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Those of you who love the Fable and Fallout franchises yet hate the light of day and/or leaving the cozy confines of your humble abodes will be glad to know that both Fable II and Fallout 3 are now available via the Xbox 360′s Games on Demand digital download service.

Pricing varies by region, so you’ll wanna review that here, but other than that all you need to know is that both titles can virtually be yours if you demand them to be…which is pretty awesome.

Welcome back to my weekly musing on subjects great and small related to gaming. This week I am, once again, soliciting your thoughts on a topic that we haven’t heard much about in the gaming press, but one that is, at the very least, intriguing. The tried and true...]]>
By Lorin Baumgarten

Welcome back to my weekly musing on subjects great and small related to gaming. This week I am, once again, soliciting your thoughts on a topic that we haven’t heard much about in the gaming press, but one that is, at the very least, intriguing. The tried and true trio of talk show hosts brought it up on this week’s episode of EBC during a conversation relating to the state of digital distribution. It was offered up for discussion in the context of Fable II and the forthcoming digital release of that game. To be honest, I hadn’t heard about this plan, devised by Microsoft and Lionhead, until hearing about it on EpicBattleCry. None-the-less, it is a fascinating concept that deserves some scrutiny and discussion. It is the distribution of game content as episodes.

For those of you that don’t know, Microsoft and Lionhead Studios have decided to release the entire game of Fable II as episodic content. They are offering the first episode for free (currently available) and will be selling subsequent episodes as downloadable content in the near future. Oddly, they have not yet announced the price for the episodes that are to follow. However, that is neither here, nor there. What is interesting is that they are offering an entire game, and a good one at that, as separate, downloadable episodes. How does that make you feel? No really – listen to yourself. How does it make you feel? What is your gut reaction? Mine was one of excitement! I can’t put my finger on why, exactly, but it was. The prospect seems full of potential and it seems as though it might have some merit for both developers and gamers alike. But perhaps we should delve in a bit further.

So let’s look at some of the pros and cons associated with this idea:

Pro: You aren’t paying full price for a game you don’t like or don’t finish.

This is kind of cool. You are really only paying for what you play. If you get bored halfway through a game you can simply stop playing, and therefore paying for, the game. That certainly can’t be said of a game right now. Right now you buy a game and you pay the same price whether you play for one hour or for forty.

Con: No resale value.

This is true. However, I find this argument to be a bit naïve, and frankly, it is growing a bit tiresome. Eventually games will go to all digital distribution. Someday, in the not to distant future, this resale question won’t be a question at all. So the real question is; how do we want our digital games delivered? Could episodic content potentially give us a little more control over digitally distributed games? It just might.

Pro: A new gaming format.

This is perhaps the most interesting part to me. What if games began to be delivered on a weekly basis, 1-2 hours at a time? Not all games would be able to do this, mind you. Nor would I want them to. But think about it. A game like Uncharted 2 or Heavy Rain or Alan Wake or even Modern Warfare 2 could be spread out over ten or twelve or even twenty weeks (with multiplayer to tide you over, depending on the game). It would be like getting a sweet new game every week! I don’t know about you, but that sounds intriguing to me. As I said, I wouldn’t want all games to be like that, but it might be an interesting format to play with for some games.

Con: Being taken advantage of.

As of late we have seen game makers trying to feel out what the market will bear when it comes to monetizing DLC. What this results in is the situation we now have where we are being nickeled and dimed to death as the publishers try to see how much they can squeeze out of us and for what. With that mindset in mind, there is serious potential to get nickled and dimed with episodic distribution too. Hopefully, however, with game makers eliminating the used game market by using digital distribution, they wouldn’t screw us with episodic distribution.

Pro: Episodic delivery would allow for ongoing development and real time story/technical adjustments.

If the episodes were released over time, versus all at once, it might allow the developers to tweak storylines, gameplay, or technical issues based on player feedback (something we all know the gaming community is willing to give). Just like a TV show over the course of a season, an episodic game could potentially be a bit more fluid with regard to its response to fan reaction. This would change the current model of “here, have the giant finished product and we will take your feedback for the next game in two or three years” to “hey, cool – that’s a great idea. I bet we can work it in during the next few episodes”. Again, this could be a double edged sword and I wouldn’t want every game to be like this, but it is an interesting prospect to consider.

Con: Creating additional content just for the sake of charging for another episode.

I can foresee an issue here where game makers see a direct link between the earning potential of a game and its overall length. I fear this could lead to creation of additional content just for the sake of dragging out a story in order to make more episodes. Essentially it would be quantity over quality. However, I suppose this situation would theoretically right itself in that if the episodes became lackluster, we would simply stop purchasing them.

These are all interesting things to consider and make a good starting point for a conversation about episodic content, but it is just a starting point. It is curious to look back and notice that all of the Cons that are listed above are related to money (and to be fair, so is one Pro). It seems as though the real concern would be how episodic content would be priced and released. Conversely, the Pros detailed above seem to indicate that this model would allow for a new outlet for creative and technical expression as well as potentially more control over digitally distributed games, but at what cost?

So what do you think would be fair and how should it look to you? Five dollars for one to two hours of content delivered once a week? What about ten dollars for three to four hours of gameplay delivered every two to three weeks? Or how about you take a complete game, divide it into five segments and make all of the content available at the same time for twelve dollars per episode? Or maybe all three ideas would work, but for different games.

Just as a frame of reference, five dollars for one to two hours of content would make a 6 hour single player game (COD 4) $15-30. Not bad, right? But it would also make a thirty to forty hour game (Fallout 3 – not including DLC) $75-150. How do you feel about that? What if they offered a season pass? Or maybe 3-episode packs? What about if a game season is already over, could you buy them all for cheaper?

It is easy to see that there are a myriad of possibilities as to how this could manifest. It is obvious that many details would need to be ironed out before one could come up with a viable episodic model. And while I am not sure if I am entirely for this idea, it is undoubtedly an intriguing one, and one which will likely be getting more attention as we march even further into the age of digital distribution. It does have the potential to benefit the gamer with more control over the impending specter that is digital distribution. It could also open up possibilities related to a new game design model, a model which the brilliantly creative people in the gaming industry could really sink their teeth into. But the question is – what will it cost us?

Any thoughts?

Lorin Baumgarten is the owner and founder of Furious Gamer Radio.

Spears to the front and march! Its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week, we check on the new Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, run down details on the new Matt Hazard title, sneak deets of Modern Warfare 2‘s first map pack and lack of a pre-release demo, and ponder the new...]]>

Spears to the front and march! Its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! This week, we check on the new Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition, run down details on the new Matt Hazard title, sneak deets of Modern Warfare 2‘s first map pack and lack of a pre-release demo, and ponder the new Xbox 360 holiday bundles headed our way.

With Super Street Fighter IV announced, and Fable II now available as piecemeal downloads, we take a look at the reality of digital distribution and work over the pros and cons of this emerging business model. So the long-promised ‘Rocktober’ is here and its time to start figuring out what we’re gonna score this month and what we’re gonna pass. With titles like Demon’s Souls, Tekken 6, DJ Hero, Forza 3, Borderlands, Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 headed our way, its going to be an expensive four weeks.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to all the righteous souls who didn’t buy a PSPgo, the Brutal Legend demo going public, Alpha Protocol (now being delayed to 2010) in the hopes the extra time will make the game extra awesome, and seeing more developer tools and custom mods making their way to consoles.

Remember to sound off below or post a video comment to our Youtube channel and each week will pick our favorite to become the next Member Battle Cry! Stay sharp.

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This week we run down the news coming out of CES 2009 including Microsoft’s Primetime Xbox Live channel, Sony’s PS3 running through their new 3D hardware, and the SF IV Battle Royale scheduled to go down at CES 2010. We also look at the newly announced release dates for Fable II’s DLC; Knothole Island,...]]>

This week we run down the news coming out of CES 2009 including Microsoft’s Primetime Xbox Live channel, Sony’s PS3 running through their new 3D hardware, and the SF IV Battle Royale scheduled to go down at CES 2010. We also look at the newly announced release dates for Fable II’s DLC; Knothole Island, Halo Wars, and Godfather II. Finally we take a moment to reconize the passing of a legend in our community; in the wake of the 1up purchase, EGM magazine has closed its doors forever.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes the Microsoft Zune for being the best piece of vaporware ever created, Capcom and Airtight Studios for the upcoming Dark Void, and 2K Games supreme ruler Christoph Hartmann for thinking six Star Wars films was a good idea.

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With Christmas just around the corner we examine the state of the iPhone with respect to the recent Konami announcement that Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution, and Silent Hill will all have games coming to Apple’s handheld platform.

Next, we each ask Santa to deliver just one thing from the game industry this holiday season:...]]>

With Christmas just around the corner we examine the state of the iPhone with respect to the recent Konami announcement that Metal Gear Solid, Dance Dance Revolution, and Silent Hill will all have games coming to Apple’s handheld platform.

Next, we each ask Santa to deliver just one thing from the game industry this holiday season: cheaper titles, better trade-in credit, and less Hollywood. The Battle Cry of the Week goes to Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy for their extraordinary voice-acting talents being infused into the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum.

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