Profiteering and Perversion - The Seedy World of Namco DLC.
Rich
I fucking hate Namco.
It’s okay though, the feeling is mutual. Namco hate me back and have absolutely no problem with letting me know that. They hate me because of past sins committed, namely buying their games. Yes, fuck me for buying Namco games.
Okay, slightly emotional introduction aside I’m actually being serious here. Something has gone wrong in the relationship between Namco and their customers. Not just a breakdown in communication but also in respect. Namco seemingly have stopped respecting their customers which in this industry is a problem because customers are also fans and trust me, you don’t fuck with the fans.
The presenting problem here, and the main thrust of the article, is their downloadable content (DLC) pricing which, at times, is pure greed in micro-transaction form. I’ll be documenting these travesties in this article but bear in mind that I began this article last week, before the Tales of Vesperia DLC was announced. Talk about adding fuel to the fire…
'call them what you like, you'll still be playing Galaga'
It’s not just the DLC, although that is what I’ll be focusing on, but also the way that Namco re-release the same games over and over. How many times can you bear seeing Dig Dug re-released for example? Or New Rally-X in classic and re-arranged modes. Namco Classics, Namco Museum, Namco Anniversary, Namco Anthology, Namco Gallery… call them what you like, you’ll still be playing Galaga.
DLC has been a thorn in gamers’ sides since it first reared its ugly head but, if used right, it can be a good thing. Adding extra content to a game after most people have completed has been going on since the 8-bit days with data discs/tapes and is a good way to extend the life of a game. In recent times content such as the ‘Shivering Isles’ expansion (Oblivion) or ‘Getting Busy’ (Crackdown) have added to the lifespan of those games and whilst neither were particularly cheap there did seem to be some value for money there.
Other DLC packages have been less good value but none have been as cynical as the content that Namco have made available and when you see it laid on the screen before you, you can’t help but feel that Namco need to have a word with themselves.
'generic dance music dogshit'
RIDGE RACER 6. Ridge Racer 6’s DLC offers you a mixture of free and ‘premium’ content. The ‘premium’ stuff is a choice of 41 pieces of background music at 80M$P ($1/68p) each. Background music, traditionally, is part of the game you are buying. Selling it is frankly a wanker’s trick. Also, as this link shows. The music is generic dance music dogshit.
The complete set will cost you 3280M$P ($40.98/£27.88). Yes, really and it costs just 11p less than most iTunes music but at least you can play iTunes music on the media player/device of your choice.
Ridge Racer 6 does also come with free content, namely 36 extra cars. At first this seems like a fairly sweet deal but if you look at the size of this content (108kb each) it becomes apparent that this is content that is already on the disc. You are simply downloading a key to unlock. So, my question to Namco is WHY FUCKING BURY IT IN THE MARKETPLACE? What, I’m meant to select each car individually and download it when it’s already on there? I hate this even more than them charging for the music and currently I hate that more than I hate Hitler, Jade Goody and family bereavement.
'Oh do fuck off Namco'
BEAUTIFUL KATAMARI. The old Katamari Damacy games rank up there as some of my favourite things of all time so when a 360 sequel was announced I was very excited but my excitement turned to piss pretty quickly when the DLC was announced.
The game shipped at a budget price, fair enough as the Katamari games were always pretty short and a bit ‘indie’ in their feel and presentation, but it became apparent pretty quickly that Namco had shipped a feature-crippled game.
The content available includes six levels (five of which are 200M$P, the other is 300M$P), four character packs (200M$P each) and six accessory packs (five are 200M$P, another is 250).
This content is all on the disc already. You are paying to unlock it. Remember unlocking content before these dark days? It used to be a reward for beating a level or completing the game, yes? I’m not imagining that am I?
Also, the five 200M$P accessory packs contain ten or more accessories. The 250M$P one contains one, a formal outfit. Oh do fuck off Namco.
To make matters worse, the DLC bumps the game up to 1250 available gamerscore which in itself is standard stuff (achievements enabled by DLC isn’t a Namco-only thing) but if you add together the points unlocked by DLC you get 330.
