Retro: Xbox Live Marketplace
Think about it, before the Xbox 360, this entire concept hardly existed on a home console. When I think of the original Marketplace, one game, one item comes to mind above all others: Geometry Wars. This was essentially the Tetris, or even the Wii Sports of the Marketplace. Those two games, when included with their respective consoles, showed gamers the amount of pure fun they could be having by purchasing said gaming system.
Geometry Wars would in no way warrant its own purchase if it was released as a standalone game. It would have to be a mini-game of sorts, or an unlockable (sound familiar?) of some kind in order for people to play it. In the days of the PS1, Geometry Wars would be the kind of thing you'd find on one of those Demo Discs that you'd get in your mailbox or stuffed inside of your Crash Bandicoot centerfold.
We had entire groups of people crammed into the dinky living room at my brother's house where I was living at the time, just to experience Geometry Wars. That game opened the doors to show people what was possible with an online connection to their console. Once you got into the Marketplace, you could find demos of upcoming titles (Kameo, anyone?), behind-the-scenes videos for some games, wallpapers, and a whole lot more. And this was only the groundwork.
Microsoft clearly knew what they were doing, and they had it right. Look at the Marketplace today and you'll see that its content is nearly limitless. My only gripe with the system, if I had to have one, would be the Points they insist that you use. Sony lets you plug in your credit card and buy away, but both Microsoft and Nintendo insist that you convert your dollars into some proprietary "Points" and spend those. It's not terrible, because it makes for a unified system all around the world, and it lets you score points cards on sale at retailers and buy them as gifts, but if I had to change one thing, it would be to be able to spend dollars instead of Points.
-Phil
2 Comments On This Post:
I think one of the nice things about the "points" philosophy is that it makes you think twice before buying. The credit card method is almost too easy. The extra steps involved with points limits the chance that you'll actually take the steps to buy something stupid.
Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 8:03:00 PM CSTJohn,
Monday, January 25, 2010 at 5:40:00 AM CSTThat makes sense on one level, but not from the perspective of the console manufacturers. To me it's like the App Store philosophy. How much money have I wasted on 99-cent or $1.99 apps? Honestly I'd rather not know the true answer to that question.
If I had to pre-buy iTunes Points or something, and then spend those on apps, then you're right, that would keep me much more aware of how much I was spending. But how does that help Apple? They're losing money because I'm being more careful about what I'm buying.
I think the same thing applies to the game consoles' stores. One of the reasons I don't spend much on the Xbox Live Marketplace is because everything has to be bought with preexisting points. But if arcade games were say $2.99, or $3.49 or something like that, I'd probably be much more apt to make the purchase outright because it's "only a couple bucks."
-Phil
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