Company of Heroes 2 open beta extended through Sunday
Aban Hawkins & the 1,001 Spikes pokes its way onto Vita
Skulls of the Shogun escaping Windows 8 exclusivity
Rayman Legends wouldn't sell enough on Wii U, says Ubisoft
Criterion staff assisting Ghost Games with Need For Speed: Rivals
Exclusive DLC for Mass Effect 2, Battlefield, Medal of Honor and Others in Dr. Pepper Promo
by Alice O'Connor, Jan 08, 2010 12:20pm PSTExclusive downloadable content items for EA titles including Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be given away in a new promotion with soft drink Dr. Pepper kicking off this week, the development and publishing giant announced today.
Every participating bottle will bear a code redeemable online for exclusive DLC such as Mass Effect 2 armour and BC2 kit packs which even bring an extra achievement.
The games currently featured in the promotion are Mass Effect 2, Battlefield: Heroes, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, The Sims 3 and Spore, with "others to be announced throughout the year"--which Dr Pepper reveals will include Skate 3 and Medal of Honor.
A few details from EA on the DLC revealed so far are quoted below.
Game enhancements for The Sims 3, for example, feature theme-based bundles including Vintage Vegas, Beach Party, Celebrity and Football. Consumers will be able to download exciting new content ranging from a party top or hot boots all the way to a cool Retro car. Fans who have played The Sims over the years will recognize items inspired by previous The Sims games like the Lips Couch or Boomerang Window.
Other examples of exclusive downloadable content include the following:
- In Spore, a dozen Cyborg-themed body parts - such as eyes, heads and arms - can be redeemed and used in the Spore Creature Creator. These parts allow players to mix robot and organic creature body parts to design their own Cyborg creatures. The exclusive Cyborg parts will be usable by all owners of the Spore PC game and anyone who downloads the free Spore Creature Creator Trial Edition...
- In Mass Effect 2... there are three unique pieces of armor: two helmets and a visor...
- In Battlefield Heroes, there are four sets of unique character clothing, and consumers get a pair of outfits per download, one for each side.
- In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 four kit upgrades allow you to become a unique Special Activities soldier, with new camouflage and a modified weapon. Kit upgrades also contain new awards and an additional achievement.
As for exactly which vessels contain codes, where and when, Dr Pepper explains thusly.
Look under the cap of specially marked 20 oz., 16 oz. and 14 oz. bottles of Dr Pepper, Dr Pepper Cherry, Diet Dr Pepper and Diet Dr Pepper Cherry for the game code. Codes will be available under the cap on bottles from January 1, 2010 through March 31, 2010 and from July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 in participating markets. Look behind the sticker of specially marked 32 oz. fountain cups of Dr Pepper at participating locations from April 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010 for the Code.
Comments
This is the #1 reason why I waited until Borderlands was $33 to buy it and why I waited until almost everyone else had finished Fallout 3 to start playing it. While I firmly believe these are two of the best games of the past few years, paying upwards of $100-120 (or even more) for the total content by the time the development process for these titles is completed just isn't something I'm going to support.
Yeah, DLC ain't going away, and expansion packs have been around forever. I just think the current craziness for DLC where you'll see games released like this with often dozens of exclusive content bundles from half a dozen different "partners" and campaigns adding like an hour or two of gameplay being pimped for almost the cost of an entire game will wind up to be a very annoying fad.
$60 is already a LOT to ask people to pay for a video game. And I think many of the most influential cliques of gamers are starting to get pissed at the tactics being leveraged to drive up the price even more by obscuring those price increases through "DLC".
Bottom line and this is the important part for devs): If you want to sell a game a license at a time, then sell the complete damned game at launch. If you're gonna use the "gaming as a service" model, then USE IT - charge a monthly fee that can be canceled at any time and release content on a regular basis to all subscribers. But this current trend of publishers and studios trying to half-ass it somewhere in between in order to use it as a thinly-veiled excuse to soak their customers, promote completely unrelated products, and then abandon their titles isn't going to hold up in the long run. It's just transparently exploitative and more often than not leads to shoddy, halting, often confusing development processes. Customers will only stand for that for so long, and I'm sure the creative minds behind many of the most highly-regarded studios are becoming more than a little disenchanted with it.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 15 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 6 replies.
http://www.shackpics.com/files/drpepper_vor_71lhoeeww50jnjovte0a.jpg
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 20 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 5 replies.
I chose not to buy the DLC and traded the game in for something else, mostly due to the fact that I was pissed. This DLC crap, except for really good worthwhile stuff in the rare case - is getting out of hand. Announcing DLC before the game is even released is a slap in the face to the consumer. I mean really, here's our game and by the way we have more here of the game, ready to go but - we're going to charge you later for it. Jeez.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
but that aside you can still find a few gems every now and then .
Nope, now it is "pre-order it at this store only, join our website, buy dr. pepper, and make sure to get the collectors edition with exclusive missions, items, and powers!"
I want to blame something and yell, but I can't, this was bound to happen, and it's going to get worse..or at least more annoying.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
I'm going to shut out EA's Mass Effect 2 marketing machine from my mind until this game releases.
This kind of stuff is annoying, not the end of the world. I'm fairly sure.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Bioware should give themselves 40 lashes for selling their souls to the Disney of video gaming.
F*** EA
....and Dr. Pepper too
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 3 replies.
Also, what the hell is wrong with you people? There should be an a-hole law for people who hate Dr. Pepper. I mean, it's no Mr. Pibb but come on!
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 4 replies.
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 2 replies.
You must be logged in to post.