EA's Online Passes Have a Limited Shelf Life

[shrekfan246]

Isn't Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit a really old game?

A game is only "really old" after three generations. Let me put it this way.

See the pic above? You are not allowed to call it "really old" yet.

Really? Because:
4th Gen - SNES/Sega Genesis
5th Gen - N64/Playstation/Sega Saturn
5th and a half Gen - Sega Dreamcast (technically 6th Gen based on its specs, but it was utterly crushed)
6th Gen - Gamecube/PS2/Xbox
6th and a half Gen - Wii
7th Gen - Xbox 360/PS3
7th and a half Gen - Wii U

I'm pretty sure SNES games count as "really old" by now.

EDIT: In regards to your edit, well played sir.

 

[Irridium]

Is EA's design philosophy "How far can we go to annoy our customers before they actually do something about it"?

Between origin, this, forum to game library bans, and years of just dick moves that have helped sully gaming, project 10 dollar, activation codes, selling cheat codes and unlocks.

How did we as consumers allow this to happen?

I've been asking that question since Spore's DRM.

Guess most gamers just have the attention spans of fucking goldfish and forget all ills when the next hot game is dangled in front of them. It also doesn't help things that the major gaming news sites do nothing to condemn such horrible practices

I'm still holding out a little hope that all of the shit they've pushed explodes in their faces one day.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

shrekfan246, I've reworded it a bit, please requote me accordingly.

And your generation list is wonky. Forget the "half gen" thing. It's irrelevant that the Dreamcast was crushed (wasn't that bad, they still sold 10 million units!), or that the Wii wasn't as powerful as the rest, they still count as being in the 6th and 7th generations respectively. And the Wii U, come on, the final specs are not even done yet.

 

[luckycharms8282]

Wow EA. It's almost like it tries to piss you off in some way or another. For me, it was shutting down the multiplayer for my favorite LOTR rts.

Im all for boycotting EA until they get theyre act together. I havent bought an EA game since mercenaries 2

 

[Epona]

Oh dear EA. I normally defend online passes because, while it adds a minor degree of inconvenience to those of us who buy games new, you're generating money from pre-owned sales. Something which I have always felt you should be entitled to. The retailers deserve nothing.

I however can not, and will not defend this action. Ever. You better fix this before you really go down the shitter.

The retailers deserve nothing?

 

[Awexsome]

Really? Would be an easy crowd pleaser if after like 2-3 years or so all the online pass stuff just goes free. Online games rarely have that kind of longevity anyway save for the mega-hits like Battlefield or something so the hit you'd take to the possible income would probably be very small.

I have no problem with the online pass system seeing as I am more inconvenienced by driving to the store 5 minutes away than taking 30 seconds to enter a code that comes with new editions for free but now you have to go out of your way to get access if it expires?

I still think people grab the torch and pitchforks over the slightest thing EA does now but I think the complainers are in the right for once here.

 

[shrekfan246]

shrekfan246, I've reworded it a bit, please requote me accordingly.

And your generation list is wonky. Forget the "half gen" thing. It's irrelevant that the Dreamcast was crushed (wasn't that bad, they still sold 10 million units!), or that the Wii wasn't as powerful as the rest, they still count as being in the 6th and 7th generations respectively. And the Wii U, come on, the final specs are not even done yet.

Fine, fine, just for you, here you are:

4th Gen - SNES/Genesis
5th Gen - N64/Playstation/Saturn
6th Gen - Dreamcast/PS2/Gamecube/Xbox
7th Gen - Wii/PS3/Xbox 360
8th Gen - Wii U

OT: I wonder what the last EA game I purchased was? Probably Mass Effect 2 for the PS3. Hm, I wish I didn't care about Mass Effect 3.

 

[PinkiePyro]

I used to care about EA but thn I took an arrow to the knee

but seriously the lat EA game I bought was Dragon age (was gonna buy origins but then they went nuts)

 

[Frostbite3789]

anc[is]I guess that ever expanding group of people who are bad and deserve to be punished for not bending over includes people who wait a while before buying games.

You knew it was coming.

In what way does this have to do with money? If anything this idiotic nonsense is costing themselves money, not the consumer.

Seems straightforward to me. The consumer buys the game with online features, finds he can't use them, ostensibly has to buy pass (even though he bought new and paid for what he thought included a pass).

Seems like they come out on top, especially in the case of consumers who buy the pass after.

The article clearly states you just have to wrangle with customer service. Not buy an all new online pass. So really, they're losing money on having to pay for more customer service.

 

[Epona]

I thought it was just common knowledge that online passes, and DLC passes, expire. Guess not.

But why? It makes no sense for a code for digital goods to expire. I can see that it won't work if you try to redeem an online pass after the servers are taken down but the code shouldn't have an expiration date. You should just get a connection error message. I can't imagine what purpose expiration dates on codes serve.

 

[Epona]

anc[is]I guess that ever expanding group of people who are bad and deserve to be punished for not bending over includes people who wait a while before buying games.

You knew it was coming.

In what way does this have to do with money? If anything this idiotic nonsense is costing themselves money, not the consumer.

Seems straightforward to me. The consumer buys the game with online features, finds he can't use them, ostensibly has to buy pass (even though he bought new and paid for what he thought included a pass).

Seems like they come out on top, especially in the case of consumers who buy the pass after.

The article clearly states you just have to wrangle with customer service. Not buy an all new online pass. So really, they're losing money on having to pay for more customer service.

It's probably a computer that issues you a new code, like the Microsoft Activation phone lines. In that case, it costs them nothing.

 

[Zachery Gaskins]

Sounds like someone needs to actually ask EA why their codes expire, because all I'm seeing is WTF conjecture, with no clear intent of "evil", just "needless bureaucracy".

 

[Tohron]

It does raise serious questions though about "What do their PR people actually do?"

I think those were the guys who came up with the Dead Space 2 advertising campaign. Yeah...

 

[Dastardly]

Permalink

It's just to prevent there from being a secondhand market for the codes. Maybe you don't care about the online pass, so you sell it to a friend later on... It's also a way to combat the inevitable keygen codes: You'll have to continually generate a new one, so maybe you'll slip up/forget/say "screw it."

 

[TitanAtlas]

Oh EA, my hate for you knows no bounds... look at you. Stil being able to surprise me with stupid evil plots to rule the world.... and failing...

 

[DustyDrB]

Now that's bullshit. I didn't care for Online Passes, but they were pretty low on my list of things to hate. But to punish not only used buyers, but new game buyers who just didn't buy the game immediately? Inexcusable.

 

[Furioso]

Isn't Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit a really old game?

You're half right, there was a really old game (I want to say on the N64 but I'm pretty sure it's the original xbox) called the same name

OT: This entire system has kept me from playing multiplayer games (except BF3, and others that are pretty much pure multiplayer focused) such as Uncharted 3, so kudos to you EA and friends, you sure know what your doing *sarcasm*

 

[Gmans uncle]

EA.... are you TRYING to piss me off? 'cause you're doing a damn good job.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Snip

So you're saying this is an article about a non-issue. I mean the Escapist never posts those!

/sarcasm

 

[Frostbite3789]

Isn't Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit a really old game?

You're half right, there was a really old game (I want to say on the N64 but I'm pretty sure it's the original xbox) called the same name

OT: This entire system has kept me from playing multiplayer games (except BF3, and others that are pretty much pure multiplayer focused) such as Uncharted 3, so kudos to you EA and friends, you sure know what your doing *sarcasm*

Do you play PC games?