Comments on: Brucie Bonus: Free DLC for Batman Arkham Asylum

By: Kadayi

Kadayi — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:31:41 +0000

I must admit I was fairly indifferent to this, however having heard a few people raving about it on various podcasts I thought I’d give the demo a look see and I must admit I was fairly impressed, and added it to my highly likely to purchase list. Good stuff. Free DLC is a nice bonus as well.

By: toni

toni — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:33:14 +0000

it’s an ok game with dated mechanics (like dead space: you have to clear the whole room to progress) and the games emphasises fighting and charging large groups of enemies head on instead of stealth and avoiding combat at all. all the xp you get you get for punching everybody down. that’s not the batman I knew. apart from that they reuse the levels more than 3 times and repeat some fights over and over again. but it’s entertaining still, just don’t expect too much. MINI NINJAS on the other hand is a true marvel of enjoyment and cuteness. this is much more GOTY contender for me than lukewarm raging bull-batman.

By: Starky

Starky — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:05:49 +0000

This is a trend (and not a bad one at that) that is here to stay I think. There are just too many plus points for devs to ignore.

1: It allows half-finished content to be finished after RTM, rather than getting chucked in the bin. I wish to god Obsidian had been allowed this luxury with KotoR2 – Lucas Arts could have had their christmas release, and we’d have gotten a “DLC” that gave us the game as they intended it to be, not the cut short half-game it was.

2: It allows a nice stream of steady media interest weeks/months after release, compared to the old months of hype then forgotten about by the media after release date. Master-class by Valve and TF2, probably had the most press after release than any non-mmo game in the history of gaming. I think Valve are the only company (again excluding mmo’s) ever to have successfully managed to generate genuine (capital H) Hype after release.

3: It tempts players to keep their copies of the games rather than sell them back to the retailer after they’ve finished the game once (console problem mainly).

4: It creates good will amongst most (sane) gamers – everyone likes free stuff. Even if you argue it should have been in the game to start with, deadlines are deadlines and budgets are budgets. Isn’t it better for us gamers to get it after release than never at all?

5: It ties into paid for DLC excellently (though few, if any games have really exploited this) – I’d wager that it Bethesda had given away snippets of their DLC for free they’d have sold more copies (of the core game and the DLC) – or maybe even unique bits linked too it. Say like everyone getting free DLC that adds UFO sightings, or rare encounters in the open world. Though that only really applies to the 360, given user generated content (aka mods) did that for us PC fans, gave us all the content we could ever need to keep interested in the game.

6: It hides a “this fixes broken stuff” patch into a “free stuff for YOU” patch. Good PR, good marketing, smart business.

All of which combine to give games excellent running legs, loads of games have a sales drop off rate after the first week steeper than Eve onlines learning curve, and companies (the smarter ones anyway) are starting to realize that the game isn’t finished production when it goes gold, not if they want to sell new copies 6 months down the line.

As a PC customer there is no downside for me, I could never sell back my games once finished anyway – the only downside I can see in all this for a consumer is for console users who like to buy a game and then trade it in a week later.
They can still do that of course but they’ll only end up having played half the game.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:01:52 +0000

Two thumbs up here, I thoroughly enjoyed all of it (and I thought the Scarecrow levels were phenomenal.)

I even liked Croc’s lair and Ivy’s boss fight!

The thing I liked the most was the flow of the game was just fantastic – JUST as 10 more minutes of the same thing would’ve gotten boring they throw something new at you.

They must’ve really playtested this game hard.. I haven’t had as much fun with a console game all year.

By: Gorgeras

Gorgeras — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:21:05 +0000

I demand DLC that gives Batman throat cancer and the Joker a wet mouth.

By: Railick

Railick — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:42:56 +0000

LewieP – I just resent that this stuff which was obviously finished before the game came out is being kept from me so I have the option of either A) Lose out on the full resale value of the game, or B) Miss out on some decent content that I have paid for the creation of.

LewieP are you complaining about free DLC ? Just because it was finished before the game came out doesn’t mean it was finished because the CD were printed (Hence a final version of the game that would go out for sale) They may have finished these levels after the full game was already sent off to the factory to be pressed. Still, it’s freakign free why are you complaining about (or ARE you complaining? :P )

By: DeepSleeper

DeepSleeper — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:30:52 +0000

LewieP:

Can you -read-? That link you gave says exactly the OPPOSITE of what you claim it says.

By: LewieP

LewieP — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:38:50 +0000

This is from Eidos remember.

The same publisher that cut a bunch of stuff from Tomb Raider Underworld so that they could sell it as DLC.
http://kotaku.com/5129215/tomb-raider-underword-dlc-was-meant-to-be-in-original-game

By: suibhne

suibhne — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:32:53 +0000

The DLC is just Challenge Rooms, folks. It’s not like the Mass Effect DLC that added sidequests which you were supposed to finish before the game itself, and which was promised at launch and then delivered 5 months later. The Challenge Rooms, by their very nature, are designed for some minor post-narrative longevity, so extra Challenge Rooms within the first month of release fits pretty much perfectly.

Anyway, I would figure that we PC gamers would be thrilled about this. Delivering the DLC only once the PC version has dropped…well, that gives a nice message about platform equality. And the larger import of free DLC on an AAA release that isn’t by Valve – that’s great beyond words, considering the general direction of the rest of the market.

By: LewieP

LewieP — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:21:14 +0000

@Meat Circus
I dunno, I blasted through it fairly quickly. I suppose it depends on how much time you want to spend getting the secret stuff, and how often you died. It did feel a little on the short side, and there was a little bit too much pointless backtracking, and the repetition of boss fights certainly annoyed me.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a great game, and a great Batman Simulator too, I just resent that this stuff which was obviously finished before the game came out is being kept from me so I have the option of either A) Lose out on the full resale value of the game, or B) Miss out on some decent content that I have paid for the creation of.

By: Schadenfreude

Schadenfreude — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:11:29 +0000

Thought the Scarecrow bits were brilliant. Part 3 shit me right up (though sadly it’s real life counterpart appears to have occured). Played through the game twice in a week and keep dipping back into the challenge rooms too, been a long time since I got hooked on a game that way.

By: Meat Circus

Meat Circus — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:38:04 +0000

@Hoernchen:

The Scarecrow sequences were my favourite bits of the game. I’d barely call them frustrating. This game even gets 2.5d platforming right!