In that case, you have to remember that FFVII was not published by Squaresoft, but by Sony Computer Entertainment America in the US. I believe, at the time, Tobal and FFVII were the only Squaresoft titles that SCEA had U.S. rights to publish. There is absolutely nothing unreasonable about assuming that people who buy one Squaresoft game might want to try out another Squaresoft game, although it’s undeniable that Tobal hasn’t withstood the test of time the way FFVII has. It was hardly a bait-and-switch, even less so than Crackdown/Halo 3 (which didn’t share developers, merely publisher).

The DQVIII/FFXII is invalid because… uh, it was the result of Square-Enix being able to package one of their own games with something else they were publishing? And DQ fans are a subset of FF fans in the US, really? In my experience they don’t get along very well, because DQ fans typically have a great admiration for Toriyama’s designs and very old-school gameplay, while FF fans demand more cutscenes, more spectacle, and convoluted anime-style plotlines. Or are you one of those guys who assumes that everyone who plays console RPGs plays FF first and then anything else second?

“and Final Fantasy XII sold roughly 3-4 times more as a standalone game than Dragon Quest VIII with the Final Fantasy XII demo pack-in did.”

That’s not a great example, since DQ and FF target the same audience (DQ being a subset of the FF audience, admittedly). Tobal was a different genre than FFVII, but because FF the demo was so hot people were buying a title they’d never play and using the Tobal discs as coasters.

Sony started selling demos in stores at one point and made money off them (probably the best example of doing something like DC did here).

(Source: http://www.vidgames.com/ps/software/demodisks.html – search for “retail” and you’ll find a couple.)

The idea that trailer / demo / advertisement material isn’t something people are willing to pay for is an exaggeration, to say the least.

“More to the point, none of those games was more expensive than usual simply because they had an online beta or demo opportunity attached.”

If you take away the trailer pages, you got (about – I didn’t bother to count) nine pages of new story for $0.50. That’s the same (if not a little cheaper) than the average per-page rate for a comic book. You got the ad material for free, same as with those Star Wars trailers. There wasn’t any subsidisation going on – if DC had put out nine pages of story for $2.99 and jammed the rest with ads, THEN you’d be subsidising the advertisements as presumably DC’s costs for the production of the issue were lower given the reprint material. As it stood, the reader paid market price for the amount of new story delivered (the framing sequence) and got the trailers as a bonus.

(And, of course, that’s assuming that they were true trailers and not introductory scenes that we’ll never see reprinted anywhere else. I can’t see Morrison, for example, NOT using that conversation with the Joker in the actual RIP story, but we’ll see).

If you take away the trailer pages, you got (about – I didn’t bother to count) nine pages of new story for $0.50. That’s the same (if not a little cheaper) than the average per-page rate for a comic book. You got the ad material for free, same as with those Star Wars trailers. There wasn’t any subsidisation going on – if DC had put out nine pages of story for $2.99 and jammed the rest with ads, THEN you’d be subsidising the advertisements as presumably DC’s costs for the production of the issue were lower given the reprint material. As it stood, the reader paid market price for the amount of new story delivered (the framing sequence) and got the trailers as a bonus.

(And, of course, that’s assuming that they were true trailers and not introductory scenes that we’ll never see reprinted anywhere else. I can’t see Morrison, for example, NOT using that conversation with the Joker in the actual RIP story, but we’ll see).

Also, we have no idea that the material in DCU0 won’t be reprinted in context later, or the same scenes covered in other books with more depth. To be fair, we don’t know that this ISN’T the only time we’ll see this stuff, either…

As far as the online thing goes, I think there’s a silent majority that doesn’t participate in comics discussions online (like me a few years ago) and benefited from the pulp copy. My $0.02.

More to the point, none of those games was more expensive than usual simply because they had an online beta or demo opportunity attached. they shipped at standard MSRPs for new software for that system. The demo/beta was treated as an extra bonus you get for buying the game. Likewise, nobody made those Star Wars fans leave the movie they paid to see once the trailer was over. They got the trailer, essentially, free – it’s not like George Lucas was charging everybody an extra five bucks to see it. Fans were not asked to directly subsidize the advertising in the way that DC expected DCU0. DC’s practice here is exceptional, and inexcusable.

Many people do. Crackdown sold very well last year not because it was a good game (mind you, it was), but because it had the Halo 3 online beta attached to it. Back in the day, Tobal sold well because of an attached Final Fantasy demo. People went to see movies just to see the Star Wars trailers attached to random films… and then left.

And those were *full price* trailers – this was a 50 cent advertising piece, and it did its job somewhat effectively (although only the Wonder Woman piece was clear enough to be understood completely without context).

My only issue is that DC should be doing this type of thing more often – bi-monthly seems right – to highlight more of their line than the big three (now four, I guess, with the GL franchise) – that’s where they’re slipping up badly these days. Do one with a Titans framing sequence and highlight Nightwing, Robin, and Blue Beetle. Do one with a JLA framing sequence and highlight Flash, Green Arrow and Outsiders. Online readers will complain they’re not getting enough story or whatever, but screw ‘em. DC is far too passive in marketing in comparison with Marvel (of course, some people online praise this passivity, which is perplexing), and this would be a way to start to turn things around.

[They shouldn't have come out and said "oh, it's Barry", though. It was written to be ambiguous, and while Bart's death (unlike Barry's in Crisis and Wally's various disappearances) was quite final, nothing bad ever comes about by leaving a mystery hanging for a month and provoking discussion.]

Paul Dini is my favorite writer ever, but COUNTDOWN was utter rubbish from the onset! How much DID Mr. Dini contribute to this title? Was it a matter of “Hey! Jason Todd knows Donna Troy, right?” and some monkeys hopped up on sugar did the rest?!?

I’m getting FINAL CRISIS for JG Jones’ artwork. I’m not expecting much else at this point. If there’s anything else of value, great. If not, I won’t be disappointed.

It’s a great teaser and it certainly worked on me – I was planning on buying Final Crisis, but now I’ll be checking out some other DC titles too.

It wasn’t.

You don’t pay for trailers. You especially don’t pay for trailers of movies that look stupid. The Batman bit was the only semi-intriguing one. Why would I care about the Rainbow Squad of Lanterns?

Instead, DC Universe 0 is appealing to DC’s base. After the disaster that was Countdown, DC really needed to appease their fan base that the upcoming event titles won’t completely suck. And DC Universe 0 is fairly effective at doing that.

Yes, it’s advertising. Is there anything wrong with that? (I actually like DC’s current record of using teasers, be it Rip Hunter’s blackboard, the Christmas wish list, or DC Universe 0.)

I do not believe the majority of comic book fans frequents the Internets as much as us. This potentially reaches everyone.

WW————– People, eeeeeeeeeeeeevil looking people, are collecting soil samples from various sites where genocides were committed. This is part of their plan to destroy Wonder Woman. (Someone with basic knowledge of WW knows she was created from dirt, put 2 and 2 together…….)
Elsewhere two gods, Apollo and ?, say WW’s mission has been a failure, it’s time to send the 300 the do the job she couldn’t. C’est tout.

The next time I go to the movies I’m gonna complain about all the teasers. All thing being equal everyone should have enjoyed at least one segment.
There is one thing I would change, I would have added pages from DC’s Heroes and Villians two page origin thing on their website.

That doesn’t really make any sense in regards to Brian’s posted opinion. He’s repeatedly pointed out that it wasn’t a good comic book, even though it seems to have been received well. Also, did you not notice where Joe Rice (a big-time Morrison fan) said how little he cared for the book?

I believe that Final Crisis will be the top selling DC book in along time, but will new readers be able to relate to it? I’m not sure.

I know that CSBG is famous (and infamous, depends on the POV) for the almost-blind love for Grant Morrison, so maybe it’s hard for you to go against him. I’m myself a fan of his works, but not as long-time fan as most of the people here, so perhaps it’s easier for me to lower my expactations for FC. DC Universe Zero just proved to me that this event is in favor for DC zombies and for my kind, the “occasional” readers.

About the 50 cents price tag: I don’t have a problem with it, never said I have and I don’t see anyone else saying he had a problem, so I don’t know were all the defensive comments of the price are coming from.