No more unlocking cars in games, on 360 you have to buy them.

yeah, that's true. actually I think that is the most common reason for shitty games..

 

No matter how few the number of online customer using the service, it will still be profitable. Like I said earlier if you have telecom experience you'll see the writing on the wall. The service only needs to be profitable on its own. It doesn't matter if offline players buy in or not, they have already hooked a good profitable base of users in the generation of video game systems. The nexgen system will cater to those online and shaft those who are not. Its obvious that you make more money peddling online crap nickel and dimming than you will selling a whole complete game to someone offline. People won't get it at first, but many folks with no intention of going online will likely end up with a $400+ paperweight in the long term. Yes, there will be offline games, but the headliners that "everybody" wants will require online service. If they sell fewer copies of the game to a dedicated online demograhic they will make thier money back through online features. Volume is no longer the model for profits in the US.

 

This is exactly what will happen if ms's plan works out(though probably not to the extent of only having one map in the retail release). From the day a game starts development they will be thinking "what can we cut from the game and sell to the consumer at a later date". They will include just enough content for the game to get decent reviews and will try and make you pay $100+ in order to play the complete game. The only game where I could accept something like this would be a mmorpg(with an actual progressive plot), and even then I would want to see all of the "bonuses" boundled together for less then 5 bucks.


It's like an expensive(and evil) take on shareware/trial software.

 

Yeah, this could happen. But I think it could also go the way that PC games are, like downloadable expansion packs and the like. And if they impliment the make-your-own-content thing you'd be able to download conversion mods from other people. So I think it might balance out well.