DG New Maps Already Out on X-Box?

[Barefootstallion]

I have a friend who has the X-Box 360. He recently bought Defense Grid for it. He told me after purchasing the game, too, that it has eight more maps than the PC version.

After my friend told me this, I went in search for an answer to why this was - why the X-Box has the bonus maps but they are not available yet for the PC version.

What I was able to piece out, was that Microsoft has controlling interest in Hidden Path Entertainment. Moreover, Microsoft has dictated the release of expanded materials for Defense Grid for the X-Box, and not for the PC. This, reportedly, is in an effort to boost interest in the X-Box 360.

Clever marketing.

Except to those of us who own no X-Box 360, nor have any plans to own one.

Making people wait for a product just to boost your sales is.... unbelievable. Does anyone at Microsoft think that if I am looking for a product that K-Mart has but Walmart doesn't yet have - and won't have for months - that I am going to wait until Walmart has it? If I want the product right now, I am going to go to K-Mart! Indulging in that kind of backwards marketing strategy would cost Walmart millions of customers!

What is even more infuriating, is this is a strategy to boost sales of the platform on which the expansion is available.

Do you think I want to go buy a friggin new car just to get that special set of tires?! Then why in the world would I go buy an X-Box 360 just to play more of a video game?!

Am I the only one who believes that this is completely insane?

Either way, I have also been able to piece together that you guys are planning to release the new maps for the PC soon. They have already been written (well duh - they're available on another platform), so when is Microsoft going to decide to tell you that they have sold enough X-Boxes on your game and to let those of us with PCs be able to purchase the expansion?

Is there a date yet? If there is, will you please tell us? I have been driving myself crazy wondering when there will be more available for this game!

I love this game. But if the frustration mounts enough, it is going to soon overshadow and then blot out my interest. And I can promise you, I am not the only one out here who is feeling this!

Please, please tell us when there is going to be new stuff available for Defense Grid for us PC-ers!

Thank you!

[jeff]

Hi,


I figure I should clear things up a bit - there are some assumptions here that aren't quite true.





First off, recognize that the Xbox 360 version of Defense Grid does have the 4-level Borderlands pack included with it and the PC version at this time does not.* The reason for this is that the Xbox 360 version came out about 9 months later than the PC version, and as is typical in our industry, if a 2nd platform launch (in this case Xbox 360)*happens at a time later than the first (in this case PC), it can be*a requirement from the 2nd platform that*the game has something extra in it.* That was the case with Xbox.* Microsoft, though, not only has no controlling interest in Hidden Path Entertainment, they have no non-controlling interest in Hidden Path Entertainment.* Microsoft is not an investor.* They are a partner though on bringing this game to Xbox and are our publisher on the Xbox 360.





It's not as much about clever marketing as it is keeping interest in a product that wasn't brand new when it launches.**I think if you look at the console industry there are many examples of this of which our extra levels on the Xbox 360 are some of the most minor differences.* I'm not sure the WalMart / K-Mart analogy applies since the platforms and code are different between PC & Xbox 360, one can't sell the same exact product in both places.* More development has to be done in order to write new code so that the game can be released on a new platform.





Today both products (PC & Xbox 360) have all of*the same bug fixes and updates and some of the changes we have made to the game on the Xbox also have been made to the PC game since it launched.*





As for new maps, we are working on new maps for both the PC & the Xbox 360 and the maps we are working on right now*are *not* the maps that have been released on the Xbox 360 already.





There is not a date yet.* We are not finished with the levels though we are making progress and then once we're finished in the development stage we will need to test them and make sure that they are well balanced for many different types of players and that they don't introduce new bugs.* After that happens, then we need to get them ready for release on each of the platforms, and then we should be able to know our date and be able to release them.* We're hoping the wait isn't very long for you and are working as quickly as we can on this.





So, in answer to your question.* There will be new stuff for you PC Defense Grid users out there, and there will be new stuff for the Xbox 360 users out there.* We'll update you further when we are able to tell you when they're going to release.





I hope that helps. :)








Jeff

[Barefootstallion]

Thank you for a very cogent response, Jeff! It was the first real response that I have had to any of my queries about Defense Grid. It is very refreshing!

As to some of my comments, especially about some of the more heated ones, I wished to convey what is going on with interest in your game. I have been to site after site on which discussions are going on about your game, and the prevailing question of "when" is very prevalent on all of them: "When are the new maps going to be released?", "Is there going to be an editor?" and "How many new maps are there going to be?"

So my remarks, if sounding somewhat demanding or rude, I made them as an example of a single "pulse" in the arterial flow of interest in these topics. People are honestly a-buzz about when your new stuff is going to come out. Lots of people want it to come out, and soon!

Either way, thanks again, Jeff. I shall TRY to wait patiently, too! ;)

[jeff]

We appreciate your support very much and are very interested in getting more content out there.* We'll see how quickly it can be done. :)





Jeff