EA Mandates Online, DLC for Every Game in 2011

[jeverson]

[citation][nom]edilee[/nom]Bad idea. More EA screwups for sure. Forcing DLC is not a good idea with lots of ISPs using monthly bandwith caps.[/citation]

I agree, but co-op might be nice. I am all for additional value added DLC as long as it is free or reasonably priced. (ie: $1-$3 for new characters, story lines/quests, map packs) Some genres just don't fit in the multiplayer world. I would rather the resources go into making one good long game (50+ hours minimum) than doing a half assed single and mutli game. The gaming industry is getting too much like the film industry. Hyping a bunch of crap, charging premium money, and then complaining when people pirate it (note: I am not encouraging or endorsing pirating). Bioware has been a pretty good example of how games should be made (ie: Mass Effect 1 & 2, KotOR 1 & 2).

 

[davendork]

I paid a lot of money for Dragon Age Origins and was really disappointed when I found out a bunch of the story lines were DLC. It took me a couple hours of playing to find a story line include in the original purchase. Then I found out they were charging "credits" so they could charge you a lot for a short story line addition. boo
I would rather buy an expansion pack after the story is done like Fallout 3.

 

[spikey_monkey]

It's time to boycott EA.

 

[xsamitt]

Just what are Ea THINKING?Always hurting their loyal customers.

 

[hardwarekid9756]

Depends on what "online play" means. If it's similar to the "Demon's Soul" concept where they can just have little flavor snippets throughout the game based on what other people said, I can get behind that. And I HATE DLC I THINK DLC IS THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME EVER. ESPECIALLY if it's released at launch time. I'm all for expanding content via patches and updates, but the idea of "Downloading this awesome new story through a Content addition" fries my twinkies. Include it in the game. throw it in with a bunch of bug fixes A FEW MONTHS after the title release. But IMO, DLC is just so worthless. ANd forcing online collaboration for EVERYTHING is horrible. ONLY if it's pertinent and fits, I'd say it's worth its time. Like I said, if they can get away with the "demon's soul" idea, I'd say GG to that.

 

[MayDay94]

horrible idea. 1) online play unnecessary and unwanted for many games 2) forced dlc will now force developers to hold back initial release content for dlc instead. plus it will kill all free pc patches/downloads we used to enjoy. remember the good old days when pc patches included new free content as a bonus? and it was normal and expected in order to keep the multiplayer community alive and strong?

 

[B-Unit]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]DLC does not automatically equal multiplayer.It means downloadable content.All this means is that the game has the ability to have additional content added to it.If someone wants to add multiplayer fine.But it could also equally mean adding new levels, weapons packs, character skins.This is not a bad thing, all you fucktards that diss EA automatically, just STFU.[/citation]

Learn2Read fucktard, it clearly says DLC and multiplayer.

 

[iinweed]

Great, until they shut the servers down after 12 months.......

 

[Guest]

It is just a trick on EA's part to force gamers to have an internet connection just so they can require activation to play a game. Yep, you buy a game, it's yours but eventually, you will have to get EA's permission to play it. It's called product activation, what a bunch of bullshit, I say boycott EA

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]guitarpeggio[/nom]on a side note kami3k.. i think theres a medication for your condition, you should see a doctor[/citation]

Well sucks to not have meds for mental retardation like half the retards on here need.

 

[Kami3k]

[citation][nom]anamaniac[/nom]And yeah, MW2 for PC = epic fail. GG EA. [/citation]

Is that GG EA, suppose to be a good thing? As in the epic fail that is MW2 will only increase BF:BC2 sales? Or did you not realize EA had nothing to do with MW2?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

I don't have a clue what "DLC" means. Is that an acronym for a game or some sort of technology?

 

[Guest]

It used to be that demos were free and you pay the retail price for the complete game. Now the demos are starting to cost $50 and you add on more $$$ to that to get the complete game via "DLCs". It's a very sad world where human greed takes us.

 

[fulle]

I guess I'll be a devil's advocate and agree with EA on this one. The best way to prevent piracy, is to add value to actually purchasing the game, and the best way to do this is to offer services for online play, and extra content that you wouldn't get if you pirated the game. Even something as simple as an EA utility that auto updates the games you purchased, and lets you apply DLC to them, would add enough value that it should reduce piracy.

As an example, if Mass Effect 3 came out with a co-op mode, that allowed you to play with your friends through low lag EA servers, it'd result in less piracy. Having a buddy pull an enemy into the air, for me to drop out of cover and crush him with a warp... man that would be fun, and we'd be willing to pay the $$$ to do so.

They need to do this smart though. Making people jump through hoops to apply DLC to single player games, isn't the way to go... since it'd be possible to just pirate the game with the DLC included. They need to add legitimate extra value to the purchased game.
-Blizzard seems to understand this well. If you look way back to Diablo 2, they were able to reduce piracy by having players play through their battle.net servers. People still used key gens, and people still would play on local LANs without paying... but they still reduced piracy by offering a valuable service to their players. Sure, people played on battle.net with hacked keys, but that's not the point, since they were the minority.

 

[Maxor127]

Multiplayer Dragon Age could be cool, but is this supposed to be some great announcement or something? They want to shoehorn multiplayer in any game no matter what? Just noticed the article says the same thing. And DLC... I only ever use that if it's free. Basically, it sounds like they're saying "we're going to withhold content from games and want you to pay extra for the scraps."

 

[Ryric]

With the way ME2 DLC was done I would be a bit worried, Armor, Weapons etc that should have been in the game were tasked to being DLC. With the limited choices in the game in this regards that is very disappointing.

 

[Regulas]

Buying both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 (Both great games) for my PC I say OK as long as you keep it like these two games. Low DRM, optional DLC. I have not and will not do any pay for DLC. After my horrible experience with Games for Windows Live and DLC with Fallout 3 I will never support DLC again. I will wait for games for Game of a Year edition instead. Too many games out there that I can play.

 

[puredark]

This is the best DRM ever. Look at Sims 3 and Dragon Age. You can download the pirated version, and play part of the game, but if you buy it, you get the additional town (in the case of Sims 3). I don't see a problem if they give you the missing portion of the original game for buying it. Having to pay for the rest of the game after buying it is total crap though. We'll have to see they handle it.

 

[matt87_50]

[citation][nom]nebun[/nom]ok everyone stop bitching. if you don't like what EA is doing then don't buy their products and problem solved, if you buy the games you empower the company to do whatever it wants. stupidity goes both ways[/citation]

lol, here's the problem, EA keeps gobbling up all the Game developer's I like! so Unless you're suggesting I trade in the games console, Its a bit hard...

thats why I fear Activision merging with Blizzard. "Nooo Not my Blizzard!!"

 

[eduardosmx]

I think is a good Idea, I would like to play all the games online or download things for them, as an example, I would like God of War II to have some secret arena to download, or maybe have a fight with one of your friends, and I think that they are doing this since they want more people to buy the games besides the people that hack them! ONLINE Gaming rules!