Exclusive episodic content.

I'm thinking specifically of GTA 4 right now, but it applies on a more general scale as well.

The story as we're lead to believe is that GTA 4 is to be released for XBox 360 and PS3, with episodic content being added after you buy it, presumably using whatever macropayment scheme your console supports. This episodic content is going to be different depending on which console you buy it on.

Now the reasoning behind this is that you will buy the game for both consoles, to be able to play both versions. My question is that, outside the wet dreams of Sony and Microsoft executives, where else is this likely to be a reasonable scenario? Who on earth is likely to buy the same game twice (never mind quite possibly an extra console to play ti on), or taken to the extreme, who's going to buy half a game, once?

This was spurred on by the outcry regarding the songs from the original Guitar Hero on the PS2, costing 2.5 times as much on Live($100 USD vs. $40 USD).

So what's the verdict? "Exclusive" episodic content, brilliant marketing, or shameless ripoff? Also do you think it's going to have any impact on games that use a less differential approach to episodic content (Half-Life 2 and Sam & Max for instance).

The only times I've bought the same game twice was where two copies were needed to play multiplayer over a LAN and 1 other instance where I bought Doom3 for Xbox and then later on for PC - can't remember why though.

I wouldn't feel comfortable wasting my money on a second console (or even a more modern one...)

5 words for you:

Pokemon
Red
Blue
Yellow
Green

Who would buy the same game twice? Green didn't come out in the west, but I know a few people who bought the same game 3 times.

The only differences are what pokemon are in the game.. the entire game is otherwise the same..

Episodic content itself isn't evil. If people buy it, it's fine.

Personally. I only buy things if it is worth it. Infact, In some cases, I prefer an episodic approach.

For example. I only had to buy one episode of .Hack way back when to realize I wasn't going to want to keep playing.. Tho.. That was full priced.

The new Sam and Max is another example. Played the first and didn't go back to get more.. that's a much better example..

What I want to see, is episodic games where the first chapter is 100% free. If the game is good, people will pay to play the later episodes.

This would also have the side effect of making games better, since a good game is going to make a lot more money in that model..

I don't expect it to take off for that reason. I mean.. A lot of places just don't make good games, and it would mean a big loss if everyone could find that out for free.

A lot of older games used to be made in episodes. First one was always free. Anyone remember the original Wolfenstein 3d or Jazz Jackrabbit? Even Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem etc were released that way. Slightly different I guess coz when you bought the game, you got all of the episodes with it...

World of Warcraft does the same thing but using a different sales mechanism; i.e. you pay month by month instead of a fat wad of cash up front. Yet nobody bats an eyelid.

Episodic Gaming: Great for developers and publishers, terrible for consumers.

what's good for the goose...

More money for devs and pubs, means more freedom to make interesting games.

First: I'm generally no fan of episodic gaming as due to the short production cycle (if you take episodic gaming seriously) it comes with genre related restrictions. So i always would prefer a full version instead.

But it's more likely to work out for genres where you primary only replace the content like with adventures like Sam&Max. Each month you get 3-5 hours new playtime. It's like watching a sitcom. HL2 production times are way too long to be taken seriously as an episodic format. In my opinion they should have concentrated on bringing out a full version instead as i honestly don't care if i have to wait two or five years. That's not episodic anymore...

The months cycle with Sam&Max is fitting quite well and Sam&Max has evolved in the riddle design for instance due to complains from the users. So feedback makes it earlier into the game. On the other side they reuse content too often and you only get small storylines instead of a big one which they cut into smaller pieces. But that's more a design question which they also could improve if they wanted to.

For TTG the episodic format is fantastic as they have much more distribution channels. As they release a full version for season one afterwards they get both the conservative gamers, the episodic gamers, the fans who buy both. They do get a lot more press as each episode gets attention in game mags no matter if they're off- or online, less risk, and so on...

For me i feel it is more a downside as great new ideas make it even harder into games and you spent a lot more time on waiting (waiting for e1, e2, e3, ...) than for one full game instead.

An advantage for the gamer is that the developer can react to feedback and fix things instead of screwing up a whole game and that due to the hard deadlines the developer really get things done.

Maybe the Duke should be in episodic format?! ;O)

By the way you should really try out e5 ( http://www.telltalegames.com/samandmax/ ) if you like adventures as it's really good and comes with chiptune music, good riddles and nice ideas. The music got me catched this much that i also did a short vr-scene due to the virtual reality in Sam&Max: http://spielwiese.marune.de/_uni/samsumB/taumelvr3/taumelvr3.html [Input: lmb, wheel, (esc, rmb)] ;O)

I totally love the idea of episodic content. It means that I can get a steady (sort of) stream of connected HalfLife 2, without a lot of intervening development time. It's a lot better than waiting 4 years for HalfLife 3.

Yeah, now we can wait 4 years for HalfLife 2 Episode 2 instead.

I vote for Shameless ripoff.