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News Hitman goes episodic with monthly mission releases

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Gareth Halfacree, 15 Jan 2016.

  1. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    DOOM was available in 3 'episodes'.
    The original Rise of the Triad.
    In fact a lot of Epic's early stuff was divvied up into episodes iirc.

    Pretty much anything made by Telltale...
     
  2. Vault-Tec

    Vault-Tec Green Plastic Watering Can

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    Hmm. This just brings back memories of Telltale's BTTF.

    I paid up and spent the two or so hours it took to play the first episode through. I quite enjoyed it. However, having to wait for the extra episodes put me off and I never did play any of the other ones.

    So this idea doesn't work for me, as I quickly lose enthusiasm if I have to wait for things.
     
  3. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Doom and RotT don't really count, 'ere: while each chunk was called an "episode" (hence the map naming convention of EnMn, for Episode number Map number), they were all released simultaneously. When you finished Knee-Deep in the Dead you didn't have to wait a month for id to finish writing The Shores of Hell. (Although you *did* have to wait for your shareware registration to go through, assuming you were playing the shareware version.)
     
  4. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    The Epic ones weren't the best example, granted. But I distinctly remember a number of their titles [Jazz Jackrabbit* mainly], where only the first episode was sold in stores, and you had to mail order the rest, which took forever. There was a CD version with everything, but nowhere sold it [and when I did eventually find a copy, my CD-ROM drive wouldn't read it].

    For all we know Squeenix could have everything finished and are ekeing it out because they can... I doubt it, but it's possible.


    *First Game I bought with my own money...
     
    Last edited: 18 Jan 2016
  5. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    What you're describing there is shareware, which is how companies like Epic and id got their start: the first chunk of the game was released for free (which meant university students could download it from FTP, but everyone else needed to go to their local shop and buy it on disk for £3.99) and you had to register to get the remaining levels. It's totally different to episodic releases: the content is ready day one, and you don't have to buy the shareware release. If you enjoyed Doom, you could skip the shareware version of Doom II and just buy the full thing.

    Shareware was basically like a demo for people who don't have a widespread content delivery network. The licence encouraged users to share it with each other, but also allowed vendors to copy it to disk and sell the disk for a small fee - which they didn't have to give back to the publisher, which was relying on shareware registrations for income.

    You're right that Doom and RotT were both shareware titles. There's no comparison between shareware and a modern episodic game, though - otherwise you'd be able to get the first episode for free, then instantly register and unlock the remaining episodes. (And wouldn't that be nice? Shareware rocked.)

    Fun fact: I still have a boxed copy of the shareware version of Doom on floppy disk, bought from a local computer shop.
     
  6. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    I bow to your superior knowledge/recollection of these things [i was only 9 or 10 at the time] - I do remember the THIS IS NOT SHAREWARE! messages at the beggining/end of several games, and I'm pretty sure Jazz was one of them.

    My Fun Fact: I still have the original Jazz Jackrabbit, Episode 1 floppy somewhere [or at least I hope I do, it might've been amongst a load of stuff that got flood damaged]... even got Mark Rein to sign it when we met at a conference thing, he though it was hilarious than anyone still remembered it.
     
    Last edited: 18 Jan 2016
  7. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    You saw those when you registered the game, to clarify that while you were allowed to redistribute the shareware episodes to your heart's content, you must not redistribute the registered version.

    Here's a screenie of Jazz Jackrabbit Episode 1. Note the message in the top-right of the screen.

    [​IMG]

    Neat! You need to dig that out!
     
  8. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Yeah mine definitely didn't have the 'THIS IS SHAREWARE' message.
     
  9. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Then you didn't have the shareware version; you had the full version.
     
  10. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    It was still only the first episode though... I played those 7 [+ hidden] levels more times than I dare count.
     
  11. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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  12. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Funnily enough I had this thought just last week when I was marvelling at the depth, breadth and quality of content in the Witcher for £25, and remembered paying $70-80 for the comparatively one-dimensional Turok on the N64 (which I totally still have)
     
  13. DeckerdBR

    DeckerdBR Minimodder

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    Yeah but N64 games were also expensive because they were on a Cartridge.

    I do recall Playsation 1 games being £45-60 before the consoles really took off (and there was less direct competition) but using your own example of the Witcher, it IS possible to make decent quality popular games with good voice acting for less than £50.
     
  14. Xir

    Xir Modder

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    I knew someone out there had in depth knowledge, thank you. :thumb:
     
  15. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Couldn't agree anymore if it tried, maybe I'm being naive or just looking back with rose tinted glasses but i wish publishers would do something similar today, it lets people try out a game before committing to a purchase, it could cut down on piracy, and it could make publishers release a more polished end product.

    I'm probably just being nostalgic though, now where did i leave my slippers. ;)
     

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