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View Full Version : EA taking paid DLC way too far?

Titanium
15-07-09, 17:14
I recently was on the Playstation store and noticed a page for the tiger woods DLC, I thought I'd just take a look and see what sort of DLC it offered.

And I was surprised at some of the stuff it was offering... heres a summary...

Two golf courses at £4.79 each, fair enough
A cheat to unlock all the courses in the game, £1.59. Wtf, we have to pay to use a cheat now?
A variety of sets of clubs, around £1.20 per club set with about 15 sets available to buy. Only for the hardcore I suppose
Character power ups 0.5 increase - 99p
Character power ups 1.0 increase - £1.19
Character power ups 1.5 increase - £1.49
Character power ups 2.0 increase - £1.59

You have to pay for character power ups? You dont see mario in mario kart having to pull over at a service station to buy a red shell!

Everything except the two new golf courses is unlockable in the game anyway. But EA are allowing players to buy the game to completion. What do you lot think about this?
robm_2007
15-07-09, 17:15
some DLC is just stupid. this being a big example.
Alive_and_Funky
15-07-09, 17:20
Wasn't this DLC released on the same day as the release of the game? It makes you wonder why the two courses aren't included on the disc. (Well, we all know the answer to that question.)
Flyin11
15-07-09, 17:20
It's not just EA. Others do it as well.

One other example is Tom Clancy's Hawx by UBI Soft. They have extra airplane packages that are DLC but you can also get them in the game by getting trophies or something.

I've never really had any interest in DLC anyways...
Minty Mouth
15-07-09, 17:23
I very rarely buy DLC anyway, so it doesnt bother me. (Mainly because it is such a rip off)

In fact, Ive never bought anything from the PS store, only download the free stuff :vlol:
interstellardave
15-07-09, 17:26
Their explanation for cheats and power-ups is that you can unlock them through normal gameplay, so they aren't gouging anyone by selling them... it's for those people who don't want to bother unlocking them normally.

I see you mentioned this fact at the end of your post... I missed that at first. Oh well, I think it's okay so long as it's optional... which it is. It's the same as either growing your own vegetable garden or just buying vegetables at the store.
WSOwen02
15-07-09, 20:09
I very rarely buy DLC anyway, so it doesnt bother me. (Mainly because it is such a rip off)

In fact, Ive never bought anything from the PS store, only download the free stuff :vlol:

Dude, you're missing out:

Flower
PixelJunk Eden
WipEout HD
Cochrane
15-07-09, 20:12
I don't see much of a big deal. You unlock it through play, or if you can't be bothered, you pay. EA is opening an alternate path to game completion for users, and at the same time a nice little revenue stream for themselves. If you don't like it, just play to unlock the stuff, but I don't see where this becomes a big deal.
Super Badnik
15-07-09, 20:12
Two golf courses at £4.79 each, fair enough
A cheat to unlock all the courses in the game, £1.59. Wtf, we have to pay to use a cheat now?
A variety of sets of clubs, around £1.20 per club set with about 15 sets available to buy. Only for the hardcore I suppose
Character power ups 0.5 increase - 99p
Character power ups 1.0 increase - £1.19
Character power ups 1.5 increase - £1.49
Character power ups 2.0 increase - £1.59
Thats completely stupid. It's not the first time either, EA hawked half of the character cutomisation conetent from The Sims 3 and put it as downloadable content. Seriously, paying hard earned cash to see some extra polygons appear on our characters?
tlr online
15-07-09, 20:16
EA isn't alone in milking DLC.

http://i27.tinypic.com/64j7l2.jpg
Quasimodo
15-07-09, 20:22
Their explanation for cheats and power-ups is that you can unlock them through normal gameplay, so they aren't gouging anyone by selling them... it's for those people who don't want to bother unlocking them normally.

Couldn't you just download a savegame? Maybe that's one last advantage PC players have:p
Cochrane
15-07-09, 20:41
Couldn't you just download a savegame? Maybe that's one last advantage PC players have:p

Not sure about... well, whatever console this is about, but I did successfully download save games on a Wii, using a spare SD card. I wouldn't be surprised if this is possible for other consoles as well.
voltz
15-07-09, 22:59
What I see EA doing isn't new by any means, the MMO market has been set up with all sorts of "nickle-and-dime" pay systems for minor things like changing your character's hairstyle or unlocking skills/weapons you can earn yourself if you're dedicated enough. The problem with this kind of market is there's enough sorry suckers who are more then willing to part their cash for this little extra and because of them publishers are encouraged to continue pulling this on everyone else.