Here at TSA we’ve been courting LittleBigPlanet since we first learned of its existence. Through thick and thin, the good times and the delays, not to mention the accents, we’ve been there championing the soon-to-be crowned PS3 Champion.
This week, of course, saw the coronation as LBP finally appeared to much acclaim, scores of 10, and general all-round giddiness. And so, to celebrate, SCEE launched some LBP DLC on the Store. Being the open minded, tolerant, even-tempered crew we are, a few of us got together to discuss.
CC_Star: I’d rather spend £3.99 on a Gregorian Chants CD from Play.com. With such greats as: Alleluia: Gloria et honore and Credo: Credo in unum deum, how could I even think about buying a virtual T-shirt for a virtual character? Oh and I almost forgot about the unforgettable: Sanctus: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus. Which, when you think about it, is rather like anus - and that’s where £4 virtual t-shirts can be shoved.
ColossalBlue: £4 for a tiny virtual t-shirt for a video game character that stood me up two weeks ago? If he was a girlfriend I’d have dumped him and now you expect me to buy him clothes?! What next, “premium” chocolates? Also, it’s got the developer’s logo on it. Don’t businesses usually pay for their advertising rather than get their customers to pay them for the privilege? I’d rather spend my £4 on thank you cards for Criterion who have actually given something back to their loyal fans over the past year and not bilked them for money in the process. So you can keep your £4 t-shirt Sony, and shove your sack up your arse while you’re at it!
Michael: £4 for a virtual t-shirt: I can get a real t-shirt at the local Tesco, and if I wait until near closing time, a whoopsie-stickered roasted chicken thrown in, all for less money than it costs to virtually clothe a Boy-made-from-Sack. I’d rather take my £4 and put it into an Icelandic bank for safe-keeping! If I was American I’d have spent it on a donation to the Republican party, and asked them to campaign to allow George Dubya back for a historic third term! Thanks for the offer, but no thanks - you can shove it up your sack.
Nofi: So, they want us to spend £4 on about 200 pixels? That’s approximately 2 pence per pixel. If you apply that to XMB wallpapers, that’s £18,000 for a 720p JPG, which makes the ‘Premium’ Bioshock themes an absolute bargain. Maybe that’s the point, they need to push the Premium theme downloads a bit, so they massively inflate the cost of things we might actually want to buy if they didn’t cost more than a pint of Peroni and a bag of nuts. No thanks, SCEE, shove it up your arsehole.
And thus concludes our look at the recent LBP DLC.
The cost of viewing this post is 50p. Costs for mobile Internet devices will attract your usual access fee on top of the 50p. Special, premium content is available for download every Thursday and will be charged at the normal rate, plus a £4 charge for the ’special’.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Brilliant!
November 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Joking aside, this is extortion IMO. I seriously don’t get how they can justify this, and the lack of uproar is disappointing. If Bethesda can get flogged for horse armour, then Media Molecule, or whoever is behing this mess, deserve the same.
Shame.
colossalblue Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I agree. Usually when I complain about the price of things I’m complaining but still spending because you really want the thing. This is a different case because how desirable is it really?
I think this must be false economics because surely there won’t be many people buying this at that price. If it was 99p it would sell more than 4 times as many and make MM/Sony more money in the grand scheme. It would also not risk turning all that good feeling you’ve nurtured from your user base back into disconnection and hatred.
Although the fact that I expect “We Don’t Need A Price Drop” Sony to see anything big picture is perhaps more surprising.
nofi Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
I had the exact same discussion last night: false economics. At even 50p, you’d sell 8 times as many, which I presume is exactly what they’re experimenting with with the MotorStorm helmet.
Michael Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
It’s definitely an experiment - you’ve got to price it somehow and see what the market will bear. £4 is a bit too experimental though - wasn’t Kratos for Everybody’s Golf less than the cost of this t-shirt?
November 7th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
and i nearly bought it as well because I had downloaded the 2 free ones first.. confirm payment?… what?!!.. HOW MUCH!!! circle, circle, cancel, cancel, cancel
November 7th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
For shame Sony/MM! Really hope this isn’t the shape of things to come, the free outfits were pretty good but even the Motorstorm one seems overpriced.
We should make a formal TSA pact to slap silly any players encountered wearing this ‘exclusive’…
hannes_truce Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Sign me up, slap em all!
November 7th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
very funny posts guys - nice work! You are if course right though. What a ripoff!!
November 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Wait till boxing day. The sales start and if Next is anything to go by we can expect 75% off t-shirts.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I think id rather pay an extra pound and get a shirt for myself!!
http://www.play.com/Clothing/T-Shirts/4-/5801441/Scarface-Say-Hello/Product.html
November 7th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I bought it - simply because it was either that or a bag of fish ‘n’ chips which I would have pooped out tomorrow.
Who knows maybe it was a test for the Home Beta invites? (HA!)
Makes it all the better knowing my Sackboy now has a T-shirt that the yanks can’t have
November 7th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I dont think i’d every pay this much for a t-shirt thats not even as good as most of the free clothes you get in the game. I think whoever came up with the idea of adding a price tag and not just letting us have it for free should be kicked in the sack.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I think it turn into a useful nob alert. Like those neon ‘wanker lights’ spotty dicks stick on their crappy hatchbacks.
If you see anyone waring this, slap them then take them to this level >:)
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/forum/littlebigplanet/a-wheel-of-doom-at-full-speed-bad-idea/page-1/
November 7th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
ah, who cares….people with too much money and/or no sense will buy it and help fund sony and media molecule.
its the same as complaining that cinema food is too expensive. bring your own nachos, cheese dip and a can of stella in a bag and let everyone else keep the cost of your ticket down by spending £8 on popcorn and coke.
the only people i feel sorry for are the parents of kids who absolutely NEED the t-shirt to stay in the in-crowd at school.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Wow, a lot of tight gits here - I bet most of you spend more than £2 a pint to get yourselves stupidly drunk on weekends though…
Why criticise people who’ve bought the T-shirt? I can do what I like with my own money thanks and prefer buying something for my favourite game than maybe spending it on a night’s DVD rental or a pancake roll from the chinese.
I agree it’s overpriced for what it is, but seriously, get over it! No-one’s making you buy the damn thing!
colossalblue Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Nobody is criticising you, or anyone else, for buying it. If you want it buy it, you make the choice yourself.
We are merely stating that in our collective opinion it is overpriced, possibly false economics and perhaps a little bit of a liberty to take with your customers.
Pixl1983 Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
What we’re actually concerned about here, is not the people who decide to buy this stuff. Like you said, that’s your choice. It’s the decision by Sony to price it in that way.
It’s foolish pricing something so small at just under 10% of the price of the full game.
cc_star Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I agree with you freedom of choice is a wonderful thing, we often take for granted.
But I brought the game which says I can play other peoples levels and share my own.
Since the servers have been down every single time I’ve tried to do this I’m not getting the full game experience I paid for. I’m not going to moan about it because the game is great, but don’t have the cheek to try and charge me 4 quid for something which costs nothing, especially when the experience isn’t as promised just yet!
November 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I’m actually really torn on this one.
My initial reaction was - HOW MUCH? I’d thought that this was going to be free like the spacesuit. Then thought back and realised that nowhere had it ever been said that it would be…
As for why I will probably buy it (and I’m sure this might attract a virtual kicking - but hey!)
1. IF LBP becomes the phenomenom that it SHOULD then there could be a degree of kudos in the ‘I was here since the beginning’ statement that the t-shirt gives. Kind of like the v1 IPod…
2. IF the money is actually going to Media Molecule then great! This is one awsome game developed by a small team and they deserve all the recognition (including cash) that they can get
Why I might not buy it:
)
1. IF the money is mostly going to SONY then not so keen.
2. It sets a really bad precident - look at what happened with pay-per-view. Originally everyone said I’ll never pay that - now it is the norm.
3. It’s a lot of money for just a few pixels (although not as much as the million dollar website
Just my thoughts…
nofi Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
The week 1 t-shirt is marked as permanent, though, isn’t it?
megapode Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Sorry, Nofi, not following you… how do you mean?
nofi Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I was under the impression it was available to buy at any point, not just for the first week.
megapode Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I thought that it was time limited and that was the idea…
Or is it more this is my first week in LBP (no matter when) and I’m
happy to pay £3.99 so that everyone knows it and slaps me around a lot…
Surely it must be time limited otherwise how could they check that you had LBP in the first week…?
nofi Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
that’s what i thought. not sure, though.
TheDeathAvenger Says:
November 8th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
It’s only available for download until Thursday coming.
Revolution Says:
November 8th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
If you read this post
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2008/11/06/lbp-dlc-revealed/
you will find out that the Halloween costume which is free will only be available for 1 week. Meaning it is “proof” that you had LBP from the start, if you have the Halloween costume that is. I’m guessing it’ll probably be available next year again in time for Halloween, but then you have the spaceman outfit which lasts 2 weeks. Then again the “rare” t-shirt is status to have, but gamers aren’t the of the rich kind, well at least most of us aren’t. And seeing as the t-shirt isn’t even cool not many would give the extra money. If it was another item that is more appealing I would purchase is it an blink…
And another thing, if it’s so important to prove you had LBP from the start; Trophies have timestamps and will stay with your PSN for ever! Or just take care of recite, frame it and put it on your wall for all to see
November 7th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
£4 is too much, £1.49 is too much. These things need to be a lot cheaper or if they want to charge larger prices sell them in ‘bundles’ - like a pack of differen’t accessories (in differen’t colours) or several complete outfits for one price. I hope we don’t have to pay for the ape escape gear that is free on the Japanese store (but wont install to EU/US copies).
If the week 1 t-shirt costs so much it should do something amazing as I don’t class looking crap and dull as a noteworthy trait…
cc_star Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
A pack of the same T-shirts but in different colours say 5 colours for 4 quid would have made more sense.
I still wouldn’t buy it because I’m not going to pay for anything like that, but thats just me being skint! But other people would buy it
November 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Was it a clothes pack with many different costume, then it’d have made sense. But they’re giving away the atronaut costume, which is cooler, why should I pay for a t-shirt?
randum Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
shh, before mm, and/or Sony get a price tag on the cool things *whistling like everything is normal*
November 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Yes, it is way overpriced. But still there is this I’d-like-to-have-it-feeling… Well, if it’s really time limited, maybe I can resist for a whole week. On the other hand I tend to spend money on useless stuff (nice but useless
). So if you meet me with the shirt, you’ll know what happened… Feel free to slap 
thefamouskevin Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I agree with everything written above - the t-shirt is probably at least ten times too expensive - even 40p seems a lot when you can buy a Wispa bar for that.
I still bought it, though. I was never going to resist. I don’t even like it. The minute I put it on I felt a little dirty and used.
cc_star Says:
November 7th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
hmmmm Wispa bar
Put it this way… 10 Wispa bars or a virtual t-shirt for an in game character
TheDeathAvenger Says:
November 8th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
virtual t-shirt for an in game character
November 7th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Love the post. Sack-boy looks pissed that he doesn’t have his shirt.
While the t-shirt is a bit of a joke, I wonder would people feel differently about paying for the Solid Snake and Sephoriath skins? I will probably end up buying those.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
me too *looks at his avatar* although i’d probs only be willing to pay up to £2 for both. I think a pound per whole outfit is just about justifiable, or 50p for one item like the t-shirt that noone seems to be talking about! lol
roll on the solid sack (that sounds bad) outfit.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Whats really bugs me is that they try to push this as a ’show you were there from the beginning’ thing! Now correct me if I’m wrong but whats stopping someone buying it and leaving it sat on their hard drive until they finally pick up the game on ebay for cheaps?
And who are you showing it off to anyway? It’s like turning up at Mini owners club meet and going “look everyone, I have a Mini”… and then telling them you paid £100k for it
November 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
30p or fuck off
i emailed MM today to register my upset , like THat is 10% of the price of the WHOLE Game!!!!!
November 7th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Sigh… there was a good deal of swearing in my house this morning when I remembered to check PSN for LBP DLC. I feel pretty unappreciated by Sony right now considering they didn’t have to make us wait 2 weeks for the game. My response to Sony (and/or MM, though it’s probably Sony’s pricing policy) is the same as my response to hearing that awful 5 note whistle at the end of a MacDonalds ad…
I’M NOT BUYING IT!!!
…and the T-shirt looks crap anyway- but I still want an ‘I was in the Beta’ t-shirt with an F5 key on the front… JUST so people can slap me… as long as it’s free…
TheDeathAvenger Says:
November 8th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
For your information, it so looks awesome.
November 7th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
*high five* nofi, Primark could do a MUCH better deal.
November 8th, 2008 at 12:06 am
What a skank! - the other outfits’ far more exciting (spaceman/pumpkin) and they’re FREE! lol…
November 8th, 2008 at 11:31 am
I am very upset by this “deal”. First of, it’s a time limit offer to show that you bought the game early. As a appreciation, SCEE/MM should give it out for free!
Second, what is stopping my friend from buying this t-shirt now and wait until Christmas to buy the game?? He would then get the t-shirt.
This is something that is handled VERY bad from SCEE/MM. It is just done completely wrong!
November 8th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Hey guys you forgot to mention it’s a one off limited edition. lol. I downloed the free Endwar pack, I don’t intend to get the game but considering it isn’t free for long I figure I got a bargain and it’s there on my system if I ever get the game. How do they justify having content for free on one game as a limted off and £4 pound for a crappy little t-shirt on another for only a limited time. Yea the games good but do they actually belive the people playing the game are damn stupid? You will see me running around in the quality and FREE space costume which is 100x better.
November 8th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Rather save my dosh from 3 VIRTUAL T-shirts and buy a REAL THESIXTHAXIS one instead - with no limitations.
November 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
I bought it because I thought it’d be nice (for me, not for showing off online purposes) to have it. It is too much though, so I won’t buy many more at this price - only fun ones for special occasions, like a Santa suit, or if they did an England football strip during the World Cup.
Otherwise if they try and charge me £3.99 for a normal t-shirt then I won’t buy, but I won’t criticise anyone else who does because it’s their choice. :o)
November 10th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
while i dont like the price, they’re perfectly within their rights to sell it at that price.
of course i (and i hope almost all lbp player out there) am perfectly within my right to tell sony to shove it up their arse.
everything has been getting more expensive on the eu store lately.
i swear reeves is trying to sabotage the ps3 in europe because every single thing that twat does goes against the best interest of sony and ps3 users in europe.
content is held back (and despite what many people say, for no fucking good reason), in a time of recession they’re putting their prices up by a large amount.
and the fuckwit keeps making insulting comments about his customers.
somebody should look into his finances, has he been on any yachts with ms people?
how many decisions have they made lately that have made the 360 versions of games more attractive?
reckon the gta dlc would be 360 exclusive if rockstar had to deal with scea or scej instead of the halfwits at scee?
and anybody else think that it’s not a coincedence that there’s no ps3 dlc for fallout and scee wouldnt let them release the shivering isles in europe?
i dropped a turd this morning that could do a better job than david (bill gates best buddy) reeves.
November 11th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Was playing LBP with a few random guys last night, and 1 of them said part of that 3.99 goes to a good cause. Another one of the guys also backed that up saying some charity. Not sure where these guys got the info from, so it might be horse shit. Anybody heard anything about this? If that’s the case, I guess it’s a little bit like that £200 burger at Burger King or something aha