Would You Rather ... Ahh! Real Downloads! Edition
by Xav de Matos 
{ May 21st 2008 at 8:00PM }
In our continuing effort to bring you fresh and interesting content, X3F presents Would You Rather ... a weekly feature that asks you the hard questions. The point? If you had to choose one or the other, which would you go for?
This week in WUR we're tackling today's hot button issue. With downloadable games evolving we're wondering which titles you think should be the future of the service. While shorter (in terms of features and development time), smaller titles have been the lifeblood of Xbox Live Arcade since the origin of the service, larger more substantial games are gaining steam. But, as larger games ask a steeper price should developers shy away from a service with, seemingly, set price-points or hope they make an entertaining enough experience that the price won't be as big a factor?
Or, from a different perspective on the question, are developers wasting time creating larger games if the title demands a higher price and should they only focus on smaller titles, which is what some believe the service was bred for? Vote. Discuss. Or, you know, ignore.
Feel free to share the reasons for your vote in the comments. We'll share the results of the poll during the next edition of Would You Rather ... which hits X3F every Wednesday.
Last weeks WUR results can be find after the jump ... take a look!
Last week we asked which demo from GDC you'd want most if you had to pick. Too Human and Ninja Gaiden II were in a dead heat, and with a 1% chance of error it's essentially a tie. So we're about to break it. Which demo would we prefer to play? Barbie Horse Adventure V: The Revenge of Sparkles the Cat. Now that's next gen.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Keith @ May 21st 2008 8:50PM
I thought this post had something to do with an "Ahh! Real Monsters!" related game and I got really excited for a second....
zourskittles @ May 21st 2008 9:25PM
i did too.. we can only hope..
Andrew @ May 21st 2008 10:25PM
Why would they make a game for a show that ended in 1998?
BananaBoat @ May 21st 2008 11:48PM
I thought it was "Ahh! Real Monsters!" as well.
What the hell is wrong with us?
Xav de Matos @ May 22nd 2008 12:52AM
Well that was the inspiration for this gag.
BananaBoat @ May 22nd 2008 2:01AM
Well, atleast we aren't completely insane.
Pulling out random references to ancient Nickelodeon cartoons? Good show sir.
Mrblonde @ May 22nd 2008 4:01AM
Ahh! Real Monsters! is a classic. As is The Angry Beavers and Rocko's Modern Life
sean @ May 22nd 2008 5:19AM
thought the same thing lol. everyone must have grown up in the 90's here lol.
webster1990 @ May 22nd 2008 11:47AM
same here, i would love anything real monsters related.
@ andrew:
they made a game for rocky and bullwinkle and that ended much earlier
scottygee32 @ May 21st 2008 8:51PM
Are alien hominid and N+ considered large and substantial? Or small?
Let me put it this way, I'm from Australia, MS points here do not match our stronger currency, on top of which, we pay more to get the prepaid cards too. $30 AUD for 1600 points. 800 points = roughly $13.20 but should equal $10 if comparing to US currency (to match).
So what happens is that I am paying $30 for $20. I'm not a fan of losing $10 for nothing...
I bring this arguement up because I dislike doing it, and if I dislike doing it, I am less inclined to purchase large games because I'm not a fan of being ripped off.
So if we had fairer pricing, I would be all over larger, more rich games for XBLA, but for the current time, no, they can die. The funny thing is, we get the shaft (higher price, lack of XBL content, game delays [except for big launches]) because we're not a big enough market, but we're not a big enough market because things have a 50-100% markup over other countries.
Its like rock band for Europe too. I hope that fails because of it
scottygee32 @ May 21st 2008 8:57PM
Woops, my apologies...Its $30 for a 1500 MS points card. So I'd have to purchase 2 1500 points cards to afford the 1600 points games. So I'm then losing $20. Making things worse...
AoE @ May 21st 2008 9:04PM
You say it like if you don't use all the point right then and there you're screwed and that $20 just evaporates. .. Sure it's not fun to have to buy more MSP than you need for a particular purchase; but unless you plan on only ever buying a single thing from XBLA, I'm guessing you use those purchased points at some point in the future; it's not nearly as bad as you're making it out to be.
Also, regardless of the fucked-up pricing of MSP worldwide, it's not like the "i can't buy the exact number of points I want" is unique to Oz... that is one way at least that all 360 owners the world over are united. :(
Anticrawl @ May 21st 2008 10:34PM
By your shit online.
IncredibleBulk92 @ May 22nd 2008 4:57AM
Um just a suggestion but you could try creating a US account and buying points and arcade games from that, as long as the profile is still on your hard drive you can play any of the things that that profile owns. Its kinda risky but it might save you money in the long term. I downloaded the free US game Aegis Wing on my US profile and my main profile can play that fine.
And yes and also what actually counts as small? N+ has something like 500 levels so I wouldn't call it a short game, but yea everybody wants more for their money, the longer the better.
AoE @ May 21st 2008 8:58PM
I hope we can have it both ways. I welcome larger/deeper games to the service, but hope it won't put an end to the smaller arcade titles.
Van @ May 21st 2008 9:27PM
I vote for larger, more substantial downloads as long as they don't decide to jack up the price like crazy!
1200ms Points should be the max for most XBA games
shatzmcpants @ May 21st 2008 10:02PM
Ahh! Real Monsters FTW!!!1
emirabal @ May 21st 2008 10:40PM
I just played the demo and it was awesome, brought it back old school.
Deck @ May 22nd 2008 2:25AM
Ok so far it looks like the majority of people are voting for "Bigger more sustainable content for download".
That is exactly what Penny Arcade has done with RSPD yet everyone seems to be crapping on the $20 price tag. They think it is too high for an XBLA game. This seems rather contradicting to me. If one is wanting bigger more sustainable content for download on the XBLA, a higher price tag will come along with it. Plus one must consider $20 for 7-10ish hours of gameplay...that is more than many games that people put down $60 for.
So to me what I can see is that this vote is saying "Yea we want more content for our download games, but we don't want to have to pay any more for them". That just doesn't make sense. To me anyway.
Rob K @ May 22nd 2008 4:09AM
I don't really care.. If a game is good and fun I will buy it. Doesn't matter if it's 50 MB or 5 Gig. Obviously I'd expect the price to reflect the size/production values, but choosing one over the other doesn't make sense to me. It's comparing apples and oranges..
mattclarkie @ May 22nd 2008 5:35AM
Both.
I enjoy a short game, but I also enjoy a long game. If the game is fun it doesn't really matter.
The only thing that I want is companies to stop porting old Arcade games that are just stupidly hard and kill you instantly, because frankly that is how an Arcade made money. Some people will always be uber, but the average gamer can't get past level 5 on Robotron on default settings.
Boff @ May 22nd 2008 9:10AM
Hmmmmm another good question actually. As long as having one doesn't get rid of the other then I don't mind.
But I voted for the smaller games. I prefer to have the 'cheap' little arcade games and the full priced big & shiny retail games at the 2 ends of the spectrum.
For me, the XBLA is the closest thing we have to the old Public Domain/Homebrew scene of old.
Maybe if they actually did a serious XNA section then there'd be me scope for the 'bigger' XBLA stuff?
ZEBRA NINER @ May 22nd 2008 9:50AM
I have plenty of long titles... they are called full games! I look to XBLA for smaller games that I can just pick up and play.
I would like both! Variety is nice.
joey @ May 22nd 2008 9:58AM
Damn, people still don't get the concept of Would You Rather. It's a hypothetical question force you to choose one over the other. Even though both may live in perfect harmony in real life.
Smaller games I can jump in, play for five minutes and go to sleep. Larger games would mean I jump in, thinking I'm going to play for five minutes and ended up playing for five hours and fall asleep on my desk the next morning.
PeacefulOutrage @ May 22nd 2008 10:14AM
We aren't stupid. We get a demo of every game on the service. Let the gamers/consumers choose what we want. If we need the space, we'll buy it. The only thing that would look fishy is if everything was over 512MB and forced people to buy the HDD.
PS2 memory cards still cost $24 for 8MB, and I don't see people complaining about that. We have a choice about the storage we need, and we can choose to upgrade. It would be nice if it was cheaper, but it's not the end of the world. I have over 40 XBLA games, a few demos, some marketplace TV shows, and a ton of xbox and 360 game saves. All on 14GB.
Shogan @ May 22nd 2008 10:27AM
If larger file sizes means more expensive, then forget it. I like the best of the games on the service now, and the arcade titles, but for a downloaded game, the most I'm willing to pay is $10. Even then, it's gotta be pretty awesome.
Gemini Ace @ May 22nd 2008 10:57AM
Still stuck with a 20GB hard drive.
Jason @ May 22nd 2008 12:17PM
I voted for shorter, even though I want larger downloadable titles. Why? Well the ADD makes me impatient, and it's painful when I sit there and wait for demos, DLC, etc...to dl. But more importantly, until M$ loosens up and allows us to use larger (and more reasonably priced) hard drives, it'll never happen for me.