Console-exclusive bonuses: an open letter
Dear Telltale,
I really hate to be such a misanthrope, but this is something I felt had to be addressed.
It seems that on the PS3 version of The Penal Zone, when you start up a second playthrough you get access to a new psychic power: the Nutrition Specs. These allow you to see intriguing new visions throughout the game.
Yet this bonus content is ONLY available on the PS3.
For shame, Telltale.
I am a die-hard PC gamer. I have never been able to "get the hang" of consoles, no matter how much I've tried. I've watched helplessly as big game companies abandoned the PC market, one by one, and transferred all their focus to the console world.
I thought Telltale was unique in placing so much of its efforts on the PC platform. This pleased me deeply, and cemented my love of your games.
When TOMI and then Sam and Max switched to direct control, I assumed it was because of the reasons Telltale stated, that it made it easier to construct the games' environments. Some naysayers claimed it was really because the company wanted to put the games on consoles, but I ignored them.
Then, in the promotion leading up to the release of The Penal Zone, the PS3 version was the only version featured in advertising. Again, I assumed this was because the PS3 was a new platform for Telltale, so you wanted to show it off as much as possible.
Now I find that Telltale has put out The Devil's Playhouse on PS3 with exclusive, extra-cool bonus content that the PC version lacks. This is something I had never expected would happen, and as a "console-illiterate" gamer, it pains me greatly. Moreover, it casts a new and uglier shadow over the previous events I mentioned above.
You've disappointed me, Telltale. I've learned you're just like every other game company: eager to move to the console market, and willing to shaft PC gamers in the process.
Please, prove me wrong in the future.
EDIT: So, maybe it's not so exclusive after all? Great! Mea culpa, I'm sorry, je suis desolé.
The lesson we can learn from this, I think, is that poor communication kills. I went off in a moment of anger and posted an ill-thought-out rant on these forums, but I wouldn't have done so if Telltale had cleared up the exact nature of the Penal Zone bonus content sometime earlier. Blame all around!
I really hate to be such a misanthrope, but this is something I felt had to be addressed.
It seems that on the PS3 version of The Penal Zone, when you start up a second playthrough you get access to a new psychic power: the Nutrition Specs. These allow you to see intriguing new visions throughout the game.
Yet this bonus content is ONLY available on the PS3.
For shame, Telltale.
I am a die-hard PC gamer. I have never been able to "get the hang" of consoles, no matter how much I've tried. I've watched helplessly as big game companies abandoned the PC market, one by one, and transferred all their focus to the console world.
I thought Telltale was unique in placing so much of its efforts on the PC platform. This pleased me deeply, and cemented my love of your games.
When TOMI and then Sam and Max switched to direct control, I assumed it was because of the reasons Telltale stated, that it made it easier to construct the games' environments. Some naysayers claimed it was really because the company wanted to put the games on consoles, but I ignored them.
Then, in the promotion leading up to the release of The Penal Zone, the PS3 version was the only version featured in advertising. Again, I assumed this was because the PS3 was a new platform for Telltale, so you wanted to show it off as much as possible.
Now I find that Telltale has put out The Devil's Playhouse on PS3 with exclusive, extra-cool bonus content that the PC version lacks. This is something I had never expected would happen, and as a "console-illiterate" gamer, it pains me greatly. Moreover, it casts a new and uglier shadow over the previous events I mentioned above.
You've disappointed me, Telltale. I've learned you're just like every other game company: eager to move to the console market, and willing to shaft PC gamers in the process.
Please, prove me wrong in the future.
EDIT: So, maybe it's not so exclusive after all? Great! Mea culpa, I'm sorry, je suis desolé.
The lesson we can learn from this, I think, is that poor communication kills. I went off in a moment of anger and posted an ill-thought-out rant on these forums, but I wouldn't have done so if Telltale had cleared up the exact nature of the Penal Zone bonus content sometime earlier. Blame all around!
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Comments
Plus I imagine they would like to keep a friendly relationship with one of the gaming powerhouses...
I agree it bums me out that I may not ever get to see the PS3 exclusives but I can hardly blame them.
Um, and, please don't say "you get the DVD, they get the toy". Most of us still don't get the DVD because of the overpriced shipping.
why bonus content for anyone at all?
w8wat?
Bonus content is brilliant! It's enjoyable for fans to have something extra other than just simply the game itself. Also, it's a clever move from any company. If you release different bonus content on separate versions of the game, then there is an incentive for fans (mostly collectors) to buy those other versions. I know that some people miss out on certain bonuses, but they also get extra content that others don't. Everyone gets an even amount of extras, just a slightly different experience depending on which version you buy.
I would much rather that everyone on every release platform get the same bonus content. It's fairer to all the gamers. But then I guess Telltale would make less money...
I like the games and buy them all, but am not a collector or whatever.
But guess we'll have to wait what all the bonus PC stuff turns out to be...
You're making some assumptions here. Just wait and don't jump to any... well, you know.
We really do not have any mission to drive individuals to buy the games multiple times in multiple ways (not to say that we'd discourage this
Sometimes, an add-on feature opportunity becomes available in one place ... which isn't to say that it won't also be available later in another place.
We do our best to deliver as much fun and value as possible where ever we can!
- Joel, Telltale
Still at least this one appears to be a false alarm. After all, with a month between updates, it actually makes a lot of sense that they may unlock extra options in the episodes to keep people interested.
- Waaah! Some people get to play early in the iPad!
- Waaah! Some people are getting silly items for a totally unrelated game!
- Waaah! Some people are getting a bonus item!
Luckily, Telltale quickly addressed the latter two. But even if they didn't, all these are just small potatoes. Nothing like Ubisoft's draconian DRM that requires constant Internet access for a single player game, or not releasing "Prince of Persia: Epilogue" for the PC at all (it ended being really console-exclusive).
Cause that never gets old.
In this case I wouldn't have gotten nearly so annoyed if Telltale had clearly communicated in advance that any PS3 special bonus content was forthcoming for the PC as well. Instead we got total silence on the matter. So when PS3 owners start showing up out of the blue and talking about their special NutriSpecs I fancy myself quite justified to ask what is going on.
I can understand the perspective of other forum users who personally don't mind this sort of thing. But when Telltale employees begin mocking their own customers for speaking out, belittling people who have paid money for a game and thus feel they should receive the same gameplay as other customers get, an ugly line is crossed.
I never thought I'd see the day that one of my favorite game writers insulted me. Telltale formerly was regarded for the politeness of its employees on these forums. Obviously those days are long past.
Let me make it clear: I LOVE Telltale. It's my absolute favorite game company. But when I see it engaged in what might *even possibly* be construed as questionable practices, I feel obligated to speak out. If you don't want to hear my critique, you might as well close these forums.
The issue is that you're very much over-reacting. Even if it was PS3-exclusive, so what? We get an exclusive DVD, exclusive bonus content, an exclusive forum, a free episode, TF2 items, exclusive downloads, and coupons. PS3 users got...five bucks off. And the ability to play on a PS3.
This scale does not look like one that is heavily balanced in the favor of anybody but the people who buy from Telltale's store. We have gotten everything we were promised and, well, more. I don't think an after-game distraction for PS3 users should not have been a big deal at all.
i agree.
i think it's obvious that people would get slightly miffed (or a lot) when they (we) see someone else getting more content for the same money without explanation. Sure, we are getting the DVD, but some don't care about it and others have to pay an insanely high postage for it.
I didn't mind about the TF2 items though when i thought that they were steam exclusive, since i knew that that wasn't up to telltale.
Hell, I'd love to be insulted by TTG if I crossed a line!
Quite simply, I would have liked to know, before release, whether any special extra content existed on the console versions, and whether or not that content would eventually make its way to PC. I feel this information is my right, since it's my money and I'm choosing which platform I want to play this on.
Telltale began by not addressing this issue at all. Now we've gotten some vague statements alluding to PC bonus content to come at some unspecified future date. I am still not entirely satisfied, and am beginning to think the company's communication skills are sorely lacking. Oh for the days of Emily...
no, i don't
$35 here is $35 for TTG.
$35 on PSN is I don't know how much for TTG, since Sony takes a fair cut. Same with Steam...
So it would make sense for TTG to try and make the most people get it directly from them, unless they prefer making less cash themselves, and wealthying (is that a word?) Valve and Sony...
(Of course if Sony/Steam would pump 'em large amounts of money if they make them exclusive stuff, that becomes a different story I guess...)
That's true, but it comes across a little... oddly, if the immediate initial reaction is one of incandescent self-righteous outrage. A little patience goes a long way - it often helps to ask the question before making sweeping statements based on assumptions and conjecture.
As you said though, it's your prerogative to react as you please. Just understand that that may affect the way others react to you.
Telltale do listen and respond to their customers - within 15 minutes of your original post you had a response here essentially saying "wait and see".
I prefer not to know everything upfront, it's nice to have little surprises and extras trickle through during the month-long wait between episodes. I understand that you feel differently though.
I didn't mean to offend anybody, but I was sorely disappointed by what seemed to me at the time to be an unfair apportioning of bonus content. It appeared to me that I had been duped into paying for the PC version, a game that was in hindsight inferior to the PS3 version, which contained hitherto-unadvertised, and what I believed to be exclusive, bonus content. Again, to repeat, the lack of prior communication on Telltale's part is key here.
I do love Telltale--again, they're my absolute favorite games company--so the perception (however ill-founded) that they are taking my money for a PC game, while giving me less gameplay than console gamers get, is all the more wounding because of how much I like you guys. Call me a jilted lover.
I understand that customers have certain prerogatives, but there has to be some manner of respect on both sides of the customer/seller relationship. Your immediate, strong reaction feels like if someone jumped onto a table and started giving a sermon about customer rights in a restaurant after noticing they did not get any ketchup with their fries, before bothering to double-check the table to see if there was some there already or asking the waitress if she could kindly why you did not get any ketchup.
Here's an exercise: Try e-mailing Telltale for a refund. The vast majority of the time, they will actually give it to you.
And try and get some manner of scale in your thinking, here. We're talking about a platform whose experience is inherently inferior in just about every single way. What they have now is an obscenely small scrap of content that is incredibly unimportant.
You jumped to conclusions, you made sweeping accusations, and you've given off the impression of being horribly unreasonable about it. There is generally a step between "noticing something is wrong" and "moral outrage". In fact, there are generally several.
EDIT:
Ah, this came right in under my nose as I was typing. All is fine then, nevermind.