EA: early Battlefield 3 buyers will gain no advantage
Bye-bye boycott?
EA has denied claims that gamers who pre-order Battlefield 3 will gain an advantage in play over those who don't.
Some fans began calling for an international boycott after reports surfaced that buyers who pre-order the game will gain unfair advantage thanks to the exclusive Battlefield 3 weaponry they will receive as an early -purchase incentive.
EA today dismissed the claims, stating on its Battlefield blog: "The three exclusive items in the Physical Warfare Pack were specifically chosen not to be overpowered or imbalance or break the game in any way. Owning these items will give you a more varied arsenal, but it will not give you a significant advantage on the battlefield."
Those who take up the offer will also be given the first DLC pack for free, which will be released publicly at a later date.
No need to panic after all. Boycott over.
Back on track
Meanwhile, EA has continued to beef with Activision's Modern Warfare, saying the E3 game show was “the beginning of the war”.
Activision's Bobby Kotick had already thrown fuel on the fire by telling Reuters: "I can’t objectively tell you what I think of other products until I see them. Battlefield I’ve only seen on a PC and nobody’s seen it on a console yet. Most of our consumers play games on a console. Until I see it on a console, I wouldn’t be objective on commenting on it.”
EA chief John Riccitiello returned fire: “The very fact that he’s trying to cast doubt on our game is a perfect example of how we got his goat. In terms of where this goes, we think our PS3 game is better than their Xbox game and our PC game is better than their PC game.
“If that’s all he’s got to say, it’s obviously going to evaporate as we launch all three. If you went to our press conference, you saw the PS3 footage and the Xbox footage. If Bobby thinks that is PC footage, he’s in real trouble.”
According to CVG, Kotick was refused access to EA's showing of Battlefield 3 at the expo and had to stay in-line like everyone else.
The spat is likely to escalate over the coming months as the games respective releases draw nearer. We'll try not to bore you too much with any petty quarrels, though, unless it starts getting brutal, and thus, much more fun.
Battlefield 3 is out 28 October, just over a week before the release of its popular rival. ®
COMMENTS
Essential
It's amusing that when the marketing department get to write the pre-order material they say that the items are 'essential' for a particular class.
Then, when they need to write the follow up, they say that the items don't change the balance at all.
grrr at in game purchases
Totally agree with you there..... I know its on a tangent but I finished playing TF2 as soon as they brought in ...erm in game purchases to get an advantage.
Sucks major!
Wonder if thats the future for PC games.
get brink....
much better IMO. beware if you have an ATI card though.
"its often cheaper to buy physical media than download from steam"
Um, excuse me, but you obviously don't have Steam.
I do, and I have gotten games for €1.50 off it. I got Left 4 Dead 2 for all of €5 by taking advantage of a weekend special. Sure, I didn't get it the day it came out, but I am patient enough.
I do believe that, however patient you may be, you'll never get a brand-new Left 4 Dead 2 DVD for €5.
Ever.
I don't know who started this trend, but its got to stop
All Valve games now have 'achievements' which usually unlock abilities and features. The first game I came across that they added this to was TF2, which I thought was awesome until they added this 'feature'.
To me, it completely ruined TF2. Unless you a) played non stop, or b) played on servers/maps specifically designed to allow you to get achievements, you were always disadvantaged compared to those who didn't. As an example, one of the achievements for a particular class gave you an item which gives you an extra 40% health.
Then, having realised that they had fucked up the game, they made it so the items were randomly 'found' by playing the game. So now, even if you get the stupid achievements, you don't get the items. Utterly retarded.
It most fucked me off that they did all this in the name of 'balance'. Over-balance more like - each 'weak' class they took and made strong was weak for a reason, and had its purpose and strength, but noobs don't play to purpose and strength, they run around like tools, and valve were trying their damnedest to make it noob friendly.
I have to stop now, as I am incandescent with rage again. I will never fork over money for a game where ostensibly fair online play is affected by how many achievements or magic doodahs you have.
