Lumines Live! was finally released on the Xbox Live Arcade yesterday, or so many gamers thought–what customers actually received for 1200 Microsoft Points (about $15) was the Base Pack. What it includes isn’t quite the full game that PSP gamers have been enjoying for quite some time. Instead, players get a gimped version of the game awaiting further expansion–for a fee, of course.
Headed to the Marketplace some time soon is the Advance Pack, which will be offered for 600 points, or $7.50 in real money. Adding the cost of this pack, which includes 22 new skins, to the base pack, and gamers are left with a $20 game. The game’s VS CPU and Mission/Puzzle modes each include five missions, with more waiting to be released via future content packs. Assuming that the pricing on these future packs will be comparable to the Advance Pack, then the grand total for a complete game is $37.49, only a few dollars less than the PSP original, and a good chunk of change more than the PSP sequel (which has an MSRP of $29.99.).
