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Mobile Suit Gundam Z: AEUG vs. Titans is set to release in japan for 6,800 yen (about $58.55) on December 4th.
The PlayStation 2 release will support online gameplay through both broadband and dial-up connections. Capcom plans to charge a flat rate of 900 yen (about $7.74) per month for its broadband game service and 10-13 yen per minute for dial-up support in Japan. Mobile Suit Gundam Z: AEUG vs. Titans for the PlayStation 2 is currently 85 percent complete.
Looking at this news, and also looking at the fact that Monster Hunter and Resident Evil: Outbreak are both in devlopment by capcom as well, whats to become of these games?
Capcom currently has no online games available or released for the PS2 in the US. We have had no word yet until now on the possible fees for playing any of the capcom online games currently in production.
Note: This is simply information on a japanese based service in relation to the new Gundam PS2 game. However, one can clearly deduce their own logical theories as to the direction this is heading in for other capcom online games.
Now that this is said, I must once again bring up a valid point of concern that I covered in multiple post's thus far. Can gamer's really afford all these online gaming fee's?
I can understand that certain massivly multi-player online games require a service fee each month to play online. However games such as Resident Evil Outbreak and Mobile Suit Gundam Z are nothing more than co-op/deathmatch style games. These are not games with ever changing server content that require continual maintenance. I see no reason why they would need to charge fee's for such games. I know bandwidth does cost money, yes this is true. But where has the state of online gaming in general been for the past 7+ years? Its been on the PC, and all online PC games are primarily run by the users themselves, with an initial limited amount of servers sometimes funded and run by the developers themselves. The only games charging a fee are MMORPG's. When it all comes down to it, in all honesty one can really only play 1 MMPORPG at any given time, they are too time consuming to paly more than 1 so the fee is a logical one.
So atleast each gamer is probobly involved in atleast 1 online RPG, and then lets say each hardcore gamer with a little cash also is subscribed to another service similar to capcom's. Then, another company start's charging for their own service. I think at this point is where the gaming communities wallet's start to wear thin. We just can't afford this, specially kids/teens, can the average kid afford $50.00 USD a month to play their PS2 games online? I think not.
This paints a very bleek picture for online console gaming. Game lobbies with dwindling numbers of both die-hard fans and or those fortunate with the money to play, seems eminent.
Console Game publishers need to get back to reality, start taking notes form the pc online gaming worls, and start providing multi-OS compatible PS2 game server software. This is how you sell games. source |
