Hello! We’ve finally figured out a way to give you news content! Rather than overwhelm the entire blog, we’ll throw the day’s top stories into these little dealies. If we’re covering it it’s because we think it’s important that you know!
Kingdoms of Amalur Hides Content Behind An Online Pass
Destructoid’s Jim Sterling and I share a deep concern for the industry’s growing insistence on locking away gameplay behind a pass-code. It’s a despicable practice that serves only short sighted attempts at grabbing your money and is potentially harmful to the continuation of the industry. Amalur’s Online Pass blocks access to an entire quest line that offline players will completely miss; at best we can hope it’s not a very good quest and they’re doing us a favour.
Jim and I also share a love of gravy and pies. He’s a fat man. It’s a joke. It’s pretty funny.
Street Fighter X Tekken Features Pac-Man And, uh… Mega Man?
Pac-Man’s in the game! Mega Man’s in the game! …Kind of! The terrible box art might be the best thing about the entire series. That’s coming from a person who regularly listens to the Mega Man 2 soundtrack and isn’t remotely ashamed.
Of course, the fan reaction to this extraordinarily funny joke was somewhat negative, assorted sections of the internet have either not been in on the joke or claiming this is Capcom mocking fans that have been waiting to see another megaman title. Seems odd considering that Inafune was absolutely consulted during the creative process.
Here at BRB, though? We love it. Keep doing what you’re doing.
Capcom Really Can’t Spell
Oh. I just said keep doing what you’re doing. Don’t keep doing what you’re doing if it’s not proofreading.
Silly mistakes in capcom boxes are almost a tradition at this point; perhaps it’s some interesting new marketing scheme.
Speaking of which. We’re running a contest in the forums! If you photoshop a funny Capcom mistake then you could win one of two Capcom shirts!
Tags: Gaming, News Blast
12 Posts in Total
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I can understand a publisher’s need to try to stop used game sales by doing online passes but it really sucks for console owners who dont have their console connected to the internet. They buy the game new and still cant use the pass. There has to be a way for publisher’s to get them the content without resorting to online passes
I was interested in the whole Street Fighter X Tekken game, but I seriously don’t want to after seeing them put in characters that don’t make sense.
Instead of getting upset about used game sales, companies should start embracing them. They should offer to buy your old games, and sell used versions. This way they STILL make money off a used game sale, which is apparently their big issue. Instead, they often upset their fan base who lose out on content (by buying used) and places like GameStop make all the profit off of used game sales.
Or push towards digital downloads so it’s not an issue at all. Just factor in the savings for not having to produce physical media, and actually let people SAVE money by buying digitally.
And this is coming from someone who really doesn’t mind game codes that come with new games.
Kingdoms of Amalur just took a big hit in my book. I hate how companies are trying to shoehorn online pass into games that aren’t even an online game. The video game industry has survived this long with used games it can continue on with used games just being a fact of life.
When I was a young kid I didn’t have a ton of money, so basically every game I purchased for my NES was a used game from my local video store. Used games have been around as long as video games themselves had and the industry has yet to go up in flames yet. This is just companies getting more and more greedy.
What would happen to company’s like GameFly and Redbox that let people rent games. Back in the day that is how i got to play games since my parents never let me buy them.
I’m a big fan of renting games before I buy them. I hate the idea of not getting to try all the content before I buy it. And then sometimes the spot where the code is supposed to be is blank. My step son got the Uncharted 3 collector’s edition for Chirstmas and the pass was just a blank square. If you are going to require a pass code, please don’t screw it up.
Glad to see most of SG staff made it over here. Beast podcasters on the internet.
Now we just need Dave to put out another Xbox 360 show.
Keep up the good work and all the good laughs.
The trouble is that gamers have to take some of the responsibility for online passes, we let it happen. The first big game that had it from EA I encountered was Bad Company 2 which withheld MP maps which resulted in my rental experience being getting booted out of games with friends and when I brought this up to people the response was ‘ well you should of bought it ‘. we had an opportunity to say No, this isn’t good enough but each time another game came out the public just said ‘ I was going to buy it anyway’ or ‘well I want the content so I am going to get it’. I remember the first time it was brought up on a Giantbombcast Ryan Davies thinking it was a shitty thing for game companies to be doing but roll around to Arkham City and when Vinny complained about WB (one of the worst examples) and Ryan’s quote was ‘stop being a baby this is how it works now’.
Acceptance, that is the fault here. We told game companies we would accept these charges and now they throw them in because why should they no get to make the same buck that other games make.
I was really excited for Arkham City but as soon as I heard they were removing game content for people who rent or buy used I decided that iIwould not give them directly or indirectly a penny for that game. So I have not played it, I know it does almost nothing to change the way it works now but I made my stand and was happy to do it.
When i used to smoke it was £4 a pack of 20 and I had friends who said that when it goes above £5 they would stop, its now £7 and they still smoke and complain about the price. Project $10 is no different, everyone complains but what have we actually done about it? What people do and don’t buy is the biggest thing we have to weigh in on the issue.
A few years ago there was a campaign that got RAtM the Christmas number 1 as protest against a X Factor, it got to the top spot but as X Factor has had 2 more series did little really to change anything (especially as both acts were Sony) but imagine if we did that as gamers. Say there was a cheap old game brand new and the next time a company tried to remove content and charge us for it people didn’t buy the AAA game but bought the exact same cheap game and stole its sale position out from under it.
It would never happen I know, too many gamers care about the new hotness rather than standing up to getting screwed but just imagine
[...] Another day, another great story about EA’s insistence on denying content for “used gamers”; I shouldn’t complain too much because I appreciate the soapbox it allows me to have, though I should absolutely continue to complain because it’s a miserable excuse for a business practice and is the kind of short term thinking that will send the entire gaming market crashing into the ground. [...]
[...] headline in a bit of a rush and thought I had more fodder for my long-running Anti-Online Pass crusade. I became somewhat confused what I realised that Syndicate’s taking the opposite route to every [...]