XBLA has resorted to deceptive advertising.

[Artlover]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/arkanoid...as-hidden-costs

 

So, you spend the 800 points to buy the "full game", and when you play it, you find out it's only half the game and it costs another 400 points to unlock the rest of it which they don't mention.

 

Aside from it not being worth 1200 points, I'm pretty sure this falls into the realm of being illegal.

[moycon]

If true that's a bunch of bullshit and I hope they get SLAMMED with complaints.

I don't want to spend the 800 points to find out if it's true.

Should have been a 400 point game like all the other retro games anyway if you ask me.

1200 points! LOL Please.

One thing I'm noticing is that link and the forum link are both UK site. Is this something just happening in the UK?

Edited May 8, 2009 by moycon

[Atariboy]

The days of 400 point games seem to be done, 1200 seems to be the new standard pricing. I'm shocked Outrun made it out for only 800 since even that price point is becoming more rare (I don't count Arkanoid because in reality is 1200 points).

[Artlover]

One thing I'm noticing is that link and the forum link are both UK site. Is this something just happening in the UK?

Interesting observation.

 

It is pointing to xbox-scene UK forums. Even the Majornelson.com link seems to be mostly UK people responding and are the only ones who have confirmed this.

 

Hmmmm.. Maybe it is a UK thing. Still sucks tho.

[+HammR25]

Arkanoid is only 800 points if you only want episode's 1 and 2. I didn't know it had other episodes. I guess I hadn't gotten that far in the game yet. It wouldn't really be worth 800 points even with all 4 episodes.

 

The Xbox Live multiplayer portion is already dead the day after it's release.

 

Oh and it's not just a UK thing. I just went into the game and noticed for the first time that there are two grayed out episodes below episodes 1 & 2. I didn't even notice them until I started looking for them.

Edited May 8, 2009 by HammR25

[moycon]

Hmmmm.. Maybe it is a UK thing. Still sucks tho.

 

As HammR25 pointed out this is how it is every where.

Let me ask this, did the original game only have 2 episodes, anyone know?

I played the game in the arcade several times, but never was really into enough to play through it.

[Video]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/arkanoid...as-hidden-costs

 

So, you spend the 800 points to buy the "full game", and when you play it, you find out it's only half the game and it costs another 400 points to unlock the rest of it which they don't mention.

 

Aside from it not being worth 1200 points, I'm pretty sure this falls into the realm of being illegal.

 

I believe that falls under the realm of "false advertising" and yes, it's illegal. Kind of like how some games are now being shipped with "bonus content" that somehow fails to mention that you have to pay to get that content. (halo wars comes to mind, spacifically the mention of included halo 3 multi player maps, only to find later you are required to download them, yeah, hat's included all right)

 

Mostly it's just milking the customer and both tactics are illegal, I hope they get slammed in court over these practices too.

[+HammR25]

The Hasbro Game night front end is a bit deceptive as well.

[Lord Helmet]

The Hasbro Game night front end is a bit deceptive as well.

 

I'll agree with that.

 

 

The Arkanoid thing is BS too. I guess I didn't realize that you don't get the whole thing for 800 points

[Jess Ragan]

It's worth pointing out that this happened after Taito was purchased by Square...

[cimerians]

This could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

Seriously, someone's going to get a pretty good lawyer and go after these crafty a$$holes.

 

It may come to the point that they will need labels\warnings on these games.

 

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

[Atarifever]

This could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

Seriously, someone's going to get a pretty good lawyer and go after these crafty a$$holes.

 

It may come to the point that they will need labels\warnings on these games.

 

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

Sadly there is a disconnect there. The kind of people willing and able to take this to court, aren't the type of people to think 400 points is worth the trouble. What is that in real people money? $5? I have yet to hear of a major company being successfully sued over "cheating" consumers out of $5.

[Video]

This could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

Seriously, someone's going to get a pretty good lawyer and go after these crafty a$$holes.

 

It may come to the point that they will need labels\warnings on these games.

 

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

Sadly there is a disconnect there. The kind of people willing and able to take this to court, aren't the type of people to think 400 points is worth the trouble. What is that in real people money? $5? I have yet to hear of a major company being successfully sued over "cheating" consumers out of $5.

 

Not a customer perhaps. Maybe not even a few, but in this case, it's everyone who bought the game. A lot of little can add up to a lot in a hurry.

[Lord Helmet]

This could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

Seriously, someone's going to get a pretty good lawyer and go after these crafty a$holes.

 

It may come to the point that they will need labels\warnings on these games.

 

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

Sadly there is a disconnect there. The kind of people willing and able to take this to court, aren't the type of people to think 400 points is worth the trouble. What is that in real people money? $5? I have yet to hear of a major company being successfully sued over "cheating" consumers out of $5.

 

Not a customer perhaps. Maybe not even a few, but in this case, it's everyone who bought the game. A lot of little can add up to a lot in a hurry.

 

It would have to be a class action for sure.

[moycon]

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

 

The smart thing to do is NOT PURCHASE the content.

I know I wont be based on this information.

I wont even download the demo.

[Gabriel]

To tell the truth, from all the Arkanoid raving a few months ago regarding the DS version, I kind of got the impression Arkanoid afficianados were a bit fanatical. I seem to remember them getting all excited at the thought of paying $40 for a much inferior presentation of the game. $15 for a version which doesn't suffer the awkward dual screen presentation of the DS, is in HD, and not on a tiny screen isn't all that much

 

And didn't Taito/Nintendo do the same thing with Space Invaders Extreme on the Wii? Wasn't that broken up into pieces requiring the player pay more and more money to play the game?

 

I'm not defending this hidden cost at all. I think it sucks big time. I'm just playing devil's advocate, because I seem to remember the people interested in this game being willing to pay much more for a much poorer experience.

 

The irony is, I was about to buy Arkanoid. Yeah, it was 800 points, but it was scratching an itch I had. I held off, though. Now that I've read this news, I've decided I definitely won't be buying it. And I would have bought Space Invaders Extreme, but the way it was offered on the Wii made me leery of it having hidden costs on Live Arcade as well. Taito screwed themselves out of two sales.

 

Oh well. I think Arkanoid is on one of my PS2 Taito discs.

[PressureCooker2600]

The Hasbro Game night front end is a bit deceptive as well.

 

That was the worst of the bunch, IMHO.

[nonner242]

When are they going to start charging me everytime I press "START"!

[Atariboy]

You can find that disc for dirt cheap at any store that sells used games. For awhile, GS was selling the Namco museum collection for $15.00 that has Pac-Man CE, Galaga Legions, and many Namco games. Not sure if that is still on.

 

Its going for only $10 at GameStops brand new, which is a great deal. It would cost that much to just buy any of their remakes on XBLA, but the disc offers all their XBLA classics and a ton of other classic titles.

 

And didn't Taito/Nintendo do the same thing with Space Invaders Extreme on the Wii? Wasn't that broken up into pieces requiring the player pay more and more money to play the game?

 

A big difference is, as far as I know, its obvious in Space Invader's case your only buying part of the game up front. The other portions are there ready to be purchased up front if you want everything or you can decide to pass upon realizing its split up into multiple pieces that have to be bought seperately. I haven't been to the WiiWare marketplace recently though, so I may be remembering incorrectly.

 

In Arkanoids case, its disguised as the full game upon purchase and you're unaware of it until you advance far enough in to be prompted to buy the second half of the game. The second half of the game isn't sold directly on XBL marketplace, so its not obvious when you purchase what's titled the "full game" for 800 points that that isn't the case in reality, until your ingame and realize you were decieved and have to pay another $5 for what you thought you already bought.

 

As for Hasbro Game Night, I downloaded it a few weeks back and was surprised it was listed as free. I thought I was getting a great deal on something they must be giving away like they've done a few times in the past. I didn't realize you don't get anything with your download until you buy $10 board games as DLC, but at least I wasn't out any money.

Edited May 9, 2009 by Atariboy

[godslabrat]

The days of 400 point games seem to be done, 1200 seems to be the new standard pricing. I'm shocked Outrun made it out for only 800 since even that price point is becoming more rare (I don't count Arkanoid because in reality is 1200 points).

 

Not to sidetrack the discussion, but I thought one of the benefits of download-only games was that they'd be cheaper, since no one had to pay to print, store, ship, and sell them? Now that viable download-only services are becoming popular, the price is slowly rising. That's crap! If charging more than ~$10 is standard, then give me a physical disc.

[cimerians]

When are they going to start charging me everytime I press "START"!

 

 

You know what? It wouldn't suprise me in this day in age.

Thank Microshaft for their revolutionary Xbox live which started with the original Xbox. Remember they get a chunk of nice change for every download. They thought up this thing extremely well.

Well....I do find it amusing to take jabs at them and their money making ways but to be fair I have a feeling it would have gotten here anyway.

 

We're going to be saying things like "Remember when we bought a cartridge and we got ...a game? Manual, ending, everything?"

[Lord Helmet]

When are they going to start charging me everytime I press "START"!

 

 

You know what? It wouldn't suprise me in this day in age.

 

 

Funny...it would be more like a return to the heyday of the arcade...25 cents per game!

[JamesD]

You expected something besides deception from a system that uses points which are designed to make games look 20% cheaper than they are?

I wonder how long they examined the psychology behind that to maximize sales vs profit.

.

[Mord]

This could be a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

Seriously, someone's going to get a pretty good lawyer and go after these crafty a$$holes.

 

It may come to the point that they will need labels\warnings on these games.

 

Hopefully things dont get out of hand but I cant help but think that with digital games comes more ways of smart ass publishers to find different ways to make extra money.

Sadly there is a disconnect there. The kind of people willing and able to take this to court, aren't the type of people to think 400 points is worth the trouble. What is that in real people money? $5? I have yet to hear of a major company being successfully sued over "cheating" consumers out of $5.

 

You'd be surprised at the kinds of class action lawsuits that people have launched and won over the years.

 

Of course, class action lawsuits make everyone lose except the lawyers bringing the lawsuit.

[Mirage]

Oh, I can't imagine Microsoft doing something shady. Hell must have just frozen over.