ipad games free to download but require payments to progress in game

Aurora Feint: 'Freemium' games to help drive iPhone gaming growth
Aurora Feint: 'Freemium' games to help drive iPhone gaming growth | Games | iPhone Central | Macworld

What do you think about ipad games based on the model: Free to download but to get past a certain part in the game you have to pay?

I like the concept. Allows you to try a game first, then if the price is worth the admission, pay for it. You also get to decide if the last part of the game was worth paying for the next part.

It also has the added benefit to a lot of developers, that a large segment of those pirating games are due to not having $40-50 at a pop for a game. $1, $2, $5 will be a lot easier to swallow for that group that are not earning their own money yet and have no concept of what it means to have someone else just take something that is a part of their livelihood just because they want it.

It will also enable developers in another way. Many of the top end games today are taking 1-2 years and several million dollars to create. For those that don't have the cash for that type of expenditure, here is way to put out portions of a game and have the proceeds of the game itself drive it's development.

Sure beats the present system, where you just have to HOPE you're going to like a product when buying it ...

AI agree this is a good idea. But would the game developer have to be upfront with the costs? As in tell the user when the game is released what the costs to keep playing are? Or could they sneek the prices on the people.

I'm just saying people know what a game is worth paying. But once you've played half a game then they ask a high (or rip off) price to keep playing further, a lot of people would cry but pay it just to keep going on. Would this happen?