J Allard keeps on talking microtransactions
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Mar 21st 2005 at 8:07AM }
J Allard has been all over the place
since his GDC keynote. If I read between the lines (a
hobby of mine) I could conclude that he's very aware of the jitters he's caused in the development community. After
all, one unmistakeable message from his speech was that the next-gen will be more expensive as the business reaches out
to the "mainstream."
His sales-focused pitch was striking for its urgency ("The HD Era is happening, whether we're ready for it, or not")
and naked embrace of all things commerce. Hey, nothing wrong with that, as far as I'm concerned. If MS can
provide a platform to help develop a 20 million-seller, more power to them.
Tom's Hardware has a sit-down with the man-with-no-hair and the single letter first name. They dare to take him
on in a couple of cases, which is admirable. Allard doesn't budge, but it was worth a shot. One subject they touch on
is microtransactions. Allard once again indicates that the feature will actually allow players to sell their stuff
online. This time, though, he talks about people selling their own creations, not just in-game elements. That could be
interesting.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris Norman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM
Next up on Fox: "When Management Goes Bad"
The suits and ties have been set forth like a pack of rabid dogs upon the gaming industry, bringing all their antiquated tech and ignorant ideas in tow.
"Hey, let's have pop-ups. People like those! And the kids are all raving about DRM. Maybe we can have a punch the monkey game - in the game! how meta!"
Seriously, though. Sony management is obviously trying to shoehorn every multimedia capability into the PSP, and sell it as everything to everyone (video replacement, iPod killer, photo stand, alarm clock... oh yeah, and it can play games, too!). This means it will either be old tech in a year or two, or users will be forced into rediculous upgrade cycles. And battery life will not get significantly better for some time - think Clie.
Now, Microsoft is trying to turn the Xbox into a set-top Windows-like console. And I sure as hell don't want to plug a potentially spyware-laden, data tracking, will shortly be taken down by a virus becuse it is using a common architecture machine into my network just so some 13-year-old can call me a f4g!! every two minutes in Halo.
Not to mention - gamers have been selling user-created content for some time in the MMOG Second Life.
There's blood in the water, and I'm just hoping that with Acclaim out of the game we will see a lot fewer BMX XXXs this generation.