Yes i agree with you, I could see the justification if the games producer was small or new, and needed to create revenue - but for large well established games producers I cant really accept that.
As you say paying for broadband is expensive enough, without an additional cost of subscription to a game server.
Maybe they could cover costs by an additional increase in the games price at point of sale, or in game advertising. By that i mean in realistic virtual worlds why not have adverts which link back to the real world. They could have them in all the normal places that are around in real life - posters, bill boards, newspapers etc.
Im sure it would make good sense for massive multiplayer games, they could place adverts in relevant places which reflect your character type.Say you picked a dark,mean and moody character - the adverts displayed to him/her could reflect that characters personality.
Buy linking to the real world, and buying real goods - maybe it would earn you virtual credits which could be used in game.
All this kind of stuff should be optional of course, and not forced on anyone.
you all are truly a bunch of retards the ones that think there is no online for ps2, for the next ps3 they said that they didnt want to force people to join a subscription and pay money
Who said anything about the PS2 not being online in this forum thread? I cant see any post?
we know the PS2 has free online play, but thats not the issue here.
We are talking about the creeping cost of subscription fees in online gaming and how it might apply to the PS3. There is a real concern that many of the new PS3 online games may have a subscription fee. This is because the level of money to produce a PS3 title is a lot more that a PS2.
One way of getting this back will be to raise game prices, or in games that feature online play - have a subscription cost to join the servers.
For really HUGE online game a subsciption fee may be a neccesity, because of the servers needed to maintain the game, and the associated costs of running it all.
So before you call us all a "bunch of retards" learn to read correctly, and put your brain into gear.
mrjerk and i were discussing the relative merits of a pay as you play system not how there is no online for the ps2! i should know because i bloody use it so i know there is!
so before you come in with these comments and get your self banned read it first
well what most people don't realize is that there is alot of money involved with keeping servers up and running, game sales alone wouldn't come close to the amount needed to keep online play going. I really doubt any online game would be completely free to play. Final Fantasy X1 was going a little too far though. I bought the game not knowing you needed a visa to play it, couldn't take it back because of copywrite laws, now im stuck with a game I have never played. Another big mistake in the Play-Online community. Nothing is free anymore...
What about all the PC servers running for online games? Sure it cost money to run a persistant online world, but other games just require a server with bandwidth. Online features increase sales, if some games are free to play online and others cost money people will just play the free ones more. I think sony will go with free online play again, except for the MMO type games.
