OK, I have had enough with this news story that has been popping up today on places like Digg and Kotaku saying that Major Nelson and e degrade Epic Games in Major's latest podcast. This story is so bullshit and is being blown way out of proportion and if you don't know what I am talking about the following is from Kotaku.com:
Larry Hryb is Xbox Live Director of Programming. That's his job. Major Nelson, though...he's a community guy. Over the past year or so he's emerged as a go-to guy for 360 owners, since his blog and podcast have served as an excellent "bridge" between the 360 userbase and Microsoft Corp. As such, the Major has been an invaluable PR asset for Microsoft, regardless of whether that's his job or not.
At least...he was.
On his latest podcast, the Major and his guest "e" (Xbox Operations Manager) get onto the subject of the new Gears multiplayer maps, and in particular how much they cost. This is a sensitive issue - since they're crazy expensive (800 points) - so in light of the backlash he received over his comments on the Guitar Hero II downloadable content, you'd have thought he'd play it safe.
Nuh unh.
He mocks. Get to the seven-minute mark of his podcast and hear what it sounds like when a man and his show's guest not only completely undermine more than a year's worth of community-building PR, but take a nasty little swing at the team behind the 360's sole AAA title. Highlights:
Larry (and "e"), 360 consumers don't give a SHIT about Microsoft's business decisions (though I'm sure Epic just love the fact you're blaming them for the map pricing). Telling us why you think four maps are worth $10 means nothing, because that's not our problem. On our end, as consumers, we judge a product on its worth, not its cost, a point everyone involved in the Xbox Live marketplace would do well to realise. Luke Plunkett
Hey Luke, try listening to the podcast because it is clear that you didn't, also what's up with you saying that the 360's sole AAA title is Gears of War? are you high?
Major is the only guy in this industry that truly is in touch with the community. With Major we get daily sometimes hourly updates of what's going on behind closed doors and nobody at Nintendo or Sony does that. Also, if anyone just for a day stood in his shoes where he gets blamed for everything from pricing, hardware reliability to XBOX LIVE dashboard updates would probably crack under sheer frustration and stress might think twice before talking shit. Even after going through everyday as the XBOX 360 complaint pinata, he still puts together a show in his own time not to mention on Sundays of all days, he is that passionate. This guy loves doing what he does and he is the best at it, so when I see the media taking something he said and twist it like the way it's being twisted just pisses me off.
People are also complaining because the Gears of War map pack isn't free which blows me away. The reason shit cost money is because there is hours of design, programming and testing involved which cost's a lot of money and the video game industry isn't a non profit organization.
So if you break it down, Epic has released 6 maps this year for a total of 800 points, that is about $1.60 per map. If that is too much, get a fucking job, besides Major himself said that the publishers set the price for DLC and guess who published Gears? Microsoft and they have spent a lot of cash on advertising, publishing and distribution and are looking to make what they can, it's their game.
Hey Luke Plunkett, do you work for Kotaku for free? I think you get the point.
Sorry for any errors in this post, I was in a hurry!
[UPDATE]
The next time you go to Taco Bell, I want you to raise hell and say: How dare you charge me for this taco, it should be free, I don't care how many people were involved and how much time was spent to get this taco in my hand.
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