Chime In: Free Games Remade as Commercial Games

It seems to be a trend lately to take free PC games and charge for them on consoles as remakes. Take for instance N, which is available as a free download for Windows, Linux and Mac. It recently got released on XBLA under the name N+ for 800 MS pts. What’s the difference between the two? Read on for a comparison.

N
- Version 1.4 includes tons of levels (500)
- Includes a Level Editor
- Online Highscores
- Free updates

N+
- Tons of levels (500)
- Includes a Level Editor
- Online Highscores
- 3 sweet multiplayer modes
- Updated graphics and sounds

Think multiplayer and updated graphics enough to warrant the 10$ entry fee? Would the PC version have sold copies with a price point of 10$? Is this game riding on its online success?

Next, Defend Your Castle, a free flash game by XGen Studios, which has just been announced for a WiiWare release.

Defend Your Castle (Flash)
- Works on your Wii browser and your PC
- Free

Defend Your Castle (WiiWare)
- Updated Graphics
- Works only on WiiWare
- 500 Nintendo Pts

Do you think this game is worth 5$? Frankly, I found that the flash game didn’t have any depth to its gameplay, and I got bored playing after half an hour.

So is this the new trend? Are we going to get bombarded by these once-free games? What do you think about the situation? Chime in and share your thoughts.

source:Metanet Software, Joystiq, XGen Studios