170°

Online Solution for Renting FFXIII?

Forever-Fantasy.net has translated what was discussed at Square Enix's recent stockholders meeting in Japan. Near the end of the meeting there was a short question and answer period, in which Square Enix President Yoichi Wada took part in:

beast5791d ago (Edited 5791d ago )

You loose money when hard copy is sitting on the stand. But if you use online download media, there is no investment of packaging and Blu-ray disk cost, PLUS you cant rent online games . So the future in gaming might just be online games download atleast in some aspect ie activation of games or even download patch to activate a game. All this wont work because not all have internet.

Blackcanary5791d ago

Thats true but is there any other way around it?

Sangria5791d ago

The question is: what is the link with Final Fantasy XIII? There's no size limitation on Playstation Store, but it's not sane to make a several-GB game on PSN, and i really don't think (or hope) FFXIII or FFvsXIII will be 4-5 GB.

So in my opinion, there is a misunderstanding in what Yoichi Wada said, maybe Square Enix have plans with Playstation Store but it has no link with FFXIII.

ki03655791d ago

renting is all that can work with gigantic games. hard drives break too often to put everything you own onto it.

Isaac5791d ago

It will not be. They will simply require you to activate your copy through PSN. That way you can always use FFXIII but only with your PSN. Which is lame because if I want to lend the game to a friend he will not be able to, or even my roommate. Square Enix loves the fact that there is no piracy on PS3 and will not be for a long time (which is also incentive for them to make the game way bigger than a DVD9), and they want to squeeze as much money from FFXIII as they can, which is not allowing but one PSN tag to play the game. If anyone wants to play, they will have to pay full price.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 5791d ago
Le-mo5791d ago

Sounds like a good plan to me. Fans of the series will buy a copy and keep it, others will might want to rent it and they can do so by downloading the game online for a period of time. But then again, the file will be huge.

Isaac5791d ago (Edited 5791d ago )

Did you read the article? They are not gonna rent 50 GB worth of information, they will simply combine the disc with an online solution, which is simply registration your FFXIII copy through PSN, a sort of DRM. By the time FFXIII comes out, there will be plenty of PSN users anyway, it does not matter if "not all have internet". Most people do, who the hell puts a PS3 over internet in their priority list anyway? Having internet is not a luxury anymore, like cars and cellphones (unless you live in a third world country =( ). I do not doubt that the next consoles will be completely online, or at least that they will have the option for every game to be released online.

Asurastrike5791d ago

I better be able to get a physical copy. God, SE is so money hungry.

GodofPeace5791d ago

I will not download a game that is going to above 15 gigs of memory that would be RETARDED. Obviously its not going to happen

Seraphim5791d ago

1. This makes absolute sense since every rental is profit for the rental company, not the developer. And between rentals and used games sales these developers are losing A LOT of sales. This is just a way to tap into additional resources you'd otherwise be losing from rentals.

2. Sega Channel. Remember it anyone? That was the best thing to happen to gaming period. $10-20 [?] a month for 50ish titles that you could play anytime, anyday, and the list changed monthly w/ popular titles often coming back the following month. So why not offer some sort of online rental service for games?

The only thing I can't grasp is the price and time limits. To be a viable option for those who have an internet connection this service has to be comparable to or cheaper than traditional rentals.

So how do you go about finding the price point that competes w/ rentals?

- $15 a month to target gamefly and dust conventional rental stores?
- $5 per 25 [or X] hours of play?
- $10 for two weeks?

that's the only possible downfall that I see. Because if the value and reason isn't there people will continue to turn to already available methods for renting...

Anyway it's a great idea for them to gain revenue off the game. They'd still be selling hard copies to those who want it while appealing to those who want to rent it instead of buying it or rent it to see if they want to buy it. Perhaps they could rent it and if you choose to buy it give it to gamers at a discount. X dollars for rental minus X dollars for digital download equals a better price than buying it retail...

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110°

7 Deserving Games That Never Got Backward Compatibility

Backward compatibility works for many games on newer consoles, but titles such as The Simpsons: Hit and Run have been left out.

90°

20 Best Survival Games of All Time

From base building to swinging willies, here are the best survival games around, which include a couple of less than obvious picks.

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culturedvultures.com
Vader822d ago

No 7 days to die is criminal

210°

Microsoft once tried to nab LittleBigPlanet from Sony after a few drinks

It turns out that many moons ago, Microsoft once had its eye on the Sony published LittleBigPlanet series.

Read Full Story >>
eurogamer.net
XiNatsuDragnel5d ago

Microsoft had a good idea but fumbled it again.

Cacabunga3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Project Spark idea was decent but they quickly gave up ..
LBP was wonderful

ApocalypseShadow4d ago

Microsoft in a nutshell. Always tried to poach Sony employees, games, 3rd party games and devices like the depth camera that was turned into Kinect but was running on PS2 before Xbox 360. Wouldn't be surprised they wanted LBP. Just like they worked behind the scenes pushing the MLB to bring Sony's baseball game to Xbox instead of making their own.
https://www.playstationlife...

They didn't spend years trying to develop their own baseball game. They wanted Sony's game.

They're scum.

Zachmo1823d ago

Microsoft didn't force MLB on Xbox. MLB gave Sony 2 options either go multiplat or risk losing the license.

Rynxie3d ago

And why do you think MLB said that? I believe Ms approached MLB.

ApocalypseShadow3d ago (Edited 3d ago )

Totally ridiculous comment.

The only exclusivity Sony had was to their own creation of The Show. Microsoft could have paid the MLB for the license just like Sony did and made their own baseball game.

Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox. They're worth 3 TRILLION dollars. You think that's not enough money to make their own baseball game? Don't be delusional.

Microsoft spun it like they always do and told the media that they had to trust Sony with their hardware. After they put Sony in that position of not having a choice. Either go multiplatform or stop making one of their successful games. That's a no win scenario.

And what did Microsoft do? They didn't try to sell the game to the Xbox community. They put it on game pass to hurt Sony. Pushing the idea of why buy games that are $70 when you can play them in their cheap service for $10. It was a dirty tactic.

You fell for the Kool aid drink Microsoft served you instead of spitting it out. Hope it tasted good because you were fooled by Phil and the gang.

3d ago
Hereandthere3d ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

Bond revealed that MLB The Show “always came up” in conversations between Microsoft and the Major League Baseball organization. “We always said, ‘We love this game. It would be a huge opportunity to bring it to Xbox.'” she recalled. However, when Microsoft’s efforts materialized, it put the company in an awkward situation where it had to send in pre-release consoles to a rival company.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3d ago
Notellin3d ago

"Microsoft instead, groomed MLB for years in trying to poach Sony's game and bring it to Xbox."

Take a nap, conspiracies are rotting your brain.

3d ago
Hereandthere3d ago

Xbox executive Sara Bond has told Axios that Microsoft spent a number of years trying to get MLB The Show onto Xbox consoles. And when it finally succeeded in breaking off PlayStation’s long-held exclusivity, the company had to “trust” Sony with pre-release Xbox Series X/S consoles.

ApocalypseShadow2d ago

Lying to yourself is unbecoming.

Article link tells you all you need to know in Sarah Bond's own words.

Hereandthere3d ago

They were too cheap/inept/lazy to develop their own mlb game, so they port begged for years and bribed the mlb to make the show multiplatform. Like i said many times, xbox brought nothing to the table their 24 years, ZERO.

ApocalypseShadow2d ago

At least you and others get it. Note drank the Kool aid and asked for seconds thinking it was refreshing.

Most don't even know how it all played out but it's there in black and white for all to see. Microsoft brought it up for years until the MLB forced Sony's hand. It was a win win for Microsoft. Kill one reason to buy a PlayStation or kill the game by dropping it in a cheap service to kill Sony's sales numbers on PlayStation.

OtterX4d ago

"However, Healey said Media Molecule wouldn't have felt right doing that, adding it would have been "morally corrupt"."

Major kudos to Media Molecule for being an upright studio with principles.

Cockney2d ago

They chose well, Sony gave them the backing to pursue their dreams with no restrictions even tho their games especially dreams have very niche appeal. Media molecule and Sony deserve respect for this in an age of risk averse publishing.

RNTody4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Great, more stories like this please. Show the last of the zombies holding the line what we've been saying for years: Microsoft is anti competition, anti industry and has no interest in making games at all.

But hey, at least there's an Xbox Games Showcase to look forward to, right?

Inverno3d ago

Well considering SONY just killed the series, LBP would've been dead by now either way. Though MM probably wouldn't exist by now either, so I'm glad they stayed with SONY, hopefully they don't get shut down any time soon or ever honestly.

Inverno3d ago

They shut down the servers, that's millions of user created levels gone. That and dead are pretty much the same, it's also been years since 3 and they cancelled HUB soooo.

3d ago
fsfsxii3d ago

They shutdown the servers because no one was playing, no one in the community cared about the user created levels so why keep them up? Wtf you guys would never succeed in running a business.

Inverno3d ago

Yea dood no one was playing so they shut off the servers. Cause people with enough common sense can't just Google why they were actually shut of, right?

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