Musing about DLC

Today, we're going to talk about DLC. DLC stands for Downloaded Content. This ranges from free user-created modifications and maps on the PC to purchasable PS3/Xbox360 add-ons for games. I'm mostly going to be talking about PS3/360 stuff, because I was thinking about it this morning.

So, Rock Band just came out, and extra songs available for download showed up either the same day or right after. Now, this is a good thing, but people still clamored about the fact that the developers/publishers could have been withholding this stuff from inclusion in the game to get people to pay for it after and that it's not fair.

...And you know what? They could be right or not, but it doesn't matter. Let's look at two possible routes.

Route A - Harmonix/MTV had the songs ready but didn't include them
The game was designed with the idea of having downloadable content available at some point. So, some set of people were already deciding what sort of stuff to include post-shipping, and the best thing to do in that instance would be to develop some of it concurrently with the project, so that the systems were assured to be in working order.
And you know, from what I've heard, the game is a complete game before getting anything extra, so there's really no reason to complain if they chose to think ahead and prepare things for the future. There's profit to be earned from micro-payments, and although I may not like paying for them myself, I wouldn't mind getting paid for them.

Route B - Harmonix/MTV did not have the songs ready
This is the one that will confuse some people initially. How could they have not had the songs ready but they were by the time the game came out? Most people won't think very in-depth about that, but as with almost every product imaginable, games are finished MONTHS before they hit shelves.
They have to be manufactured, marketed, and packaged. And even before they are "done", there is usually a content-lockdown in place around beta, wherein no new content is supposed to be allowed in the game other than bug-fixes and localization. There's almost always some stuff that gets put in, but the guideline is there to prevent introduction of new bugs and extending testing times.
So, it's entirely possible that the game was locked down and then the extra songs were worked on after that period.


Either way, there's nothing to complain about. It's cool that they already have content available, because otherwise you end up with a menu option that goes to a blank page, and those suck.

More PSO

Surprisingly, we made it up to the end of the Caves at a mere level 10. Of course, the boss one-shotted both of us, so we're not quite up to taking him down.

Goldfire is still enjoying her hunter lots, especially now that she has a Sword and a Partisan to play with, so she doesn't have to worry about not hitting guys before I take them down.

We're probably going to play it some more today (I took yesterday and today off -- sick days), although I'm not sure when we're going to start.

Leveling with Friends

So, our hunter friend, who was practically the same level as us, decided that he was going to take a break for a few days. In preparation for this, he ran through "a couple of the Hinterlands quests" and managed to hit 50.

Huh. Well, Strael was at 48, and Contrae was at 46. So, we ran up to the Hinterlands ourselves and got a level each.

But! We've been eying a few other games to play sometimes, so now we'll probably be a bit behind when we run with him next. Not that a few levels is a huge difference, but it creates a little rift in my head.

Anybody else have issues with this? It's only sort of tangentially related to what the Egotistical Priest was talking about the other day (Although I now realize that the title was stolen almost directly from her).

Oh well. I'm going to play some more PSO with my beautiful bride.

Woo! PSO!

Last night, I decided I wanted to play something other than World of Warcraft for a bit. So, I sat down in front of our rack of games, and asked my wonderful wife if she wanted to join me in playing any game. She said sure, and we settled on playing some Phantasy Star Online for the GameCube (split-screen FOR THE WIN).

Now, I've dropped easily a couple hundred hours in this game in the past. I have a level 131 ranger (RAmarl for those who know what I'm talking about), a couple other characters ranging from 14 to 50, and I've beaten practically everything that you can offline (I can never remember if we took down Olga-Flow on Ultimate... I think I did solo, but he hit my friends Force too hard even at level 129, so we weren't able to knock him out) and yet I still enjoy the hell out of it.

So! I rolled up a ranged guy (woo!), and she made a close-range girl, and we got to it.

We died. A lot. But she enjoyed herself, and so did I, and that's what really matters. Plus, she's really enjoying raising her very own MAG.


Yay!

Mr. T and the Night Elf Mohawk

Alright, everybody has posted about it, but they've all failed to talk about the thing that interests me the most.

Wait, you missed it? Alright, go watch Mr. T talk about WoW HERE.

Back? Good. So, here's what interested me the most about that video: New Night Elf Haircut and Facial Hair. Why wouldn't they use that and make it accessible when Wrath of the Lich King hits? There's absolutely no reason - it's already on in-game models. Now, I don't really care about the mohawk (sorry, I've got a long-haired elfy guy and that's how he's gonna stay... although if I can change his hair color ever I'll do it in a heartbeat. Why did I ever choose that bluish-green?), the facial hair is a completely different matter.

Laheth has the old-style close-to-the-skin-full-beard, and Mr. T's Night Elf Mohawk has a sweet fairly close beard that I don't recognize at all.

I want the new one.

The End of Vacation is Nigh! Also: Fake Guitars.

Tomorrow I'll have to resume work. I like work, but it'll probably be the end of the week before I'm back on a project, so I'll get to continue doing random tools tasks.

Of course, this doesn't count as musing (not that many of my posts in the past have), so I'm going to stop right here and change tracks entirely.


You guys have heard about Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, et cetera, right? Well, I dig those games. I dig them because they offer a facsimile of musical/rhythmic talent while not actually requiring me to know how to sing, dance, play guitar, and so forth.
The one exception I can think of to this is that Rock Band's drum set (the part of the game I'm least interested in) is functionally equivalent to actually playing drums. Given that all the instrumental parts are input by a series of button presses timed to the music, I can understand why it's practically the same, but it's just not for me: I tried to learn playing drums before, and that didn't turn out great.

Now, last night, while hanging out with some of our friends who aren't as video gamer as others, I heard an opinion that just seemed strange to me: Somebody didn't ever care to play any of the guitar facsimile games because it wasn't like playing an actual guitar.

I can see his point, but (as I just stated) it's completely opposite of my own reason for playing them, and I'm not sure if a title that was playing an actual guitar, or something that was just like playing a guitar, and being scored for it, would ever be more than completely niche.

Gnomes Make Tiny Posts

Blogging on vacation? Is hard work.
Blogging on weekend? Is also hard work.
Blogging on weekend during vacation? You're out of your mind.

We played our warrior/mage combo tonight - getting ready for the Scarlet Monastery. Don't know when we'll tackle that, but it should be fun.

And now, I need to go put warmer clothes on so we can head to a friends and watch The Fifth Element on Blu-Ray.

Dustwallow - Completed

As far as I am aware, Strael no longer has any quests in Dustwallow Marsh. And neither does Contrae.

We're going to attempt running through Razorfen Downs with just the 3 of us (with the hunter) tonight, which will probably be fine since we're levelled 44-45. We've been having a lot of fun running instances when we're at the very top end of them with our group. We hit up Scarlet Monastery earlier this week, although we added our warrior orc friend to the mix as well.

Alright - we're assembled in Camp Taurajo - time to boogie.

Turkey Day - and I'm Late

So, we just returned from the second of our two Thanksgiving outings... and in the hustle and bustle of preparing food this morning and me preparing myself while that was being done (shaving, showering, and so on), I totally forgot to post to the blog explaining that I wouldn't be able to post to the blog.

So, according to the letter of NaBloPoMo, I've technically not reached the goal. I will continue to follow the spirit of it and post daily until a month has elapsed, and I will (in that vein) count this post towards yesterday (since I haven't gone to sleep yet -- in fact, I haven't done anything else yet since getting home).

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrated, or a wonderful Thursday if you didn't.

G'night, I'll talk at you all tomorrow. Technically today. Whatever -- after I sleep and awake.

Where the Blog Got It's Name

Some of you may have been wondering why this little corner of the web is referred to as The Rising Force. Well, it's actually tied into the monikers that my wife and I use to mask our identities.

A few years ago, our friends and us got onto a little bit of a superhero kick, spurred on by watching the Teen Titans animated series. Now, this same group of friends are actually the ones we role-play with, so we ended up starting a game of Mutants and Masterminds where we all took on the roles of super-powered teenagers brought together to form a group. That group was eventually dubbed "the Rising Force", although it took us a damn long time to come up with that.

When I decided that I wanted to start a blog, I decided that I wanted to have it disconnected from other sites that I maintain, and so I borrowed elements from that game, including my character's moniker (Gauntlet) and the name of the group itself. My wife posts here under the name of her character (Goldfire) as well, and if any of my friends who were involved ever want to post here, you might hear from Sparkshot, the Flash, or the Runic Soldier. Although the most likely person to guest-post here didn't have a character, since he was the GM. Maybe he'd want to go by Ignition, one of the more sociable of the villains.