February 18th 2009 8:15 am PT

Major, please tell me either Out run or King of the Fighters is out this week also.

Great Game for a great price. Major is there any hints on what the 200th xbla game is going to be!

where the hell is the Race Pro Demo major!!!!!!

Is 1200 the new 800 now? I severally doubt this is worth 15 American Dollars. Do you have any say over pricing? This and R-Type are getting ridiculous.

1200 too much, over priced i think.

I think this is just proof that Snowblind needs to go back to making more hack & slash games.

I love Death Tank, but at 1200 points, I will have to give this some serious thought. At 800 it would have been a no brainer.

Ouch, 1200 empire credits again. Man, this is becoming a nasty habit.

I purchased the full version as soon as I saw it was available to download. Been waiting patiently since I heard about the ESRB listing

Just need Outrun Arcade Online now, don’t think there’s anything else I’m looking forward to on XBLA.

Would buy for 800 points. 1200 is too much for an artillery game.

its getting too often that the price for an arcade game is 1200 points

older aracade games = paperboy,tron etc should be 400 points
decent arcade games =Braid,portal etc should be 800 points
xbox original games =GTA:SA,Dreamfall should be 1200 points

and thats all there should be to it

Oh Microsoft when will you learn that you don’t have a monopoly on the console market like you do with the OS market, price games accordingly especially compared to ones already available. Another potentially great game priced into obscurity, the only attention it’s going to get will be negative due to it being over priced.

Major, I am always on here justifying the price of XBLA games but today I have a gripe, The DLC for “THE MAW” its classed as a “deleted episode” but it actual fact the episode was never deleted it just needed to be unlocked!

So people go out and buy “THE MAW” thinking it’s a full game but in actual fact you need to purchase the DLC to be able to play it.

NOT HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

But Death Tank is COOL AS

I want to see how MS decide how many points arcade content is, I am expecting to see a random number generator, or someone picking numbers out of a hat, because there is no logic to it.

MS really need to come up with some guidelines for arcade content, and stick to it, because I can see the price going up and up, 1200 is the new 800, and soon 1600 will be the new 1200, ad infinitum.

This, and the fact that MS continually shaft the living buggery out of people who are fortunate enough to live outside the US, really make me wonder what our 39 golden coins a year actually bloody pay for!!!

SORT IT OUT MS

I know alot of people that are put off by content more than 1000msp unless it’s particularly special, myself included

R-Type should’ve been on my “must buy” list, but at 1200msp, I don’t think so …

Yep not liking this new 1200 points trend now either. I used to buy a number of arcade titles in the past, but at current prices I’m not buying any.

Seems to much IMHO…..I’ll pass on this one as well….

R-Type Dimensions was way too overpriced, it’s worth 800 Points maximum. This game, Death Tank is the same, except it looks like a 400 Points (not retro) game, extremely simple, disgusting menu screens, and it’s almost like a multiplayer-only game. R-Type at least had some content but Death Tank does not have. 1200 Points for this piece of game is way too much, I simply don’t understand how this could happen. I would buy it for 400, not kidding. This is a really small game and only its basic concept is great (I loved the original on Saturn). I hope that in the future you (or whom may be responsible for pricing) will reconsider the pricing policy of Arcade because sales will plummet at these prices. In light of this, how much will OutRun Online Arcade cost? It’s a REAL game after all. Will it be 1600, 2400 MSP? These recent prices really point toward a seriously worrying trend. You should get things straight.

1200 points for a rehash of an amiga game (scorched tanks) that is now in the public domain. I think not.

Liking the idea of trying out multiplayer in the trial!

having not tried this yet from the scene shots it looks like a worms copy!

1200? Microsoft better re-think this recent pricing strategy of just gouging everything.

I used to buy arcade games without even thinking about it – back when they were 400. This game should be 400 – 1200 is ridiculous!

I almost don’t even want to check out the trial when games are overpriced, because I know I won’t buy them.

Yeah, definitely looks like a Worms knockoff. I’ll pass.

I will be passing on this one as well… its not worth 1200 points.. its more like 800 point game.. bah.. its like worms?? but with tanks?? Anyways to much over priced.. pass for me..

its only 54.06 MB.. :O Even worse.. charging for a game what will fit on my pen drive.. and low megabits.. bah.. a old game and a rep off price.. and worse they probly just gave it a new image and not vary much different.. i am not to happy.. -.-;;

No thanks! It’s crazy too! I have had over 5000ms points just sitting in my account for months! I want to use them, but refuse to pay for games that are overpriced. Price them correctly and you will gain my business again! Plus give us some games that we actually want!

my bad looks like its just the demo lol..whats 54.06.. i wish i could merg my comments or edit them.. lol.. gez.. i am trying the demo seems like fun but not worth picking up for 1200 points though.. 60 mins of multiplayer for free.. not a bad for a free demo.. so fare its fun online the single player.. probly just the same i am asuming.. but havent tryed that much in to it yet and i am not jumping to any guns or anything..

As much as I love Live Arcade,I think Microsoft has been dropping the ball this 1200 price point as of late. R-Type and Death Tank were two titles I was was looking forward to purchasing, but I can’t justify the 1200. hopefully there will be a price drop on them at some point.

Microsoft needs to wake up and open their eyes to the real world. FIRST, they need to get rid of the ridiculous MS-Point system. Next, they need to look at the current state of the ECONOMY, and realize that most people now do not have much disposable income.
It’s time for the $15 XBLA game to become the EXCEPTION, and not the rule.
Definitely some games give you value for the dollar at that price, but when Rockstar releases such great content for GTA at $20, then small, throw-away games should be re-evaluated.
Bring back the $5 and $10 as standards, and maybe XBLA will interest more people again.

@ VEGEMITE 98 You DO NOT need to purchase the DLC for The Maw to complete the game. DLC is optional. This is just a deleted scene that you can play if you want to. No one if forcing you to buy it. The Maw was a great game without any DLC. I’m actually glad to see the devs releasing a few EXTRA levels to play. On that note, I do not agree with the way they have been released. A 600kb file is not the deleted scene. The DLC is only a code that unlocks the level on the full version. I thought we were past all this paying to unlock stuff already in the game. I guess not.

sad thing is, MS knows that there are people out there that are perfectly willing to pay these prices, & will defend them. which is why MS doesn’t bother to care about the complaints about the price of certain games. This game seems too much like worms but with real time battles

Major, you can’t deny all those gamer-cries. Seriously, why do you keep neglecting the persons you make money out of?

For some titles, 1200MSP will be okay. For instance, I’d happily pay 1200MPS for SOTN. That’s because it’s a full fledged game.

But all those crappy arcade games that are priced 1200MSP? Stop thinking like: “Oh, there are enough people buying it to make a profit”.

Sooner or later, we will boycot it enough. Not enough people will buy it. Then you are forced to review the prices.

And my idea is te same as many: Ports – 400MSP, remakes/original XBLA – 800MSP, Original 1200MSP. There, was it that hard?

dwnloading the demo, i’ll try it

Second verse, same as the first. 1200 again? It’s a mistake, and it is only going to backfire on you. OK, we are only 1 page in, but there are less people defending the price point than usual already. Get ready for a major release failing to sell because everybody has stopped bothering to check the arcade on Wednesdays.

i thought 1200 was fine for Rtype because you got 2 games and they was really good games but this is like a game you can knock up in a week i would have to think about it even if this game was 400 but at 1200 no chance at all

800 points, YES. 1200 points, NO! When will you guys learn!?

1200 points for this rubbish??? Definatly not MS!!!!! Im not even going to bother downloading it, its pointless at this price. I might as well just run a similar game on the PC via MAME or something for FREE. I am looking forward to Outrun but also wondering what kinda price thats gonna be… Probably 1600 at least.

What happened to the 1 vs 100 game?

For 800 points this would have been an insta-buy, but for 1200 I am just going to leave it where it is. Way to expensive. $15 was only justified for Castle Crashers and Braid, which were two very well crafted origional games. This is a remake with just HD graphics and online, pass.

Added the trial to my download queue, so I’ll try it once it’s on my 360. I saw a trailer of this a week ago or something, and it looked like a pretty fun game. And that’s the point of games. If they are fun over time, then 1200 points isn’t a steep price.
When I think about that I’ve done more than 3000 rounds of multiplayer in Bomberman on Xbox Live, then those 800 points I spent on it is ALOT of entertainment for my money. If Death Tank can give me half of that fun, it’ll be worth it.
A trailer of Death Tank: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DghcuZfsGfI

Sorry Major this is overpriced, you need to tell Ms’s marketing team to look at the responces of overpricing DLC….I bet you’ve lost at least half of the potential customers on that alone? and if you do the math it would have been more of a success at 800 points, Would it not?

DLC prices and content are getting stupid now. Granted GTA: L&D is ok for the money though but deleated levels hahahah (The Maw) whatever! I might have bought that game but now i feel as if the developers strategy is to just rip off there customers and milk there IP’s….Pitty really.

I’m getting really tired of 1200 price point games. I remember when 800 was for the most part the the peak. at that point I’ve almost bought every single one. now I don’t buy much at all.

Mmmm .. 1200 points for something that Worms does just as well for 400 !
Just watch the sales figures of Arcade titles fall if games continue selling at 1200 .

At least there is no disclaimer that “notice has been posted” and the online could be shut down in 30 days…saved me some points last week, and the 1200 point price looks like it will save me some this week. It’s pretty bad when the prices and dumb things MS let slide (like the EA “server” garbage) make someone who used to buy EVERY arcade game, stop buying them. Maybe there will be a sale at some point…and then again, maybe the game will be de-listed…XBLA is so much fun now!!

R-Type was totally worth the 1200. But this game had me saying “wow that’s it?”. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun. But not 1200 point fun. Seems like there is more to a game like Worms than this one, and Worms is 800 points cheaper lol.

1200points is ridiculous.

What we need to start doing is making good use of the policy that M$ brought in on culling underperforming arcade titles, which was something like a 6% conversion rate from trial to full game.
So instead of just boycotting it all together, download the trial, theen don’t pay for the unlock of the full game.
The more people do this, the more the developers will suffer from Microsofts policy and maybe start bring the prices back inline to what us consumer will pay.
What do you guys reckon?

I have this same game(pretty much) on my iPhone

$.99

this is WAY too high for a game that you can get for free on PC(just like gunbound and 99 cents on your phone

I think this will be the first time I have ever complained about price on any type of content. After trying the demo however, there is nothing that explains the 1200 points associated with this game (to me at least). Sorry, 800 would have been fine. 1200, no thanks.

1200 points is way too much for a Scorched Earth/Worms clone.

I can see where this is going:

Microsoft keeps ignoring those of us that see a serious problem with these prices. We keep ignoring/shunning these ridiculously overpriced games. In the end, the only casualty is casual gaming. Which is something that thrived because of the arcade. Microsoft had a great thing going for a while there. They revived casual gaming with the arcade. And gamers loved them for it. But now, they’re killing it dead by trying to rip off those same gamers with these ridiculous, undeserved prices.

Major, you really need to bring your comments section to the attention of whomever is responsible for these prices. This needs to stop.

Price is TOO HIGH = NO BUY

I will go get Flower on the PS3 for $10 instead. Sony knows how to price their games. MS needs to learn a thing or two.

In a time when the world economy is suffering, and people have less disposible income, it’s crazy that MS are forcing up the prices of XBLA games. There is a definite upward trend from 400/800 to 800/1200 and I’m going to have to really rein back on the number of XBLA games I buy because of it.

Economy goes down.
Microsoft prices go up.

$15!!??
Thanks a lot!…but no thanks.

Sigh, more whining from people who would rather whine about games without playing them than even try them out. We know, we know, it’s $5 more expensive, but that’s only $5!

It’s just depressing that this is another title that will be incredibly underrated and niche. I’m beginning to think gaming won’t survive this depression.

nice but 1200 TOO much ><

It’s only $5. Sounds like the same old Horse Armor argument “It’s only $2.50″ But Bethsoft responded by reducing the price point of future DLC and everyone was happy.

In today’s economy, $5 is $5. for 800 pts I might buy this game and some GH or RB tunes. At 1200 pts though, I’ll pass and just download some more songs.

With due respect to Johnny Cochran… “If the price is too high, you must not buy!”

I agree with all the posts so far and add my voice to the choir saying that 1200 is too much for this (along with R-Type a week or so before). Just because profits are down across the world (not just Microsoft) doesn’t mean that you should gouge your loyal user base, comprendre?

I would have bought R-Type Dimensions at 800 and I would consider Death Tank at 800 (I was very much expecting 400, though). Instead I’ll be buying neither, which means 1600 points down the drain for you guys.

Think about it.

I will, however, be picking up the level for The Maw. At least that’s a reasonable price.

Played the demo and liked it. Too bad, really. I would have gotten this one for sure if it was less than 1200 points.
Come to think of it, the last thing I got off the marketplace was the extremely well priced GRAW 2 map packs. I haven’t bought any new releases for almost half a year now. The prices just started getting way too high for little things. Hope this turns around soon. It’s a little disappointing.

This isn’t Braid, MS marketing people might have talked another developer into charging 1200 points but this isn’t going to fly this time. I’ll wait for the price drop (which judging by the comments on every major message board should be with in a month) because I haven’t seen anyone ok with this price.

I thought that the developers set the price, in consultation with MS…? The problem with Arcade titles is that lower price actually moves more units. The profit margin per unit might be smaller at a lower price, but they would certainly sell more units at a lower price…possibly making more money in the longterm. :\

Man what’s up with all the 1200 point games lately.

I remember playing a game similar to this on the pc for free.
Such a great game.

I won’t even bother downloading the demo. Seriously, I won’t pay 1200 points for an xbla game. I use to buy 1400 pt cards weekly to get xbla stuff. But now, I know I’m being taken advantage of and nothing for a long time has been worth over 800 pts. You are going to be sorry MS in the future. You will lose what great thing you had going.

It would be nice if Major acknowledged the issue even if he cannot do anything about it at least give us an insight to how MS view and justify the value of the games.

MY gold account is due up for renewal soon and im not really sure im going to bother renewing it partly due to the fact that over the last year the gold service doesnt really get you much other than online multiplayer and thats something i can do without (or at least dip in and out of on a monthly basis).

In the currrent economic situation people will vote with their wallets and while there will always be people who will buy XBL it will probably only be the hardcore gamers who part with their money

I just love every dumb@ss that complains about the price of arcade games going up without any facts.

Free Games = 5
1.00 games = 1
5.00 games = 62
10.00 games = 111
15.00 games = 10
20.00 games = 1

Bankshot Billiards 2 10/03/05
Roboblitz 11/18/06
Braid 08/06/08
Castle Crashers 08/27/08
Portal 10/22/08
5th Grader 10/29/08
Penny Arcade Ep 2 10/29/08
Super Street Fighter II 11/26/08
R-Type 02/04/09
Death Tank 02/18/09

I included Bankshot because it was originally 15.00

10 games in 3 1/2 years have been 15.00

All games total $1591 = 190 = 8.37 average

8.00 has been and remains the average cost of an arcade game.

nope 1200 too much

@CryptoElite: I guess whining about other people whining like you do every week is ok though right?

over a 3 year period that average bears out what people are saying is that over the last few months the release price has jumped up to 1200 and 1200 points is starting to become the standard

but as I said only way to stop it is to vote with your wallets

@CARNAGE RULES
2005: 1 $15 game.
2006: 1 $15 game.
2007: 0 $15 games.
2008: 6 $15 games.
2009: 2 $15 games, and we are only into mid February.

At this rate we could easily reach 10 $15 by the end of the year. There is an easily noticeable trend in how games are costing more.

@Doh Ray Egon :
People are being fools. Complaining about a game without even trying the demo is completely stupid. The game isn’t perfect, if you try the demo and think “I don’t want to/can’t pay $15 for this”, that’s fine. What if the game turned out to be your favorite of all time? Is $15 too much? If you’ve EVER bought any game that cost more than $15 you have no right to complain about a $15 game without judging the game upon its own merits.

Cool Gamertag though.

Great game but i don’t think its worth 1500 points since you can pick up for worms for 400pts

Agree with the majority on here…I HAVE played the demo and it would be an absolute buy if it was 800 points. 1200 is too much in my opinion, and I know its my perogative not to spend that much on a game, and Im executing that right!

Too bad, I could’ve seen this arcade game taking up my time from GeoWars2, oh well back to owning shapes!

Point the first: When I first heard about Death Tank forever ago I was rather looking forward to it. Then it slipped off the radar for a while and now its out and I’ve had a go, I can’t say that it’s anything more than overpriced crap. Who OK’d this? I wouldn’t give this to a dog.
—
Point de la seconde: Too many games worth 800 being sold for 1200 points recently. Or “not sold” as the case may be.
—
Nummer der dritten: This game’s already on Arcade. It’s called Worms, it plays much better, and it costs three times less. Well, I got mine free from a promotional code but still.
—
El cuarto punto: Speaking of overpriced crap, Johnathan Blow (he sure does!) has dropped the price of Braid by $5 USD for the March 31st PC release:
http://kotaku.com/5156047/jonathan-blow-lowers-price-on-pc-braid
Would be EVER SO NICE (and sensible) if Microsoft would do the same and whack it on Arcade Hits for 800. Could even do it ASAP, get the jump on it. Pre-emptive strike.
—
Punto quinto: About time the price was cut for that Penny Arcade rubbish too, that’s been cheaper on Steam for ages. Why the first episode is still a ridiculous 1600 is beyond me.
—
Sorry for the wall of text, needed to put some points across though.

scorched tanks was a fantastic amiga title that I love to this day.
however this may not be a mass market product, it was clear that such title would not appeal to many people at this price – what did microsoft expect?
especially when economy went down the drain long time ago,
it’s really discouraging to see what microsoft is doing,
especially when you’re getting original, fantastic game on psn such as flower for $9.99.
I really want to support xbla titles like this but these inflated prices have got to be stopped or they will be left 4 dead ^_~

Funny how things come around, too…

1996: Death Tank is a bonus game in the Sega Saturn version of PowerSlave.
1997: Death Tank Zwei is an unlockable secret hidden away in the Sega Saturn version of Duke Nukem 3D.
2008: Duke Nukem 3D is released on XBLA for 800 MSP.
2009: Death Tank is released on XBLA for 1200 MSP.

lolwat

PROTIP: This several year old game is free and on PC.

Pocket Tanks: http://www.blitwise.com/ptanks.html

I wouldn’t hesitate to say Death Tank is the same game renamed or a clone. Doesnt look as pretty, but its the same game nonetheless.

what recession? im buying a new car, and i just got a new pc – life is good! i think i can afford to blow $15 for what is, in my opinion one of the best XBLA games in awhile.

Love Death Thanks – great game! And nice of them to include 60mins of online play. For 800 this would have been an insta-sale but with SFIV out this week , there’s no chance I’m paying 1200 for it. Will wait for it to go to Arcade Hits – however long that takes.

It’s quite ridiculous that you can buy full-fledged Xbox Originals at the same price as this game that has barely any content in is. It’s quite ridiculous that the original was a free bonus game in Duke Nukem 3D, now it’s more expensive than the XBLA version of DN3D.

The whole pricing structure of Arcade is broken and should be fixed ASAP or else sales will plummet. Just look at what games the PSN is offering for similar prices!

Trouble is, I really don’t think MS / XBLA staff care what (I reckon is) the vocal minority think, they just know there are enough saps on XBL that will lap up any and all (overpriced) content they stick on there.

My main worry is, where will it stop, with no XBLA guidelines in place, the prices can (and possibly will) continue to rise and rise and rise.

I have said it before, MS are testing the water in terms of pricing, they are seeing how far they can push it.

The pricing sturcture isn’t broken at all, there isn’t one to break, and there in lies the problem.

I checked out the demo and in my opinion, this game should be 400 from the start! There’s no way this game is worth 1200.

Would have to agree, this is very silly at this price. What were they thinking?

1200……um…thinking..NO

Especially bad timing as I just paid for Lost and Damned…so NO. I refuse to buy Arcade titles at that price

Total Rip!!!!

Wasn’t SSFIIHDR only 1200 points? I’d pay 400ms points max for this. Even that’s a stretch!

Bring out some shmups to America and stop releasing them ONLY in Japan… WTH MS?

bloody hell micrsoft you taking the piss now.

1200 points for this crap ??

I don’t think many people are gonna bust out £10 / $15 a week if this is the new system for XBLA, which is a shame because I really wanna get my XBLA fix at a reasonable price.

Danowat32 makes a good point about MS testing the waters with pricing. I think the standard should be 400-800 point games and the occasional 1200 point game. The only way things will change is if we speak with our wallets and don’t purchase them at these prices. On a side note somebody posted about Braid being lower when it will be released on PC, I just wanted to say thanks for letting us know. I was thinking about buying but hopefully a price drop will hit when the PC version is released and I can save a few points.

I was looking forward to seeing this, but 1200 is starting to take the piss. I used to buy loads of aracade games when they were 4 and 800, but not anymore. i don’t have the cash these days. Surely it’s common sense ? Sell say; 500k units at 800, or 100k units at 1200 ? That was hypothetically speaking, but it’s kind of easy to work out which is the best method. I really would’ve paid 800 for r-type. I just hope outrun isn’t 1200 too. By the way. Why the hell are xbox originals 1200 ? You can buy the proper disc in box copies for peanuts these days. If they were 400 or 800, and you got 200 GS for finishing them, then i could kind of see the appeal, but 1200 for old xbox games these days ? Yeah right.

Why couldn’t someone make a community game ripoff of Death Tank? Maybe not as polished, but hey its Death Tank… I’m sure it would sell big as a community game for 200-400 points.

I’ll bet my ass Outrun is at least 1200MSP’s

http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewstory&threadid=95800

Great example of game economics.

is this anything like Scorched Earth? I used to fucking love that game!

Next week, Solitar with 3d motion flips of the card 1200msp.

If I’m not mistaken, the new Puzzle Quest comes out next week and I bet it will be between 1200-1600 points so heads up. (I know DKR1138 was being sarcastic but it made me remember this)

Here is where I saw it http://kotaku.com/5155409/next-week-on-live-arcade-puzzle-quest-galactrix

Interesting interview with the guy who made deathtank here http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/death-tanks-ezra-driesbach-interview

Apparently took him 3 years to program, so might explain the high price tag – the guy needs to get paid! I agree though that 1200 is too high – he’d get a better return if he sold twice as many copies at 800 points.

Note to developers: 1200 point titles are competing against XB Originals AND secondhand/discounted titles in store. 1200 points = £10+ here in the UK. For less than that I can pick up a brand new copy of Mass Effect.

Prices should be: 200 Community Games, 400 old arcade/XBLA games, 800 XBLA premium games, 1000 XB Originals.

1200 MS points for this game? Way to high, heck even 800 MS points would be too high. Lower this among MANY OTHER OVERPRICED GAMES to 400 MS points and you WILL see an increase in purchases.

Till then, good luck because I among many of my friends that feel the same with arcade games, will not buy any of them. This is the truth and this does not even include the current state the economy is in either. Even if it was good, I still would not even buy it, overpriced. It is sad because some of them would even be fun to play either together or just from time to time when bored.