Clearly, it's the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard of. In fact, the mere suggestion that a premier racing game would be released without vehicles or courses (arguably two of the most important elements in such a game) is so beyond what is defined as "ridiculous", things like tap dancing unicorns and flying kangaroos can actually gaze at said suggestion through a telescope. That reason alone is worth marking this story as a rumor, though it's certainly not the only one. If we're to believe the forum-posted translation of the latest interview in Famitsu, Kazunori Yamauchi has big plans in store for his beloved automotive franchise -- big plans composed of teeny tiny transactions.Gran Turismo HD will supposedly see release in two versions. The first, entitled Gran Turismo HD: Premium, amounts to nothing more than a demo of, you guessed it, Gran Turismo 5. The 30 included cars and two undoubtedly exciting tracks are rendered in pristine PS3 glory and are meant to give you a solid idea of what Yamauchi and friends are putting together for a full release in 2008. Two more tracks and 30 extra cars can be purchased and downloaded for this version. If you prefer purchasing a full game instead of an extended prologue, perhaps Gran Turismo HD: Classic would be more your speed. Or perhaps not.
Though the Classic moniker may stem from the fact that you're getting a high resolution PS2 game, you may distinctly recall the original game actually giving you hundreds upon hundreds of cars for your $50. Not so with this version. Every car and every track may be purchased and downloaded from Sony's online network. The interview mentions a price of 50-100 yen per vehicle ($0.43 - $0.85) and 200 - 500 yen per track ($1.71 - $4.26). Being generous and sticking to the low end of the scale results in $408 spent if you want all 750 cars and all 50 tracks (roughly what you got in Gran Turismo 4). Moving up on the scale approaches values that surpass what you paid for the PS3 (newsflash: a lot) to begin with.
Is any of this true? 1UP's Luke Smith points to a more utopian quote (his version actually gives you one car!) by Sony's Phil Harrison that seems to match up with this story: "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.'" Seems more likely that the quote created the story. Until Sony confirms (unlikely) or denies it later this week, consider this an entertaining vilification of the microtransaction and nothing more.
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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all i can say is... what the hell kind of market plan is this?
i think we'd rather have the full game and then be able to buy add-ons..
but this does seem to abide by Sony's already green marketing strategy of the PS3.. hmm...
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Seriously...WTF?!
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Teen 2: Alright dude, pop it in!
*pops in disc*
*blank screen with credit card prompt*
Teen: WHAT THE ...?
Teen 2: Owned by Sony
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Godley
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However, that doesn't really hold up to common sense. It's charging for what is expected to be free. It's cluttering up the HDD for things that are certainly able to fit on a high-capacity disc. It's making it impossible for completionists. It's adding an unnecessary step to play the game. It's like opening a Monopoly box and finding out you need to buy all the game peices seperately.
And most importantly, it's changing what you used to be an accomplishment into a product, just like Station Exchange for EQ. The key to victory in Sony games looks disturbingly similar to a credit card.
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That the game is ridiculously cheap, and/or free.
If you could pick up the game for $10, and just pay for the cars and tracks you want (mix and match, up to the value of a new game), it wouldn't be bad value for money.
A casual gamer could pick up 5 tracks and his/her favorite car ($20-$30 total), whilst the avid car enthusiast would pick up the slack by paying more over the course of a year or two ($100-$200). Believe me... there are guys out there who bought a PS2 JUST for Gran Turismo and have no interest in other games. They'd be more than happy to pay more to get access to more vehicles and tracks.
This is the way I envisage microtransactions and gaming in the future... Instead of having 3 games released years apart on one system (Grand Theft Auto on PS2), you get the one game, and then pay for new levels, characters, vehicles, etc, over the next few years.
Sequels used to be how developers improved the graphics engine in second and third generation games. Once we hit the graphical ceiling (which probably isn't far off for racing games at least), what's the point in redesigning the entire game and forcing consumers to pay another $50-$60, when you can sell the exta content at a lower price?
In real life, do you have buy a whole new car when all you want is new tyres or a cup holder?
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I wouldn't be surprised if they allowed you to purchase the game for let's say $5.00 and then charged per car/track you purchased. However, the Classic version would HAVE to have the entire game with all the tracks and cars. Otherwise, people without an online connection would have no reason to buy the game. The reason Gran Turismo is Gran Turismo is because I have so many cars and tracks to play. You limit someone to 30 cars or whatever and you've turned the series into Ridge Racer.
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Reeeeeally appreciate it.
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YEAH EA, WHY?????
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This is taking the whole micro transaction thing a little far; I want a full game and will happily pay for additional content which will extend the life of the game and reduce the strain on developers to create whole new games to add features. However, to sell me a game piece by piece is just WRONG.
The idea of being able to create a customized game is awesome, but they should make all the content available for you to customize. For instance, I pay the regular game price for a game and single player offers me the full experience. However, online tournaments only allow me to utilize a certain amount of points that can be earned in single player, winning these tournaments, or purchased (ie. Sony points) to buy parts for my online vehicles. This whole feature could be a mode in the multiplayer, while also having your typical multiplayer.
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Because the DEVELOPERS had nothing to do with it. As a matter of fact, it was the developers who were fighting tooth and nail to stop microtransactions. Microsoft made them do it.
It's all microsoft's fault.
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Wow.
Wow.
Die. Just fucking die.
Besides, it's obviously not true.
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I suspect this isn't true but if it is... oh man.
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That'd actually be creative (so don't count on it).
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it reminds me of "OMG THE PS3 WILL HAVE AN EMBEDDED TRACKING CHIP AND YOU WON"T BE ABLE TO BUY USED GAMES!!!*(R%(*)"
remember that?
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You're kidding, right? That was an actual rumour at one time? Dare I ask if you have a link?? I seriously find your comment more interesting then this article.
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I think the game will have tons of
downloadable content, but for free.
Think about it, it's ingame advertisement at its finest. Car companies will want their cars in the game, extreme soda pop + body spray will want their ads on billboards in the tracks.
They pay for it, we get it free.
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http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9901
Embedded tracking chip:
http://www.neogaf.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=29&Itemid=32&limit=1&limitstart=1
both stories, I believe, were linked to by Joystiq.
I tried finding them on this site, but their search function sucks.
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Cheers.
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I cant wait... Buckle up!
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:P
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http://d.hatena.ne.jp/wapa/20060920/p1
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This Console NEEDS To Flop, and just DIE.
everything they have touted, has come back to rape them in the ass and hard. 1080p, graphics, and bluray were the only advantages.
graphics have been debunked and totally, and 1080p has been taken by the 360. motion sensing by the wii, and both at a lower price. bluray is frankly no concern because, non compressed games = longer load times, and the 360s compression able to make a game from 1gig to 50 mb is disgustingly low.
any other advantages? besides games? and now sonys online has turned to this. eat me sony.
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First of all, to clarify things, Sony *has* patented technology to prevents used games from being played. It essentially locks a disc to one console. That's not a rumor; it was patented.
However, the rumor was that Sony might use it to kill off the used game industry, which doesn't pay anything to publishers. Here's Joystiq's origianal article:
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/11/08/playstation-3-wont-play-used-games/
Notice the tone of dismissal? "Does Sony plan to employ this technology in the PlayStation 3? Not likely." That's not a sensationalist post by any stretch of the imagination. And if they didn't report it at all, they'd be called biased for ignoring it.
They also posted a followup about Sony's response to the rumors:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/25/sony-denies-snafu-over-used-ps3-games/
As for the price, no one ever mentioned $100 games. In fact, the article you linked to quoted Kaz as saying don't expect $100 games.
Here's Joystiq's article, mentioning the quote and *asking* readers how much we think the games are worth.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/28/how-much-would-you-spend-on-a-ps3-game/
Gossip and rumors are part of the fun of internet chatter. This post is clearly labeled, so you could have avoided it. The only reason I take offense to your post is because Dr.Swiss asked about the rumors, and Daniel's comments paint an unfairly negative picture of Joystiq.
By the way, most site-specific search sucks. That's why we use Google. Just type site:joystiq.com and you can easily find anything you want. It even caches comments.
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I really like that idea. Basically a demo disc that doesn't require you to buy the full game. You can buy peices at a time, only when you want them.
If this was priced right, like a large amount of tracks and cars for a small price, this could be a really great business model. It certainly depends on the genre, but I think a racing game is a good way to test this model out.
You only buy the tracks that look good. There'd have to be some way to demo them of course. The developers would be able to see which tracks people liked, and they'd be able to make more of those kinds.
Advertisers would have a much better idea of which cars are popular, so they'd have better feedback for advertising, which means they'd be more willing to advertise.
The more I think about it, the more I like it.
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yes, with a bit of lame astroturfing to ensure all bases are covered... please, this is M$ we're talking about.
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"Gran Turismo HD seems to be positioned somewhat like Gran Turimso 4 Prologue, a Japan-only release that offered a sampling of Gran Turismo 4 well before the final game's release. Polyphony is aiming to finish up work on the true Gran Turismo 5 in 2008. But prior to that, they wanted to both show a sampling of what Gran Turismo would look like running on new hardware, and build up a full network service in time for GT5. Premium mode takes care of the former, with the latter filled up by Classic."
Just like MS downloadable game demos, but with added content leading up to real release. It would be like Halo 3 comming out 4 months ago, and each level comming out as they make it every month. Also, that release only being for north america and Japan getting the FULL Halo 3 when it comes out. We're never going to actually see this. Leave it to MS fanbots to call this the end of Sony...
Hey, if your dreams DID come true and Sony tanks, all their BS is going to be ported over to your glorious 360. Think about that. Everything you hate about Sony would find it's way onto your console. I find it funny how all you fanbots hate diversity.
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