News XNA dev: "Downloadable games are too cheap"

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/11/25/xna-dev-downloadable-games-are-too-cheap/1

According to Weapon of Choice developer Nathan Fouts the vast majority of games on Xbox Live Arcade are underpriced.

 

I wanted to say: "who cares" but then I thought I rather not say that.

 

Thought I'd downloaded all the XBLA demos but I don't think I remember that one.

 

It's a 'Community Game'. Unfortunately most of them are a bit pants, and barely worth 400 points, let alone 800 or higher.

 

While I can understand his frustration at not being able to make a game say 700 points, **** like 799 is a massive no-no in my book. Firstly I think it's a retarded way of making people think something is cheaper than it is, and then we'd have a ton of loose change points we wouldn't be able to spend.

 

I'd rather MS drop the point system and just do cash straight up like PS3.

 

All you need for the Xbox 360 is Atomic tank, without that game your life is not worth living.

 

They used to have that system on the old xbox, but they changed to the points system. It allows you to get the DLC cheaper than RRP at least.

 

Ah, I didn't know that...thx.

 

underpriced? if it was priced more, I doubt anyone will buy anything

 

I'm trying to work it out, a 1200 points game is about £9.50? and 800 point game is about £6.30? is that about right. if so it kinda tells me why i haven't bought anything from xbox live, i think i'll stick to buying the big games when they hit the sales sub £20 thanks.

 

Hell no the games are not under priced. Especially 800 point games which have 200 point DLC too.

We need more Arcade compilation disks. Those things are a steal.

 

Yeah cause we really need anotehr 1200 points castle crashers!
Good game...with pants online(crashes unable to join games etc) then we get charged more points for addons...WTF!!

 

I haven't bought any, as imho they're too much, as 99% of the games are shockingly pants.

 

Slightly off topic but I'm guessing by the massive out of context use of "Pants" in these posts that it is a replacement word like when I say "Cheesecake" and get cheesecake?

 

or you're just not British

 

He'll get used to it eventually. I've actually caught myself wanting to use the same terms when I post around these boards without thinking. Guess you guys are starting to rub off on me

 

MAN! How annoying would that be? You could only purchase points in gigantic block intervals then some jackass starts pricing things at 799 and other weird amounts.

I really wish that they just got rid of the whole Microsoft Points system all together and just charged you for purchases as you made them. I feel like people would've not been so upset about the pricing of things like Braid if they'd just seen the price directly in real dollars. 15$ for a really good (albeit short) game seems to feel less like a burden to me. That's like 1/4th the price of a "real" game and a game as good as Braid is definitely worth more than that.

 

aaahahahaa. Too expensive. That's funny.
Firstly, I don't know much the arcade games are. The fact that they use points and don't show you the price means it's extremely rare I would even consider it.
Secondly, I had a quick look at the community games section, watched a crappy promo video which appeared to be running in fast forward. Then I looked at the games and laughed that they were charging for them.... and with no demo's. Who on earth would buy them??

Microsoft are really stupid if they think this points system actually makes them more money. It's a massive barrier in front of impulse purchases. Especially the video rental business, that's built on impulse purchases.

 

It does make them money though. Thanks to their staggered point setup, you almost always end up with more points than you needed to purchase the game. It may not seem much but if you take the potential millions of users on Xbox Live Gold who buy Arcade games, those left over points add up to a nice little chunk Microsoft rakes in.