Lumines Live! micropayments: XBLA responds

In the wake of all the customer complaints, all the game media coverage – all the deleted forum threads and dubious customer support emails? – it was only a matter of time before a major media outlet would sit down with Microsoft itself to get their point of view. 1UP talks to XBLA‘s Greg Canessa to clear up this muddled picture of pay-per-game-pack, and how Live Arcade games are priced in the first place.

Micropayments is a new territory Microsoft is exploring with game publishers, Canessa explains. Lumines Live! for one thing, is unlike any Arcade title before it: “Kind of in between an Arcade game and a retail game, in a way.” Tetsuya Mizuguchi was in fact insistent on creating an XBLA Lumines experience that would be superior to the PSP Lumines.

But the basic pack for 1,200 points? Canessa insists that it was neither a “misstep” nor a screw-over. He insists that the game had “all of the play modes in it” – in other words, a full game in itself. “No one ever says, ‘Game over. Sorry, you’re screwed.’ No, you can play Lumines all you want.” Again, it’s all about providing the customer choice. If you want more of this play mode, or that skin, then download it when available.

But Q Entertainment was the one who had the reins when it came to creating the “base pack” and the pricing, he claims. “It is their game, Microsoft’s duty is that we own the overall platform… This is (their) title and some of the specifics there are what (they) decided to implement.” The publisher sets the price of the game; Microsoft only offers price tiers as a sort of guideline or suggestion to help publishers to make their decisions.

Not that they’re ignoring the consumers with all of this happening. Canessa assures that they’re listening to consumer feedback and will work out the “kinks” when there are “kinks”. (Nothing about any emails from Customer Support to Xbox forum members, though.)

The argument over the fallout of Lumines Live! by-the-numbersdownload can probably go on forever, with people who think it’s a great means of offering consumers choice, and others who think it’s a total rip-off. But we go back to what 1UP said before: in the end, it’s still an advertising screw-up. It’s how people define what “base pack” or even “full game” means – as Canessa so inadvertently demonstrates here.

And it goes back to the most important question in both economics and gaming: are you satisfied paying 1,200 MS points for what you just downloaded? Opinion’s still pretty divided on that one though.

In the wake of all the customer complaints, all the game media coverage – all the deleted forum threads and dubious customer support emails? – it was only a matter of time before a major media outlet would sit down with Microsoft itself to get their point of view. 1UP talks to XBLA‘s Greg Canessa to clear up this muddled picture of pay-per-game-pack, and how Live Arcade games are priced in the first place.

Micropayments is a new territory Microsoft is exploring with game publishers, Canessa explains. Lumines Live! for one thing, is unlike any Arcade title before it: “Kind of in between an Arcade game and a retail game, in a way.” Tetsuya Mizuguchi was in fact insistent on creating an XBLA Lumines experience that would be superior to the PSP Lumines.

But the basic pack for 1,200 points? Canessa insists that it was neither a “misstep” nor a screw-over. He insists that the game had “all of the play modes in it” – in other words, a full game in itself. “No one ever says, ‘Game over. Sorry, you’re screwed.’ No, you can play Lumines all you want.” Again, it’s all about providing the customer choice. If you want more of this play mode, or that skin, then download it when available.

But Q Entertainment was the one who had the reins when it came to creating the “base pack” and the pricing, he claims. “It is their game, Microsoft’s duty is that we own the overall platform… This is (their) title and some of the specifics there are what (they) decided to implement.” The publisher sets the price of the game; Microsoft only offers price tiers as a sort of guideline or suggestion to help publishers to make their decisions.

Not that they’re ignoring the consumers with all of this happening. Canessa assures that they’re listening to consumer feedback and will work out the “kinks” when there are “kinks”. (Nothing about any emails from Customer Support to Xbox forum members, though.)

The argument over the fallout of Lumines Live! by-the-numbersdownload can probably go on forever, with people who think it’s a great means of offering consumers choice, and others who think it’s a total rip-off. But we go back to what 1UP said before: in the end, it’s still an advertising screw-up. It’s how people define what “base pack” or even “full game” means – as Canessa so inadvertently demonstrates here.

And it goes back to the most important question in both economics and gaming: are you satisfied paying 1,200 MS points for what you just downloaded? Opinion’s still pretty divided on that one though.