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EA Has Crossed the Line
Published on 02-11-2007
" This was a very short piece I wrote for GamerNode some time back that never made it on the site, since we didn't have any capacity to post it. So here it is, in its original glory from two months ago.
Electronic Arts has caught some flack recently for what can only be described as an abuse of the Xbox Live Marketplace. They've released video walkthroughs for a price, allowed you to purchase in-game money (for a fee of that real-life money) and essentially allowed you to purchase cheat codes. Last night -- at least in this writer's eyes -- they quite clearly and definitively crossed the line.
The newly released Need For Speed: Carbon received some downloadable content last night on the Marketplace. The first piece, available for 800 points ($10) is the bonus content that you receive with the Collector's Edition of the game, sans the additional DVD. You receive new tracks, cars and missions; all reasonable downloadable content, and while some may take an issue with having to purchase content that's available from launch, it's not this particular piece of content that will be raising eyebrows.
10 more pieces of downloadable content up, and each and every one basically equates to being a cheat code. Each unlocks different items -- from performance upgrades to new cars -- which can be unlocked by simply playing the game. Assuming you were to purchase all of it (not including the Collector's Edition upgrade), you'd have to plunk down a grand total of 1940 points, or roughly a hair under $25.
The ludicrousness of this goes without saying, and while some may argue that you're not obligated to buy all of it, the pricing, and indeed the simple existence of these items is obscene. Keep in mind that in past games, to accomplish what these downloads will net you, you'd simply need to head online and check for a cheat code, and in all likelihood that's what you'll be able to do in Carbon for current-gen systems. Now, that's no longer a choice. "
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 | nice artice man.. If your ever interested in posting your own articles to our websites please use our Submit News feature or just keep using your blog as i will soon be implementing more and more features for this area.
anyway, a nice read.. Shame it didn't get some well deserved attention.
enjoy the sites,
hobbs
'' . reduceurl("http://www.360-hq.com") . ''
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 | TheSmokingManX
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Name: Chris Pereira
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