Eidos, undeterred by an avalanche of lukewarm reviews, has just launched new picture and theme packs on the Xbox Live Marketplace in honor of their not-as-hot-as-expected open world game. They are charging cash money for it, and boy that gets me perplexed.
I was hoping so much that Just Cause would be a great game. With a main character by the name of Rodriguez, and a sweet hairdo, the game seemed like it could offer hours of unrealistic action fun. When most reviews
trashed it, I was a tad disappointed and purchased Saints Row and Lego Star Wars, both exactly as fulfilling as I had hoped.
Now, I have never been a big fan of premium picture packs, and have opted for some of the nice free themes and pics available. I also try not to get too worked up over marketplace pricing schemes for content I don't care about. But, I do get confused.
If your game bites the big one, or falls way short of expectations, why on earth would you not GIVE away picture packs? Don't you need all the free marketing you can get? When a gamer shows off his appreciation for a title in gamerpic form, I usually take note of the game and file it away for future consideration.
Sure, a couple gamerpics of Over-G Fighters can't rescue it, but if someone actually likes your game and wants to show it off to the world, why are you going to charge them for the privilege?
Eidos seems to think that 100 points for the picture pack and 150 points for a theme are reasonable prices for the Just Cause faithful. I know that this is less than the price of a cup of coffee, but at least coffee warms your belly and keeps you wired for work.
