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April 27, 2005
On Purchased Environments
Watch me geek out with my leeks out!
Four new Halo 2 maps dropped on Monday with half being offered free of charge and the remaining couple priced together at $5.99. I opted for the two free ones for now but was promptly informed by this fellow that I was 'cheap'. Mr. Soda, who was one of the founding members of the illustrious THM, plays a lot of Halo and I am sure he will squeeze every cent of value out of them. However, it seems quite silly of me to spend six dollars now when I can get them free on June 28th. Though it is inevitable that I will follow suit and part with my hard earned cash when Murph soon caves for the purchase, I have this vague feeling that I am somehow getting screwed.
As most of you well know, Bungie is owned by Microsoft and made them oodles of money on Halo 2. The profitability of the title will only increase due to the sale of these maps to Bungie's ever-increasing rabid fan base. It is not as though I don't understand that (1) we as fans are not owed any new content (2) Bungie put in quite a few hours perfecting these to create a quality product or (3) that if patience is employed all these maps will eventually be offered free of charge, my protest stems entirely from nostalgia.
Before my current love affair with Halo began over two years ago, the inital experiences of multiplayer gaming nirvana I had came from Half-life deathmatch (not to be confused with that boring waste of time, Counterstrike) during college and Quake II CTF (remember that amazing grappling hook?!) while in high school. In both of the aforementioned gaming arenas one key aspect that contributed to the longevity of those titles was the ability of the fan community to freely distribute any maps/mods they had created. For almost two years my friends and I at college played almost exclusively in this tiny map named 'small.bsp' that was perfect for the sort of fast-paced deathmatch we were all so fond of.
Enter my current love affair with Halo 2 and the relatively spartan (no pun intended) choices of virtual battlefields with which I am provided to kill my friends. I am not unhappy with the maps, nearly all of them are excellent (save Waterworks, it's WAY too big for even 16) it's just that inevitably within any fan community there will be some fourteen year old kid who crafts an amazing level, freely offering it to us for our enjoyment. Now, not only do I lack the opportunity of trying out the designs of the fan contingent (and I know the folks from HBO would not disappoint in that department) but if I want to experience any new levels at all I either have to wait two months or pay a half-dozen dollars to a company I know already has money in Scrooge McDuck proportions.
Now before my comments section loses its structural integrity due to presence of acrimonious flames let me clarify a few matters. I understand and vastly appreciate Bungie's continued dedication to both addressing bug fixes and creating new content for their fan community. The maps they have designed, both in the initial release and with the first content offering, have been top notch. No one should be expected to work for free...but it sure is nice when they do.
Whenever a fan takes it upon themselves to craft something in homage to a game they love, it is imbued with something intangible that a commercial endeavor cannot replicate. The labors of love that were New Mombasa and the Zanzibar project in the Halo CE community were absolutely magnificent. Granted, the boys at Bungie could have done a better job but the aforementioned freelance creators worked hard knowing full well they would release it for free with their only compensation coming from fellow fanboy adulation.
On the other side of the coin, I really appreciate the fact that Bungie continues to develop content, something otherwise unheard of in the console gaming business. The continued dedication they exhibit towards their fan base is something to be admired and I appreciate the studio's tenacity in continuing their practice of setting the bar higher and higher.
So, would I rather have a professional development team making excellent (but fewer) for-pay maps or an entire community armed with the tools for creating lower-quality levels to freely share with their fellow internet connected peers? Easy: both. I remember the golden age of Napster and as a result I have since demanded that all the quality wares I desire to be free.
Now if you'll excuse me I have six dollars to spend...
Posted by Jon at April 27, 2005 06:36 PM
Comments
Yeah, downloaded the maps tonight. All I have to say is that Turf alone is worth the $6. Go download them, and enjoy some single mound king of the hill in the med-hut!
I loved your post from yesterday. It's good to see you being forthright about your faith.
Posted by: Murph at April 28, 2005 03:49 AM
Hmm.... There's something you should know.
Hxbdev.org is already working on using the DLC format to make their own maps.
They currently have a program in beta (private, it seems). You should check it out.
http://angrycamel.com/hxbdev//forum/viewtopic.php?t=535
Posted by: Nafe at April 28, 2005 01:27 PM
You make some good points, but you bring down your own argument. Microsoft OWNS Bungie. They are both companies, MS being a huge corporation. Just because they made millions off of Halo 2 does not mean they are suddenly going to start giving stuff away.
The point of any corporation or business is to make a profit and this makes them big profits. And I don't really find 6 dollars for two amazing maps to be a rip off. Games like Rainbow Six 3 released maps that costs 6 dollars and were really sloppy. Bungie has always made quality content. But don't worry, I'm not flaming you. I'm agreeing to disagree with your argument.
Posted by: StickyHelljumper at April 28, 2005 02:24 PM
Just so you know me and my friend created two maps that appeared in halo 2. I created Turf,or more like gave the name and idea and bungie made the map upon that. I am very proud of myself.
Posted by: Mikey at April 28, 2005 07:27 PM
I don't think there are any games on live that allow user created content. That being said, I believe it's possible. Check your account settings if you don't believe me, it asks you if you want to allow "user created content". It wont happen for Halo2 though, becuase at this point Bungie would have to make an editing program and release it. That is unlikely since they are probably not going to do further updates to Halo2.
Posted by: Brer Lapin at April 28, 2005 11:18 PM
I for one would love to CREATE a map, even if it couldn't be played live, i spend most of my time on MODing programs and Map/Campaign editors, Bungie sould really make a program for this, even if it's a simple one for the xbox system itself, i mean look at counterstrike (either one of the computer ones) or even Unreal Tournement, sometimes user maps are the best maps!
Posted by: bill at April 29, 2005 03:47 AM
I would also love to be able to create maps, because a lot of times i will be somewhere, and i realize just how awesome the architecture would be to compete on. I know this might sound bad, but a good example is my school. The art section of the campus is truly a work of art, with multiple levels and many different paths from place to place, and they would never let us paintball there.
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As far as Bungie making a tool for us to make maps, i personally would be willing to pay for something like that, if it wasn't above $20. I think $10 would be a fair price, a price that most people wouldn't make to big a fuss over, and enough people would buy it that we would get some quality maps. It could either be DLC, or better yet, it's own disc with a manual and such, although that would bring the cost up. Scrooge would be happy about selling that. Maps could be shared when the host picks one that people don't have, as long as everyone doesn't mind waiting. They wouldn't need to take as long as standard DLC maps, as the textures and such could be already on all the Xboxes, with maybe a free DLC (or even a few bucks if they had to) to allow you to play custom maps. Bungie could even have a contest in which the best maps were made official DLC.
Wow, the more i write about this, the more i hope they have it for Halo 3. This one more XBL feature Bungie could really raise the bar on like they did with proximity voice, friends, matchmaking(which despite its problems still gets some of the best games i have ever played on XBL: ever been spawn camped on the training facility in ghost recon?), and clans. We should make a lot of noise about this, and see if Bungie will "Git r done!".
Posted by: Viper the M1ghty at April 29, 2005 10:08 AM
Of course Bungie already has dev tools, if there could be any money in it for Microsoft I'm sure they would release them (maybe for a high price), but the longevity of a game is unimportant to the console market. Any game besides Halo could use the popularity boost of user-created content, but when you already have the most popular game it can be difficult to justify releasing dev tools from a business perspective... hell, it could cut into Halo 3 sales.
BTW, Bungie dev tools ROCK. Anyone here use Fear & Loathing for Myth II? Or the Marathon Infinity map editor (forget what it was called)? That editor was a work of genius. And the whole Marathon map paradigm of building using polygons instead of 'sectors' being BSPed (like Doom) was amazing. This paradigm allows maps to have multiple rooms in the exact same 3d space (see the Marathon multiplayer map 5D Space), like a flattened spiral staircase.... you think the motion sensor is confusing when someone is in the room above you, try in the other room right where you are! Oh yeah, and don't forget dual shotguns, thank god they didn't put that in Halo :)
Posted by: gabe at April 30, 2005 02:33 AM