Resident Evil 5 Hidden Message for Xbox.com - Something happening 1-30-09

[ameratsu]

mrstickball said:
ameratsu - What about the counterclaim that Sony forces developers to add on DLC for games that come out later? Isn't that lame, too? X360 owners never got the bonus content to Eternal Sonata, or Enchanted Arms.

The argument that what MS is doing is 'lame' is only as lame as you want it to be. What if Microsoft is merely funding extra content on great games? I'd imagine that Sony could do the same thing, but is choosing not to (and I wonder why they've never done this?)

 

Eternal Sonata or Enchanted arms, while i'm not exactly sure what they got for exclusive content, sounds similar to the GC/PS2 versions of RE4. One launched 10 months after the other (ps2) and had extra content. That extra content most likely didn't exist at the launch of the GC version and therefore couldn't of been implemented into that version, and I'd speculate that it would be a similar case for the games you mentioned. Launching later with extra content also makes sense because it's necessary, with developers wanting to charge full retail for the belated version. Around when the ps3 version of bioshock launched, Bioshock was $5 on steam, and relatively cheap on x360. How do you expect to convince people to pay $60 for a game that's identical to the year old version?

Again, microsoft may be funding extra content on great games but they're doing it solely for the purpose of having the superior version to what's on the ps3. It isn't some sort of good hearted measure on the part of microsoft.For the games you mentioned, the ps3 gets extra content but doesn't get that content until a considerable period of time after the x360 saw the original version. There has to be value associated with getting a game earlier, and as I showed above, extra content in a later version to certain extent is necessary if they want to charge full price. When launching simultaneously, bonus content/dlc simply aims to make people believe the competiting product (ps3 version of RE5 in this case) is inferior, not to provide an additional incentive for purchasing the game.