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    Portal 2

    Game » consists of 20 releases. Released Apr 19, 2011

    Portal 2 is the sequel to the acclaimed first-person puzzle game, carrying forward its love of mind-bending problems and its reckless disregard for the space-time continuum.

    Am I the only one who understands the implication of the shop?

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    2HeadedNinja

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    #1  Edited By 2HeadedNinja

    So ... Portal 2 has an item shop an, to be honest, that was a little unexpected.


    And predictable as the internet is there was a huge uproar about that shop. "How dare they!" the internet said, "Day 1 DLC!", the internet said.
    I admit, at first I was about to jump the cry wolf bandwagon too, but about 2 seconds later my brain started to work again.

    The guys at valve are smart ... they know that people will have finished the coop by mid-next week. They also know that there is not replay value
    to the coop, thats not their fault, those are puzzles and puzzles get boring once you solved them. 

    And they VERY well know that nobody is going to pay for cosmetic stuff for a game he/she plays for 10 hours.

    We got that covered, right? ... So:

    After you finish the first few coop missions you enter the hub-world. There is a LOT of space in there that is not actually used.

    We got that covered too, right?

    Soooo ... am I going mad or am I the only one that thinks that it will take one or two months maximum till we see the next batch of coop missions
    as DLC? Question is: payed or free? 

    Knowing valves track record I would assume free on PC and PS3 and payed on xbox. If they manage to do that in regular intervals the whole shop
    makes a whole lot more sense. If people come back to the game for a long time there are more likely to buy cosmetic stuff for it.

    Thoughts? Does that make sense?
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    iamjohn

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    #2  Edited By iamjohn

    I thought that was pretty obvious, honestly.  It's just Mann Co. but in a co-op only game.

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    GunslingerPanda

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    #3  Edited By GunslingerPanda

    If the shop takes money from idiots in exchange for free co-op missions, I salute Valve.

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    DeeGee

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    #4  Edited By DeeGee

    They're charging money for animations.

    Free maps? I don't think so. Surprise me, Valve!

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    iamjohn

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    #5  Edited By iamjohn
    @DeeGee said:
    " They're charging money for animations.Free maps? I don't think so. Surprise me, Valve! "
    It's not like they've given us a ton of free content updates for Team Fortress 2 for three years or free Left 4 Dead campaigns or anything.
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    Fallen189

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    #6  Edited By Fallen189

    Yes, the only one in the world

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    MattyFTM

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    #7  Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator

    They're probably going to use the money they get from shop items to cover the cost of making free DLC. And if so, that'll be a great business model. Everyone get's free extra content, those who want some extra cosmetic changes can pay for them.

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    DeeGee

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    #8  Edited By DeeGee
    @iAmJohn: Surprise me, Valve!
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    iamjohn

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    #9  Edited By iamjohn
    @DeeGee said:
    " @iAmJohn: Surprise me, Valve! "
    So... you want it to be paid DLC then?  Because that would be a surprise.
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    2HeadedNinja

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    #10  Edited By 2HeadedNinja
    @all: If this was more obvious than I realized I apoligize for the posting, but all I heard/read was a lot of hate for the item shop.

    @GunslingerPanda said:
    " If the shop takes money from idiots in exchange for free co-op missions, I salute Valve. "
    Look at TF2 ... I actually bought stuff in that shop. Not because I felt there was something I absolutely had to have but because I played that game for about 750 hours 
    and I felt like it's just fair to support valve with some money for the content they gave me during that time. I also bought some of the stamps that contribute money
    to the community map-makers. Does that make me an idiot?

    What if they manage to do the same with Portal 2? I would be one of those who gladly supports them from time to time for a service like that.
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    Dingofighter

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    #11  Edited By Dingofighter
    @MattyFTM said:
    " They're probably going to use the money they get from shop items to cover the cost of making free DLC. And if so, that'll be a great business model. Everyone get's free extra content, those who want some extra cosmetic changes can pay for them. "
    This is the direction companies should be going with these kinds of microtransactions.
    Actual maps and similar things that can potentially split the userbase should be free, while the non-essential stuff goes towards making said things free.

    After what I got from Valve for just playing some games and collecting potatoes, I have faith in them going about this the right way.

    @iAmJohn said:
    " I thought that was pretty obvious, honestly.  It's just Mann Co. but in a co-op only game. "
    So... Mann Co-op then?
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    iamjohn

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    #12  Edited By iamjohn
    @2HeadedNinja said:
    " @all: If this was more obvious than I realized I apoligize for the posting, but all I heard/read was a lot of hate for the item shop. "
    Same here, but I've put them in the same category as the people who went on Metacritic and gave the game ones and zeroes because they were pissed off about the ARG not panning out in anyone's favor or accusing the game of being a console port (lol the fuck wut?): fucking idiots.
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    Jimbo

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    #13  Edited By Jimbo

    They support their flagship products well and over a long period of time because it keeps people coming back to Steam.  A lot of it is free in the sense you don't pay for it directly, but they know they'll more than get that money out of you sooner or later if they can just keep you using Steam long enough.  They use post-launch support & content as a loss leader, and they've been very effective with it. 

    I wouldn't expect them to suddenly start burning people on Portal 2 support.  Not because they're the only altruistic company in the world, but because they probably think (probably correctly) that they can make more money from giving that stuff away than from selling it.

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    Jimbo

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    #14  Edited By Jimbo
    @2HeadedNinja said:
    "Look at TF2 ... I actually bought stuff in that shop. Not because I felt there was something I absolutely had to have but because I played that game for about 750 hours 
    and I felt like it's just fair to support valve with some money for the content they gave me during that time. I also bought some of the stamps that contribute money
    to the community map-makers. Does that make me an idiot?

    What if they manage to do the same with Portal 2? I would be one of those who gladly supports them from time to time for a service like that."
    Valve have done an incredible job of making their userbase feel like they're being done a favour.  Of course, they've also done an incredible job of turning a dime's worth of goodwill into a dollar's worth of dollars. 

    I wouldn't call you an idiot... maybe a little naive if you genuinely don't realise that you're behaving exactly how Valve expect you to behave.
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    Enigma777

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    #15  Edited By Enigma777

    No, you are not.

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    BabyChooChoo

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    #16  Edited By BabyChooChoo

    I say more power to Valve. They're taking advantage of, if not creating a market, that's usually only found in F2P MMO games. They're selling vanity items. That's it. If you decide you don't need them then don't buy them. You won't miss out on anything. If you do decide you want them, then you have to pay up. I fail to see how Valve is doing anything wrong.

    This is practically the same thing as the sparkle pony uprising in WoW. People lost their shit over that thing. Just like Valve, they didn't do anything wrong. They simply gave you the option to buy something you don't need. They might as well changed the announcement to "yo, you don't really need any of this crap, but if you want it then you know where to buy it."

    It's not double dipping or any of that bs. It's the same as buying items for your Xbox Live avatar or hell, it's the same as buying extra channels for your cable subscription. You don't need any of that extra stuff. You are not entitled to it. It's there if you want it and if not then life will continue to go on.

    But to answer the question, yes it does make sense OP. I agree with you.

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    crithon

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    #17  Edited By crithon

    What I find interesting about the Portal 2 store is how much I got for free at Day one. It's similar to TF2's design where the more dedicated players get free stuff while guys who don't want to wait have to pay for hats. Like the companion cube hat is unlocked if you can take it out of chamber 7, the Potato hat comes for those who bought the Potato sack and a Mann Co hat for those who have it in TF2. 

    I'm more curious when new levels come... and I'm betting that will be announced in 6 months, when new levels do come will it be a new interface or added onto the hub and you have to explore to find them. And then what happens when user made levels are made? There was a nice handful of user made levels for Portal 1 but not as easily accessable as L4D or TF2's in game map interface. L4D1 is a good example where they might go with the DLC then TF2.
    Already 4 days and I beat all the co op levels with a friend, so yeah I'm curious how user made maps might work.
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    picklecannon

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    #18  Edited By picklecannon

    Some form of DLC is obvious, but what i think portal really needs is user created content. The creativity of the millions of portal fans is bound to do more with the portal mechanics than the Valve team, no offense to them because their puzzles are awesome anyway!

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    ajamafalous

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    #19  Edited By ajamafalous
    @iAmJohn said:
    " I thought that was pretty obvious, honestly.  It's just Mann Co. but in a co-op only game. "
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    Hunkulese

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    #20  Edited By Hunkulese

    I'm still blown away that people complain about cosmetic DLC. It doesn't affect the game in the slightest and is created with the sole intention of making money. In other words it's not something that would normally be in the game and I don't see why people get so bent out of shape over the idea of an online store. 

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    JJWeatherman

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    #21  Edited By JJWeatherman


    Am I the only one who understands the implication of the shop?      

    Uhh, well, Jeff brought up your exact point in the Portal 2 video they posted before the site crash. Anyone who watched that video--if they didn't before--now do understand the implication of the shop.

    I like the idea of a shop, DLC, etc. That's that Valve value!

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