These “loot boxes” should really be looked at. It is nothing more that gambling. They are going to turn a whole bunch of kids into gambling addicts.
The odds of some of these loot boxes are the same as winning a $1000 off a scratch ticket. Games have all these ratings about what they can say, or what they can do, but somehow a child spending 100’s on loot boxes to try and get 1 item is not gambling and is ok.
The gears 4 is a perfect example. They slow the grind on getting “in game money”, to the point you just give up and buy it. I think it is really shady to put a character they know people would want “Raam” behind some gambling/pay wall trick.
To me it is just crazy that no matter whatever you spend on the game to buy it, there is always something they don’t put in the game, so it could be sold later.
It doesn’t help that it’s becoming more widely adopted and spread, Halo 5 and Gears 4 didn’t do it first, but they aren’t helping the problem either. They are just part of a long list. Overwatch, Black Ops 3, Infinite Warfare, and their Zombies counterparts are to name a few others, and those are just the few shooters I know. I’m willing to bet there are others who could name games with the same loot system in play, and not even limited to Shooter games as well.
That’s actually why I prefer halo 5’s way of RNG. Sure it can be a pain to grind but you can never get the same unlockable twice where as games like overwatch for example you’ll get the same damn thing multiple times and only get a small fraction of what the pack costs back.
Didn’t even mention split-screen, but okay. Thing is, you don’t have to do any of those things. You choose to do them. It’s unfortunate for some, but split-screen is becoming less relevant in today’s world. However, unless you were promised a feature for your “purchased license” that wasn’t delivered, you aren’t owed it. As the informed consumer, you can responsibly purchase a product for it’s feature set. Anything beyond that to facilitate an experience you want is on you, so you choose the expenditure.
Yeah, I will give Halo 5 credit for those points you’ve made. At least you won’t get dupes of perma-unlocks, and when you exhaust a loot table for the bronze or silver packs, you get back some of your credits, so eventually you’ll get everything.
I still don’t like the loot system, but Halo 5 has a slightly more tolerable version of it. That’s not a bar of standard for how unlocks should be though, but it’s a start in a good direction.
I knew we were doomed as soon as Bethesda sold people horse armor for Oblivion. Having said that, if people just stop buying stuff it would go away. But they don’t…
Well, they aren’t going to put something NOBODY would want behind a pay wall. That would be dumb.
The part that worries me is that the transactions are not “micro” and there doesn’t seem to be any policing within the industry itself. The prices MS is charging for Gears 4 stuff is outrageous to me. So I don’t buy any. But I have my nephew $100 in Xbox credit for his birthday to buy games and he spent ALL OF IT ($100!!!) on Black Ops cosmetics. First of all, he’s never getting another gift card. Second, if the industry lets this get out of control there will eventually be a news story about little Johnny who emptied mom’s bank account to buy swag and then some half wit congressman with a sex scandal to move past will introduce legislation that will do nothing but make everything a pain in the ■■■.
Actually I didn’t. We have 2 XB1s in my house and that’s it. And at this point I’m not sure if I have any more than 1 copy of the H5, and I certainly don’t have any paid dlc/few packs for the game.
And apparently Halo’s fan base had enough of a decline with H5 that 343 has officially stated that they wouldn’t leave off local multiplayer ever again. I won’t hold my breath about future titles but I expect to see it’s return in Halo 6.
Woah, hold up, there’s a big difference between what KI is doing, and then what Gears, Halo, CoD, and most of these other games are doing.
First, the prices and packages offered in KI downloadables are reasonably priced, and they aren’t some random loot drop system either. These are tailored skins and extra content to own, and that you are willingly purchasing yourself with either real money or through in game earning. IG is also a lot more reasonable with their extra content offerings if you choose to grind for them instead of buying them, with the Shadow Lords and Shadow Lab modes being significant sources of in game currency. While it will take some time and dedication, it’s a much more achievable goal than the lofty RNG based ones offered in some of the other games in this discussion.
Furthermore, gameplay components such as the Ultimates are being offered FREE. The package bundles and individual asking prices for characters are also very fair, though sometimes glitchy on the PC user’s for odd reasons. They don’t make promises of what you could get as if it were a lottery, but what you will get. I like the bonuses offered in some of the Ultra Editions, and some I don’t, but I’ve got fair choices on that.
Comparing KI to shooters is a very apples and oranges comparison to make about two very different circumstances.
I dunno. IIRC there are enough laws on the books regarding games of chance vs games of skill going back as far as the beginning of modern pinball I would think it would be much of a stretch to think they would simply enforce those in regards to video game dlc and say they have to remove the RNG elements to purchases.
IMHO that would be pretty nice…just lay everything out you can get from a REQ pack and put a price tag on it. No more random guessing about what you’re going to get
Having enough laws has never stopped people from asking for new laws.
I’m not sure that you can say random packs at video games constitute gambling and then still allow Magic, Pokémon, or even baseball card to sell random packs. All of those things are random and even worse, they are resellable with real values for things you get at random. But I am sure that someone will make a sad story out of it.
And as always, just because the hue and cry from the nanny state is bad there will be no denying that the industry did their part to earn it.
Edit: just to be clear, I don’t think KI is pushing this envelope at all. While I might prefer cheaper gold skins, these are not set up as random packs and they don’t include anything that helps you win the game.
Phil Spencer has my unconditional trust to move Xbox in the right direction. He turned Xbox One around entirely after a total flop of a launch for a AAA Game console that represents Microsoft.
I believe that Crackdown 3 will either be cancelled by or revealed at E3 this year.
With the specs for the Scorpio being released to the public we have a relatively good Idea as to how far we can reach when speculating the overall fidelity of future console exclusive games. I doubt KI will be pushed much further on the Scorpio when it’s launched, but I DO NOT doubt this:
What if Microsoft is taking all of their exclusives form this current generation and “porting” them all up to a higher resolution in native 4k, pushing the lighting effects, and overall fidelity for the games and announcing these new fresh titles at E3. If I do recall, It’s been a while since we have seen the launch of Halo 5 on Xbox One, and could very easily tease Halo 6 this year and of course announce the next Forza Motorsports for Xbox One, Scorpio and Play Anywhere.
Microsoft and Xbox now have full control over the development of Minecraft. There are many options here with Minecraft STILL being as big as it is.
This is me just brushing the top of the surface of what Microsoft and Xbox could do at E3 this year.
Even with a very limited amount of playtime you can easily “stay afloat” and have every Req in the game. Just actually need to use the boosts when appropriate and hit at least level 25, which is incredibly easily.
@Iago407 and just so you know that there has been alot of roumors going around about a Mechassault reboot, Mechassault 3 or HD Remastered Collection of the series and it could be show at E3 this year.
