DICE responds to gamers angry over DLC.

[Still Life]

I would like to start by clarifying that the Physical Warfare Pack is a time-based exclusive. If you do not pre-order Battlefield 3 at a retailer carrying the Physical Warfare Pack, don?t worry. We will unlock the contents of the Physical Warfare Pack for free to all Battlefield 3 players later this year.

The Physical Warfare Pack will be available as a pre-order bonus all over the globe. Right now, the UK is the only country where it has been announced, but stay tuned to get constant updates on where you can pick this up in your country. And remember, if you do not pre-order, you will still get access to this content at a later date, free of charge. If you do pre-order, you will get access to it from day one.

Back to Karkand is a massive, themed expansion pack available a period of time after the base game, developed by a separate team here at DICE -- the same team that brought you Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam. If you played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, you have a pretty good idea about the scope and ambition of our expansion packs. This is so much more than just four remixed maps.

If you pre-order Battlefield 3, you will be able to play Back to Karkand at no extra charge as soon as it is released, but it is not day one DLC and it is not on the base game disc. We think it?s a sweet deal, and it?s available to everyone everywhere. If you do not pre-order Battlefield 3, you can still buy Back to Karkand separately and play it as soon as it is released, the very same date as anyone who pre-ordered. In other words, there is no segmentation of the community when we launch the base game.

http://blogs.battlefield.ea.com/battlefield_bad_company/archive/2011/06/16/physical-warfare-pack-available-to-all-battlefield-3-players.aspx##

That should clear up any confusion. I personally didn't care all that much, but many apparently do.

What does the forum say?

 

[scnj]

Sounds fair to me. That said, I didn't understand the fuss in the first place.

 

[Saelune]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

Pretty sure that Preorders are the same price, you just pay a part of the cost to reserve a copy.

 

[Still Life]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

You put down a deposit, but you don't pay extra.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

Honestly, I had no idea about any of this, but I'm frankly thoroughly against pre-order bonuses (that aren't closed beta keys). I've mentioned in other threads before that I personally feel pre-orders minimize the drive and incentive to put a game through thorough quality assurance, since money is already earmarked for the game in question if not outright in the publishers/developers' hands before release, reviews, and community reception. If a game developer and publisher is already recouping development costs if not outright making a profit prior to release, then why spend additional capital testing the product? As I mentioned, my sole exception to this is the right to participate in a beta, because in that case at least the consumer is receiving the right to give feedback to the developers, preview the game, and receive assurance their investment is not wasted; if the beta is poor, the consumer can simply cancel their pre-order and save themselves money and time.

Don't get me wrong: DICE has a solid reputation for quality assurance and releasing quality titles. However, the fact still remains the footage they've released thus far has been pre-alpha footage and they're already talking pre-order incentives to get money in the bank.

I've made the comparison before that Bethesda, despite probably having just gone beta with Skyrim let alone have a release candidate could go gold today and they'd still make a monstrous heap of money from pre-orders and release day sales, despite their infamy for poor quality assurance and shaky reputation for quick fixes. In that case, consumers would be paying full standard retail price for open beta participation. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.

 

[Saelune]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

Honestly, I had no idea about any of this, but I'm frankly thoroughly against pre-order bonuses (that aren't closed beta keys). I've mentioned in other threads before that I personally feel pre-orders minimize the drive and incentive to put a game through thorough quality assurance, since money is already earmarked for the game in question if not outright in the publishers/developers' hands before release, reviews, and community reception. If a game developer and publisher is already recouping development costs if not outright making a profit prior to release, then why spend additional capital testing the product? As I mentioned, my sole exception to this is the right to participate in a beta, because in that case at least the consumer is receiving the right to give feedback to the developers, preview the game, and receive assurance their investment is not wasted; if the beta is poor, the consumer can simply cancel their pre-order and save themselves money and time.

Don't get me wrong: DICE has a solid reputation for quality assurance and releasing quality titles. However, the fact still remains the footage they've released thus far has been pre-alpha footage and they're already talking pre-order incentives to get money in the bank.

I've made the comparison before that Bethesda, despite probably having just gone beta with Skyrim let alone have a release candidate could go gold today and they'd still make a monstrous heap of money from pre-orders and release day sales, despite their infamy for poor quality assurance and shaky reputation for quick fixes. In that case, consumers would be paying full standard retail price for open beta participation. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.

Not sure why this is aimed at me but...personally I think pre-order bonuses should be mostly aesthetic. Worth enough to warrent getting it, but not give some unair advantage or mean others are missing out for waiting. A multiplayer skin or something. If it does affect gameplay, just be single player. A unique weapon or ability that only takes affect when agains the AI. Multiplayer guns however, no. Also whole pieces of the games that others will miss out on for waiting, no.

 

[CD-R]

I had a feeling this was going to turn out to be no big deal. Anyway thae free expansion pack for pre ordering sounds like a really good deal. If it's really on the same level as the Vietnam expansion pack than I'm definitely pre-ordering. Now I just have to figure out which retailer to go with since apparently different retailers are getting different stuff. You might want to tell the guys at the Escapist News room if they don't already know.

Also does anyone know the system requirements for the PC version? I can't find them anywhere on the website.

 

[Vault boy Eddie]

The whole idea of preorders is to go "Look at how many games we sold on day one!" They don't need such trickeration, the game more than speaks for itself. And that clarified a question I had about whether it was only for the preorderers or for everyone at some point, glad it is.

 

[Still Life]

The whole idea of preorders is to go "Look at how many games we sold on day one!" They don't need such trickeration, the game more than speaks for itself. And that clarified a question I had about whether it was only for the preorderers or for everyone at some point, glad it is.

I actually like the idea of some 'bonuses' if I'm going to pick up a game on day one like a blind sheep. Just as long as it doesn't unbalance the game, though.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Not sure why this is aimed at me but...personally I think pre-order bonuses should be mostly aesthetic. Worth enough to warrent getting it, but not give some unair advantage or mean others are missing out for waiting. A multiplayer skin or something. If it does affect gameplay, just be single player. A unique weapon or ability that only takes affect when agains the AI. Multiplayer guns however, no. Also whole pieces of the games that others will miss out on for waiting, no.

Well, I responded to you because of the "get people to pre-order who otherwise wouldn't" aspect of your argument. Honestly, in my opinion that's why: get people pre-ordering and putting money in the bank prior to release, in the event the game becomes a critical failure or lacks quality assurance. Handing out a few "exclusive" trinkets or goodies is a good way to get money flowing into the bank prior to release.

I have, in almost twenty years of purchasing my own games during which the pre-order phenomenon came to be (my first pre-order was Chrono Trigger) never seen a vendor actually run out of stock on a triple-A release. I have, on the other hand, several times over seen vendors deny customers who lacked pre-orders a copy of a game days after release, despite the vendor clearly being overstocked. Pre-ordering, in my opinion, simply isn't about "reserving" a copy. Now, I can see a point to pre-orders when it comes to consoles or limited-release titles or editions...but when it comes to a standard retail package, nope. It's purely a capital-driven move, and a hedge against poor community/critical reception or quality.

In the day of digital copies and download services like Steam or Impulse, this is even less an issue as the vendor is limited only by available bandwidth (and the admins failing to flag the game as released and therefore playable for a few hours, like Valve did on L4D2); hell, digital vendors can offer to pre-download the game days in advance to ease server load -- I downloaded DA:O and had it installed for almost a week before release.

 

[fooddood3]

This is a step in the right direction. I feel this guy summed up my feelings on the matter quite nicely.
[youtube]/watch?v=db7-m0YuNU8[/youtube]

 

[Kahunaburger]

Yay! DICE hasn't sold their souls/multiplayer balance I may actually buy this if it runs on my laptop.

 

[octafish]

This is a step in the right direction. I feel this guy summed up my feelings on the matter quite nicely.

Fixed that for you.

Storm in a tea cup IMHO.

 

[squid5580]

But that raises another issue...why even bother? If everyone is going to get it anyway, why shell out the extra cash? While this may be a nice extra for those who will pre-order anyways, the point of this stuff is to get people to pre-order who might otherwise not.

Honestly, I had no idea about any of this, but I'm frankly thoroughly against pre-order bonuses (that aren't closed beta keys). I've mentioned in other threads before that I personally feel pre-orders minimize the drive and incentive to put a game through thorough quality assurance, since money is already earmarked for the game in question if not outright in the publishers/developers' hands before release, reviews, and community reception. If a game developer and publisher is already recouping development costs if not outright making a profit prior to release, then why spend additional capital testing the product? As I mentioned, my sole exception to this is the right to participate in a beta, because in that case at least the consumer is receiving the right to give feedback to the developers, preview the game, and receive assurance their investment is not wasted; if the beta is poor, the consumer can simply cancel their pre-order and save themselves money and time.

Don't get me wrong: DICE has a solid reputation for quality assurance and releasing quality titles. However, the fact still remains the footage they've released thus far has been pre-alpha footage and they're already talking pre-order incentives to get money in the bank.

I've made the comparison before that Bethesda, despite probably having just gone beta with Skyrim let alone have a release candidate could go gold today and they'd still make a monstrous heap of money from pre-orders and release day sales, despite their infamy for poor quality assurance and shaky reputation for quick fixes. In that case, consumers would be paying full standard retail price for open beta participation. That's a pretty shitty thing to do.

Not sure why this is aimed at me but...personally I think pre-order bonuses should be mostly aesthetic. Worth enough to warrent getting it, but not give some unair advantage or mean others are missing out for waiting. A multiplayer skin or something. If it does affect gameplay, just be single player. A unique weapon or ability that only takes affect when agains the AI. Multiplayer guns however, no. Also whole pieces of the games that others will miss out on for waiting, no.

Screw that noise. pre order bonuses should be trinkets. A book or an action figure. A keychain perhaps. Any DLC pre ordeer anything is denying us same customers content we paid for but never recieved.

And why the fuck is the captcha now an adverfuckingtisement?

 

[TheLoneBeet]

I never bothered to cancel my pre-order. If people are going to get pissed because certain guns do more damage and others having better firing-rates and all that, I don't see how you can be upset with the company. Every gun in pretty much every game have varying stats. Why so pissed because there'd be one more option for people willing to pay for it?

 

[UnlimitedCreativity]

Pre-orders are good if done right. Example: LOTRO is launching Isengard in the fall. The pre-order package gives you a bunch of stuff,(previous expansions, increased XP till lvl 65 etc) to prepare for the release of Isengard which I think is pretty smart marketing. Pre-order on most games is a phenomenon I don't understand. I mean unless you are going to give me something super exclusive or cool (or helpful) really why bother? It just means you have locked money into a purchase before you "had" to.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

I never bothered to cancel my pre-order. If people are going to get pissed because certain guns do more damage and others having better firing-rates and all that, I don't see how you can be upset with the company. Every gun in pretty much every game have varying stats. Why so pissed because there'd be one more option for people willing to pay for it?

It's called a "slippery slope", especially when it comes to online gaming.

I don't know if you played Chromehounds, but there was a pretty nasty shitstorm over certain ingame weapons and parts which were purchasable via Xbox Live Marketplace that had notable advantages over non-purchased parts. Certain mech builds which thanks to the stats on the purchased parts quickly developed, and broke game balance between those with purchasing power to get those parts and those without. The intent -- to encourage players to purchase parts through the marketplace to stay competitive, and to continue power creeping via the marketplace (and milking money through microtransactions) -- was clear.

The point is that when competitiveness in games becomes linked to purchasing power, players must pay and continue to pay to stay competitive, and players without said purchasing power get screwed.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

The whole idea of preorders is to go "Look at how many games we sold on day one!" They don't need such trickeration, the game more than speaks for itself. And that clarified a question I had about whether it was only for the preorderers or for everyone at some point, glad it is.

Actually, a big part of pre-orders is having at least some idea of how much demand there is for your game. If you, for example, manage to sell 3 million pre-order copies of the game, you know you've likely got a hit on your hands and you produce copies accordingly. If you instead only get 10,000 pre-orders, then perhaps a more limited production run is called for.