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Electronic Arts have had to issue a statement after they have came under fire for making a special edition of Battlefield 3 available to Game or Gamestation shops.
The problem occured when EA announced that they were releasing a special version of the game with the ‘Physical Warfare Pack'. This special edition would be supplied with unique content if you preordered from Gamestation or Game stores. Hard core followers of the series were concerned that the special edition would unbalance the game play.
The add ons for the game included a flash suppressor for the SKS sniper rifle, a Type 88 light machine gun and immediate access to the unlockable DAO-12 shotgun with armor piercing flechette ammunition. With these extra weapons Electronic Arts were hoping that people would pre order the game immediate, driving sales. In this case, the public were less than enamored with the concept.
Comments on the EA website from gamers were less than positive saying the move was “just plain wrong”, “Pathetic” and “a cash in to make more money”. A campaign was even started on reddit to ask fans to boycott the game totally until EA would make the extra weapons available to everyone who bought the game.
EA said that concerns over game unbalancing were wrong and they issued a statement which said “The three exclusive items in the Physical Warfare Pack were specifically chosen not to be overpowered or imbalance or break the game in any way.” You always know when a company are taking concerns seriously when they address it with a public statement.
The company added that the extra weaponry was included because “we believe in rewarding our core fanbase with special offers.” They also announced a ‘Back to Karkand' expansion addon for people who preorder both the standard and special editions of the game.
Kitguru says: Gamers are still concerned about unbalanced game play, and we will find out once it is released and available to the masses.
If they had offered new outfits, or even new maps it wouldn’t have caused such a problem, but new weapons? I can’t believe EA didnt think about this beforehand. I cant see them unbalancing the game with these, but how they will work it, I dont know. Its clearly a move to drive preorders, but lets hope they have it all well playtested or they will never live it down.
I love this concept of fair play, it does not exist. There is always someone with an advantage, be it just better skill, more free time to unlockl more of the game, better connection speeds, a better computer and the list goes on and on.
So much effort goes into “balancing” game play these days that the whole idea of differences between classes, weapons and so on vanishes so they can be balanced.
It’s a game folks, if you are having fun enjoy it, if not then do not play it and move on.
Want to demand something USEFUL from game companies? Demand every game has a free trial of the full game for at least 72 hours so you can see if you want to buy it or not. THAT would make games fair for all gamers!