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"Add-On the Expansions"

OK... There’s a couple of questions going on here, so please, bear with me :)

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Pretty much every popular titles comes out with an Expansion disk/ Add-On pack...

From Half-Life, Elite Force, The Sims, Diablo, Etc...

When a game publisher announces its intention to release expansion pack, you never really know what to expect... It could be a couple of extra levels, made up largely of patches, new units and creature, etc...

Some only provide features that, if included, as a DVD's extras, would leave you feeling a little cheated, whilst others provide you with almost a whole new game...

There is a fine line in expansion pack creation, between creating a decent value for money expansion which re-invigorates a released (and swiftly dating) title, and just copying downloads from the games website onto a CD and sticking it on the shelves for fifteen pounds.

There is as yet no standardisation to expansion packs, the user has no minimum expectations, which the publisher can then use to create a must own expansion.

I'm not wondering here what the best add-on ever released is (Because Ashley has a post in this forum asking exactly that question)... But what you would expect for your fifteen quid.

Do you think that the current state of Add-Ons are all, by and large, a complete waste of money. Since the game has already been coded, adding extra levels and features should be, comparatively, easy (The game engine, graphics, level creation has already been fine tuned)

Or do you think that some developers are already pretty much on the ball with Add-On development?

What do you expect should be considered standard extras in an expansion pack..? (Given that extra level wouldn’t work for all games, you might consider them to be enough for the majority, so you could stick them in as a standard)

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Now... This is all well and good for PC owners... Who get add-on pack releases all the time...

But what about consoles? ...

Why haven’t expansion disks been released already (okay, a bit of disk swapping may be required, (although not strictly necessary) but its certainly a viable option)?

Although especially with the release of Hard-Drives, the X-Boxes being included as standard, its definitely a possible direction

Are Add-Ons going to become a standard part of the consoles software library..?

Software developers have already created downloadable levels for titles on the Dreamcast, UBiSoft have stated their intention to do the same for PS2 titles...

What’s to stop them creating Add-On CD's to extend the life of their most popular titles (until the sequel emerges)

Would you want Add-Ons on your console (especially given the varying quality of PC expansion packs)?

Do you think they would be a great new feature, or a complete waste of time?

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Just wondered?

Well, I suppose it's very likely that expansion packs are a possibility in the future. Consoles are becoming more and more like mini-PCs (as much as they'd hate to admit it) and so the introduction of hard drives and other storage devices will allow players to store a game on their console and then obtain updates, either on whatever media they use or by using the internet. So I expect that consoles will be seeing expansion packs and patches in the future, which could turn out to be an advantage or a disadvantage (or more likely both).

I think that the variety of ways to modify different games means that you can't really have one expectation for all expansion packs. Overall though I suppose everyone expects new levels in some form or another, or new game modes perhaps. New bad guys or good guys may also be on the list. Still, it really does depend on the game being expanded and what is already available for it.

gronti_v wrote:
So my personal view on expansion
> packs is that while some, perhaps even most, are just cash ins that
> provide little extra that couldn't be downloaded or should have been
> in the original in the first place, there are the ones that a very
> worthwhile and occasionally give so much extra you feel that you are
> robbing the company of full price. It's just a matter of finding
> the good ones, do your research and you may be happier having bought
> the expansion.

Theres no doubt expansion packs are swiftly becomming more popular..

What do you expect from a good expansion pack? You mentioned the Baulders Gate 2 and Jedi Knight expansion packs... What do they contain that the less well recieved pack miss?

Do you think expansion packs will ever find their way into the console market?

Well, I think you are extremely (extremely, yes aha) wrong in saying that any expansion is bad. You may have had bad experiences with some expansion packs (probably the majority actually) that don't deliver nearly enough to be worth the cost of the paper on which your money is printed (let alone the value it represents... unless you paid in coins of course because it would be the metal it's made of) but that doesn't mean all expansion packs are bad. I bought Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith for example (some time ago) and it had loads of new features that meant that I could have more Jedi Knight style fun for almost as long as the original game (probably a little less). Then there was the multiplayer because it made me want to go on the internet and use the new modes and Jedi modifications for many many hours of additional fun. That was a good expansion pack (so destroying the theory that all expansion packs are bad) and it wasn't the only one. Even now the Baldur's Gate 2 expansion pack is making it's way to the stores, allowing for many extra hours gaming and the completion of the Baldur's Gate story. It's almost like an extra game, except that it is an add on. infact it means that you get a whole sequel for less than the cost of buying a totally new game!

So my personal view on expansion packs is that while some, perhaps even most, are just cash ins that provide little extra that couldn't be downloaded or should have been in the original in the first place, there are the ones that a very worthwhile and occasionally give so much extra you feel that you are robbing the company of full price. It's just a matter of finding the good ones, do your research and you may be happier having bought the expansion.

Grix`s Brain wrote:
Harddrives and access to the internet allow developers to
> be incredibly lazy, because they can release buggy games, and
> "make up for it" by releasing a patch to solve the bugs
> that the general public cum play testers have found for them.

Do you think its developers relesing buggy games... or distributors making releasing the game to a set deadline?

I've noticed that both Lionhead and Origin both had problems with EA forcing them to relese a title by a certain deadline?

Not sure if anyone has said this already, but I shall do anyway.

Harddrives and access to the internet allow developers to be incredibly lazy, because they can release buggy games, and "make up for it" by releasing a patch to solve the bugs that the general public cum play testers have found for them.

Wilmaaaaa wrote:
> any expansion is bad......It is the miss use of trust from a company
> to a consumer...why should people pay more money to pay a certain
> game...Nintendo are guilty of this....why should people splash the G
> to play Perfect Dark or Zelda...it is just wrong.........I like the
> look of the ps2 hardrive though

Interesting idea, hardware expansions...

Since the PS2 with hard drive will bring the cost up to as much, if not more than the price of the X-Box (as long as the X-Box is released at the expected 299.99 price)?

Although, what about software expansions?

Do you think HardDrives will allow them to appear on Consoles?

Would you buy one for your favourite title if they did?

It shows that a company just through a game out onto the market since its prequels did so well then realised that they can creat sumin to make em better and more money!!

But I think they should be free and dowloadable becasue it is not fair on the buyers and getting given naff games for out money!!

That is why I am getting Black & White and I have already donwloaded the patch!

any expansion is bad......It is the miss use of trust from a company to a consumer...why should people pay more money to pay a certain game...Nintendo are guilty of this....why should people splash the G to play Perfect Dark or Zelda...it is just wrong.........I like the look of the ps2 hardrive though

Bewarethetoadsoffate wrote:
> Um, why did that happen?

Caught by the deadly double post huh? ...

Dont worry, it happens to the best of us :)

Um, why did that happen?