Paying Real Money for Equipment in Games

[Ceph]

...And you thought that paying real money for equipment in games was a new concept:

Enter Double Dragon 3.

[Specineff]

Dynamite Duke did it first. For one coin you could buy four extra D-Punches, and a life pack.

[Twiddle]

Strike Force

[Benjamin]

...And you thought that paying real money for equipment in games was a new concept:

Enter Double Dragon 3.

I don't see this as a problem, since you're basically inserting a quarter for an extra credit. I can see someone being annoyed by how handicapped the second characters are, but then the game is designed to be a one-credit game, perhaps in an attempt to address the issue of people just burning through the genre with multiple credits and never bothering to actually learn how to properly play the game.

[BulletMagnet]

...but then the game is designed to be a one-credit game, perhaps in an attempt to address the issue of people just burning through the genre with multiple credits and never bothering to actually learn how to properly play the game.

Possibly, I guess, but since when have game makers cared much about how the players play the games, especially as long as the cash keeps flowing in?

[Damocles]

Pinball games anyone? "Gladiator" instantly pops into my mind, where you can buy extra an extra ball for a quarter.........there is a limited amount though.

[Twiddle]

but since when have game makers cared much about how the players play the games, especially as long as the cash keeps flowing in?

Since high scores were invented

[BulletMagnet]

But do you think the game maker cares more about how high your score is, or how much cash you're dumping into their machine?

[Shatterhand]

If I remember correctly, you could not only but "extra characters" in Double Dragon 3, there were other stuff to buy too (Weapons and special powers? cant remember now).

This was more annoying in the home versions. The game sucked anyway, so I don't car too much about it

[Vexorg]

Pinball games anyone? "Gladiator" instantly pops into my mind, where you can buy extra an extra ball for a quarter.........there is a limited amount though.

Quite a few recent pinball games (mostly Williams/Bally tables, but Gottlieb did it as well) had an option to buy an extra ball for a credit at the end of the game. Usually this extra ball would come with an extra long (15-20 second) ball saver, and things like multiball might be lit as well. If your score is close to earning a replay you might use this to get that last little bitr to put you over the edge, but a lot of machines also put "add-a-ball" scores on a separate high score table which in some cases wouldn't award additional credits for high score. I don't believe Stern tables have this feature anymore though.

[bpe]

They still make pinball machines ? I thought I'd read stories about the last manufacturer giving up years ago. Or do you mean "recent" as in "after 1993"

[neorichieb1971]

Gauntlet comes to mind.. you can only buy health, but basically you can make yourself invulnerable just by putting more money into the machine.

And it sucked to play against players who ploughed through a million ghosts to get 100 health points of food, losing about 1500 in the process . The worst thing was that any player doing that would force the scrolling of the level in their direction.

This basically made the home version obsolete.

[Twiddle]

But do you think the game maker cares more about how high your score is, or how much cash you're dumping into their machine?

The latter may have been 100% true in the early 90's but the former is kind of a factor now what with the funded superplays.

[system11]

They still make pinball machines ? I thought I'd read stories about the last manufacturer giving up years ago. Or do you mean "recent" as in "after 1993"

Stern (same people who were Stern, then Data East, then Sega, and now Stern again) are still around - they released World Poker Tour this year, and while it's not officially announced, Pirates Of The Caribbean will be the next machine to surface, later this year. They crank out 2-3 games a year.

Of course you hardly ever see pinball machines in the wild anymore, although they do still exist - and a significant percentage of new game sales are now home users. Sounds crazy? Some people buy new Cave PCBs, and for the price of two of those, you could have a brand new pinball machine delivered to your door. Just visualise that for a moment - two PCBs, vs an -entire pinball machine- full of mechanisms, electronics, PCBs and layers of artwork. PCBs are horrendously expensive, for what they are.

Back on topic: Double Dragon 3 sucked.

[Vexorg]

They still make pinball machines ? I thought I'd read stories about the last manufacturer giving up years ago. Or do you mean "recent" as in "after 1993"

Stern (same people who were Stern, then Data East, then Sega, and now Stern again) are still around - they released World Poker Tour this year, and while it's not officially announced, Pirates Of The Caribbean will be the next machine to surface, later this year. They crank out 2-3 games a year.

Of course you hardly ever see pinball machines in the wild anymore, although they do still exist - and a significant percentage of new game sales are now home users. Sounds crazy? Some people buy new Cave PCBs, and for the price of two of those, you could have a brand new pinball machine delivered to your door. Just visualise that for a moment - two PCBs, vs an -entire pinball machine- full of mechanisms, electronics, PCBs and layers of artwork. PCBs are horrendously expensive, for what they are.

Back on topic: Double Dragon 3 sucked.

A new in box Stern machine will run you a little north of $3,500 if I recall correctly. Unfortunately, these days a used Williams/Bally machine in good condition won't be much cheaper (and in some cases can run you even more.) In the past the quality of the Sega/Stern machines was somewhat suspect, but these days they have a number of the best people out of Williams designing their games (Pat Lawlor, Steve Richie, etc.) I haven't played many of the recent machines, but in general they seem to be going a bit heavy on the rulesets, making them confusing to play. I did quite enjoy Monopoly though (a Pat Lawlor game.) One of these days I'd like to get a pinball machine in here, but it looks like doing so would probably require more money than I'd care to spend right now.

[BulletMagnet]

The latter may have been 100% true in the early 90's but the former is kind of a factor now what with the funded superplays.

Well, okay, I hadn't thought of that, but that covers...what, one or two people per game? Everyone else, as far as the publishers/developers are concerned, can suck as much as they want.

Heck, I hafta say, I never expected this exchange to last even this many posts.

[Ganelon]

There's a really shitty fighter (don't remember the name but I know it's emulated) with a really chessy final boss that allows you to stick quarters in for some extra health.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

For some reason I thought this was MMORPG related. Because I've noticed a lot of people basically selling items from games like WoW and such for real money.

[Damocles]

Pinball? Medieval Madness for the win.

[Vexorg]

Pinball? Medieval Madness for the win.

Medieval Madness is a great pin (lots of great quotes), too bad I'll never be able to afford one. MM is by far the most sought after of the 90s Williams machines, and the price for one has gone through the roof. These days expect to pay $1,000+ over the original new-in-box price for one.

[FatCobra]

"Hey, let's go out and party tonight!"

"I can't, I'm saving up for the copper sword in my game."

[PC Engine Fan X!]

One can check out the latest pinball game offerings from Stern at the California Extreme show. Hell, one can even buy brand new pinball machines at this show & sale. Just be prepared to spend some big bucks though. www.caextreme.org ^_~

I remember that a used but fully restored Williams' Police Force pinball had a sale price tag of $950.00 USD and it was sold within one day on the first day of it's appearance at the 2005 CAX show. Damn!

I do recall that one could insert more credits to upgrade your car or truck in Leland Corporation's Ivan Stewart's Off Road arcade game. Awesome game for it's time. ^_~

There is a World Poker Tour pinball table + NASCAR pinball table at the Yosemite Bowl bowling center in Modesto, CA for the pinball fans to check out. I was stoked that I could find such two of the latest Stern pinball tables locally. As usual, one will find the latest Stern produced pinball games at the big casinos in Lake Tahoe, Reno & Las Vegas with no problems. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Vexorg]

I haven't ever been to any of them, but the big show for pinheads is the annual Pinball Expo ( http://www.pinballexpo.net/ ) in Chicago. There's also a place that recently opened in Vegas called the Pinball Hall of Fame ( http://www.pinballmuseum.org/ ) that has a couple hundred pins under one roof (it's run by someone who put together one of the largest pinball collections in existence, and is run with any profits donated to charity.) I'll definitely have to make the trip out there next time I'm in Vegas, it sounds like the kind of place I could spend all day at.