Dead Rising - General Discussion

[Zombie Fred]

I couldn’t find a Dead Rising 2 or related thread in the gaming general area so I thought I might as well create this thread for future Dead Rising talk.

Dead Rising zero hour is only 5 days away and I am honestly stoked and can’t wait to play this when it arrives on the marketplace. We’ve been waiting for a Dead Rising game for some time and this is going to be my fix before the second chapter arrives. I mean who can’t resist a nice few hour standalone journey in the nice desolate small town of still creek?

[chris_survivor]

Is Dead Rising Zero Hour, like a "game" by itself? I mean, do you need to have anything else to play it? , like a copy of Dead Rising? Do you just download it from the Xbox Marketplace and I can play it?

[Darkmoon]

Yeah, it's essentially an oversized demo you need to pay for. Completely stand alone.

[A-J]

I wouldn't call it a demo, the content (or the location at least) is still unique just to this item, you won't see this in Dead Rising 2 proper.

[Pikminister]

I know Capcom claims that they're not making any money out of this mini-game. But the fact that it is exclusive to 360 tells me that they probably have made a lot of money out of it by way of an exclusivity deal.

If that was not the case, then down the road they'll probably release Case Zero for the PS3 in a special edition of DR2. Because not looking into making money out of it.... That's so not like Capcom.

[A-J]

I remember a quote from Takeuchi (I think, maybe it was Inafune ?) a long while ago when DR2 was first announced, something along the lines of "The 360 version will have something special" because the first game was a big success on it, so maybe they've had this in mind for a while ...

anyone else remember this ?

[Beanovsky Durst]

The zombie genocide continues... YESSSSSS. The stick + duct tape + chainsaws combo is waiting for me.

[Rombie]

I think this "demo" thing is very short sighted by Capcom, not because of console exclusivity issues, but because I think it down plays potential sales on the PS3. Had the setup really bridged the two games, it would give more incentive for PS3 owners who've never had the fortune to play the original game on the 360 and get a feel for it and catch up on what happened in the original title, increasing potential sales of the PS3 edition. I'll be surprised if the PS3 sales are anywhere near the 360 ones for the game.

[BBboy20]

High Stakes Edition: http://kotaku.com/5623806/capcom-ups...stakes-edition

[Carnivol]

I remember a quote from Takeuchi (I think, maybe it was Inafune ?) a long while ago when DR2 was first announced, something along the lines of "The 360 version will have something special" because the first game was a big success on it, so maybe they've had this in mind for a while ...

anyone else remember this ?

Know what you're referring to, and, yes, to my knowledge, Case: Zero has pretty much been in the cards since day 1 (as far as public announcements and stuff entering production goes)

I know Capcom claims that they're not making any money out of this mini-game. But the fact that it is exclusive to 360 tells me that they probably have made a lot of money out of it by way of an exclusivity deal.

In general, the concept is absolutely brilliant.

It's probably not about making money, but more about where it costs them the least to make it (it's still a known fact that publishing stuff on LIVE is a much cheaper affair than via PSN). Estimated sales are probably measured up to just even out the production costs (going by price point), anything beyond that may be considered profit (assuming Dead Rising 2 also manages to cover its own ass - 'cause it don't, then Case Zero funds -> DR2 funs)


Not only does this hopefully mean we'll see more "big" demos again (man, I miss Shareware demos of the past), but I really hope it more or less helps kickstart the ever-so-dead episodic content stuff on the marketplace... Man... what have we had so far? Some XBLA Telltale stuff, Fable 2 Episodes (No longer publicly available - not even the demo, iirc - replaced by full Games on Demand version), Alien Breed - Episode 1 (Where's the rest?), bla bla bla, you get the point! Episodic content seems to be fail on LIVE at the moment.


I can think of countless titles that'd be fairly easy to pull off (without even needing any extensivese QA testing for it) if they just split it up and did an ep at 400 MS Points each (gotta aim low, but at the end of the day, if you sell a full "set" you're making profit). Have specific games come out and let them be released like "seasons" (and sell a "season pack" at the end... worked wonders on PC...) )

[Pikminister]

All I know is that PS3 owners that are aware of this issue, are not exactly trilled about this new "concept". Brilliant as it may be.

I find it kinda hard to feel sorry for Sony, though. I still remember how during the last generation, Sony paid Konami to keep them from releasing any of their soccer games on the other consoles. That was so a-holey of them. It's karma-time!.

[Zombie Fred]

Microsoft has the advantage from building up their relationships with other publishers to the platform during the 360's launch and has been a tremendous success now they have a big chunk of the market share this generation. XBLA also allows some flexibility to things like with Case Zero to become a spotlight on the service (if you think on the revenue XBLA obtains compared to PSN, and outside the service rules about subscription pay, etc) you are far getting a better deal and outcome on reaping your money back on production costs. It's a great system, like Carn has said above, and this is a great thing to have considering it seems like Case Zero is going to be the direction some other publishers are going to do with other big IPs before launch (like with EA).

[Rombie]

I think you guys are all too optimistic about this.

Carn mentioned the PC thing before, but that basically imploded on itself in a lot of ways (although I have to admit the weakened PC gaming marketplace probably has a lot to do with that). But that other devs have done similar things on both the 360 Marketplace and even on the PSN (look at Siren Blood Curse's down-loadable chapters) and I don't think they've been too successful all round.

I think people get nervous about paying for a glorified demo in a lot of ways. If it's marketed correctly then maybe not, but it's a double edge.... because you also have to not run the risk of misleading people by saying it's a full game because when it contains say, maybe 2-3 hours only, most people will question it too.

I said it in another thread on here a while back, it will be interesting to see what comes of this as a potential for future content (hell I know EA and Activision will be lining up pay-for-preview-play content left right and center if they also nail it) but personally I'm a non-believer.

You guys also short sight on the issues of DLC content which frequently get released on disc later to make extra cash for the publisher. Two great examples, one which permeates the news here of late, is the GTA4 add on's and RE5. If you brought the disc of Episodes From Liberty City you got extra radio content, and RE5 Gold on PS3 will be move enabled - unlike those who rushed out to add the DLC to their original RE5 disc.

The general gaming consuming public want a main game experience that they can choose to add to or not, not something that they pay for that previews more content or adds up to an eventual game, and definitely not if at the end of the day - if they'd just waited they would have got more content or added perks for waiting for the whole package.

[Carnivol]

It's true that it sucks that the "day 1" fans are the ones that ultimately get to suffer the most (biggest investments + double dipping) when it comes to various types of releases.

You already listed two good examples with GTAIV's Episodes having additional audio content in the disc version, while Resident Evil 5 Gold gets Move patched in (or pre-patched if bought with the latest batch shipping in two weeks). (One thing that annoyed me about the RE5 DLC was how I bought it all Day 1 and now have to spend 0.5GB more on storing it on my HDD than what I'd have to had I waited for the bundle package that trims all the duplicate Reunion data...)

Batman Arkham Asylum is of course another title that packs extra meat on the re-release. I dunno if I wanna list Lost Planet Colonies or not, as it at least had the decency of actually being a low priced re-release, ala. Silent Hill 2 - Director's Cut. But, yeah, the early adopters seem to be getting slapped hard for certain things these days (just also look at how port treatment has been done for JRPGs like Star Ocean 4 - The Last Hope, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia and now also the upcoming Tales of Graces F).

Another sucky thing that seems to be on the rise is retailer exclusive content. Batman Arkham Asylum was probably the worst offender so far on this. While most games so far has had character skins and weapon exclusives, Batman also went as far as packing not only a platform exclusive game mode (Joker), but also retailer exclusive challenge levels for those who pre-ordered at specific stores.



In general, I like the way things have gone with BC:Rearmed -> Bionic Commando, *various Capcom stuff* -> Lost Planet 2 and now Case: Zero -> Dead Rising 2. And Fable 2 also kinda had something going with the "Bar Games" and I guess Red Faction kinda will have something for the XBLA/PSN title -> Armageddon (and it seems like Saints Row 3 is getting a similar treatment).
I think it gives something to the fans in an achievable (and fair) way and rewards them for being... well... fans of the games.

As for the whole "adding to the experience" and "getting a full package". I know many bitched and moaned about Prince of Persia (2008) having "no ending" and that they had to pay for the DLC to see the ending. Everytime I hear people say that, I wanna eat someone's face off. The ending to the game was a very complete and clever ending (bla bla bla narrative art bla bla bla). The DLC to the game added a prologue, something I have to say most of all felt like a story not worthy of being a full game of its own (let's say the main game was the cinematic feature and the DLC was the direct-to-DVD sequel)

[Zombie Fred]

I am just glad with this content coming, Still Creek is going to be great to explore with a nice outside town setting for the episode. I always wanted to explore around Willamette during the outrbreak as Frank was taking his pictures before he landed at the mall so it's a plus to have the scenario given. Dead Rising 2 Fortune City will be great of course, but I always wanted a big outside setting for this type of sandbox.