Call for Boycott of Battlefield Bad Company / EA

[moosehound]

Hi all,

I spend a bit of time over on the Sarcastic Gamer forums. They have started a petition to boycott EA's upcopming Battlefield Bad Company.

This is a protest over the fact that many weapons and other items are shipped on the retail disk BUT are only accessable by purchasing them online as DLC. That and the fact that the weapons have very little impact or worth in the game.

Story from G4TV :-

Battlefield: Bad Company is coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360, but carries with it a somewhat troubling DLC plan. EA and DICE are making certain weapons available for purchase.

Five weapons will be available free through pre-launch promotions (and after the game releases), but another five will only be available through the "Gold Version" or paid DLC.

SarcasticGamer is calling for a boycott of the game and is trying to start a campaign to put a stop to DLC like this.

DLC is great when it's true bonus content like additional multiplayer levels, extra story arcs and locations, or new characters. When we're talking about weapons that even EA admits "do not create an advantage/disadvantage for players who do not opt to buy new items" we run into an ideological problem.

EA wants you to buy these weapons to customize your character to your playstyle, but then admits that your money doesn't buy you an advantage. We agree with that aspect, but then question why we're paying for these weapons.

If you interested in joining or reading the comments then head on over to :-

hxxp://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/03/bfbcs-dlc-is-just-plain-bs.html

And sign-up for the forums.

Also the podcasts are hella-funny ;O)

Cheers

Moose

[MadduckUK]

ctrl+c, ctrl+v

cant agree sorry, if the extra guns did alter the game, in a way that forced everyone to get them or be at a disadvantage then there would be a problem. as it stands i cant see one

[spazman]

Why boycott the game? If they dont create an advantage then dont buy them, whats the big deal?

[AndrewJ]

I concur, it's more an E-Peen thing owning all the guns, and I doubt they will charge the Earth for them.

[mycarsavw]

I'll boycott them, but only because all the time should have gone into developing BF3 and not this carp.

[Rev_Hill]

[AndrewJ]

I'll boycott them, but only because all the time should have gone into developing BF3 and not this carp.

I think we should wait till the game is actually released before we judge how good it is.

[Digerati]

I've seen the Bad Company paraody vid over at Sarcasitc Gamer, it is pretty funny but I don't agree with it. It hasn't been mentioned whether the inital release of the game is bundled with a very few avaliable arsenal and the rest through DLC. We don't know if the DLC will be induvidual guns or in packs similar to the car packs for Forza. The fact alone of them saying that it won't give any specific advantages over other gamers makes me think its not worth boycotting over?

Besides, its a game about blowing stuff up... who would wanna boycott that?

[pauldarkside]

EA scraps Bad Company weapon DLC

Looks like EA caved

[Stewart]

Boycott Mr Driller online.

Because its ****.

[AndrewJ]

EA scraps Bad Company weapon DLC

Looks like EA caved

I never thought I would see the day EA listened to customers

[spazman]

I never thought I would see the day EA listened to customers

Well ive not seen any flying pigs yet.

[danroyle]

if you feel that way about dlc then boycott it all don't just pick on ea

Test drive unlimited has about 6 car packs at what 350 ptseach i only paid £10 for the game thats an extra 2100 pts on top or stranglehold 1200 points for some maps

have spent 800points on cars for forza 2 though as i felt they were worth 400 pts each pack.
i think dlc is good in principle but think at times stuff can be a little overpriced.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

I never thought I would see the day EA listened to customers

They listen to people when developing football games

[Nick]

The day is a long way off when a publisher has the balls to ask for extra cash for an add-on that truly affects the gameplay. Look at Hellgate: sure, the extra bits are handy but by no means necessary. Same goes for Rock Band, Guitar Hero and just about any game I can think of that has any significant DLC add-ons.

Don't want to pay the extra? Then don't.

What would worry me more is if patching slips in as DLC... pay for the upgraded version of the game with the bugs fixed... or the latest updates for games like Champ Manager... Now that's a scary thought as it'd be supremely easy to blur the lines between an update with add-ons and a patch...

[Stephen C]

How to Get the 5 Battlefield: Bad Company DLC Weapons
Written Monday, April 21, 2008 by James Parkin

At their community event last week, Electronic Arts unveiled the five separate tasks you must complete to be able to use all five previously-premium weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company. Although the official site has only revealed one of the ways, Planet Battlefield has outlined all five methods:

* QBU88 Sniper Rifle: Pre-order the game online or at any participating retailer. So far we know Gamestop and Amazon are part of this deal.
* UZI Submachine Gun: Download and play the demo
* M60 Light Machine Gun: Sign up for the Battlefield newsletter
* F2000 Assault Rifle: Register your Battlefield soldier name
* USAS12 Shotgun: Check your Bad Company stats online at launch.