Activision Joins the Anti-Used Games Crusade

[Starke]

Haha, I was going to mention that it's more than what it should be, but it's like a £2 difference; I don't want to sound tight.

Ah well, I haven't played CoD since Modern Warfare and even that didn't interest me very much.

I enjoyed Modern Warfare, but competitive multiplayer's never been my thing, and I couldn't bring myself to care enough for a five hour sub par single player game for $60, especially when for $20 I can pick up another copy of Saints Row 2 and play coop with my girlfriend.

 

[nik3daz]

I propose a new game where Activision stars as a PMC and sends a legion of lawyers and execs to screw indie devs and customers in every way possible.

 

[Gunner 51]

SNIP

Very much appreciated my friend.

I admit, it's not easy boycotting and entire publisher like Activision, because for one sole reason. Transformers: War for Cybertron. I obtained the game via consumer2consumer [C2C] website, making sure I haven't paid one dime towards the publisher itself.

And guess what, within a week or two, they ALREADY are giving out DLC, mappacks as well. Reasonable prices, but the maps in Transformers was already TOO LOW. AKA, another incomplete game is offered. Though I bought it mainly for Singleplayer / co-op / Escalation, I am still..just..Argh. Words cannot express it.

Stay strong, fellow boycotter. Activision is probably the most difficult publisher to boycott because they seem to make a LOT of games. But the real acid test is coming up when they release the next Call of Duty game. (It's because I'm also in a multiplayer clan.)

But one game I shall look forward to shall be the next Fallout game. Bethesda do have a habit of not only releasing damned fine games with great single player and a full and complete game-world, but they also release some pretty good DLC too.

I just hope I can last until the October 22 release date.

 

[Gunner 51]

Indeed, they are a tough bunch to boycot but hey, you get used to it and learn to select quality titles that are worth your price and dedication.

Either way, Fallout 3: Last Vegas does seem interesting but I can't help to get rid of the thought it's just one major expansion pack. Don't get me wrong, Fallout 3 + DLC was amazing but I was always lacking the much-needed immersion. Whenever I saw an NPC or whatever strolling around with those awkward animations, I get sucked right out of it.

I hope they address that or else, I rather keep playing Fallout 3. Animation is a big thing for me. But though the game I am looking out for comes out in April. Gears of War 3. Poo-hoo.

I'm hoping that the latest Fallout will be just as big as the last one. The strange thing about it is that all those bright lights put me off slightly. It flies in the face of what I'd think should be a nuclear apocalypse. Though the NPCs wandering the wasteland didn't break my immersion in the game - if anything I thought it was a nice little touch. It highlighted just how harsh the Capital Wastelands are. (Because everyone else seems to travel in well armed packs.)

I can barely wait until Gears 3 comes out, too. Thinking of such things makes me wonder if the third Carmine brother dies. (My money says he's going the way of the dodo.)

 

[Woodsey]

Normally I side with the publishers on this, but Activision are shooting themselves in the foot.

Modern Warfare 2 was what, £50? No shit, I can't believe people bought that second hand!

Sixty USD, I'm not sure what that works out in Pounds Sterling, but, yeah. Especially since it hasn't come down in price since it was released.

£55 in the UK actually (I just checked) which is a fair bit more expensive than $60. In fact, are you sure that's how much it was? $60 is ~£35!

Gah, I spaced that one. I'd forgotten that the exchange rate was nearly 2:1. Sorry.

So you like the idea of £15 map packs? Interesting.

Wait, the $15 map packs are £15 over there!?

I lied, they're £11 on Steam. But this is still for what, 4 or 5 maps? It's a joke. They should be £5 at most.

You're still getting shafted to the tune of about 20% more than the US price on those. But it's been an open conspiracy theory for a while that Activision decided to screw over the MW community by not releasing map editors and then charging half again what they used to for official map packs.

Haha, I was going to mention that it's more than what it should be, but it's like a £2 difference; I don't want to sound tight.

Ah well, I haven't played CoD since Modern Warfare and even that didn't interest me very much.

No it's £15 for 2 maps since the others are just ported from COD 4. Something anyone in the PC community could do with basic mod tools and for free.

They charged for 2 old maps in the pack? AND PEOPLE BOUGHT THEM?

Some people are morons, honestly.

 

[Chesterfield Snapdragon McFisticuffs]

My biggest problem with this is where 'Project Ten Dollar' draws the line. For instance, who's to say that it won't become Project Twenty Dollar, or 40 Dollar in the future. When does it become DLC that has to be paid for. I have a feeling that in the future games are going to be shipped completely barebones and in order to get everything that we need we'll be ending up paying up to $100 for the same kind of service we currently get for $60.

 

[Gunner 51]

Seems our view and perspectives differ on that point. It was an enjoyable game nevertheless, I give you that 100%. I just have to make sure the money I spend is utilized in the most satisfactional [ Is that a word? ] manner and I think Las Vegas will fail on that point.

Either way, I sincerly hope Clayton Carmine lives. According to the screenshots and his tattoos, this man is one bad-ass. No rookie, but apparently it so hardcore, I wish entire delta team except this man died. Really. I am voting to save him.

I know what you mean about wanting to spend your money wisely and make sure that the game you fact is as satisfactory as you can get. Fallout 3 will be a very tough act to follow, especially with the law of diminishing returns / adaptation decay in effect.

And I don't think anyone wants to spend £40 on something that needs another £10 to make it complete. DLC is a terrible rip-off on the whole, but at least with Bethesda they will make a complete game.

Though you have inspired me to take a look at Gears 3 screenshots just to see Clayton Carmine. Upon that thought, I wonder if Dizzy will turn up, too?

 

[adderseal]

snip

Well, technically I got exactly the reaction I was hoping for out of that, so woot!

(snip)

If I'm not, however, then I stand by my statement, except I'll just have to expand it to include the lazy as well as the incompetent.

(snip)

In short, your excuses are, frankly, rather flimsy.

Oh, I get it. You're a troll. It all makes sense now. Goodbye.

 

[Kenko]

Nothing like soulless corporate whores to annoy you during an otherwise good day. Fuck Activision.

 

[Raesvelg]

Oh, I get it. You're a troll. It all makes sense now. Goodbye.

I see someone can't stand to have their argument shredded.

 

[TraderJimmy]

In other news, secondhand bookstores are being torn down by stormtroopers because bad authors can't get good sales.

Oh wait! No, that would be stupid.

This is beyond a fucking joke.

Without used game sales (I rarely buy them, but for some games, like Earthworm Jim, they've been vital), piracy will go up tenfold. I guarantee it. I really like developers getting the reward they deserve, the best way to do that is to reduce the cut that goes into the pockets of various middle-men with no discernible talents whatsoever, beyond self-promotion and greed. But no-one's going to do that, for obvious reasons, when they can blame it on whatever is the ENEMY OF GAMES this week.

EDIT: @Raesvelg, I'm neither of the two types you outlined so helpfully. Also, "shouldn't be playing games in the first place"? Wow. Just wow.

 

[sorry user name taken.]

=__= just...''ugh...''...i mean wow activision are the evil step moms of this industry

 

[olicon]

[snip]
Which ones is SC cause if its starcraft it had a very nice campaign good story to it even if it was pretty cliched now starcraft 2 is in episodes with the expansions finishing the story in 2 additional sets...

I don't know what HL is offhand either. I do like the games to be separate but not if it means you get something like bomberman 360... I am not into online multiplayer but I know a lot of people are (at the risk in some cases to social interactions that they NEED to be successful but that's a different topic) My biggest feeling about a DLC is it can add features such as on Overload there is a DLC that opens up multiplayer options that were fun.

Yeah, I'm talking about Starcraft (and Half Life..both of them). I have never touched the single player campaign of those three games, despite them considered to be excellent. I have always bought them for the multiplayer aspects. Hence I do feel that so long as a game focuses on what it's meant to do, I don't care at all if they botched up everything else. So long as their DLC mentality does not impede on what it should do, like selling new units as DLC that is much more powerful, then I don't mind them. (Funny story. Once before I got Broodwar, I somehow connected to my friend's BW game with normal Starcraft. We went head to head with Terran. (Pirated games FTW, haha) He had medics..I don't. It was ridiculously one-sided).

 

[Jaded Scribe]

Skimming the first page, I see a lot of over-reacting.

Chances are they are going to go EA's route. In Dragon Age: Origins, buying new allowed you access to a new character, along with her personal quests and a neat little storyline, as well as a badass set of armor.

Neither of these are necessary to be able to complete and enjoy the game. You might not get a few trophies, but that's it.

Buy it used, and if you wanted that content, you had to pay for it. This made it more profitable to buy it new unless you could find it at a really good used price.

Big deal.

These companies are in it to make money. They aren't charities that pump this content out for free. Buying Used hurts them. This is not to say buying used is bad, but it does hurt the companies.

While Activision may go the douchebag route and make a game unplayable without buying new, I think it's more likely they won't go to this extreme. It will cost them money if they do.

So chill out and stop running around in circles screaming that the sky is falling until we actually see how they handle it.

 

[James Raynor]

It's a follow the leader situation innit... geez.... their all marching themselves into bankruptcy.

 

[IbanezLaney]

Bad move by activision - people only get stung once and then they learn not to purchase again.

Last year Eidos removed content from BSP to sell later as dlc in GFWL.
Microsoft must make it a condition of GFWL use that games are sold unfinished and the rest is sold as dlc approx 3 weeks after release.
Microsofts interest in GFWL and game dlc is only so they can validate your os.
Nothing to do with gaming or providing a service to consumers.

So after you buy a game + dlc you should have one amazing and massive game right???
After all it's cost you way more than a stand alone game with no dlc.

But in reality you don't get double the game or quality. Just doubled up drm and incompatible online lobbies cause everyone has different combinations of dlc.
With BSP Eidos turned one community into a possible combination of around 10 who couldnt connect to each other due to the different combinations of dlc different people purchased.

They should all take note from Valve. Valve are number 1 for a reason.
I purchase every game Valve releases. Why ? - good value and FREE DLC.
It's so easy to keep gamers happy. Don't know why more game publishers do not follow Valves business model. Maybe they are scared of success.

I do not buy Eidos, UbiSoft or any games that run in GFWL. They have made it clear they do not want my $$$ anymore by ripping me off in the past by charging $$ for fake dlc (aka removed content).
This does not mean I do not play their latest titles, I just don't purchase them. Their own actions have created this situation. It's just Karma.

 

[Rack]

This is Activision, I'm sure their plan is to ship Black ops with 2 hours content to limit access to 2nd hand players and sell the multiplayer for $30, and 20 separate 15 minute chapters for $10 each.