How will the 360 handle expansion packs?

[Roufuss]

Yea, this may seem like a dumb question, but the whole "Half Life 2 and everything with it is being ported over" made me stop and think. How will 360 games handle expansion packs for ported PC games?

I know Bethesda re-released Morrowind as a GOTY edition, and Doom 3's expansion released seperate from Doom 3, just like on the PC.

I know F.E.A.R has an expansion on the PC a week or two before the 360 version comes out. It would be nice if they bundled them both together, but I doubt it'll happen. Would the expansion be available over Xbox Live, would they make it a seperate purchases, or is stuff like this still in the dark?

[LinkinPrime]

I would assume that they would do the same thing that they did with Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Doom 3, release it as a separate disc. I doubt they would offer it on XBLM, specially with the small HDD we have. Maybe if/when they do release a bigger drive, they might optionally offer it through XBLM.

[Roufuss]

I would assume that they would do the same thing that they did with Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Doom 3, release it as a separate disc. I doubt they would offer it on XBLM, specially with the small HDD we have. Maybe if/when they do release a bigger drive, they might optionally offer it through XBLM.

Ah, gotcha, I didn't realize they did the expansion pack thing with more than one game. How does that work anyways?

[LinkinPrime]

Ah, gotcha, I didn't realize they did the expansion pack thing with more than one game. How does that work anyways?

I never owned one but IIRC they are stand alone games, meaning that they work without the original.

Edit:
Co-developed by Nerve Software and id Software, DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil is a stand-alone extension of the DOOM 3

http://games.teamxbox.com/xbox/1288/DOOM-3-Resurrection-of-Evil/

[jalu6]

Ah, gotcha, I didn't realize they did the expansion pack thing with more than one game. How does that work anyways?

Yeah its a little different with PC because since you install the game on your hard drive, expansion packs can share assets with the original, like the game engine, some textures and other things. When you download HL2 :ep1, you are sharing a lot of things with the original game if you already have it installed. It's only a 600MB download as opposed to the few gigs it would be without.

On the 360, since very little gets installed, they have to put all assets on the disc anyway, so it may as well be a stand-alone expansion. Far Cry for the 360 combined both games onto one disc and probalby saved a lot of room. (Palm trees look the same in both games, and so on).

[terribledeli]

Actually, I'm thinking Chapter 2 may be the first in line for the digital expansion download. Maybe testing to see if fans are willing to pay the money for a digital download instead of paying $30 for an entirely seperate product

[LinkinPrime]

Actually, I'm thinking Chapter 2 may be the first in line for the digital expansion download. Maybe testing to see if fans are willing to pay the money for a digital download instead of paying $30 for an entirely seperate product

Good call. Somehow I forgot all about that.

[Transformah]

Maybe they'll use ep2 to push a bigger hard drive