quote:

---

> http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153775
>
> Gran Turismo HD: Two Versions, Tons Microtransactions
> Famitsu reports a brand new model for Gran Turismo on PS3.
>
> 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.

quote:

---

> http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3153775
>
> Gran Turismo HD: Two Versions, Tons Microtransactions
> Famitsu reports a brand new model for Gran Turismo on PS3.
>
> 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.
>

quote:

---

> gg sony

quote:

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> Big surprise. Pay a premium for the system and then have to pay to play the
> games.
> Question, if you can just buy your way through games and not have the
> challenge of unlocking things, doesn't that get rid of a large part of what
> makes such game appealing in the first place? A grand to play a game you'll
> be bored with in a week?
>

quote:

---

>
> Fred Liken wrote:
> A system like that would work for me if the game was free or, say, half
> price from the full-featured one, and then you get to buy extras.
> See, I'm not one of those that play many times to 'unlock' features. I
> play games once through, so to me it would make things cheaper
> (obviously, that's not what they want people to do)

quote:

---

> Big surprise. Pay a premium for the system and then have to pay to play the
> games.
> Question, if you can just buy your way through games and not have the
> challenge of unlocking things, doesn't that get rid of a large part of what
> makes such game appealing in the first place? A grand to play a game you'll
> be bored with in a week?

quote:

---

> "GameAddict" <gamebox2k3@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:1158795984.337598.123960@i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
>
> Let's hope other publishers don't get the same idea.

quote:

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> All game publishers already have the same idea. It's just a matter of
> technical issues and how much they think the customer can take.

quote:

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> One has to wonder, then, what will become of games when the developers
> will feel the need to include extras that are impossible to get, just to
> cash in on the completionists...

quote:

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[vbcol=seagreen]
> These already exist in the PC-gam0r world: they are called 'Expansion
> Packs'.

quote:

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> Seems to work just fine on the multitude of 'casual' (='cash-rich but
> retarded') gamers out there (ex. 'The Sims').