infexxionMajor Nelson Discusses Guitar Hero 2 Downloads
The response to the Guitar Hero 2 song packs on Xbox Live has been decidedly negative. Most people don't have a problem paying for original Guitar Hero tracks, but not being given the chance to choose a la carte has people unnerved -- not everyone wants to rock out to Incubus, thank you very much. Major Nelson (Larry Hryb) candidly chatted with Joystiq about the fans moaning, and, well, it's actually not full of PR spin; he's pretty honest.
"People like to say it's the same [because they're Guitar Hero 1 songs], but the licensing is not the same. You have to re-license it. It's a different platform. While on the surface it may look fairly simplistic, and people are saying "XYZ should be done," but we're not Red Octane. I work for Microsoft, and we're just the conduit at this point," he said.
The one question that Hyrb quickly dodges, however, is why RedOctane didn't simply choose to offer the songs individually. Electronic Arts, for example, has no problem offering dozens and dozens of microtransaction possibilities. Hyrb, however, speculates there could be issues of cost and timing involved.
"Is it easier to process one song and release it and would have it to be more expensive? Or can you take some of that development, bundle it together, and drop the price down. All those songs have to go through that process," he said. "If you have three songs entering the approval process, individually, that's three times more problems--and there's more probability for error. So, let's bundle them together, and test them as a unit and drive the price down."
I tried contacting RedOctane for further comment, but they turned us down and pointed at the Major Nelson interview for all they're going to say right now. Don't worry -- I'll keep bugging them.
"People like to say it's the same [because they're Guitar Hero 1 songs], but the licensing is not the same. You have to re-license it. It's a different platform. While on the surface it may look fairly simplistic, and people are saying "XYZ should be done," but we're not Red Octane. I work for Microsoft, and we're just the conduit at this point," he said.
The one question that Hyrb quickly dodges, however, is why RedOctane didn't simply choose to offer the songs individually. Electronic Arts, for example, has no problem offering dozens and dozens of microtransaction possibilities. Hyrb, however, speculates there could be issues of cost and timing involved.
"Is it easier to process one song and release it and would have it to be more expensive? Or can you take some of that development, bundle it together, and drop the price down. All those songs have to go through that process," he said. "If you have three songs entering the approval process, individually, that's three times more problems--and there's more probability for error. So, let's bundle them together, and test them as a unit and drive the price down."
I tried contacting RedOctane for further comment, but they turned us down and pointed at the Major Nelson interview for all they're going to say right now. Don't worry -- I'll keep bugging them.
