Microsoft might charge for Avatar items
It should come as no surprise that Microsoft might release new downloadable accessories for Avatars at a price following the launch of the new Xbox 360 Dashboard later on in the year, reports Venturebeat.
In an interview with Microsoft’s corporate VP John Schappert, Venturebeat asked whether the company has any plans to charge for Avatar customization options:
VB: Will you have micro transactions with the avatars?
JS: That may be in the future. In the near term, we want to launch these with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall. I think there is a lot more we can do with them. You will see us continue to add experiences that make use of the avatar. Our goal is not to create a sterile environment where you move furniture around. It’s about how can we make our gaming experiences better. That is why you see the first usage of avatars will be in games on the Xbox Live Primetime channel like 1 vs. 100, Scene It? and Uno Rush. What’s nice about the avatars is they can be your gamer persona for your online profile picture or your in-game person. Your avatar can be your in-game person.
It’s hard to deduce anything concrete from that sly answer, other than that the accessories that will launch alongside the new Dashboard will be free, which gives us no option but to wait until the Fall Dashboard update releases and see what happens next. Good to know the initial offering of customization options will be an abundant one, though.
well anybody would be a complete moron to buy any of it
in a not so distant future microsoft will start charging just for pronouncing microsoft… what? whats that? that’ll be 800 ms points…? rats!!! you see they heard me!
Jumped on Sony’s idea, definately will charge for later accessories.
Why cant the vison camera be used for your face, surely that would be a more personal avatar.
Anyway im for a change as long as its better.
Just so long as they did it properly, my face in RB:Vegas looked like a baby that had been run over.
I’m pretty sure that’s not my usual look.
My face looked like it was laid flat and ironed out and then put over an oval shape. Took 10 minutes of mapping for the shitty quality… at least I got an achievement for it.
Quote “Our goal is not to create a sterile environment where you move furniture around.”
Damn does anyone know what he may be talking about there, i just can’t guess, might it be about the competition?!?!?!?!? lmao why doesn’t he just say it and stop beating around the bush.
Anyway i will not pay one penny towards my avatars weather it’s Sony or Microsoft’s, it truly isn’t worth, unless of course your a 10yr old girl who must have pink frilly dress on and little butterfly earring’s or something like that.
It’s no surprise to me that they would change a half-decent idea (for once) into some quick cash (not that they don’t have enough)
it’s not a half decent idea it’s brilliant, not the avartars, look at what other companies are getting credit for and nick the ideas
Fuck that shit.
that comment made me laugh out loud.
typical M$… i would probably buy it lol, if it had something that caught my eye.
Bullshit, they won’t see a penny from me.
everyone says its bullshit from them but you have to look at it from their point of view, they are a business, business’ are designed to make a profit. Why make everything free when they can put a price on things and even if say only 10% of XBL users buy something then thats still over a million people and therefore a lot of money for the company. Yea we want free stuff but if you were Microsoft surely your main aim would be to have the largest turnover possible?
Im not angry at MS, at the end of the day if a customer is willing to pay for a crappy cartoon t shirt then let them, good job by MS for getting extra cash that they can then use to create better games and consoles for the future.
The best way to show your support for a product is voting with your dollar; don’t like it, don’t buy it. However, it takes X amount of people to not buy to make a difference.
Agreed!
There is very likely to be something to do with the avatars I would be willing to pay for.
tiger woods08 did a fantastic job of mapping faces peps should rent or buy just to see how cool it looks
Although a pretty buggy product, I do have to agree the face insertion in Tiger Woods 08 is far better than Rainbow Six. You can at least define the points on your face that the program will then use to do the mapping accordingly. In Rainbow, that’s why you end up looking like Simon West having a bad face day. Beat that for offensive!
I dont doubt for a second they will charge for extra items of clothing and accessories. But it will be cool if u can win new items to use by winning games in the Primetime games or by achievement, for example: unlocking a gears of war T shirt, hat or gear tags or something and even free stuff that is linked with gaming events or new upcoming movies like they do with the free gamerpics and themes.
oh baby how sweet would it be to be able to unlock say fallout 3, gears of war and even spartan amour!, maybe even fable 2 items of clothing and whatever! but i still feel strongly about beign able to unlock game related items and not pay for them… then again it is M$…
Anyone know if we’re getting any compensation at all for the points we’ve wasted on our current gamer pics and themes? Doubt it but you never know
You will still be able to use your gamer pictures.
You can opt to still use it as your gamer picture instead of a headshot of your avatar…
OR
I heard there would be a way for you to set the gamerpic as a texture on the front of a T-shirt on your avatar.
you can still use your themes aswell
As soon as the whole avatar thing was announced I knew that MS charging for items was on the cards… its just a matter of HOW they decide to charge for them.
Winter 08 Male Clothing Pack - 800MS Points
Indiana Jones: Legend of the Crystal Skull Costume - FREE* *USA & Canada ONLY
That kinda thing is how I see them doing it. Actual clothing packs costing about 800 MS points. Movie and TV related stuff FREE but only in the US and Canada. Europe gets jack shit as usual.
just make an American account so it doesn’t bother me if its all free for USA and Canada as long as i can still download it
it will be too much like nintendo wii
If you can buy rocket launchers to shoot other avatars in the face then Ill buy one.
LOL that’s good.
Suprise Suprise!! somthing else they are charging for. Why can’t live be free, I’de spend more on content then.
Yet again MS charging for stuff that really should be included as part of the already paid for gold service. I’m getting pretty sick of this shit, what is it again that i’m paying for??
Your paying for the right to have first access to demos and more shit you can pay for before silver accounts. lol… well i THINK thats what it is.
They’ll prolly charge you to ‘accessorize’ your pleb avatar. E.G pimp the guy out in the latest trendy gear. It’ll cater for the teenyboppers who want Irc with graphics.
Sod that, give me rawhket launchers and grenades to blow others up as mentioned above plz.
It’s about how can we make our gaming experiences better. ILL TELL HOW TO MAKE THEM BETTER A-HOLE, GIVE ME A CONSOLE THAT WONT BREAK AND IF IT DOES GIVE ME A SUPPORT SERVICE THAT SPEAKS FECKING ENGLISH!!! OH YEAH AFTER MY 8TH CONSOLE HAS RED LIGHTED HOW ABOUT SOME COMPENSATION TOO? WHATS THAT YOU SAY? GO FECK MYSELF? OH THANKS VERY MUCH MICROSOFT!!!
nobody cares
If it was really your 8th console you’d have gotten compensation by now.
I did on my third. Then again, my friend is on his seventh and he hasn’t got any yet.
Even stranger, I am still on my first after 2 years.
WTF are you guys doing to your consoles??
My 1st console took 2 years to go too. On the Elite now and no turning back. Don’t know how I managed with 12 Gb of Hard Drive space before. I’m on 17Gb for games alone at the moment with all my DLC in there.
It is funny to hear everyone complaining about being charged for additional avatar items but how many people forked over 800 MS points (or whatever it is now) to change their name on XBOX live.
thats just to stop people changing it all the time
There is a cheaper way
Yeah… but doesn’t have a guarantee unless you have enough friends to do you the favor. Not that much of a hassle to begin with but still…
What is this cheaper way? I want to change mine…