G.R.A.W. Chapter 2 Content Costs Arm, Leg, First Born
Published June 23, 2006
As you may have heard, a large (in both file size and scope) content download pack for Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter (G.R.A.W.) was released on Live today.
The amount of items included are many, but only a small portion of it makes up the "meat and potatoes" of the download. The biggest attraction is the four new co-op missions, called "Chapter 2." The game already consists of four co-op missions, these being known as "Chapter 1." Everything included is more than we have ever seen before released on a home console as a digital download.
- Co-op Campaign Continued (Chapter 2)
- Coffee Plantation (Day)
- ShippingPort (Evening)
- River Depot (Dawn)
- Jungle Mine (Day)
- Adversarial Multiplayer Maps Relit
- Fishing Village (Dusk)
- Wharf (Late day)
- Old Town (Morning)
- Nowhere (Evening)
- Coffee Plantation (Evening)
- Shipping Port (Sunset)
- River Depot (Day)
- Jungle Mines (Evening)
- New Game Types
- Team Blind Siege
- Team Battle
- New Camouflage Patterns
- Canadian CADPAT
- British DPM
- New Character Customization Faces
- Four all-new character faces with new camo patterns give you new selections to further customize your character.
- New Weapons
- SR-25 SD (Marksman)
- M468 (Rifleman)
- M468/M320 (Grenadier)
- AK-47 LMG (Gunner)
- SCAR-H SV (Rifleman)
That is quite debatable, and is entirely based upon opinion. It is an opinion if the game itself is worth the sticker price, and it is another opinion if this content download is worth the additional funds.
Let me say that, before going further, I am downloading this 725 MB file as we speak. Yep, I bought it. I don't entirely agree with the price, but I do not entirely disagree with it either. On a side note, it has been downloading for about a half hour, and just hit 2% complete. I am guessing that there are a lot of lemmings out there doing the same thing I am right now. Thank God for Active Downloads.
One of the problems the Xbox Live Marketplace faces right now is the simple fact of no standards for map pack add-ons. This G.R.A.W. content is basically a map pack with some other stuff thrown in.
For 400 Microsoft Points you get two new maps for Call of Duty 2 (two more are a free download.) For 500 Microsoft Points you get four maps for Perfect Dark Zero. To add some perspective, the Halo 2 map pack cost $9.99 on Live. That pack contains nine multiplayer maps.
Something else to ponder is the cost of expansion packs on Windows. Many expansion packs cost around $20. Is this G.R.A.W. Chapter 2 content not close to a "normal" expansion pack that we have come accustom to on the PC?
Ken Edwards is the Gaming Editor at Blogcritics, and calls Breaking Windows home. Ken works part time for Student Publications at BGSU as the Webmaster and System Administrator. He is also a freelance web developer.
- G.R.A.W. Chapter 2 Content Costs Arm, Leg, First Born
- Published: June 23, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Gaming
- Filed Under: Gaming: Xbox
- Writer: Ken Edwards
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Comments on this articleComments
I agree about how fun the co-op campaign is. I also agree that it is worth the $15.
But I do not think the free pricing of the PC version content is irrelevant at all. What is irrelevant is what three levels and three maps the PC players got. They got that stuff for free. We paid $15. There should be a happy medium here.
Oh and just a warning. Download the frickin' Title Update before you spend an hour downloading the GRAW Chapter 2 DLC. Because if you don't install the Title Update first, you will have to grab the Chapter 2 DLC again.
And when you say "Download Again" it doesn't just zip right away. It downloads it again.
Minor oversight? Yes. Annoying as hell? You betcha!
Well here's a point for you both to consider. What made Co-Op in GRAW fun? Was it the maps and design themselves? Or was it the people you played with? People who may not, and in the case of at least a few of the people you game with WILL NOT, buy Chapter 2?
Just some food for thought.
Your point works until a point, at which point it becomes pointless. Why? Because there are a lot of people playing right now with this new Chapter 2 content. I will go play GRAW with them. It is your loss in the long run.
Cost of everything is going up in the next generations. And lets not forget that the XBLM is in business to make money.
... so bitch about the cost all you want. I am enjoying a great extension to an already great game. Would I like to see a beefier expansion for $15? Sure I would, but they haven't given us that. They have given us more multilayer goodness though.
I'm sorry Ken but cost of next-gen only matters when there's actual next-gen development costs attached to it. You'll be hard pressed to prove that 4 maps and some trvival bits cost Ubisoft any major amount of money to produce.
If people just bend over and accept this rediculous price, then you're heading down a slippery slope where it's ok to charge $15. If $15 is acceptable then what's to stop then from charging $20? Inflation only happens in the gaming world because we allow it to.
Right now the acceptable level for that ammount of content is around $10 (check the boards, you know it to be true) and the only reason it will ever go higher is if we allow it to.
Maybe GRAW Chapter 2 is worth the money for the entertainment value, but that entertainment comes from the people you play with, not the maps themselves. So why not just put the $15 towards some beer and then replay the original maps with some friends? We hardly got tired of them.
The bottomline is that there's no way you can justify Ubisoft charging that price for maps. Even if the experience is worth it, the content clearly isn't. Getting screwed is still getting screwed, even if you had a good time.
I would wager ($15 just for the comic value alone) that it cost Ubisoft quite a bit to develop this Chapter 2 add-on pack.
Lets be honest, the slope got slippery when Microsoft introduced micro-transactions on XBLM. It has already headed into bad places. I certainly hope that Lumines Live does not charge extra for multiplayer, but that is the latest rumor.
People will always complain about higher prices, as everyone should. No one wants to to pay more for something than they think it is worth. But the market will determine the price.
We complained about the $10 extra per game, the cost of themes and gamer pictures, the cost of Bankshot Billiards 2, the cost of Table Tennis, etc., etc.
The only complaining that has had any resonance is the Horse Armor mod for Oblivion. Everything else has sold well.
It seems to me that a lot of people have bought the Chapter 2 add-on pack. There have not been a shortage of people to play on the four new maps.
The bottom line is that I have justified the cost of the add-on to my self. And that is all that really matters here. It is a shame you feel screwed over by this, but at this point in the, I would much rather spend another $15 on GRAW then on any other 360 game.
Is Ubisoft capitalizing on the summer gaming slump? Sure. That is called a wise decision.
Would it have sold better at $10? Probably. Would $10 recoup the costs involved? Who knows. Has Ubisoft made back the money for the initial development of GRAW? Won't the sale of the Chapter 2 add-on help defray those costs?
True, we don't get tired of the old maps, but having more than four choices sure is nice. And meeting more people on Xbox Live is hardly a bad thing.
Well, unless you are playing Halo 2 :P
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The PC content is completely different and nowhere near as varied. The free pricing of the PC version is irrelevant, aside from the map editor.
This is priced content that's hovering in the slightly overpriced territory. Would I like it cheaper? Well of course. Is it fair where it's at? I see no reason why not. The co-op campaign is by far the most fun I've ever had on Live.