There are a lot of things to complain about in the battlefield world. Some of them are development problems, some of them are programming problems, some of them are gamer problems and some of them are just problems which I’m not sure who to blame.
My rant is about the developers, programmers, and their marking people. Like many fans of either the franchise or the gaming genre new game generate a certain amount of buzz and excitement and some where along the way the people who make video games figured out if they started having people pre order games then they could save money on manufacturing because they would know how large to make a first run of the game so that they don’t end up with a lot of stock if the game doesn’t sell well after the first few months. It’s a very smart move.
Then they were able to add to games later once they were released with down loadable content (DLC). This saves money because you already have the basics of the game done you are just adding things to an already existing vehicle. Which ,truth be told these were all probably parts that were being developed for the game in the first place but were left out for one reason or another so a lot of the work is already done, but it is programming work and if you can make money on that so be it, which is fine. I don’t have a problem with the game getting a warm up if fact I prefer the warm up.
Then the developers came up with exclusive content which you pay a bit more for but it gives you something that other players don’t have in the game. Which may or may not give you an advantage but it is fun to have if you enjoy the activity and spend any time doing it. It is partly escapist fun so why not give your player some depth of your personality or flavor.
Battlefield 3 is no different than any other game developer out there however they have recently taken a great big whiz in the collective bowl of cereal of their base /core audience.
DICE and EA came out with a premium service which gives those players access to a few things other players don’t have. Some of it helps in game but mainly it doesn’t really it is all just a bunch of filler. But getting to play the games a bit earlier than other players is fun and the premium service was mainly a bundle of the new maps DLCs which were slated to come out over the next 12 months when it was introduced., which was totally worth the additional money to have the game have much more content.
I’ve played other FPS which could have used a lot more DLC which didn’t get any of it and that company is not defunct and they had great games.
So it’s expected by the consumers that the games will be freshened up a bit and it will cost some money.
The whiz in our cereal bowl is that now DICE and EA are making the premium service and all the other DLC and the original game all available for equal too or maybe even a bit less then it was originally sold for less than a year ago and less then 6 months since they asked the original buyers of the game to buy the Premium DLC for just a bit less then they are now marketing the whole thing for in less then two weeks.
To me as a consumer it is a giant F*** you game buyer you mean about as much to us as a speck of dust on our shoes.
You don’t care about the game buyer and you have proven it with that really shitty move. Which really makes the lame premium “bonus content” seem like a double slap in the face, no one really expected it to be more than fluff. Well almost nobody who understands you are in the business to make money from a workable product. Now I’m not sure exactly where making the money stands in the ranking compared to how workable the product is when it is sold but I would like to think the product being the best that it can be is up there slightly higher than the profits and if profits are number two on the list that is ok.
However when you market the “bonus content” as being something to enhance the game and it is a video about stuff that most players have figured out on their own or that many of the Youtube content creators have already explained and explained it better or some other lame thing that doesn’t do anything for the gamer at all. Seriously weapon camo in a gaming system that puts you on a heads up display if you are aimed at or fire your weapon? I mean really how does this enhance the gaming experience? It doesn’t hide us and if certainly doesn’t make the other player shooting at you pause and say oh damn your weapon is so much cooler than mine. In fact they do not notice it a bit.
The thing is they didn’t just give this stuff to you either. You have to do some ridiculously long quest which gives you nothing useful in the game. It is an insult and that our money was just something you expected to get from us and even deserved to have.
Well you haven’t earned that money and you have insulted a lot of gamers and would be willing to be part of a class action lawsuit against the gaming developers for this fraud against the consumers which is really what it amounts to, as the release information was deliberately vague and now offer all the same products for less than the original purchase price it is just shameless and shows the greed that drives businesses to give the consumer less and less for every dollar spent.
I’m not going to stop playing the game but I know I’m not going to buy anymore add on stuff for games and I don’t know that I’ll really buy too many more games from DICE on a first offering because 6 months later it will be half the cost. I’m sure I’m not the only person who fells this way. You’ve really alienated yourselves from a large part of the community and should make it up to your customers in a meaningful way.
In other news.
I’m just not sure what to think about the whole Lance Armstrong thing.
Well, that’s all for now, other stuff tomorrow most likely
Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday
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Ciao,
PS 3 Gamer Tag: invisible don
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