Crime Doesn’t Pay
After putting a stamp on Grand Theft Auto IV’s story mode, likely the first game I finished since Adventure on the Atari 2600, I’m left to ponder the fate of what is now a 60-dollar coaster. I know, I know, there’s online mode. Free roam. “Cops and Crooks”. Blah, blah, blah… I get it. I understand that this game is blessed with a robust and widely-applauded online feature set. Unfortunately, I’m not blessed with the time, patience or “skillz” to throw my virtual Nico to the mean streets of a multiplayer Liberty City.
With the recent (unofficial) announcement that the first round of episodic downloadable content (DLC) would not likely hit the Xbox 360 till the first quarter of the fiscal year (October to December of 2008), I’m left to weigh the option of swapping the game out while the trade-in value is still relatively high or hold out to see where the adventure goes next. With rumors of a whole new island or even a visit to some past GTA stamping grounds, I can’t help but to admit that I am intrigued to see what’s to come. I’m perhaps even more interested to see how Rockstar will (or even if they try to) tie this new content into the multiple endings of the main story mode.
When Microsoft paid big bucks to not only bring Rockstar’s uber-franchise to their console, but to be the first to market with new content, people “oohed and aahed” about what this new business model could do for the industry. Would it extend the life of an existing title and keep it in the front of gamers’ minds, providing new content and replay for months and months? Or would gamers be better served to just accept “The End” as the end and let the development team get to work in full force on the sequel?
From a business standpoint, while it’s clear that DLC helps Take-Two Interactive’s bottom line, the hidden victim in the whole thing may be the EB Games and Game Crazy’s of the world. Businesses who deal in the trade-in and reselling of used games will take a huge hit from gamers like me, gamers who are holding onto their copy waiting for the next episode to drop on Xbox Live. It’s not hard to figure out that the profit margins on the resale of a game are exponentially higher than the first transaction.
Now before you start passing a hat to collect spare change for GameStop, rest assured that they will be just fine. Better than fine. But between advances like this and the growing push towards digital downloads replacing the full retail versions of games, you can’t help but believe that the brick-and-mortar gamestore may eventually become a dying breed.
So maybe I’ll hold onto my copy a little longer. This disc may hold its value afterall. If for nothing else, for nostalgia.
on July 5th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
im sry but xbox sucks, everygame that is being made is around the xbox 360, if the 360 was not there the ps3 games would be incredible, go buy a ps3 and metal gear solid and u tell me, im sry but the only reason u 360 people r still around is because the people that make games like ea and all others need to sell more games so they sell for more plat forms to increase profit, and i guess they feel bad cuz they could make the ps3 titles much more better then the 360, so consider ur self lucky for now because xbox is goin to need an upgrade or possible new console very soon, so enjoy spending more of ur money, by the way did u hear that the us government bought over 300 ps3 i wonder y mayb u should chekc that out ne ways thx for that crime doesnt pay but neither does buying a 360 and have a great day playstation 4 life
on July 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Wow. Thanks for adding that enlightening bit of… whatever that was… to our discussion.
on July 10th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Its sad when any non speller can post a comment. He turned an article about waiting for GTA DLC into a fanboy attack. Lmao. In regards to playing GTA online, its okay, not great, not weak. If they can improve the connection it’d be nice, too many people online with bad connections, hit detection and stability is a big problem. Many times you get booted out of the server.