Stolen Pixels #224: An Incredible Value

[Outright Villainy]

What's that in the kid's hands?

Spoiler

[HEADING=2]That kid's a spah![/HEADING]

Anyway, I agree, Microsoft going for the premium angle doesn't seem like the smartest choice. I thought sony had that angle covered anyway, with it's blue ray and all that?

Nice! I put stupid things in their hands instead of game controllers (I actually have some available) just to see if people notice and can identify the odd things.

I think it might have unintentionally added some extra hilarity to the comic. The spy is the best method actor ever...

 

[zombie711]

Has it only been a week? God I missed this comic. also not loving the new wide screen comic.

 

[DTWolfwood]

price don't matter... <.< now i really want to see MS crash and burn if this is how they think

You know y is it that games and the games industry in general never scale down in price like everything else does in this world? haven't been able to rap my head around this ever since i read your article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/8040-Experienced-Points-Bargains-Are-for-Cheaters] on the matter.

p.s. prefer the old style. I like context with my comic. so i read the text on the Right before i actually read the comic. This widescreen kinda ruins it for me (unless you put the text on top )

 

[Irridium]

I personally liked the old style a bit more. I'd always read the text then the comic.

 

[emptyother]

* 75$ each month for my broadband connection.
* +5$ each month for a Xbox Live connection.
* 95$ for the game (compared to 80$ for a pc-game).
* +5$ for every additinal part of the game.
* And then some moron from Activision suggested that the next Modern Warfare game should also take payment for the "online services provided by Activision". I would guess they prices themselves almost equal to most MMOs; 6-9$ a month.

Any ideas of how to get even more money out of the poor gamers?

 

[rofltehcat]

Any ideas of how to get even more money out of the poor gamers?

Quite simple. Put a sim card into every console shipped to make them phone home. Then charge the console owners without Live 5$ a month or their console will deactivate to 'protect them from possible security risks and to protect the copyright of their games'. Also increase the price of the console by ~50$ for the cool new 'phone home' feature.
Also dump the support for ethernet and W-Lan (to make the console 'safe against hacking') and make people sign up with a phone service provider to be able to patch and use the online services offered. Of course only 'selected service providers' can give you this service because of 'quality control'.
Doesn't have anything to do with making more money. It is just about the awesome features like being able to use your Xbox 720 everywhere any time you like without needing an ethernet connection! Also you'll be able to use it as a phone (ofc. only with other Live Phone users who wished to have this feature activated for another 20$)
Now just change Live to only support phone call voice chat (someone who pays for it can still call you a cheap-ass ****** ingame without you being able to turn him off of course) and change text messaging to sms text messages.

 

[Traigus]

Like a lot of comics out there on this issue, I think there is a clarity problem here.

XBL isn't charging $10 more a month. It is charging $2.01 more a month (less if you buy more months at once, which I can't be bothered to do) than the $7.99 /mo it charges now. (Yes, that is a pretty big increase percentage-wise.)

It may be $10 more than playing games on PC etc., but it isn't $10 more than XB players are paying now.

Been a lot of confusion and outrage all over the internets by XB players that now think the fee is going up to $17.99 / mo.

This is actually the 4th comic I have seen since last week that is unclear on this.


----
May not be good, fair or whatever, but I'm old and played games on AOL back in the day... they charged by the minute back then... so a small monthly fee doesn't bother me that much fro XBL or for MMOs...

Uphill in the snow.... you know the deal.

 

[Blackbird71]

Chalk me up as one more who prefers the old format to the "widescreen".

 

[Danarok]

Like a lot of comics out there on this issue, I think there is a clarity problem here. [...]

Been a lot of confusion and outrage all over the internets by XB players that now think the fee is going up to $17.99 / mo.

This is actually the 4th comic I have seen since last week that is unclear on this.

Unclear? It states this fact (+$10/year) in both the first panel of the comic and the 2nd paragraph of the associated text. How much clearer does it need to be?

Tbh, if there's any issue of clarity in the community then MS should have presented the hike as a [$10 /12 months =] 83 cent (or whatever) increase per month instead of an annual value.

 

[Infernostrider]

i don't care about the format..just as long as you can keep updating twice a week ^^ also..i'm not getting any navigation buttons on this comic.

 

[Giest4life]

Me no likey the wide comics; I want to read what you have to say while glancing at the comics.

 

[Flig]

This is me complaining.

Yeah, not digging the new wide format, I could deal with it for a few more issues I'm sure, but I strongly prefer the old style. Tis better I believe.


Also, I've yet to get Xbox Live, but I was thinking about getting it for patches and DLC until the price went up...I suppose I don't really need anymore Liara.

 

[Snarky Username]

I love the new widescreen comics, I'm glad I don't have to scroll back every time to read the text.

OT: Yeah, Microsoft kind of sucks lately. A lot.

 

[rockyoumonkeys]

Why are they seated so far away from each other? It's possible those two have some unresolved issues...

 

[Prince Regent]

I'm indiferent about the new format, you do need to add the first, latest, next and previous buttens though.

Oh and I liked the comic.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

I actually prefer the old method. Personally, I always read Shamus's comments before I looked at the comic. Plus, in this format, the pictures just seem too large and plastered together....not enough "comic-like", if you will.

That said, I completely agree with Shamus regarding Kinect. I really don't see non-gamers being enticed into purchasing an Xbox 360 just for the privilige of using it, especially since they can get a brand new Wii for less. It doesn't help that Microsoft decided to jump into this market now that it has become oversaturated, which practically guaruantees they won't find much success.

 

[Knight Templar]

Why is she holding a radio?

 

[Legion]

To be honest I don't think the hike will damage sales enough for it to matter. Those with a Live account will just pay up, those who never had one won't have the feeling of"Why am I now paying more for the same thing?" and so although they may lose a few people, the extra $10 from everyone else will give them a nice profit.

The bastards.

Well they certainly won't get an extra 10 a year from me.

I'm in the UK, no yearly price hike for me!

For some bizarre reason we aren't getting a yearly or 3 monthly price hike, but our one month price is going up.

Seems a bit odd seeing as most people aren't silly enough to play the stupid price for a month anyway.

 

[Neferius]

Apparently the Guy on the Left enjoys the company of young effeminate Boys >
...unless the guy on the Right has some kind of rare genetic disorder that makes it look like he's sixteen when he's actually twenty ...like I do

Or is it just because he's Asian 0.Ô?