Author Topic: When preorder bonuses goes too far  (Read 2895 times)

Offline idolminds

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When preorder bonuses goes too far
« on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 12:29:10 PM »
Wow.
Quote
Gamers who pre-order Army of Two: The 40th Day now will have exclusive access to the game's all-new explosive multi-player mode, Extraction, at launch. This mode will be unlocked for all other players one month after the game ships.

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Army of Two: The 40th Day offers a total of four multiplayer game modes that can be played with up to twelve players on six different purpose-built maps. The visuals are inspired by the settings from the campaign, but the maps are designed from the ground-up specifically for multiplayer.

The first multiplayer mode, and in my opinion the most exciting, is Extraction. Extraction is a new game mode that was devised as a bonus for pre-orders, giving gamers who preorder a month of exclusive access. The idea came from Reid Schneider, our executive producer, after receiving numerous questions about the possibility of 4-player co-op in Army of Two. The core of our game focuses on two, so extraction became an opportunity to extend Army of Two to four-player co-op. As such Extraction offers experiences similar to single player but without Salem and Rios and in a multiplayer situation. It's a single player encounter for four players where players must defeat waves of enemies, but with the objective of progressing through a map in order to reach safety at an extraction point.
So yes, they lock away 1/4th of the multiplayer modes from people that simply buy the game instead of preordering.

Offline MysterD

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #1 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 01:43:09 PM »
That's crummy.

Is it me or a lot of games these days w/ expansions and DLC's, we should just wait for a Gold Edition, GOTY Edition, or Complete Edition?

Offline K-man

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #2 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 02:23:03 PM »
Wow.  Yeah that's messed up

Offline Xessive

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #3 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 03:34:13 PM »
I think my new rule for buying games will be to wait until a Gold, Platinum, or GOTY edition comes out.

I'm not considering Army of Two 2 anyway. I had the first one and it was mediocre, passable at best. I pawned it.

Offline Ghandi

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #4 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 03:48:46 PM »
I'm waiting until you have to buy the strategy guide to unlock the ending.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #5 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 06:02:10 PM »
*sigh*

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #6 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 06:33:27 PM »
Meh, it's a timed thing. You still get it if you don't preorder, you just have to wait a month. Also, it's not like it's expclusive to Gamestop or something. (or is it?)

Also meh because I'm not all that interested in Army of Two 2. The first sounded fun, but I don't know anyone that would be willing to play through the whole game for me. I couldn't even try the demo for the first game without plugging in a seconds controller and playing both characters on my own. I get the feeling that you have to love realistic shooters and violence for the sake of violence to enjoy this game, and I don't know anyone else who could do all that.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #7 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 07:09:48 PM »
Realism was nowhere to be found.  I seem to remember the Gamers With Jobs guys talking about it and saying it basically boiled down to, "Dude, we just killed brown people!  FIST PUMP!" and that it mostly sucked.  I haven't met anyone that actually liked it.  The 2nd doesn't look any better, but what the fuck?  Locking out content to get people to preorder?  That's fucking stupid.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline W7RE

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #8 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 07:26:18 PM »
Realism was nowhere to be found.

Were there like, alien laser guns and shit? Giant monsters for enemies?

Offline Xessive

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #9 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 07:35:59 PM »
Were there like, alien laser guns and shit? Giant monsters for enemies?
No, I think Que was referring to the gameplay i.e. empty a clip to kill a guy, as opposed to the realistic gameplay of Ghost Recon where a single bullet can be a serious threat.

Army of Two was supposed to be a Gears of War sort of 3rd-person co-op shooter. It just didn't live up to expectations.

Offline W7RE

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #10 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 08:40:00 PM »
Yea I know. When I called it a realistic shooter I wasn't talking about weapon damage.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #11 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 08:47:30 PM »
Quote
Gamers who pre-order Army of Two: The 40th Day now will have exclusive access to the game's all-new explosive multi-player mode, Extraction, at launch. This mode will be unlocked for all other players one month after the game ships.

haha that is so blatant... it is funny.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #12 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 10:27:33 PM »
I wasn't referring to the gameplay.  It's not even realistic in terms of... anything.  It's ridiculous and over the top.  It doesn't have aliens, but the two guys may as well be pro wrestlers with guns or something.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline gpw11

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #13 on: Thursday, October 22, 2009, 11:09:13 PM »
Meh, it's a timed thing. You still get it if you don't preorder, you just have to wait a month. Also, it's not like it's expclusive to Gamestop or something. (or is it?)


I do see the point there, but for me it makes a huge difference.  Preorder bonuses should never ever be content, even accelerated access to content. That's not a bonus, that's a penalty for not giving retailers an interest free loan. I'm sure it seems like a silly thing to be against, but the implication is that you're artificially receiving less functionality (even if just for a while) for the same price.  The dollars you pay for the game pay back the development costs associated with making the modes but you can't use them for whatever period of time, possibly because you believe in the time value of money.

Locking access to a mode like that is pretty similar to, say, Honda locking access to your windshield wipers for a month because you didn't use their financing.  You paid the same price, you should get the exact same core commodity. Now, should this mode be a beta test of a future download or something initially, then fine, that's reasonable; early access to a "service" not part of the core package. Locking out users of a service, however, is just plain wrong.  And, if that service is advertised on the box it could lead to trouble.

"Bonuses" like this need to be stupid things that don't actually matter - you know, bonuses. Gold carts, t-shirts, hats, shit like that.  Not things that actually affect the product itself.

Offline Pugnate

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Re: When preorder bonuses goes too far
« Reply #14 on: Friday, October 23, 2009, 12:03:28 AM »
They are only doing it because they can. I bet if Honda could get away with locking access to your car's sun roof for a month so that they could get some extra profit, they would.

I think part of the problem is that the video game community isn't taken as seriously as other consumer groups.

Even if a car company could do something like that, they wouldn't dream of it, because there would be so much outrage... not only amongst consumers, but in congress or whatever.

I think in this situation that one multiplayer mode isn't really a part of the "core package". Had they locked out something as basic as death match, or say the last two chapters of the game, people would have been far more upset. I still find this a little comical, because it is just so shameless.

The other thing is that no one gives a rat's ass about Army of Two, aside from the seven people who actually bought it. Had this been a Call of Duty, we would have surely seen stronger reactions.