Lumines Live details

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 June, 2006

Sounds pricey.

Lumines Live will be available in a base version and players will have to pay extra to download new music, and possibly extra again to play versus mode against other people.

That's according to Lumines creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who has been opening up a bit more about the forthcoming Xbox Live Arcade version of the game. Speaking to Game Informer, Mizuguchi said "every mode will have a price".

The base game will be a mixture of old and new music, Mizuguchi says, although the core gameplay will largely the same. Downloadable tracks and videos for new artists, however, which will allow you to customise the experience to your own musical tastes, will cost extra - with associated costs yet to be decided.

Lumines Live was shown off with a Madonna track in tow at E3, and it seems likely that if you want that you will need to pay extra. It also sounds like the way the music industry works will mean a step-by-step rollout for Lumines Live. Asked about the possibility of different artists for different regions, Miziguchi said: "We haven't decided. We're starting this service first in the United States."

Sadly, "it's too difficult" to let you use music you already have on your hard disk, he later said. "In the future that's something that we'd like to implement," he added, which is promising.

Multiplayer, too, could well cost. "We're still trying to determine if we'll package versus in the base package," says Mizuguchi - suggesting the game isn't exactly coming out next week.

There was some good news though in terms of high-def options - with 5.1 surround sound available on certain tracks in addition to high-definition backgrounds to fit the Xbox 360's range of visual options.

For more on Lumines Live, as well as PS2 version Lumines Plus and the other games Mizuguchi's working on, you can find the full interview on GameInformer.

Lumines Live should be out this summer.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 6 years ago

    "Sadly, "it's too difficult" to let you use music you already have on your hard disk, "

    Errrr??? Persistent music was added to dashboard so you can play any track you want (unless it has an effect on gameplay???)

  • Steroyd #2 6 years ago

    and that's why it's justifyable paying full for the PSP version.

    although this guy is the first to straight out say he's selling an incomplete game that we have to shell out extra for the rest of the game. o_O

  • InfiniteFury #3 6 years ago

    What a bunch of cocks and excuse me for my colourful language.

    I hope you can at least continue streaming music from the PC given the apparent coding nightmare that is custom soundtracks.

  • DutchDemons #4 6 years ago

    .....and yet another cash cow emerges on the cash cow field that is known as Live marketplace.

    too difficult my ass, it's too hard for his wallet, maybe. Man, i just pray to the cybergods that gamers won't buy these incomplete games, so the devs will come to realise that this ain't working.

  • ecureuil #5 6 years ago

    I don't see why this is a bad thing. There are plenty of games where I wish I could pay for only the single player. (or course, assuming the price would be less for a multiplayer-less game.)

  • karlidog #6 6 years ago

    Hang on, the PSP version costs £30 or thereabouts and doesn't feature either custom music or an online versus mode. The XBLA one isn't portable, but it's likely to retail for somewhere under a tenner! I don't understand why it's being painted as the biggest rip-off ever.

    (actually, scratch that, having seen the post below - I just checked and Lumines is £20 in the UK)
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/06 @ 12:57

  • DutchDemons #7 6 years ago

    the game is said to cost 1200 MP, which translates into 15 euro's...only 5 euro's under the current PSP price.
    So there ya go:-)now you see why this is a bad thing.

    I wouldn't be so upset if this game was 400 MP, without all the features..maybe paying 800 for the full package(multiplay,loads of songs). But the full package will be way more expensive than the PSP version.

    Plus, i have nightmare visions about future arcade games...

    [edit]

    Just read the guy above me said it costs 30 quid in the UK...*lol*that's even an extra rip-off. it's way cheaper over here.
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/06 @ 12:55

  • Shinji #8 6 years ago

    Given the way the soundtrack interacts with the gameplay, it'd be a bit crap playing this with your own tunes in the background...

  • gizmo #9 6 years ago

    "every mode will have a price".

    This is what I am REALLY, REALLY, REALLY beginning to HATE about the way gaming is going.

  • IAmBatman #10 6 years ago

    > Persistent music was added to dashboard so you can play any track you want

    Great, did it also add the bit where the Xbox can pick instruments and samples out of your mp3s to play when things happen in the game? My own music playing with generic bleeps and bloops wouldn't be the same as what Lumines does.

    > This is what I am REALLY, REALLY, REALLY beginning to HATE about the way gaming is going.

    I know, imagine if you had to pay money for extra lives and continues?
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/06 @ 13:16

  • SeesThroughAll #11 6 years ago

    And one would think Bethesda to be a bunch of greddy pr*cks...

    I know, imagine if you had to pay money for extra lives and continues?

    sssssh! Don't give them ideas, mate.
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/06 @ 13:18

  • neosalad #12 6 years ago

    i'm really starting to think that m$ are taking the pi$$ now with the marketplace.
    It has soooooo much potential to be really good, but if they continue to rip people off the way they seem to be going, then i feel like giving up on it.
    didnt really want to have to spend 1200 points in the first place, but if it's only for half a game then i think i wont even be getting it now

    :-(
    Edited by 1 at 21/06/06 @ 13:22

  • Xerx3s #13 6 years ago

    Sadly, "it's too difficult" to let you use music you already have on your hard disk, he later said. "In the future that's something that we'd like to implement," he added, which is promising.

    My ass! Your just looking to make money. This whole thing reeks like ripoff. Shame, i was kinda looking forward to this, but it seems that I wont be buying it.

  • #14 6 years ago

    @ Dizzy, InfiniteFury et al

    Have you ever played Lumines? Erm.. it's.. like.. a game based around music, that.. erm.. when you move stuff and do stuff musical cues kick in and so you are effectively interacting with the.. erm.. music.

    Sure you can play it muted, or with other music over the top (it's not as good mind..), but I'm sure you'll be able to do that anyway. Whatever the cost, you can be sure that for each AAA track (like Madonna etc.) you can be sure that the music company will be requesting a hefty cut. None of the tracks on the PSP version were what I'd call well-known (in the west anyway) and hence the cost of the PSP version. However, you don't necesarily need Madonna to make this title good!

    I'm hoping for "packs" like a "rock" pack etc. (A bit like singstar I guess).

    Also the "skins" were a big part of the game also - the change-over of one skin into another could really mess with your head and you certainly have favorites.

    Seeing as I already have the PSP version (top score 420000+ iirc) if this is priced too high I may not go for it. We'l have to see - but you can be sure the record companies are in on it (where Sony has distinct advantage!).

  • ecureuil #15 6 years ago

    I know, imagine if you had to pay money for extra lives and continues?

    Are you trying to make the point that arcade games have been doing this since before home consoles?

  • InfiniteFury #16 6 years ago

    Yeah James, I was just about to post something along the lines of *how* does it use music so differently so fair enough. I still dislike the idea of buying games bit by bit though, that just doesn't sit right with me at all

  • Machiavel #17 6 years ago

    Don't mind the idea of bonus tracks/skins/modes but I'll be much more worried if the basic number of skins is severely limited to entice take up.

  • peterfll #18 6 years ago

    The music is integrated into each skin and theme though, so I can understand why tracks needs to be engineered into the game, and to automate this is much more difficult to do.

    No price has been confirmed yet, so why don't we wait and see how much it will go for, and if you think it's too pricey vote with your feet and don't buy it.

    Currently the Marketplace is a fantastic way of getting lots of things for free, so I can't actually berate Microsoft for what is a great service, well implemented.

  • Kiigan #19 6 years ago

    I think that all sounds pretty cool.

  • SimonM7 #20 6 years ago

    I like not having to pay a bunch to include Madonna in my Lumines experience simply because I think it's a terrible idea to "pop" up Lumines. Half of the appeal are the japanese original tracks, I don't want to paint it over with some western "you should really be listening to..." artist.

    And now I seem to be able to avoid that, so yay.

    However, Versus mode not in base package? Who wouldn't want versus? :o

  • SeesThroughAll #21 6 years ago

    iLumines.

    Enough said.

  • NthSimulachum #22 6 years ago

    If anyone buys this, they are a fool. OR have more money than braincells.

  • #23 6 years ago

    "If anyone buys this, they are a fool. OR have more money than braincells."

    Yes, 'cos Lumines is such a crap game isn't it?

    God, honestly. They havent even outlined the pricing policy yet. There's more knee-jerking here than at a Michael Flatly impersenation convention.

    And to whoever it was that said M$ - I am officially "old"ing you. For Pete's sake!

  • trevd72 #24 6 years ago

    This kinda thing really shows the greed and the lies peddled by the industry. Piracy is seen as one problem that allows them to justify the high prices. Here is a way to get games to the public with zero piracy that i am aware of, no media, and no middleman. Yet they still try to stiff us. these games should be no-more than 800 and should be typically 400 points. How much is the cut of a fully boxed 360 game that reaches the developer? I do realise that m$ take some money for hosting the downloads.

  • Xerx3s #25 6 years ago

    I dont mind aditional downloads for a game, free or paid. But when i buy a game, i want something that has all the functionality and can run without extra payments or aditions. With games like this im usually not interested in aditional content. On top of that, he goes on about how playing music from the HDD or portable device is not possible, even though this is an intergrated part of the 360 and almost every game supports it. It also has a smell over it that reeks like the music industry had alot to say in this and they are smelling money. I dont like that kind of stuff.

    And when i download these 'songs', will i be able to copy them to me mp3 player? And play them in the xb media player? Because i assume that this is a game thing and not part of the definitive music service that MS is going to introduce later on.

  • mr_steve100 #26 6 years ago

    Paying for songs is okay, and maybe for extra game modes. But for the latter, I should at least hope it's incredibly cheap.

  • IAmBatman #27 6 years ago

    "On top of that, he goes on about how playing music from the HDD or portable device is not possible, even though this is an intergrated part of the 360 and almost every game supports it"

    Christ, don't you read other comments, or are you just being deliberately stupid for the sake of presenting a shitty "we're being stiffed by the man" argument? Lumines doesn't just play an audio track completely unconnected from what's happening on screen - it coordinates samples from the track with your actions.

  • projectmayhem #28 6 years ago

    lumines2 on PSP ftw