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This thread has been linked to the game 'Mass Effect 3'.
Over the past year or two there's been a trend emerging of penalizing people who buy second hand copies of games. Typically this involves giving people bonus downloadable content if they buy a game new, via redemption of a code. Or - and this is a bit more unethical - withholding the multiplayer portion of a game unless you buy a new copy or spend extra money to buy a multiplayer code.
However, EA - who coincidentally have been nominated for The Consumerist's 'Worst Company' award - have taken things a step further with Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 2 gave you a bunch of extra bits and bats if you bought the game new or purchased a 'Cerberus Pass'. Mass Effect 3 doesn't have this option - instead, if you buy the game second hand you have to pay extra to get access to the game's online features of the game.
So how is that new? After all, Mass Effect is largely a single player experience. The difference is that to get the best ending in Mass Effect 3 - although I could make a separate post about how poor the endings are - you need to have an in-game military strength of 5000. This means completing a bunch of side quests etc to raise your military strength to this level. But your ending is also affected by the in-game 'galactic readiness' stat. If you don't play the online portion of the game, this is set at 50% which means that your military strength is halved.
What this really means is that if you buy the game second hand, it's twice as hard to get the best ending. Having a new purchase only multiplayer portion isn't all that new, but Mass Effect 3 actively penalizes people who bought the game second hand, making it harder to properly 'win' the game. Which given that, either way, you've paid money for the game, is a hell of a thing to do.
However, EA - who coincidentally have been nominated for The Consumerist's 'Worst Company' award - have taken things a step further with Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 2 gave you a bunch of extra bits and bats if you bought the game new or purchased a 'Cerberus Pass'. Mass Effect 3 doesn't have this option - instead, if you buy the game second hand you have to pay extra to get access to the game's online features of the game.
So how is that new? After all, Mass Effect is largely a single player experience. The difference is that to get the best ending in Mass Effect 3 - although I could make a separate post about how poor the endings are - you need to have an in-game military strength of 5000. This means completing a bunch of side quests etc to raise your military strength to this level. But your ending is also affected by the in-game 'galactic readiness' stat. If you don't play the online portion of the game, this is set at 50% which means that your military strength is halved.
What this really means is that if you buy the game second hand, it's twice as hard to get the best ending. Having a new purchase only multiplayer portion isn't all that new, but Mass Effect 3 actively penalizes people who bought the game second hand, making it harder to properly 'win' the game. Which given that, either way, you've paid money for the game, is a hell of a thing to do.
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Over the past year or two there's been a trend emerging of penalizing people who buy second hand copies of games. Typically this involves giving people bonus downloadable content if they buy a game new, via redemption of a code. Or - and this is a bit more unethical - withholding the multiplayer portion of a game unless you buy a new copy or spend extra money to buy a multiplayer code.
However, EA - who coincidentally have been nominated for The Consumerist's 'Worst Company' award - have taken things a step further with Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 2 gave you a bunch of extra bits and bats if you bought the game new or purchased a 'Cerberus Pass'. Mass Effect 3 doesn't have this option - instead, if you buy the game second hand you have to pay extra to get access to the game's online features of the game.
So how is that new? After all, Mass Effect is largely a single player experience. The difference is that to get the best ending in Mass Effect 3 - although I could make a separate post about how poor the endings are - you need to have an in-game military strength of 5000. This means completing a bunch of side quests etc to raise your military strength to this level. But your ending is also affected by the in-game 'galactic readiness' stat. If you don't play the online portion of the game, this is set at 50% which means that your military strength is halved.
What this really means is that if you buy the game second hand, it's twice as hard to get the best ending. Having a new purchase only multiplayer portion isn't all that new, but Mass Effect 3 actively penalizes people who bought the game second hand, making it harder to properly 'win' the game. Which given that, either way, you've paid money for the game, is a hell of a thing to do.
However, EA - who coincidentally have been nominated for The Consumerist's 'Worst Company' award - have taken things a step further with Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect 2 gave you a bunch of extra bits and bats if you bought the game new or purchased a 'Cerberus Pass'. Mass Effect 3 doesn't have this option - instead, if you buy the game second hand you have to pay extra to get access to the game's online features of the game.
So how is that new? After all, Mass Effect is largely a single player experience. The difference is that to get the best ending in Mass Effect 3 - although I could make a separate post about how poor the endings are - you need to have an in-game military strength of 5000. This means completing a bunch of side quests etc to raise your military strength to this level. But your ending is also affected by the in-game 'galactic readiness' stat. If you don't play the online portion of the game, this is set at 50% which means that your military strength is halved.
What this really means is that if you buy the game second hand, it's twice as hard to get the best ending. Having a new purchase only multiplayer portion isn't all that new, but Mass Effect 3 actively penalizes people who bought the game second hand, making it harder to properly 'win' the game. Which given that, either way, you've paid money for the game, is a hell of a thing to do.
The game came out less than a month ago and costs £24 for consoles and £18 for PC. If it cost £40 then sure it would seem unfair, but if you're not supporting the Publisher/Developers when it's that cheap from within a month of release then you deserve some kind of kick in the balls
I went to buy a car second hand but I was appalled to hear that I then had to buy a seperate tax to drive it on top of the cost. I usually get the tax with a new car for free.
I then went to buy a second hand Bluray but was shocked to find it didn't have the digital copy that came with it when the film was new.
Basically, EA are well within their rights to protect the only source of money they get for something g they've invested a fortune in to.
For the consumer it may seem unfair, but there's a choice still, play the game in a capped form or pay extra, with the funds going to EA and the developers to create more games.
I then went to buy a second hand Bluray but was shocked to find it didn't have the digital copy that came with it when the film was new.
Basically, EA are well within their rights to protect the only source of money they get for something g they've invested a fortune in to.
For the consumer it may seem unfair, but there's a choice still, play the game in a capped form or pay extra, with the funds going to EA and the developers to create more games.
What about the massive mess up EA made by not putting any real multiplayer modes on its recent SSX game? That game had no split screen mode and no online multiplayer yet it was still 'protected' by a pass which I believe only allowed you to upload and race ghosts? Disgraceful for a £40 game IMO, so glad I never bought it.
pete_21 wrote:
What about the massive mess up EA made by not putting any real multiplayer modes on its recent SSX game? That game had no split screen mode and no online multiplayer yet it was still 'protected' by a pass which I believe only allowed you to upload and race ghosts? Disgraceful for a £40 game IMO, so glad I never bought it.
Not sure quite what you're complaining about here? The lack of anyone to need to pay for most of the game, even secondhand, for a change, or the risk EA took to base their multiplayer on asynchronous play rather than real time head to head.
You still get to play your friends and watch your player best them on the slope as you play. You can do this at any time of day without having to call them up and arrange a time both of you will be online.
And this, an important mode, is what you'd need to pay for if you picked up the game cheap without giving any money for the disc to EA.
What about the massive mess up EA made by not putting any real multiplayer modes on its recent SSX game? That game had no split screen mode and no online multiplayer yet it was still 'protected' by a pass which I believe only allowed you to upload and race ghosts? Disgraceful for a £40 game IMO, so glad I never bought it.
Not sure quite what you're complaining about here? The lack of anyone to need to pay for most of the game, even secondhand, for a change, or the risk EA took to base their multiplayer on asynchronous play rather than real time head to head.
You still get to play your friends and watch your player best them on the slope as you play. You can do this at any time of day without having to call them up and arrange a time both of you will be online.
And this, an important mode, is what you'd need to pay for if you picked up the game cheap without giving any money for the disc to EA.
Just had a quick look, its even better than that. Supposedly, the multiplayer features are available without the online pass. You need the online pass to spend points in the game's store though.
pb wrote:
Not sure quite what you're complaining about here?
I was making the point that although EA decided not to support any form of real multiplayer modes in SSX they still 'protected' the game with an online multiplayer pass. Racing ghosts would have been perfectly acceptable as an add on mode or for practising but it's no substitute for actual head to head play. The old SSX titles were all about head to head racing, in the new game you can't even trip up your opponents, that was always one of the most fun features in the game. My friend bought SSX on day of release and promptly redeemed the online multiplayer pass only to find out that there actually was no online multiplayer mode in the game? By redeeming the code he had just devalued any resale value but felt that he had sod all to show for it. You do not have to look very far to find many disgruntled SSX owners who did not expect the game to not have to have any real multiplayer modes.
Not sure quite what you're complaining about here?
I was making the point that although EA decided not to support any form of real multiplayer modes in SSX they still 'protected' the game with an online multiplayer pass. Racing ghosts would have been perfectly acceptable as an add on mode or for practising but it's no substitute for actual head to head play. The old SSX titles were all about head to head racing, in the new game you can't even trip up your opponents, that was always one of the most fun features in the game. My friend bought SSX on day of release and promptly redeemed the online multiplayer pass only to find out that there actually was no online multiplayer mode in the game? By redeeming the code he had just devalued any resale value but felt that he had sod all to show for it. You do not have to look very far to find many disgruntled SSX owners who did not expect the game to not have to have any real multiplayer modes.
I don't get the sense of entitlement in the gaming community. Vote with your wallet. If you don't enjoy the changes EA is making to its games then don't buy them.
Online Multiplayer is there, it's just not what you expected because of the ancient SSX games.
You can't devalue a game by using the code because no- one can be sure if a code is already used or not anyway. Stores don't charge different prices for games where codes are used or not anyway.
You can't devalue a game by using the code because no- one can be sure if a code is already used or not anyway. Stores don't charge different prices for games where codes are used or not anyway.
This thread doesn't bother me at all but I'm interested to see if this trend maybe 'mirrored' with future EA PC game releases. So is there multiplayer content within the game for free?
BF3 has recently upset the community by 'selling' unlocks ... now that is real bad news:¬(
BF3 has recently upset the community by 'selling' unlocks ... now that is real bad news:¬(
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