The past week or two has had a fury of new articles on the DLC for EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company. If you already know the story then you can just skip to the next paragraph, for the uninitiated; buckle up! EA revealed during the beta that in BF:BA (not to be confused with BF:Heroes wich is the free game) upgraded weapons would require a purchase for each weapon. Some game sites around the net reacted violently calling for a boycott on the game in its entirety just to send a message to EA that paying for weapons is unacceptable when it is obviously a completed feature and is already on the disk. A few days ago EA came out and said they would no longer be forcing players to pay for the weapons and that they could unlock them by playing through the game(or by paying).
Now when the news was first announced that EA “changed it’s heart” it was pretty obvious that it wasn’t about customer service or giving the players what they wanted. It was entirly a monetary issue. But since the boycott forced the issue it, contrary to what certain gamers may think, is a BIG win for gamers, as it shows that we do have the power to decide how our games will be. It comes as no surprise that people on the internet would want to rain on the celebrations, but the number of people actually defending DLC is shocking. Alot of points used to defend DLC in gaming are just wrong.
If you don’t like it just don’t buy it.
Fair enough. And although this isn’t necessarly an argument for DLC it is just as bad since it still allows for DLC. Even if there are plunty of people who don’t buy it that won’t stop companies from witholding content just to provide it as DLC.
DLC is just like expansion packs, only you can buy just the parts you like.
No it isn’t. First off no game has yet to offer enough DLC to equal what is typically included in an expansion pack. Second, given the prices for DLC, an expansion pack worth would cost significantly more than an expansion pack. Additionally, many expansion packs signifigantly change the game: to the point that it is nearly a new game. Developers ussually start working on expansions after the launch of their title. DLC is sometimes available from launch. If something was ready at launch why isn’t it included at launch? Now sure it takes some time to make content but even if DLC going gold is instantly available and a game takes about a month to see release after it goes gold, that means that launch day DLC has only been worked on for 1 month maybe less. If it has been done in less than a month there is a fair question of quality, if they have been working on it longer than a month then why didn’t they just include it in the game? It has been proven that companies withold content from the game to use as DLC. Expansion packs have never been comprised of content witheld from the original game.
Making games is more expensive, HD graphics cost a ton, DLC is just a way to recoup costs.
BS! If DLC is to recoup costs the why are the HD games sold at a 10 dollar premium? Wasn’t that explained as a way to help developers recoup the cost of making games in HD? Besides, it isn’t like gaming is the only industry where cost are escalating, hollywood’s production costs are also rising. Yet hollywood mysteriously seems to be able to maintain, heck 90% of hollywood movies actually make money (of course they will use hollywood accounting to claim otherwise but that is a different story). The reason hollywood is able to enjoy such a success rate is because they have people who are very very good at looking at an idea and knowing it will make about X dollars so they can spend Y. Just look at Uwe Boll, the man makes the poorest rated movies yet still gets hired. Why? Because, as Kevin Smith has said “If you can make someone even a little bit of money, you will be hired again.” Even with the negative reviews, Uwe’s movies make money. Obviously, this is due to budgeting and not success. This is what gaming companies need to do. They need to have guys who sit there and determine how much a game idea will make with fairly good accuracy. Really, game companies, and some gamers, need to realize that not every game needs to be presented in 720p! Not every game needs to have 10 million dollar CGI scenes! Not every game needs to have lifelike foilage! Would Halo 3 really have sold less without the fake HD? Would Lair, Heavenly Sword, or Warhawk have sold less? With those three it is likely that they would have sold less but the cost savings would have made all three games financial successes. And really what is more important; having beautiful games or having game companies that can make money without pumping out the same game franchise year after year?
With the release of Brawl and its undeniable awesomeness, everyone I’ve seen has the same thing to say: “We were disappointed with the lack of voice communications support.”
I can understand why you would want to communicate with your friends in game, both to coordinate matches and just to have some fun. But think about this for a minute, do you really need voice in this game? Let’s look at some of the things you’ll be encountering in your adventures with voice chat!
Instant Online Radio! Ah, who thought we could get music we’ve never heard of by artists without labels at such poor quality? Listening to music while playing a video game is great, especially when it comes over someone else’s 10 dollar Wal-Mart mic, which can barely communicate with its own headphone jack, let alone start a disco. I don’t know about you, but I love it when people share their musical tastes with me while I’m trying to say something important to my teammates or calling for backup. It makes be feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
10 year olds with superiority complexes! When I’m playing online, I enjoy listening to someone half my age talking about his enormous testicles and dropping F-bombs like he grew up at the state Veteran’s Hospital. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something when I beat up someone so young, and it’s ok to feel proud, because the little bastard had it coming. The state of our youth is in good hands when we can say with conviction that our children are growing up strong minded, strong willed, and strongly in need of some grammar lessons.
NEED A DISPENSER HERE! NEED A DISPENSER HERE! NEED A *OH MY GOD WILL YOU JUST DIE*
So the next time you start thinking to yourself “I wish this had voice communication so I could talk to the person I’m playing with,” just remember what comes with it. If you really want it that bad, get their cell phone number.
Remember when you got paid to sit in a room for an hour while images were flashed on a computer screen and a guy watched you try and distinguish the difference between a consonant and a vowel? Now imagine you’re doing the same thing, only instead of vowels, there are ninjas, and instead of getting paid, you shelled out forty bucks. Pretty bum deal, huh?
Suffice it to say that there isn’t anything special to Ninja Reflex. There are six minigames in which you are required to perform a specific task, be it hitting ninja cutouts with shurikens or catching flies with a pair of chopsticks, in order to advance yourself through the various belt colors. That wasn’t a very long sentence, but there really isn’t much more to it.
I would say that actually training to become a ninja is less of a chore compared to this game. To advance to the next belt, you have to play each minigame more than three times a piece, and if my math skills still serve me well, you have to play over 200 rounds of the same six minigames to get to black belt. That may not be that much compared to other games, but the sheer monotony of the task is an immediate turn off.
One of the things that gets me is that for a game called Ninja Reflex, your reaction times are not stored anywhere. Sure, they pop on the screen for that half a second after you click, but after that it disappears along with your sense of accomplishment. And during your quest for jewels that qualify you for your next belt test, you can’t replay games once you beat them, even if your times sucked balls. But I guess that doesn’t really matter when no real records exist.
Multiplayer is more of a formality than a mode. You can play one version of each of the six minigames, and then compare scores. That’s it. You’d be better off driving your friends to a Circuit City and letting them play the demo stands for ten minutes. At least then you could say that you did something.
There is, however, one thing that this game has that no other does. Meditation. Straight up, sit in silence meditation. You have the option of having the stereotypical old Asian guy talk you through all the steps, or setting a timer on the game for your own silent meditation. While you’re doing this, the screen shows a giant Ying Yang symbol gently rotating back and forth to the sound of nothing. Seriously, if you’re going to meditate, don’t let a video game be your first foray into it. Jesus Christ, I could only listen to 30 seconds of it before deciding that I would be better off just sleeping.
There are a lot of worse games out there that aren’t as well made, but that doesn’t mean you can make a game like this and expect people to pay full price. There is literally no reason for this game to exist by itself. Maybe, just maybe, if some sort of third person ninja shooter with a decent plotline and an array of weapons came out, then Ninja Reflex would be a decent side section for that game. As it stands now, wait for it to hit the ten dollar bin before rejecting it again on the grounds that your local college campus probably has something similarly interesting that pays five bucks an hour.
Only $9.90!
“Shin Sangoku Musou DS: Fighter’s Battle (aka. Dynasty Warriors: Fighter’s Battle) challenges you to team up with the greatest fighters in the Dynasty Warriors series. Use your tactics and commander cards to fight through 12 stages and conquer territory. With your awesome Musou attack you have the power to stop the hordes of enemy soldiers ready to strike. Unite all of China and victory will be yours! Wireless Vs. mode for up to 3 players Game controls and visual design created expressly for Nintendo DS.”
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