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Time:
19:22 EST/00:22 GMT | News Source:
Voodoo Extreme |
Posted By: Jonathan Tigner |
Nifty cool - now available on FilePlanet for all members are complete, free versions of Far Cry, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and Rayman Raving Rabbids. The only catch - they're "ad supported," so you may end up watching a ten minute George Foreman Grill commercial, though is that really a problem when you're getting a complete game for free?
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#1 By
12071 (124.170.56.66)
at
9/1/2007 8:36:42 PM
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I really hope this isn't the future of gaming... let's not stick ads in everywhere.
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#2 By
2960 (68.100.112.199)
at
9/1/2007 10:00:01 PM
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Heaven help us...
TL
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#3 By
23275 (24.179.4.158)
at
9/2/2007 10:45:36 AM
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It will be both, unfortunately...
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, (Chief Director of the former Soviet Union), said it best: [during the Cuban Missile Crisis in Oct., 62] - loosely paraphrasing his remarks, "It is like the farmer's cow. In winter the farmer must bring the cow into the kitchen, or the cow will die of cold. The farmer doesn't like the smell, but he tolerates it, because he must."
We don't like ads - of any kind, and most especially, we don't like them in games and media we pay for, but like Nikita's cow, the content owners reason that we'll get used to it - no matter how bad the smell.
Let's make sure we respond as effectively as President Kennedy did in 62, ring this kind of crap early and kill it in its crib. We can do that by paying for our content and by using it fairly and lawfully. Otherwise we're headed for a massive "Idiocracy" from which there will be no escape.
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#4 By
15406 (74.104.251.89)
at
9/2/2007 8:22:27 PM
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#3: Some people are not in the position to afford the latest $60-80 game, but wouldn't mind watching a 30-second ad before playing (per session). Let the market dictate the viability of this revenue model if there is demand for it. I could see it working well as long as it's done right. Nobody wants to be beaten over the head with ads. However, a 5 second spot between levels ("This level brought to you by the good folks at Acme...") or a full-blown 15-30 second production ad at the start of the session. There should always be the option of paying full price for no ads, of course. Choice is good.
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#5 By
2960 (68.100.112.199)
at
9/2/2007 9:02:35 PM
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That's just it. The market won't dictate it. The media people will.
I am under no illusion that we have any control over this.
Look at your average TV show. Used to be, you had a commercial break every 15 minutes. The 15/45 min brakes were 1 minute long. The half-hour breaks were 2-5 min long.
Now the average Hourly TV show has 18-22 minutes of commercials in it.
Don't even get me started with Nascar. I 've seen as little as 4 MINUTES of racing before the next commercial break appeared. Fans have been complaining about Nascars excessive commercial breaks for 5 years now. Viewership of Nascar is dropping every year, and this is a primary reason for it.
Do they care? Nope. Not only are commercials increasing every year, but now in addition to the commercials we are forced to deal with overlays, crawlers, and any other damned diabolical method they can come up with.
I'm willing to watch 200mph billboards. I understand the nature of racing and sponsorship. But this other crap is getting out of hand, and they have shown they don't care as long as someone shows them the money.
And their ratings will continue to drop... And they will continue to not care...
TL
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#6 By
12071 (203.185.215.144)
at
9/2/2007 11:24:29 PM
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#4 "However, a 5 second spot between levels ("This level brought to you by the good folks at Acme...")"
All for letting the market decide... but my decision is no way in hell am I going to watch ads every few minutes. Gaming is supposed to be fun! That's why the Wii is so popular, because it focuses on having fun. It's bad enough that some games these days have more product placement than graphics (exaggeration I know but you know where I'm going with this!).
I'd rather pay for a service than watch mind-numbingly boring ads that take up 1/3 of the scheduled time as is the case for tv shows.
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#7 By
23275 (24.179.4.158)
at
9/2/2007 11:49:23 PM
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#4, As I said, I fear it will be both. They'll start with ad supported lower cost, or free games.... that will be the hook. Then they'll be there in pay for play services and games, just as they are in cable and sat television - and now even audible books [as if that is at all like reading (different subject, but aren't you scared to death of people equating audible books to reading...?)].
Also, I think your position is as much about ownership as it is anything else - meaning, one is not to own software, and it is to have no transferable, or defensible value - I mean according to you, you can't take the positions that you do against software as property - that companies can't actually own the right to what they paid to build and advocate as you do, a world where it is all free - after all, isn't a game just another form of software? So people have to make the money needed to produce them by selling ads, right? It can't be commercial - so you really can't argue differently than you have...
I'll give you this, at least you're consistent. Just know this, and be very clear about it - tens of millions of "owners" in this country understand what property is and what it is to work for it - to earn it. Those who advocate that the games they buy and the movies and music they "buy" must be free of any ads - free of the idiocy that attends them are the future owners of buinesses, game studios and yes, all that comes out of them.
We need to vote with our feet and tell the agencies to stuff their ads. Start by not downloading ad supported versions. All they want to do is sucker people and numb their brains, or pump their ideology into people.
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#8 By
15406 (74.104.251.89)
at
9/3/2007 8:26:22 AM
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I'm arguing that the market will decide if this is viable, and nothing more. I personally would never use this model as I'm happy to pay for a game without ads for the few games I buy & play. The last game I bought was Half-Life 2 and it was well worth the money. For now they're doing this with games that are past their prime. Considering that the development cost of a game is measured in the millions, with design team staff in the dozens, I doubt that the ad model will replace a sticker price for any new top-tier game any time soon.
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#9 By
15406 (74.104.251.89)
at
9/3/2007 8:34:22 AM
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#7: I've never said that everything must be free. Companies are entitled to charge whatever they want for what they make with few exceptions such as monopoly status (but even that is partially kept in check to a degree by copyright infringement.) But they also have the right to create and distribute their work and the underlying building blocks for free, or to choose how they will try to make their money. I have a major problem with software patents as they are attempts to own concepts or ideas, instead of methods.
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