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Originally Posted by thekay  I think the downloading of cases would depend on whether they think they have a market for it or not. The technology is now there to facilitate large files, and with games like Sam and Max being released in chapters, you'd think they would find a way to have new cases downloaded as well in chapter form or something similar. The cases would be rather short though as unlike Sam and Max, the CSI games have more difficult graphics rendering and sound files, which would make the files really big. However, if we were willing to forgo the voice overs and less 3D graphics, perhaps it would be more practical. |
I think it's very much possible to distribute CSI cases online (and without having to sacrifice voice acting or anything...Sam & Max is also very heavy in spoken dialogue and I doubt CSI is miles ahead of it from a technical standpoint...after all they use the same engine albeit with significant tweaks). I think the reason downloadable CSI isn't happening is because as the publisher it would be Ubisoft's job to distribute them, and they don't have that kind of delivery system set up. If you look at that email that Dangerzone had with his Ubisoft source, she said that one of the reasons it wouldn't work is that "loose files (not on the original disc) are easily lost if the user ever deletes the game and must be backed up or re-acquired." Obviously that's the kind of thing that Telltale and Steam and other online distribution channels have figured out, but it's probably not worth it to Ubisoft to build their own online delivery system for the sake of selling CSI cases only.
In regards to CSI Telltale is the developer and Ubisoft is the publisher, but outside of that relationship Telltale acts as both a developer and a publisher. If you look at their web site they sell 3rd party independent adventure games like Ankh and Al Emmo through their service. This is a great as a way for Telltale to make money and for indie developers to get another avenue for their titles. I think CSI cases would fit very well there, but then Ubisoft would have to care enough to bother working out a deal for it. I think it would make sense for Telltale to at least sell old CSI cases on their web site, as Ubisoft could make some loose change off of older games without having to spend the money on a physical re-release. Again though, the ball's probably in Ubisoft's court for that, and it's probably not something high on their priority list.
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The one thing I worry about is that they will start to have download-able cases, but charge for each download, and if they go with the Game Tap like engine, the case would disappear if you cancelled your account. [If you haven't heard of Game Tap, it's the online game engine now available on Yahoo and other sites that allows you to play older game ports - from Nintendo, Sega, various PC titles, etc- as well as some new releases like the Sam and Max game out now and Uru/Myst5. For a fee, you can download what they say is "infinite" games and play them as much as you want. The problem is, you need the Game Tap engine to run the games, so if you decide to leave Game Tap, you won't be able to access the games any more! I'm also cheesed that in order to play some of the games, you need to download them, which takes sometimes 5 or 6 hours as it times out even over a cable connection at non-peak hours. As you can tell, I decided to decline keeping Game Tap after a few days of the free trial period! So far, no CSI-type games are on Game Tap yet btw.]
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I imagine that if Ubisoft were to set up a service for downloading CSI cases, it would not work like Gametap, it would probably work like Telltale or Steam does. Meaning you pay for the download and then you own the game. You of course don't have to pay again every time you re-download; your purchase history is tied to an online account. If you delete your game or want it on a different computer, you simply download the game again and have it re-activated, probably just by typing in a user name and password.
January 23rd, 2007, 04:11 AM
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