Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

[alcancer]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Not to toot my own horn or anything, but Gamestop actually sent out an email about this back at the beginning of April and I posted it in the BC2 forum here.

What's interesting is that the weapon they have pictured there is the UMP and not the AKS-74. I guess they changed their minds.

Also, I don't see why some people think Bad Company 2 is a "console abomination" of a Battlefield game, especially when they are releasing it on PC this time around. The first BC was a very fun game once you got over the dual-analog sticks for control and definitely lived up to the Battlefield moniker.

[imported_Whiskey]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Get yourself together, leave the console business, concentrate on hardcore fans

That is a business model built for failure. Consoles are where the money is, and "hardcore" fans make up a very small slice of the game-buying public.

[=98=]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

That is a business model built for failure. Consoles are where the money is, and "hardcore" fans make up a very small slice of the game-buying public.

Exactly. If they followed earlier advice, we probably wouldn't have any more BF games :p

[imported_Whiskey]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

These pre-order deals aren't unique to BF either. COD has done it before, getting a certain rifle if you pre-order, as well as other games. The weapon isn't going to make you uber...it's just a marketing strategy to get people to pre-order the game. In this economy, every little bit counts.

Too many people are getting upset over nothing, and actually looking for things to get mad about.

[Kylee!]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

These pre-order deals aren't unique to BF either. COD has done it before, getting a certain rifle if you pre-order, as well as other games. The weapon isn't going to make you uber...it's just a marketing strategy to get people to pre-order the game. In this economy, every little bit counts.

Too many people are getting upset over nothing, and actually looking for things to get mad about.

QFT, too many people whining about BF not being "hardcore" any more.

Well tbh, I don't care how numbed down the game is, I just want to frag and chill with my buddies. Maybe you guys need friends.

[DeadlyMACD]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Isn't there a way to offer the same content to everyone without limiting it to those who pre-order? How about early access to content instead of exclusive access. Hopefully a demo is released. At least that way I can decide if the game is worth buying.

[Dangerdog]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

It's not an "exclusive" unlock, just means you won't have to point grind for it. I think it's a little premature to pre-order when the game isn't due till 2010 "sometime".

[Rambo]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

I am asuming you can earn that gun too?otherwize il spend 100$ and get the atomic grenade launcher.

the game needs to be fair not whos got the biggest wallet

[ThatEvilGuy]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

I'm not sure you have a clue what you are talking about. You should try and channel your anger through a more constructive route.

Firstly, what is wrong with giving away a free weapon, they are simply securing orders and trying to make as large a revenue stream as possible. That's simple business, if you can't accept that, then you have no hope of making it anywhere high up in the world :p

Secondly, the console market is a lot, lot more valuable to DICE as it provides a larger chunk of their income. In fact, without it, I doubt a lot of games would have been developed as the return on investment on PC exclusive titles is bloody risky at best.

So, try thinking things through before running your mouth off. An analytical mind and a sense of perspective will make you a lot smarter.

Although, saying that, you've probably gone and pre-ordered already :p Any news on whether this is UK as well?

HA! alright Mr.Professor,

First of all, they are not giving you a free weapon, they are selling it to you, they are forcing you to buy the game early to get an unfair advantage.

Second, since both you Alex and Whiskey said the same thing, I'll answer you both.

That is a business model built for failure. Consoles are where the money is, and "hardcore" fans make up a very small slice of the game-buying public.

I think their current business model is built for failure.

While Battlefield was an absolute numero uno FPS game on PC, on consoles it's only a second rate game, down sized and not very popular, not one of the most popular games anyway. Majority of people that are really interested in Battlefield on consoles are the old Battlefield fans.

Now, you say that money is in consoles, yet they made huge amounts of money on Battlefield 2.

Do you want to tell me that if they released a proper Battlefield 3 on PC only as it should be, they would not make an absolute killing on it? and sell more copies than they will sell of Bad Company 2 on consoles?

DICE is just spreading themselves too thin, Heroes, supposedly for casual "office" gamers, that will never touch it cause they are playing Solitaire. Bad Company, a half assed Battlefield game, 1943, another half assed game.

They are like when Michael Jordan decided to play Baseball.....

DICE wants to adopt Infinity Ward's strategy, but what they don't get is that their game is too big for consoles, Call of Duty could fit on consoles and pc without compromising anything at all and they did that beautifully. Can't do that with Battlefield, and what you get is a crippled game that is trying to compete with monsters like Halo, Call of Duty, BioShock, Gears of War.... gamers were salivating over Call of Duty during E3, yet there was hardly any mention of Bad Company 2.


I also dislike the type of promotions DICE has become very fond of, this "suck money slowly out of you" type of thing.

When I buy a game I want everything that's on the disk be unlocked, I don't want to pay extra, I don't want anybody who is willing to waste money to get an unfair advantage over me.



I don't get DICE at all, maybe it's me and I don't understand their strategy but from what I can tell is that they are releasing many second tier games. Heroes is going to fail, hardly any interest in that game, everybody that's played it says it's boring, 1943 is going be another instant-distant memory type of a game. Bad Company 2 will probably sell well, yes but it won't go anywhere near the rulers of console FPS genre. They don't have a single killer app on their hands. I don't what a hell happened to DICE, it seems there too many execs suggesting stupid ideas at DICE, they need to get their act together.


For now, I guess DICE prefers to serve in heaven and be just another developer on the consoles instead of being the best and the most popular on PCs.

They certainly won't sway me with their "promotions".

[=98=]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

HA! alright Mr.Professor,

First of all, they are not giving you a free weapon, they are selling it to you, they are forcing you to buy the game early to get an unfair advantage.

Second, since both you Alex and Whiskey said the same thing, I'll answer you both.

No one is standing with a gun to your head forcing you to buy it.

Plus, it's very likely that the weapon you get will not be the best in the game (probably no where near) for the exact reason you describe, it would be unfair that those who punt their cash up front get an advantage. So, really, you are paying for a skin, not performance.

Secondly, it's not as if the pre-order costs more than retail will be, so they are not forcing you to purchase the game at an inflated price.

Lastly, funds are not taken out of your account until the game is ready for shipping. Your name will simply be put on a pre-order list ready for when it does go gold.

I think their current business model is built for failure.

While Battlefield was an absolute numero uno FPS game on PC, on consoles it's only a second rate game, down sized and not very popular, not one of the most popular games anyway. Majority of people that are really interested in Battlefield on consoles are the old Battlefield fans.

Now, you say that money is in consoles, yet they made huge amounts of money on Battlefield 2.

Do you want to tell me that if they released a proper Battlefield 3 on PC only as it should be, they would not make an absolute killing on it? and sell more copies than they will sell of Bad Company 2 on consoles?

You can work that out for yourself. The return on investment from a PC exclusive title is never going to be as big as that of a title that covers PC, Xbox and Playstation. You'd have to be a fool to think that!

I'm sure they would make a nice slice of profit, but, EA is a shareholder run public limited company (i'm unsure about DICE), so their primary objective is to make as large a profit as possible to pay as dividends.

That is simple business, real world stuff. That's how businesses operate. It might not suit your utopian world of everyone running PC's, but i'm afraid the world runs of money.

Lastly, whilst I don't mean to discredit your opinions, i'm sure the EA marketing team have covered your ideas and drawn up a fair few feasibility plans surrounding the sales potentials of each game.

DICE is just spreading themselves too thin, Heroes, supposedly for casual "office" gamers, that will never touch it cause they are playing Solitaire. Bad Company, a half assed Battlefield game, 1943, another half assed game.

I think you've missed some of the point. Heroes, I believe is just dipping a toe in that microtransition market that has proved so successful in Asia. I believe DICE and EA are trying to expand and test new means of selling and distributing and this is one way.

You're right in thinking that Heroes won't be hugely popular. However, there are enough people playing to make it viable and it will probably prove as a good test as to whether people are willing to take a free game but pay for content.

1943 on the other hand is again, another experiment, testing the market. It's not free, but it's not a full price game. I believe it's aimed at CoD style players. Those who want close combat, but with a slight BF twist. It's not for "hardcore" players, but more aimed at the casual market. I hate to tell you, that casual market is a lot, lot, lot bigger than your so called "hardcore" market and thus proves to be of greater interest.

DICE wants to adopt Infinity Ward's strategy, but what they don't get is that their game is too big for consoles, Call of Duty could fit on consoles and pc without compromising anything at all and they did that beautifully. Can't do that with Battlefield, and what you get is a crippled game that is trying to compete with monsters like Halo, Call of Duty, BioShock, Gears of War.... gamers were salivating over Call of Duty during E3, yet there was hardly any mention of Bad Company 2.

It's a challenge, I agree, but I believe it's feasible. CoD caps numbers of players to 16 I believe, 8 a side. Someone will have to confirm that for me. So, for BF to offer a 24 player game, that is actually pushing the envelope, not crippling it!

I also dislike the type of promotions DICE has become very fond of, this "suck money slowly out of you" type of thing.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but I assume it's additional content packs. Well, for console, these have always cost money and I don't see that changing, so we'll leave that alone.

As for Battlefield content packs, I don't believe they should have been charged at £5. If it was planned well, i'm sure they could have found sponsors such as Intel to fund the project. This would have obviously added extra content whilst not losing DICE a great deal of money.

But, as I told you earlier, i'm sure there was a reason behind them deciding to charge and at the same time release sponsored maps. I can only assume no one wanted to pay the few thousand £/$ it cost to create (in terms of labour, testing, marketing etc...)

When I buy a game I want everything that's on the disk be unlocked, I don't want to pay extra, I don't want anybody who is willing to waste money to get an unfair advantage over me.

The pre-order game is the same price as it'll be in retail. In fact, I was looking around the Internet and found some retailers were even selling it below what I believe the RRP will be, so wasting money is not a valid argument.

They don't have a single killer app on their hands. I don't what a hell happened to DICE, it seems there too many execs suggesting stupid ideas at DICE, they need to get their act together.

What happened is they grew and wanted to become a market leader. When this occurs, having a single product is not a safe strategy. For example, if that one product were to sell badly, perhaps due to competition, poor distribution or just that it was a poor product, it could cause the company to fold.

Whilst DICE is big, they aren't a huge corporation and for that reason, they won't be extremely asset rich or have huge stockpiles of cash to keep themselves afloat should things go tits up.

This was evident with the closure of various development companies and wings such as Midway games and EA LA. If you're not successful, you close and everyone looses their job.

Large market span and stable revenue is the key to growth and success, this is why we are seeing DICE attempting to expand. A single product is no longer financial feasible.

I don't get DICE at all, maybe it's me and I don't understand their strategy but from what I can tell is that they are releasing many second tier games.

Whilst I see where you are coming from, I believe you're dreaming a bit. A PC exclusive BF3 would be amazing, but come back down to the real world with us lot, money drives the world we live in and it's what each company aims to make. DICE and EA are no exception, just because they provide entertainment media doesn't mean their #1 goal is your personal satisfaction.

You sometimes have to remember these are real people, real business, real money. A utopia is a nice place to live, but it does give you a rather unrealistic view point of life.

I hope that answers your questions without seeming too rude and will perhaps force you to think. I don't know if you are in employment, but if you ever come to run your own business or department, you might see where I am coming from.

[ThatEvilGuy]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

No one is standing with a gun to your head forcing you to buy it.

Plus, it's very likely that the weapon you get will not be the best in the game (probably no where near) for the exact reason you describe, it would be unfair that those who punt their cash up front get an advantage. So, really, you are paying for a skin, not performance.

Secondly, it's not as if the pre-order costs more than retail will be, so they are not forcing you to purchase the game at an inflated price.

Lastly, funds are not taken out of your account until the game is ready for shipping. Your name will simply be put on a pre-order list ready for when it does go gold.

Power of the gun does not matter, you are getting something I will not because I simply refused to hand over money before seeing what the product is like, maybe I don't want to buy the game on the first day, maybe I want to wait a month or two, you are getting more, be it a skin, sound or whatever.

I never said pre-order costs more money, I'm simply stating that they are forcing you to buy on the first day in order not to be left out.... As I've stated, I want a FULL game, and I want to walk in to the shop a year later and buy the game that is FULL.

Why should I have to buy it on the first day to get something?

You can work that out for yourself. The return on investment from a PC exclusive title is never going to be as big as that of a title that covers PC, Xbox and Playstation. You'd have to be a fool to think that!

I'm sure they would make a nice slice of profit, but, EA is a shareholder run public limited company (i'm unsure about DICE), so their primary objective is to make as large a profit as possible to pay as dividends.

That is simple business, real world stuff. That's how businesses operate. It might not suit your utopian world of everyone running PC's, but i'm afraid the world runs of money.

Lastly, whilst I don't mean to discredit your opinions, i'm sure the EA marketing team have covered your ideas and drawn up a fair few feasibility plans surrounding the sales potentials of each game.

Yea, of course PC/360/PS3 all together will bring more profit, but couldn't they separate PC from consoles? and have two different games each appropriate for the according system, they did that before.

Yes, one game spread on 3 systems = less money on development, but that also has one big disadvantage because it brings down the quality of your flagship product.

I think you've missed some of the point. Heroes, I believe is just dipping a toe in that microtransition market that has proved so successful in Asia. I believe DICE and EA are trying to expand and test new means of selling and distributing and this is one way.

You're right in thinking that Heroes won't be hugely popular. However, there are enough people playing to make it viable and it will probably prove as a good test as to whether people are willing to take a free game but pay for content.

1943 on the other hand is again, another experiment, testing the market. It's not free, but it's not a full price game. I believe it's aimed at CoD style players. Those who want close combat, but with a slight BF twist. It's not for "hardcore" players, but more aimed at the casual market. I hate to tell you, that casual market is a lot, lot, lot bigger than your so called "hardcore" market and thus proves to be of greater interest.

They have been testing new transactions since Battlefield 2, EA Downloader, expensions, extensions....... it does not work. They should've understood that by now.

Which again leads me to believe too many suits have right of voice in DICE and everyone is throwing their ideas in, DICE is a big company and doesn't feel the repocusions yet, but we'll see.

It's a challenge, I agree, but I believe it's feasible. CoD caps numbers of players to 16 I believe, 8 a side. Someone will have to confirm that for me. So, for BF to offer a 24 player game, that is actually pushing the envelope, not crippling it!

What about jets? more than two armies? only a few vehicles?

That is also another problem, because Call of Duty in each new game introduced something new and more, Battlefield on the other hand has been downsized, considerably and that's kinda hard to swallow.

What happened is they grew and wanted to become a market leader. When this occurs, having a single product is not a safe strategy. For example, if that one product were to sell badly, perhaps due to competition, poor distribution or just that it was a poor product, it could cause the company to fold.

Whilst DICE is big, they aren't a huge corporation and for that reason, they won't be extremely asset rich or have huge stockpiles of cash to keep themselves afloat should things go tits up.

This was evident with the closure of various development companies and wings such as Midway games and EA LA. If you're not successful, you close and everyone looses their job.

Large market span and stable revenue is the key to growth and success, this is why we are seeing DICE attempting to expand. A single product is no longer financial feasible.

It seems quite feasible for Infinity Ward, Turn 10, Bungie, Polyphony Digital....... You just have to have a good product and maintain it.

It is also NOT feasible to abandon your flagship product and your main customer base.

Whilst I see where you are coming from, I believe you're dreaming a bit. A PC exclusive BF3 would be amazing, but come back down to the real world with us lot, money drives the world we live in and it's what each company aims to make. DICE and EA are no exception, just because they provide entertainment media doesn't mean their #1 goal is your personal satisfaction.

You sometimes have to remember these are real people, real business, real money. A utopia is a nice place to live, but it does give you a rather unrealistic view point of life.

I hope that answers your questions without seeming too rude and will perhaps force you to think. I don't know if you are in employment, but if you ever come to run your own business or department, you might see where I am coming from.

Yea, it's a sad day when instead of just making a damn fine product all company ever thinks about is profit and money.

You are not being rude, but I get a feeling that you are more interested in money and gaming business than games and the art itself.

Are you majoring in business? You must be familiar with the following quote: "Profit is not the legitimate purpose of business. The legitimate purpose of business is to provide a product or service that people need and do it so well that it's profitable".


The bottom line, if we speak about business and money is this: DICE currently is not providing good product, and they will not be getting my money. That's the bottom line.


Infinity Ward deliver a great product, with a proven, safe and preferred business model(no ********, new experiments on customers). They have surpassed DICE in their own game(online), are on top and more power to them.


DICE are also quite eager to port their games to PC this time around, what's their sales numbers on 360?
They are nowhere near the radar on xbox live stats and that doesn't say much about their product.

[Spawndemon]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Power of the gun does not matter, you are getting something I will not because I simply refused to hand over money before seeing what the product is like, maybe I don't want to buy the game on the first day, maybe I want to wait a month or two, you are getting more, be it a skin, sound or whatever.

I never said pre-order costs more money, I'm simply stating that they are forcing you to buy on the first day in order not to be left out.... As I've stated, I want a FULL game, and I want to walk in to the shop a year later and buy the game that is FULL.

Why should I have to buy it on the first day to get something?

And that's your problem/issue if you don't want to pre-order the game early to receive an unlock. You're missing the point here though. Whether or not you pre-order the game, you are still getting the FULL game whenever you purchase it. The unlock that pre-orders get is still in the game, you just have to earn the points to unlock it. So it's not like the pre-orders are getting an exclusive weapon that if you didn't pre-order, you don't have the possibility to get.

And as Alex said, no one is forcing you to pre-order the game. No one is taking away your right to say no. Therefore DICE is doing nothing wrong with this early unlock. And I don't understand why anyone would throw such a fit over something as trivial as getting an unlock early...if it's not for you, and you don't want to pre-order and get an unlock early, then don't. But maybe others do and are wanting to and there's nothing wrong with that.

[=98=]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Power of the gun does not matter, you are getting something I will not because I simply refused to hand over money before seeing what the product is like, maybe I don't want to buy the game on the first day, maybe I want to wait a month or two, you are getting more, be it a skin, sound or whatever.

I never said pre-order costs more money, I'm simply stating that they are forcing you to buy on the first day in order not to be left out.... As I've stated, I want a FULL game, and I want to walk in to the shop a year later and buy the game that is FULL.

I see your point there, but I think it comes down to opinion. I think it's a good marketing scheme to encourage early sales, but yes, from a players perspective, I can see it may be seen as annoying.

Yea, of course PC/360/PS3 all together will bring more profit, but couldn't they separate PC from consoles? and have two different games each appropriate for the according system, they did that before.

Easier said than done. If you are going to split development, you're going to need two completely different teams for production, theoretically doubling the price!

I see no issue in creating a product for 3 platforms and porting it, so long as the port is polished and feels like a native PC game. We are yet to really see much about 1943 or BC2, so I wouldn't judge it yet.

They have been testing new transactions since Battlefield 2, EA Downloader, expensions, extensions....... it does not work. They should've understood that by now.

Well, i'm not sure where you got your "failure" figures from, but was it not turning a profit, it wouldn't still be running now

Also, micro-transitions have not been used before

What about jets? more than two armies? only a few vehicles?

That is also another problem, because Call of Duty in each new game introduced something new and more, Battlefield on the other hand has been downsized, considerably and that's kinda hard to swallow.

You're now thinking along the lines of there will never be a BF3! Come on, the DICE devs have said "we haven't forgotten the hardcore element" enough times to let you know that something is in the pipeworks. But, like anything, it takes time. Maybe there were delays, maybe they didn't get started to late, but you'd be mad to think they aren't working on some kind of sequel!

Think of 1943 and BC2 as fillers. They could have just gone straight to console and missed out PC, so feel a little lucky they have ported them. Ah, hey, if you don't like it, don't buy it! DICE don't owe you anything.

Yea, it's a sad day when instead of just making a damn fine product all company ever thinks about is profit and money.

That's what the entire concept of marketing, the economy and business has revolved around for the last few hundred years. It's always been about money! The quicker you learn that, the easier it'll be.

Are you majoring in business? You must be familiar with the following quote: "Profit is not the legitimate purpose of business. The legitimate purpose of business is to provide a product or service that people need and do it so well that it's profitable".

I'm half way through a business and IT systems course at one of the best computing Uni's at the UK, so that would be where I learn my corporate whore'ness :p

But, to be honest, I tend to be a rather realistic (some say pessimistic). I know it's possible to dream of lots of lovely things, but we are living in a real, profit and consumer driven world. Once you understand the working of a company, you do realise what is feasible and what isn't and i'm afraid, a lot of this DICE should drop the consoles stuff just isn't realistic. Like any company, DICE wants to grow and to do this, they are spanning the market.

The bottom line, if we speak about business and money is this: DICE currently is not providing good product, and they will not be getting my money. That's the bottom line.

The bottom line is, they may not get your cash, but they'll get mine and a few hundred thousand other peoples around the world. For every one "hardcore" PC gamer that puts up his revolutionary flag and decides to boycott Battlefield games, there are 10 console gamers and causal gamers will to buy.

[imported_Whiskey]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

Now, you say that money is in consoles, yet they made huge amounts of money on Battlefield 2.

Do you want to tell me that if they released a proper Battlefield 3 on PC only as it should be, they would not make an absolute killing on it? and sell more copies than they will sell of Bad Company 2 on consoles?

You may not agree, but that's exactly the situation. There are a lot of people who just don't understand how much bigger the console market is now.

When BF2 came out, there wasn't this huge online community or online capability for Consoles. PC was the only choice for something like that, which was part of the reason it was so successful. But times have changed. Sales of other FPS games (eg. COD4) on console show it. The numbers are not even close. BC2 on Consoles would easily outsell a BF3 that was PC-only, just from the sheer size of their player numbers.

The old "glory" days of BF2 are gone. People have to accept that. And as I've said before, EA/DICE aren't going to pour a lot of money into R&D for a huge game like BF3 to only reap profits on PC. They will only do that once they can put it out on all 3 platforms...that way, the PC will be minimal work/time/$$$, and the profit margin will be worth it.

You are speaking as a fan, which is fine, but without trying to flame you, like most other fans, you do not understand how the industry has changed over the yrs. I've actually worked in the business, and still have connections in it. Consoles are absolutely massive business, so that's where the priority has to be for most developers.

..

And as others have said, this promotion just means that those who pre-order get the gun unlocked early...those who do not pre-order still will have access to it, through the regular level-up/unlock system. It's just incentive and marketing. It won't make those players super killing machines. Other games do this as well. It's not something to get bent out of shape over.

[Wizrdwarts]

Re: Get an Early Unlock in Bad Company 2

lol dear dice, Call of Duty is SLAUGHTERING you on xbox, and you have enough nerve to do this crap?

Get yourself together, leave the console business, concentrate on hardcore fans and stop doing this pathetic ******** promotions.

So, for now, thanks but no dice.

Yes if you aren't the most played franchise on consoles it definitely takes "nerve" to pull off a marketing promotion. No one's forcing you to buy the game early. Did you complain when the 2142 preorderers got a free 40 point unlock too?