Atomic Systems

andynwt wrote: how many of them have 100+ items of DLC? most stuff on steam is quite static. whilst i am not defending RSC as what has happened is a bit daft, it's also not a fair comparison.

No, maybe it's not. I agree.

But it shouldn't happen. And RSC's own team should know when something has been updated. Especially their support team!

ashgray wrote:..and regular FREE upgrades?

You absolutely sure they're free? Perhaps to someone who's never bought a piece of DLC, yes.

Well, we didn't have to get our credit cards out for them, did we?

No-one paid for the massive update last might (or whenever...)

Ash

No, but the premise we get 'free' upgrades is a myth for the most part. We pay for them.

In a sense, yes. All companies in many walks of life add on a "development" charge to the purchase price of their products, if that's what you're referring to. I see nothing unreasonable about that, as from a corporate view, it enables investment in the future that should ultimately benefit all.

That's the way business works.

Ash

I agree with your basic point.

But it gets wheeled out time and time again that we should be grateful for 'free' updates.

And that irks me

Why shouldn't we be?

There are many game franchises where the degree of updating we're getting would cause many software companies to release a brand new version at full retail price...

Ash

andynwt wrote:
how many of them have 100+ items of DLC? most stuff on steam is quite static. whilst i am not defending RSC as what has happened is a bit daft, it's also not a fair comparison.

At least 10 of those games have associated DLC with them.

Edit:

it would be interesting to consider how many of the other games available from Steam have the degree of interactivity with the basic game files that is a feature of RS2013. From my own experience of Steam games, many of them need downloading, then forgetting about, in terms of setup - they are either zero or low-maintenance, from the users point of view, allowing us to get on with the job of playing them.

A 'Free To Play' Game that I play / own DLC content for (Spiral Knights) updates via Steam now (it used to use Java updating for the main exe), and patches / promo items are released at least monthly. Only time the game fails is when the "Amazon Cloud" has hiccups or the Steam community is down for maintenence. (Authenticates via Steam ID which the community side of thing deals with)

ashgray wrote:Why shouldn't we be?

There are many game franchises where the degree of updating we're getting would cause many software companies to release a brand new version at full retail price...

Ash

Hehe! Because they're not free!

Crikey... the world is going to implode at some point. It's such a circular argument

AndyM77 wrote:

andynwt wrote:
how many of them have 100+ items of DLC? most stuff on steam is quite static. whilst i am not defending RSC as what has happened is a bit daft, it's also not a fair comparison.

At least 10 of those games have associated DLC with them.

100+ items?

ihavenonamenoreallyidont wrote:

ashgray wrote:Why shouldn't we be?

There are many game franchises where the degree of updating we're getting would cause many software companies to release a brand new version at full retail price...

Ash

Hehe! Because they're not free!

Crikey... the world is going to implode at some point. It's such a circular argument

They are free, in the sense that receiving these updates from RSC is not dependent upon any one person buying DLC - anyone not wishing to buy DLC still benefits from the updates. I'm not sure how that person could be convinced that he was paying for it...

If you cannot see that, we'll have to agree to disagree.

Ash

My take on the "free" upgrade argument is that most of the updates have been

1. to fix stuff that they didn't get right in the original releases (and most times only after a LOT of grousing by users)
2. to fix stuff that broke when they attempted to fix something else
3. to make changes to the program in preparation for (selling) new DLC

We can all site examples of each of the above.

I get such a laugh when people ascribe benevolent motivations to commercial enterprises. I hope we know that it's all profit-driven, and there are many tricks in the trade to put a lock on repeat customer business. RSC isn't a charity, and nothing is free except sunshine.

Just my 2 pennies.

andynwt wrote:

AndyM77 wrote:

andynwt wrote:
how many of them have 100+ items of DLC? most stuff on steam is quite static. whilst i am not defending RSC as what has happened is a bit daft, it's also not a fair comparison.

At least 10 of those games have associated DLC with them.

100+ items?

No, only RSC (and EA) know how to milk a franchise

jevon wrote:and nothing is free except sunshine.

Us poor lot in the North of England have to pay to travel to find sunshine.......

gptech wrote:

jevon wrote:and nothing is free except sunshine.

Us poor lot in the North of England have to pay to travel to find sunshine.......

The government will tax it soon too, what with the fact that it can be used for fuel and energy, and the fact that it's potentially harmful (skin cancer, eye damage etc).