Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

BryceS — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:45:53 GMT

And of course, downloaded games have no resale value. So if you bought a game on the 360 for, say £40, you could assume that you could complete it and then get, say £10, back by trading it in.

So the true cost of the game to you is £30.

Now if MS or other companies start providing games as downloads only for £40 which you cannot sell on when you have completed the game, then the cost to you has gone up by £10.

And those second hand games are a really important resource for younger gamers who cannot afford games when they first come out. And for somebody like me who has only owned their 360 for about 6 months, second-hand games are important because I build my library with both new and second-hand games.

But I can't buy a second-hand copy of the original Geometry Wars which somebody is no longer playing. Nor can I buy second-hand DLC to go with my second-hand copies of Ace Combat or Oblivion.

Oblivion is a particulary interesting example, where to buy the DLC, I would need to pay more than I paid for the main game second-hand as (apart from the occasional sale) the cost of the DLC has not been reduced in line with the market value for the retail game.

So I ask a question similar to that in my post above: Should MS (and Sony and Nintendo) be forced by competition authorities to change the terms of licences for downloadable items to allow them to be transferable?

MS could make money off this, of course. They could set up an auction site inside the 360 Marketplace which could allow people to offer their second hand downloaded games and DLC for sale. MS could then take, say 2% of the selling price with 1% kept by MS and 1% going to the original developer. MS keep control of the transfer of the licenses and both MS and the original developer get to make some additional money out of things they have already sold. People with less money can buy old DLC at a sensible price and people who have no further use for their downloads get to recoup some of it's value. It's a win-win-win-win situation.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

BryceS — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 23:23:32 GMT

I do think that 1200 points is a bit much, especially when you consider that everybody else in the world seems to be cutting prices - Microsoft seems to be the only company which is putting them up. Maybe it's because there is no competition to supply downloads to the 360?

The next generation of consoles are likely to have huge storage and internet speeds will have got to the point where companies like Microsoft will consider offering full price games as downloads. This already works well on the PC with services such as Direct2Drive and Steam.

But will it be acceptable that only Microsoft will distribute games for the 360++ (and Sony for the PS4, etc.)?

Already MS have been pushing games which are exclusive downloads for the 360 (Braid, Geometry Wars 2, etc.) and DLC for existing games is also controlled by MS. You can't go to a game shop or supermarket to buy Braid. You can't choose between iTunes and Amazon for Rock Band downloads. As a result there is no competition and there is no incentive to keep prices in check.

As downloads become more expensive and the games released by this route become more significant (closer in quality and length to disc-based games), should this monopoly be allowed to continue?

Will MS allow other companies to operate alternative Marketplaces on the 360 platform? Should they be forced by competition authorities to do so?

Having said all that, I didn't play Banjo Kazooie the first time around so I did pay the 1200 points for it. I have to say that it is a terrific game and still plays extremely well today. In particular, I can't get the superb music out of my head! It certainly deserves a modern release and is probably worth paying a few quid for. I would just prefer that there was some competition to keep MS honest.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

MR SUPREME69 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:13:46 GMT

This Game is Awesome. I got it with my preorder for the third one. Cant wait for banjo Tooie

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

thewerty2 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 23:30:08 GMT

I love it! great game for little money :P

Worth every point ;P

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Boooo mS — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:24:57 GMT

MS can kiss my backside if they think I'm spending 1200 points on any arcade game.......Boooooooo MS....FFS MS enough with these silly prices and crap service.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Wyat Earp — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:38:10 GMT

This has aged really well. Got to "Clankers Cavern" now. Terrific level design & the 'hub' world puts most modern games to shame. @ Viper7751 - I read "Tooie" is scheduled for release on XBLA early in the New Year. Looking forward to that as I missed it on N64 so will be a completely new experience :-)

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Wyat Earp — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:06:00 GMT

@ Viper ... no worries mate. apologies for confusion! Wyat Earp

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Viper7751 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:16:20 GMT

@ Wyat Earp

Na man I meant the recent games listing on the cards, it always wants to show bejeweled and other arcade titles I haven't played in months.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Wyat Earp — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:56:10 GMT

@ Viper... Wyat Earp here. If that is directed at my comment then that is because I'm posting from my PS3 and it won't sign in PAL properly for some reason. However, it is my genuine gamertag (yes, I know there are 2 't's in "Wyatt... some other bugger got the tag 1st!). I am now a silver member but my comments re Banjo are genuine).

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Viper7751 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:40:23 GMT

I see the gamercards are still broken..

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Viper7751 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:39:40 GMT

By the way, what's Stop N Swop?

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Viper7751 — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:38:11 GMT

Could we see Banjo-Tooie come along as well? I bought it back when it first came out but haven't been able to find it.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Wyat Earp — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:43:31 GMT

I fail to understand how this is bad value for money? 12-15 hours gameplay...probably 20 to see everything. We are talking about one of the best platformers EVER MADE! Hell, Mario 64 is given a run for its money! I guess M$ could have released a straight port for less points (Nintendo would no doubt have released it with low-res graphics, 4:3 format, original sound and PAL borders/slowdown (Waverace anybody?!!!) but I'm glad they didn't. We get a great game, 16:9 widescreen, improved sound and 1080p upscaled graphics. Lovely. Oh, and can some of the "moaners" tell me of a better platformer available for Xbox or 360? Clue: there aren't any. Wyat Earp (gamertag)

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

JustinJDW — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:02:46 GMT

Lol, I love all the complaining about the game coming in about 30 minutes late. Big deal guys. Don't you have anything better to do than to sit at your Xbox 360 and count the minutes of a late arcade game. Get a life.

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Eat Box — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:56:11 GMT

When I try to put it into my queue, it says I don't have permission. 3 of my friends can't get it either. O_o

re: Arcade: Banjo-Kazooie

Gyllen Drage — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:52:02 GMT

I would have snapped this up at 800msp as I would have that left from a points card after getting SF2THDR (Which also shouldn't be 1200 damned points), but 1200 for a port of a decade old game? I will simply keep hold of it on my N64, as I won't buy extra points specificly for this.