"Well, if anyone previously doubted my motivations, this should clear things right up..."

But yeah, that’s what’s about to happen. Call it Fanboi rage or something.

Last night, my long wait for Mass Effect 3 finally came to an end. I’ve spent the last month or so playing and re-playing the ME3 demo and wrangled three friends into getting online and playing the multiplayer portion of the demo with me. I went back and played ME and ME2 just to try to get in a fix while I waited.

I’m not against waiting. I actually like when the anticipation builds to a fever pitch and most of the best things in life are worth waiting for. Maybe not all of them but most of them.

What does set my Rage Level to 11, however, is arriving to pick up my game, which, I might note, has been paid for in full since the first day the game was available for pre-order, and discovering there is already DLC being sold the night of the launch.

I have no idea what Electronic Arts was thinking. We’re not talking about some Day One patch that has to be downloaded before I can play but a DLC package that requires me to pay extra to have all of the content on the night of its launch. PAID DLC ON DAY ONE. Let that sink in for a second.

This is like going to the movies and shelling out the cash for your tickets, sitting through a movie you’ve been waiting to see, only to have the lights come on before the climatic ending, and being told that to see the end of the movie, it will be an extra five bucks.

Dirty pool, EA.

It gets better. A little research and Crutchboy discovers that the DLC we’re shelling out an extra $10 for is actually the extra content available with the Collector’s Edition. So now you’ve not just slapped the general gaming populace in the face by providing paid DLC on launch but you’ve also pretty much invalidated the extra content the Collector’s Edition folks were looking forward to enjoying while the rest of us waited for the day when the DLC was made available.

Sure, those who shelled out the extra cash for the CE probably get some physical goodies. Though based on my own lackluster experience with the CE of SWTOR, I can’t say the extra 20 bucks was worth an ME coffee mug or whatever EA packaged into the game since you’ve gone and made the extra content, the actual meat of what you were pitching to those interested in the Collector’s Edition, available to any poor schmuck who feels obligated to give you an extra ten bucks on launch day to make sure they’re not missing out on anything.

This is the end of “us”, EA. I’ve shelled out money for your titles and I’ve been a loyal fan of some of your games for years. You disappointed me when I found my last purchase of Madden to be the version I got the year before with an updated roster and a new coat of paint. You disappointed me when you started tying all of your in-game content to pre-orders of titles I had no interest in or on playing demos of games I really didn’t care to play.

You’ve made some good decisions in the past few years, namely the purchase of BioWare and all of the intellectual property that entailed, but you’ve made some glaring mistakes that I’m finding harder and harder to ignore. Offering me paid DLC on the night of the launch of one of the most anticipated titles on my very short list is the final straw.

You’re not getting any more money from me. Oh, I’ll continue to play the titles I’ve already purchased but I won’t be purchasing any new games or any further DLC from you. I won’t be pre-ordering any more games, giving you the excuse to artificially inflate your sales numbers by counting pre-orders as full sales in the present fiscal quarter.

More importantly to me, though I doubt you’ll notice, will be my silence in regards to any of your new titles. I won’t talk about them, write about them, or recommend them to friends.

And sadly, that means I won’t be purchasing anything else your genius step-child, BioWare, produces in the future because you’ve taken a brilliant product line and applied your ever shadier business model to it.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

(Gamespot) – Ordinarily, there’s very little warning about apocalyptic zombie outbreaks. However, Take-Two Interactive today provided this week a courteous “heads up” of such an event, letting Red Dead Redemption players know that the Undead Nightmare downloadable game pack would be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store on October 26 for $9.99 (800 Microsoft points).

For those averse to digital distribution in all its forms, the publisher also announced Undead Nightmare, a stand-alone disc compiling all four announced Red Dead Redemption add-on packs: Undead Nightmare, Outlaws to the End, Legends and Killers, and Liars and Cheats. The retail collection will also include all previously released multiplayer free roam modes and won’t require a copy of the original Red Dead Redemption to play. When it arrives in stores, Undead Nightmare will sell for $30.

As the name implies, the Undead Nightmare Pack introduces zombies to the world of Red Dead Redemption with an entirely new single-player adventure. The storyline sees an undead plague sweep across the frontier, with protagonist John Marston charged with finding a cure. Additionally, it adds more animals to the game’s biosphere, new “dynamic events,” eight new zombie characters for use in multiplayer, and a new Undead Overrun cooperative mode.

Get your six shooter ready for some brain blasting! RDR Undead Nightmare Trailer!

From Rockstar.com:

“the Undead Nightmare Pack will feature an entirely new mostly single-player campaign that follows John Marston as he tries to find a cure for the highly infectious zombie plague that has spread across the frontier.

In addition to this epic new single-player adventure, the Undead Nightmare Pack also features brand new gameplay mechanics, weapons, zombie animals, mythical creatures and even a brand new secret location. All this, plus some exciting new multiplayer details and much more to be revealed very soon.”

Not sure how they will mesh this into the story line, without ruining the ending for people who have not played the game all the way through – it will be interesting to see if Rockstar’s writers try and shove a square peg through a round hole…but just in time for Halloween none the less.

Latest DLC Coming to Both L4D1 & L4D2

(Press Release) – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the new add-on for its co-operative zombie thrillers — “The Sacrifice,” in development for both Left 4 Dead (L4D) and Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) — is due for release on October 5, 2010.

“The Sacrifice” is the prequel to “The Passing,” and takes place from the L4D Survivors’ perspective as they make their way South. In addition to advancing the story, “The Sacrifice” introduces a new style finale featuring “Sacrificial Gameplay” where players get to decide who will give their life so the others may live.

The Sacrifice DLC for L4D1 is a seperate download than The Sacrifice for L4D2.

In The Sacrifice for Left 4 Dead 1 gamers receive the complete Sacrifice campaign with maps playable in Campaign, Versus, and Survival.

In The Sacrifice for Left 4 Dead 2 owners receive “The Sacrifice” campaign playable with the Left 4 Dead Survivors. In addition, those with Left 4 Dead 2 receive L4D’s “No Mercy” campaign. Both campaigns are playable in Campaign, Versus, Survival, and Scavenge modes and both will feature the Left 4 Dead 2 Special Infected, items, and weapons. Yes, Zoey with a chainsaw!

Targeted for release on October 5th, “The Sacrifice” will be available for download on Xbox Live for 560 Microsoft Points and free to all PC gamers.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com.

Some days I think it stands for "Evil Accountants"...

I’m a fan of the Madden series.  It’s been one of the games that’s kept me coming back for more every single year.  I wasn’t too happy when Electronic Arts landed their “exclusive??? contract with the NFL because I thought it would mean that they wouldn’t try as hard to produce quality products for the series.  I was wrong, the games continue to be top notch but with the most recent release, I’m concerned that EA is taking the microtransaction business model a bit too far.

For instance, I picked up my game on launch day, August 10^th, and took it home to see how many improvements there were over the previous year’s iteration.  Upon loading the game, I found there was already “DLC??? available for the title.  Needless to say, I was a little surprised about this and went to see what could have possibly been added…

There were scouting reports, Ultimate Team mods (more on this in a moment), and a few other assorted “power ups??? that could be purchased with cold, hard cash.  It’s not that surprising to me after seeing the “add-ons??? that were made available for Mass Effect 2 shortly after launch; weapons, armor, more weapons, avatar items, pets… It was ridiculous.  And then they added DLC that included missions and of course I was interested in those so they had to be purchased.  So when everything is said and done in regards to ME2, I’ve now probably spent $100 on a $60 game…

Then there’s the “Ultimate Team??? in Madden 11 which is touted as being a mixture between Fantasy Football and Madden’s Franchise Mode to provide a “unique experience??? to fans of the series.  The Fantasy Football angle is provided via a Trading Card method.  You receive a “starter pack??? in order to begin your team and then as you play, you garner coins that allow you to purchase new “booster packs??? or bid on players being “auctioned??? by other players.  It is a new, fairly interesting means of enjoying a Madden game and certainly does inspire one to keep playing in order to garner newer, better players.

On paper, it’s a great idea.  However, let me tell you about my short lived experience with it.

I got my starter deck, all mediocre players, and moved a few around a few of them before choosing to play against the CPU in order to see what moves had been changed.  On the second play of the very first game, my first string quarterback was sacked and removed from the game with a broken collarbone.  He’s out for the season.

So my second string QB steps up to the challenge and I finish out the first game, losing abysmally to my CPU opponent.  I receive 450 coins for my efforts.  To put a perspective on the amount of coins, the booster packs are rated using Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.  The Bronze pack costs 1000 coins.

I quickly jump back in the fray thinking I can hold out with a few close games to have enough to start building my team. In the second quarter, my second string QB is sacked and put out of the game with a concussion.  He’s out for the remainder of this game and the next.  I only had two quarterbacks.  This means I have to “promote??? a kicker to the QB position to finish out the game.  During the process of losing once again, I lose several defensive players and end up having to put some offensive men into an “Iron Man Football??? situation, having to play both sides of the line as the game progresses.  At the end, I’m awarded another 450 coins.

So where am I? I have a kicker filling in for my injured QBs, I have a Fullback playing as a Linebacker, a wide receiver pulling double duty as a safety, and one poor tight end playing as an off tackle.  On top of all of this, I still don’t have enough coins to purchase even the low end Bronze booster pack.

I start checking to see if there’s some means to get more coins without losing the other half of my team to injuries and sure enough, lo and behold, I can purchase more coins using Microsoft Points that I have purchased with real money.

I didn’t even look at the conversion rate.  Sickened by this ploy, I turned off the game and I haven’t turned it back on since.

I’m certain there is a game here that I will enjoy.  I could ignore Ultimate Team mode and simply begin my franchise as I have each time I pick up a new Madden title but the thing is, I’m starting to see a lot of corporate greed in the titles EA has been producing lately in the form of their version of “microtransactions???.

Let’s review the more traditional form of the microtransaction business model… First, the games that use this model are typically free to play for either a certain amount of time or you only have access to better “gear??? when you pay in for either a monthly subscription or you can use real cash to outright buy items for use in game.  I don’t have a problem with this model.  I have tried several free to play games and often end up paying something in to show my appreciation for them.

Games that use microtransactions may also release expansions that you must purchase in order to experience the content.  The base game is still “free to play??? and thus, one can continue to play the base game without the expansion if one so desires.  Again, this is a logical business model and I have, in the past, purchased the additional content in order to show my support of the game company since they have provided me with something I enjoy doing whether I pay for it or not.

Some of the shortcomings of the games in this field is that those people who are willing to spend large amounts of cash are often unstoppable in the gear they’ve purchased.  This, however, justifies the position of the company to provide a free to play product and to produce such content that allows them to continue to do so and thus I suffer through the butt whoopings I receive at the hands of those with the fat wallets.

Now, I just shelled out $60 for my copy of Madden 11.  I don’t want to find out that someone who is willing to shell out another $100 on top of the original sixty is completely skewing the playing field (pardon the pun).  You already have my money, EA… level the field.

It’s simple.  If you’re going to put together a game where you want people to constantly pay in so that they can have the best “team??? or “gear??? or whatever you’re hawking, don’t charge me up front for your product.  If I determine that I want to pay in because I appreciate the game or simply because I want to be able to compete at the same level as others who are playing, I will do so.  Now, however, you’ve forced me to reconsider my purchase because you have DLC and content available to those who are willing to shell out more money on top of the initial purchase price.

People will likely tell me to calm down, that I’m overreacting to one portion of a great game.  They might be right.  I can tell you this… if EA continues in this vein, I may be boycotting any series they produce which has a “pay??? mode.  I understand they have to make money on their products but in light of their recent decision to add an EA login to the requirements of DLC, forcing one who purchases a used copy to spend more money in order to play the used copy on line, I think they’re just milking us for everything we’re willing to pay.

There might be a great game in the Madden 11 box.  For now, though, it’s staying on the shelf until I cool down.

Gritskrieg – End of Line

The New Borderlands (3rd DLC installment) entitled ‘The Secret Armory of General Knox’ is en route to your download station this year. Gearbox states that this package is “bigger and better than the previous two installments” and is aimed at levelling and skilling out your level 20-50 pandora stomping toon. Gearbox is also promising a level cap rise, but have not yet indicated how high, and expects to deliver “brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions, entirely new weapons and items.???

Rumors are also floating around of a new ground vehicle to roll around in (see pic), and possibly even a new character to power up. Either way, the last episodes have well extended our fun at BusyGamer, and we are certain this one will too. Still no price or confirmed date, just some gnarly press screen shots.

Check out our BusyGamer review of Borderlands while your here.

Over at the official Borderlands forums this weekend, Gearbox dropped some news on us indicating that there would be a new DLC on it’s way to the Xbox 360 marketplace and Playstation Network.

Gearbox says that the new DLC for Borderlands will be the “biggest we have made”, and the team is working on a new update for the game as well. Neither the update nor the DLC have a release date at this point, but are saying more info will be coming shortly.

The last two DLC’s for Borderlands, ‘Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot’ and ‘The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned’ have proven to be smash hits for rpg shooter fans, adding a whopping 15 hrs of game time to the already very lengthy game (for the BusyGamer that is). And Moxxi’s Underdome still challenges us over at BG every time we fire it up, it being one of our top mulitplayer titles to date.

[Official Borderlands Site]

Mass Effect 2, which launches January 26, will be buzzing with tons of additional content in 2010 (to add even further to the game’s immenseness). Xbox Live has noted that we can expect to see several add on features in the marketplace such as “planned episodic combat via DLC,??? weapon and armor packs, new downloadable characters for the “campaign experience,??? new downloadable worlds, as well as “full campaign expansions for download.???

Also mentioned is that the game will carry “periodic updates,??? which features DLC, via Mass Effect 2’s unannounced in-game “Cerberus Network.???

And to dazzle us fans a little bit more, posted via Bioware’s Twitter, the studio indicated there will be launch-day DLC and it won’t cost anything. Hear that? Not that any of us BusyGamers would even get around to loading up (or even you for that matter, ME2 is 2 discs HUGE) more content on day one of the launch, it’s should keep our science-fiction appetites well catered to for a good while.

Official Tweet: “Addressing rumors: BioWare will not be charging extra for any new Mass Effect 2 content on launch day. More DLC details next week.”

[Source]

BioWare’s superior power over the console’s/PC’s rpgs says its next Dragon Age Origins downloadable expansion pack will be out for Xbox 360 and PC on January 5th. Unfortunately all PS3 owners will have to wait a few extra weeks for the DLC pack, in which the company states “should be available later on in January.”

The new DAO downloadable content, entitled “Return to Ostagar”, will allow you to slip back in Ostagar to “exact…revenge and embark on a quest for the mighty arms and armor of the once great King Cailan when [you] revisit Ostagar, the site of the Grey Wardens’ darkest hour.” Get all that? Yep, so did we.

This expansion was planned for release in late 2009, but missed it’s chance for the holiday window. The prior DLC packs ‘The Stone Prisoner’ and ‘Warden’s Keep’ were launched simultaneous with the game in November. How’s that for extra grinding power? [/endlifehere!]

“Return to Ostagar” for Dragon Age Origins will be available for download next week and will set you back 400 Microsoft Points, or $5.

[Source]

Valve is ready to bridge the gap between Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. The DLC currently titled ‘The Passing’, will see the original survivors encounter the newcomers in Left 4 Dead 2.

The DLC will crossover the two sets of survivors in the game, but you’ll be playing as the new ones. Valve describes the upcoming campaign as “the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story.”

In addition to a new story campaign, the content will include a new “uncommon common” zombie, melee weapon, gun and new playable areas for the Survival, Versus and Scavenge game types. Valve is also promising a new “co-operative challenge mode of play,” but has released no details.

The Passing is scheduled for a release in “early 2010″ for both Xbox 360 and PC.

[Source]