Weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company Beta only unlockable through microtransactions?

Posted Mar 21, 2008 at 8:14PM by QJ Staff Listed in: PS3, Xbox 360 Tags: Electronic Arts
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Battlefield: Bad Company - Image 1 


It seems that Electronic Arts is once more hopping on the microtransaction bandwagon, as quite a few people have discovered something a bit ominous in the Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) Beta that was unleashed a few days back. Well, it's not really ominous, but if you consider it, those without any way to pay for microtransactions could very well be playing an imbalanced game.

So, what was discovered, anyway? Well, the options screen in the console beta lists a total of ten locked weapons, with the words "Available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace." What this means is that to access these weapons or unlock them for use, one would probably have to fork over a bit of green in the Xbox Live Marketplace first. Five of these weapons also seem to be unlockable IF one buys the game collector's edition. Huh.

While locking content away for money is not unheard of, the fact that there will be no other way to unlock these weapons other than paying is a bit suspect. Other games have done this, but usually there's an alternative, free way to unlock the stuff being sold. This gives the player an option of whether or not to get the extra content now for a price, or get them later after finishing this or that requirement.

Of course, if one is only planning to play Battlefield: Bad Company alone, then the microtransactions probably won't mean much, as the purchases of other players can't affect your gameplay. It will mean a lot in multiplayer, however, because this practically means that whoever pays gets the biggest guns. Here's hoping that EA wises up and either makes the weapons accessible through some other method, or does away with the policy altogether at the game's release. In any case, updates as we get them.

Buy: [Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition (PS3)]
Buy: [Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition (Xbox 360)]


 
 
 

Comments

by itsblackmelop - 2008-03-21 21:34:59
Money hungry

Yes they say money is the root of all evil things, I guess EA is putting that terms in good use. What happen to beat the game and unlock the good stuff.
by Master Chef - 2008-03-22 03:54:28
I doubt it

It'll probably be like the Godfather game, where you can unlock it legit for free in-game or cheat and just buy it. It only says "available on XBLM" because they don't want to tell you exactly how to unlock it in-game, you're supposed to figure that out yourself
by DNAgent - 2008-03-22 07:38:25
So?

The PS3 isn't getting the beta so who the ***** cares? The Battlefield games suck anyways (lol, EA). The only thing that will get me away from COD4 is MGO and/or Haze.

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