Topic: I don't get the pay and play thing?

Why do some nintendo games say pay and play while others(most of them) don't???

They have components you have to pay for, like downloadable content. Most of the time the pay portion is optional, though.

I'm not sure but i think it has something to do with online gaming, which if that is the case then it is a joke considering how terrible online gaming is on the Wii

Yeah, it's for paid downloadable content, like Rock Band has.

OK that is acceptable unless it is something that should have been included in the first place....SI:GE im looking at you

How do you pay for it??

I heard mh3 is going to have wifi pay and play

You pay for it with Wii Points, just like any other Wii download. For anyone who's played FFCC: My Life As A King, that game has TONS of Pay & Play content! As does SI:GE, as Stevie pointed out.

I say it's a stupid name for the service, because it makes it sound like a subscription fee, but it's really no different than downloading the latest maps for your favorite Xbox 360 or PS3 FPS.

Pay and play refers to gamers with DLC that you pay for. You pay for the extra content, and then play the game with said extra content. It's quite simple, really.

The name does sound misleading and i believe Nintendo did this with the intention of maybe charging for wifi play in the future, but as of yet they havent charged, but have not invested any time/money in improving the service. Possibly because not as many people as they had planned are using their Wii online

Same with Guitar Hero World Tour .
Both has downloadable songs that you can purchase via Nintendo's Pay And Play service .
200 points per song for World Tour but i don't know about Rock Band 2 all i know from what i heard is Guitar Hero having better quality sounding songs which is evendent by lager file size .

Another example is Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicals: My life as a King with its expansions like extra missions & extra races ect .

These downloadable contents (DLC) ar available via ingame shop which is a dirict link to Nintendo's shop channel .
Some game do give you previews to help you decide like Guitar Hero where you can listen to sevral seconds of the song to help you decide on the purchase .

OH I see. IT jsut sounded like you had to pay to play online at all. Thanks for clearing that up.=)

I think it depends on the publisher to be honest, most companies that decide to use "pay and play" features mainly do it add additional features, but by all accounts Capcom will be using it to fund the online service on Monster Hunter 3. So your first month online is free but then you have to spend wiipoints to keep playing online.
I for one think it is a terrible idea when there are so many games with free online play, I really dont mind buying additional content for a game I like such as extra levels in bubble bobble plus and additional song for Guitar Hero but subsribing to a service to play a game that you have already paid good money for in the first place is ridiculous.

@Raptor78: it depends if Capcom are providing dedicated servers for Monster Hunter 3. If they are then fair's fair, Sega did it with Phantasy Star Online and there are numerous other online non-Nintendo games that require people pay for the privilege of accessing their dedicated servers.

@Stevie: Space invaders Get Even was a massive game which was too big to put on the service as a whole. If it's that big, I can understand why Square wanted to charge more for it - plus its a very good game. If you think SI:GE is expensive then please consider that there's crap like Homestar Runner that will run you the best part of £40 for about 10 hours of completely awful 'entertainment'

Hell, you can waste over £10 by buying Bplus' games alone and if you're uneducated (or unfortunate) enough to purchase The Amazing Maze game or SPOGS Racer on top of those quality titles, you just know that spending 2000 points (£14) on the complete set of missions for Get Even is actually excellent value for money.

@ Calculon - I completed the SI:GE missions within a few hours and although i did enjoy it i did feel slightly short changed, and didn't see the added content as worth the price for such a short experience, maybe if you enjoy replaying games to get a better high score, but for me once a games completed i won't touch it for at least six month's unless it has multiplayer.

Also for FF:MLAK - I was happy enough to pay for the extra mission packs, but to pay for a new costume, please , that is just milking the cow

On the subject of paying for online play, the game would have to be top notch, they would have to actually have dedicated servers and a much improved online service that is lag free, crash free, cheat free and preferably without friend codes. If they can do this i would consider it. One good point i could see about this is that there is no subscription so you can pay to play for 1 or 2 month untill you get bored, then pay no more.

You misspelled "rip-off". I payed $5 for the first "episode" and found myself beating the first two (very unsatisfying) levels in 15 minutes, only to find that half the space had been wasted on high resolution images for a useless credits scroll!

Retail game or not, Taito could have made more of an effort to trim the fat and make the game a viable WiiWare game. Instead, they cut it into tiny nibblets of a game so they could jack the price up to retail rates. Sorry, but I won't support a practice like that. It was completely unnecessary, and rather disingenuous toward an excited fan base.

If you think SI:GE is expensive then please consider that there's crap like Homestar Runner that will run you the best part of £40 for about 10 hours of completely awful 'entertainment'

Like the games or don't like the games, the StrongBad series at least gave you a complete game for your $10. None of this $5 every 15 minutes bullhockey that Taito/Squenix pulled.

@Calulon ... I was probably spoiled by the fact that Phantasy Star Online was FREE (yay) in Europe although I was aware they charged for other regions. After spending so many online hours on PSO without any extra cost I could see no reason why they couldnt find any alternative way of funding online. I have paid for subscription on a couple of online games, including PSO:Blue Burst... but they had been free for the software then you paid for your online time. As far as im aware Monster Hunter 3 is going to be a £40+ game, not even a buget price with a paid subsription. But hey you never know if they provide a good service like Stevie mentioned it may be worth the while.

@Raptor78: What the CRAP?!? Why was SEGA charging for Phantasy Star Online everywhere EXCEPT Europe?!? SO not right!

The real thing about MH3 is what sort of maintenance and upkeep the servers get, not if Capcom uses their own. Do they have GMs to solve technical problems? Player disputes/harassment? Will they add new monsters, or have special events somehow (such as changing a mob's statistics and abilities on the server without needing to update the client)? Will they have client updates somehow?

Basically, what does the online service provide? If you're talking something closer to an MMO, it's not at all unreasonable to pay a monthly fee for it. If you're talking something simplistic and uncared for, it's very poor form to use it.