A flaw with this generation of consoles?

[the7k]

Wow... you have to pay for Xbox Live, and it still doesn't use dedicated servers? What the hell? You'd think the free service would be the one to use P2P while the pay-to-play service would use dedicated servers.

Of course, I don't see why you can't have both. Would it be so hard for them to give you an option to use either one?

[lordofduct]

Wow... you have to pay for Xbox Live, and it still doesn't use dedicated servers? What the hell? You'd think the free service would be the one to use P2P while the pay-to-play service would use dedicated servers.

Of course, I don't see why you can't have both. Would it be so hard for them to give you an option to use either one?

I've always wondered that as well. What the hell is MS offering up for that monthly fee? Most of the content on Xbox Live that costs MS money to host is the stuff you get from the free Silver Account (live arcade, marketplace, etc etc).

[dsheinem]

Imagine it, you can easily spend 500 dollars playing WoW for 3 years. And then the servers go down and that is 500 dollars gone... nothing to show for it... done.

In a perverse way, I'd really love to see Blizzard announce that they will be taking down WoW permanently in a week's time or something. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst WoW devotees would be deafening - and hilarious

Of course they won't do this because it makes TONS of money for them. On the other hand...

Depending on when you bought Calling all Cars, you payed $0-$10. It's not a big money maker, nor did it sell exceptionally well. At some point, it simply isn't worth it for the company to keep the servers up and running. For more than a decade now, online games have occasionally gone offline - any buyer should know that this is the case and that it is a given risk when you buy these games. You might not like it - but if that's the case don't buy the game.

As for the MS/Sony thing - I didn't realize that XBL was all P2P - that's insane and makes the fact that they charge for the service even more untenable. I'll stick to the free and dependent server based PS3 model for any online gaming, even if it means that stuff will occasionally be shut down. It doesn't bother me in the least. If I were a serious online gamer, I would be buying PC versions of these games.

Also, EA and other companies DO keep their servers up for old games - I played a game of Madden 08 and NBA 2K8 online earlier this year, in fact.

The broken/patched game problem does concern me though. It will be interesting to see how/if this gets addressed - maybe it will be up to some inventive console hackers to make up for any problems with access to patches if they pop up down the road.

[jfrost]

Don't companies eventually release disc-based versions of their patched games, with all DLC and stuff? I thought that had happened with Fallout 3.

[MrPopo]

Generally what happens is that if a game is rereleased (you saw this most often with PC shooters having a GotY release) it will be patched up to the latest version. Bethesda with Oblivion and Fallout 3 have been doing a policy of releasing the DLC expansions as a standalone once there is enough to make up a retail release. But that is hardly the norm.

[the7k]

Yeah, it's actually very rare that anything is released on disc that was originally downloadable. I've seen it happen to a few games in Europe (I actually saw a disc version of PAIN, for example), and then there are the XBLA Compilations, as well as the previously mentioned Oblivion and Fallout 3 re-releases. Other than that, though, it's a pure rarity.

I'm highly doubting that we'll ever see "The Lost and the Damned" released on disc, even if Rockstar ever releases a Platinum version of GTAIV on the 360.

[dlmvii]

Yeah, it's actually very rare that anything is released on disc that was originally downloadable. I've seen it happen to a few games in Europe (I actually saw a disc version of PAIN, for example), and then there are the XBLA Compilations, as well as the previously mentioned Oblivion and Fallout 3 re-releases. Other than that, though, it's a pure rarity.

I'm highly doubting that we'll ever see "The Lost and the Damned" released on disc, even if Rockstar ever releases a Platinum version of GTAIV on the 360.

This has already been confirmed, both Lost and the Damned and Ballad of Gay Tony are releasing on the same disc on the 29th...

[the7k]

Oh really? How 'bout that.

Still, it's not something I would get used to.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Oh really? How 'bout that.

Still, it's not something I would get used to.

Yup, REZ HD, Every Extend Extra Extreme and Lumines Live all had a compilation release on a single disc in early September this year called Qubed.

[aaron]

Watchmen: The End is Nigh parts 1 & 2 are on a disc right now also.

this kind of pisses me off, because i've paid for some of the stuff that they're now releasing on discs, and i'd like the physical copies, but you know, kinda silly to pay for something twice.