Good idea or not?

[Rallyracr420]

Quote from old news article:
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/33744.htm

The company[Sony] also outlined plans for an online gaming business model that will focus on a "minitransactions system" designed to give consumers the right to decide what they want to pay for and how much they want to spend.

While playing GTA: SA and thinking of ways to make the game longer, I came up with this: What about a huge GTA style map, but 3+ times bigger than San Andreas. You get the map disc for free from your local gamestop/playstation magazine and you can use it on your PS3, but there's no missions to do. You could then buy missions to download into the map, at anywhere from 50 cents a mission to 5-10 dollars for a 30-pack mission. Building interiors could be designed per add-on pack you buy so people could make their own interiors.

Addon pack could turn the map into a racing game, or into a skateboarding game a la Tony Hawk, but instead you have 10 different cities you can go to. GTA style missions could go on for years.

So...questions? And is this a good idea or not?

[Kesler]

I dislike, Im a all or nothing kind of guy.

[kevindenoyette]

without a well-written story, there's no incentive to do the missions. The whole system wouldn't work out right, but the thought is nice I guess.

[Rallyracr420]

Well these missions would have storylines built into them. Like you could pickup new missions that keep the story going, until that line in the story got boring for you , and then you buy missions that head into the other direction.

I guess part of the reason I'm doing this is just trying to figure out ways that ppl would buy into Sony's minitransactions plan. I think I would be okay to go along with something like this, but I can't really imagine too many other ways that it would be used other than having the minitransactions just extend the life of the game.

[kevindenoyette]

buying different kinds of missions would screw up the main story, there'd be plot holes and inconsistencies and whatnot, I doubt it would ever work out right. But it's a good thought nonetheless.

[amod20002004]

I like this type of idea. It will be really interesting to see how Sony utilizes this feature.

[ricois300]

I like the idea rally.
It could work by having to buy the base game with free roam (not as much as a regular game) and some basic setup like character creation and minigames, some base missions. It would be more like a character you really get to like and want to use for a long time or even change characters. Then you can buy more minigames, racing games, mission packs. Or you could buy full stories with beginning thru end that use the character you created. They could change the state of the world depending on how the story played out, but bring it back to a normal state at the end of that story to make a seamless transition for any other story to begin after that without being too abrupt.
Buying extra vehicles, aircraft, weapons, etc for the world would fit in with no problem.

Only problem I see is that for something with all that GTA has, you might end up spending alot more than $50 for all the pieces individually for something as big as GTA:SA.

[lepermesiah]

Well even though the story is most of the game. You can get just as much fun out of just running around killing people and running from the cops. So just giving the game away would never work because if people were to cheap to buy missions they wouldnt really need to because they could just fuck around for free.

[Z]

That is a good idea but the concept is not that encouraging. You see, ‘buying’ upgrades will only work if there were real materials worth the cost. When that happens, you usually see ‘upgrades’ and ‘versions’ being sold separately on CDs. And with such added materials, that may delay a second entry in the game, and may also risk it of being new or heavily revamped.
I think having free online upgrades or extras is the best offer. Things like new maps, a couple of new weapons, maybe some costumes, few sound tracks, that sort of thing. That will give a game longevity, which is always a good idea. At the same time, this will not risk the second entry of the game at hand or delay it. I prefer to see new ideas, game mechanics, characters, weapons, etc heavily implanted in a whole new game with better graphics, environments, controls, etc than just buying them separately for my old game that is just getting older and older.
Anyway, that is just how I see it.

[Voodoo]

i like the idea...but wont it all add up for over 50 dollars in the end? if so, then its a bad idea

[DappaDizzle]

i shall not vote as of yet

[Rallyracr420]

You could totally get the stories to intertwine in a way that it shouldn't inhibit game play. I don't foresee this as a problem in any way.

As for giving away the city for free...I think it would be a great advertising technique. All sorts of people could try out the game for free and pay as they go. The money you lose by giving away a free city will come back to you as you develop and sell new missions.

As for paying over $50, what if you got more than a normal $50 game would give you? Isn't it worth it then? And if you don't like the game then don't keep buying missions for it. In that case you'd actually save money.