

No worries if you aren’t in the very first wave (most won’t be), we should have a new wave of players every day or so as we ramp up.

Details on how to register for your chance to be in the beta will be posted tomorrow at 5pm PST*. So stay tuned for details, it will be a limited time offer.

*= this may not be the only way to ever get in the beta, but it is the way to have a chance to get in the early waves.

This really has been the Year of the Console Beta, with Shadowrun, Halo 3, Warhawk, Metal Gear Online, and now COD4 all inviting console players to give early feedback on some pretty big games. I happen to think this has much more to do with QA than with kindness on the part of these developers, as there were frequent online multiplayer issues with virtually every big release last year, including Gears of War, Call of Duty 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas, GRAW, and more than I care to list. These betas are a great way to find out issues within these titles before the bad PR of a pissed off fanbase hurts their titles’ long tail sales numbers.

With my luck, I won’t get in on the first wave, as I can’t pick up Bioshock until about 430 this afternoon. Ah well. It’s not like there’ll be any shortage of things to play.

Of course, he also predicted sell-through of 330,000 Wii, more than double PlayStation 3. So it wouldn’t exactly be a victory. The bump in predicted sales comes from the fact that the PlayStation 3 pricing adjustments hit in July, the drop in Xbox sales from the early negative publicity resulting from the “red ring of death” warranty issue.

Pachter predicts total industry sales of $425 million, up 13.5% from July 2006.

His reasoning seems sound, until you take a couple of things in consideration. First, sentiment for hardware reliability on the 360 was bad for literally months prior to July, and in point of fact, was arguably the worst it ever was in the last week of June. Somehow, this didn’t affect sales much, as they were largely flat from the month prior. Second, Microsoft announced their three year hardware warranty revision in the first week of July, which seemed to do a lot to alleviate concerns in gaming circles (especially on forums and message boards, and in the media) about the long term viability of the console. Public opinion of the console was arguably better in July than it had been since February, when thousands of holiday buyers of the console (who were sold on it by releases like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas) began to experience their premature hardware failure, an experience which seemed to repeat itself whenever the 360 crowd migrated to a new game.

I actually expect that 360 sales will be better for July than they were for June(not by alot, but at least a bit), for a few reasons. The warranty convinced some of the people to get off the fence and pick one up, the E3 showing reiterated the obscene amount of titles for the system in the fall, The Darkness was a solid game that continued to sustain a growing userbase (as well as Forza 2, which continues to sell), and Elites were significantly easier to find, which until around now continued to sell out quickly at retail. I do think PS3 sales will be up significantly, but I don’t think we’re going to see the kind of numbers for it that Pachter is predicting.

I could very well be wrong. But the hardware issues didn’t seem to affect 360 sales nearly as much as price has been. I’d imagine 360 sales will likely be flat, with PS3 sales in the 145,000 range, which is still phenomenal for the console, which hasn’t had a month like that since Christmas. But we’ll see. And hey, August should be even more interesting.

-Aegies

When I heard that a Katamari game was coming out for 360 I had mixed feelings. I was worried that the game, while great for a short handheld experience, wouldn’t translate well to the console. Some how the controls felt intuitive with the buttom scheme on the PSP. Moreover, I was worried that the game would not appeal to the 360 audience, since it isn’t a violent shooter. Don’t believe me? See Viva Pinata’s sales numbers.

The demo did nothing to assuage my mixed feelings. I was immediately excited when it started — hearing the theme music ringing in my surround sound rocked my soul! — but the game did not blow me away. However, this isn’t to say that it isn’t fun, quite the contrary, it is a really enjoyable demo. The addicting appeal of the original Katamari lives on, with you quickly just focusing on the ridiculous premise of trying to pick up bigger and bigger worldly objects. It’s hard to explain, you should try it.

That being said, I still have my worries. I sincerely hope that this game doesn’t release for an MSRP of 59.99$. Unless the online component is mind blowingly awesome (it isn’t contained within the demo), I just don’t see enough content to warrant the price. It is fun, but I don’t see myself having much time to dedicate to an expensive casual game when the season of gaming death is almost upon us. Again, I could be wrong if the online proves to be amazing.

The demo is worth a try, especially if you have never played the game in it’s other incarnation. Play through the demo a few times (it only lasts 3 minutes). The first time you might not like it, but by the end you’ll probably figure out why so many people fawn over this title.

Chufmoney

This is why you’re hearing about it now. Why you’re most likely going to continue to hear about it is because there is a very good chance that Bioshock really is going to be Game of the (Motherfucking) Year in a year where there is no shortage of contenders for the crown. What’s my evidence? Read on, and weep that 2K didn’t push up the release date to this week.

As of right now (to my knowledge) 11 reviews for Bioshock have been released/published, and the current average of these reviews is around 98%. This is a higher average ranking (though with admittedly fewer reviews so far) than the current highest aggregated review score in the history of gaming, according to Gamerankings.com. While some may scoff at this trend so far, I’ve got news for you: There are more 10s coming today, now that the embargo on reviews is almost up. Here’s what some reviewers are saying:

via Eurogamer
“…to have any shred of doubt surrounding BioShock comprehensively swept away within the first ten minutes, well, you feel like dancing. You want to tell people about this game who you know won’t even care, just because it makes you so giddy inside. Before we get into the nitty gritty, here’s the deal: Bioshock doesn’t just meet your expectations, but completely redefines them forever in ways you never even expected – in ways that games used to in the past, routinely.”

I’d like to dispute the excessive nostalgia in that last sentence, but that’s a discussion for another day. I would like to point out that this is the same site who gave Gears of War an 8, largely because they didn’t feel that it lived up to expectations. Moving on, we next have Games Radar’s review:

As for what’s going to happen to Rapture, that story is the propulsive force of the game, and it comes to you over the wireless. Irrational don’t like to let you meet sane people in person – they can’t be simulated realistically – so don’t expect any Black Mesa East chapters. But there is one moment, in dealing with the few still-vaguely-cogent people of Rapture, that’s simply staggering to experience.

BioShock had already made us physically gape several times by this stage, but here our mouths fell open and stayed open, only widening further as the scene became more extraordinary with every passing second.

Getting aroused yet? Next up is Game Informer:

You stand over a genetically mutated corpse with a camera in hand, taking a picture of its final, twisted expression to appease a cruel puppet master. A haunting rendition of “Bei mir bist du schön” plays from a radio, over which you hear the low, whale-like cry of a Big Daddy as it ambles into sight. You freeze, but the hulking creature trips one of your proximity mines and fixes a glowing red eye on you in fury. Heart-stopping moments like these are what set BioShock apart as one of the most intelligent and daring masterpieces in gaming.

I don’t really see a need to go on with these. The point is, the praise thus far is consisteint, glowing, and unanimous. This will be, hands down, the best reviewed game of the year, and very likely THE game of the year. Why? What about the competition? Well, it’s kind of a short list for game of the year this year, even amidst the tidal wave of fantastic releases in the next few months. Assassin’s Creed will have good reviews, but the controls are going to turn some people off in their complexity. Call of Duty 4 is a military shooter, which is enough to make some people hate it arbitrarily. Rock Band is a niche title, and so is Guitar Hero III. Super Smash Bros is a series you either love or loathe, Metroid Prime 3 is going to get 7s and 9s (call it a hunch), and Drake’s Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank are going to be good but not ridiculously awesome titles for the PS3 this fall. Haze is another military shooter, and Unreal 3 is a largely multiplayer shooter.

This basically leaves us with two huge games, which are Halo 3 and Super Mario Galaxy. Both will win some GOTY awards here and there, but neither will win the universal praise that Bioshock is getting right now. Here’s why: Halo 3 has the word “Halo” in the title. I love Halo, and a lot of people think it’s a great series, but there is a vocal Halo Hater Squad, and the favoritism Bungie has played with pre-release coverage of their title has managed to piss off a specific, big name gaming network of sites. It could be the greatest game of this generation, and there would still be a not-negligible contingent of people who used the words “mediocre” and “uninspired” to describe it.

Mario Galaxy has similar issues from the Mario-Hater squad, and while that group isn’t nearly as large as those who despise Halo, it also has the challenges associated with Wii-control. While there are a number of people who love the Wii-mote, there seems to be a growing number of apostates, and that number alone will prevent the game from taking the crown. Because of all of these factors, politically and conceptually, Bioshock will very probably come out on top when the dust has cleared in January. But we’re the ones who really win.

Or I would be if I hadn’t gotten boned by Toys ‘R Us yesterday. Sigh.

-Aegies

-Aegies

While this will certainly disappoint many people I know, it is not the end of the world. The new Premium does at least control heat a lot better, and it has HDMI, all for the new low price. And, if that isn’t enough, it has a 3 year warranty standard with the system. Not a terrible deal, but not as great as it would have been with the new chip sets.

Chufmoney

Also found in the wild are the new Premium 360 SKUs with HDMI. And, even with the new features, these systems are still sold at the new price of 349$. It’s even looking like some retailers are going to include Top Spin 2 with the system if purchased soon.

It sucks that the price cut that hit the PS3 really was just an excuse for them to reintroduce a 600$ SKU. Granted it does come with Motorstorm, but it no longer has 100% backwards compatibility. But, on the other hand, it does now have the ability to upscale the older Playstaition and PS2 titles it plays. And, most importantly, neither plays Guitar Hero games.

Let’s be fair and criticize the 360 while we’re at it. The 360 might be adding an HDMI port, and might be priced at 349$, but it still has a flaw in the manufacturing process that means the system could die unexpectedly.

Or will that change soon? Opposable Thumbs has run a rumor that alleges that there will be new 360s by the end of September that have both the 65nm chips and quieter DVD drives. This means that the systems will run much cooler, potentially keeping the systems for red-ringing.

Chufmoney

JaySlacks

Apparently DAH2 sold well enough to warrant the series being a trilogy.

Destroy All Humans 3 will be releasing this year for every console but the DS. The Wii version is the one that will easily be the most fun or the most disappointing.

Destroy All Humans’ use of telekinesis is a perfect fit for the Wii. Waggle, if used correctly, could very well be the most intuitive way to pick up and throw objects…or people.

However, although the Wii one could have the most interesting controls, I am quite curious to see how great the next-gen versions look. I am also curious to learn what the lead platform is. My gut tells me it is probably the PS2, which will result in the game being ported to the other consoles, i.e. the game not looking as great as it could. Here’s to hoping I don’t know what the hell I am talking about.

Chufmoney

[via Kotaku]

Here’s what I think: The PS3 version of Rainbow Six comes with both map packs pre-loaded, extra content that currently costs Xbox 360 owners an additional twenty dollars. In the future, when such releases are synchronized, this sort of thing won’t happen – but the precedent can’t be allowed to stand. Gamers are already sensitive about the pricing on these things, and the idea that owners of a competing system not only play for free but also get the content for free is almost overwhelming in its rhetorical power.

He’s right of course. I’m inclined to allow Ubisoft the slightest bit of wiggle room on the previously released content due to the traditional early adopter tax: the game came out last November, and only now finally is debuting on the PS3 after a lengthy series of delays. With that in mind (and because I’m charitable), a downloadable content pack that came out earlier this year being free with the much later PS3 version makes sense to grease the consumer wheels, so to speak. I could also kind of understand charging for the new content as well for that same reason, but I can’t see the community reacting well in the long run to that kind of gouging.

With that said, it’s a pleasant surprise to see that the content was indeed meant to be free, at least according to Microsoft’s community representative, Major Nelson:

Ubi has send me the official word on the RSV Black Pack (which went MIA earlier this week) and it is good news:

‘Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas Black Pack Downloadable Content for Xbox 360 Live was originally intended to be free content for the fans of Rainbow Six Vegas. We apologize for the error. All players who purchased the Black Pack will be reimbursed automatically.* The Black Pack will be posted Saturday June 30th and will be free of charge. Also, as a token of our appreciation for the Rainbow Six community, we are making the Red Pack free as of Friday July 6th as well. Thanks for playing and we hope you enjoy this free content.’

Make sure your account information is up to date so we can properly apply the credit!

As I understand it the content should go out after 0300 PT.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen Ubisoft eschew the easy money for goodwill in months. It’s something I’d certainly like to see more often in the future as well, and from more companies. Now if only we could EA to start doing the same thing.

-Aegies