EA's further punish pre owned game buyers with Online Passes

After saw the success of Project ten dollars, EA introduces Online Passes to its game. Basically this is the next after Project ten dollars that EA implemented in Battlefield Bad Company 2, which require you to input the redeemable code that available when you buy the new copy.

So what is Online Passes? According to Joystiq, "Online Pass" will be title specific that enables access to "online services, features, and bonus content." If the code has already been redeemed (i.e. if you bought the game used) additional Online Passes will be available for (you guessed it!) ten dollars. Each game will include a seven-day free trial.

So what does it mean really? It means that for people who buy used game, they will be forced to spend 10 dollars for online play. Not just bonus content like in BC 2, but the entire Online play mode!

I can understand that development cost this generation cost a lot, with servers for online play and everything, publisher really trying hard to get maximal return for their games. But games are also expensive hobby. Many gamers out there don't have resources available to buy new games all the time. Pre owned games will help brand recognition as more and more people will play that game.

This Online Passes thing is a bit harsh to punish people with relatively lower income in my opinion. I think EA should consider this through and find the right balance. 
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Annual release ruined Medal of Honor according to EA

Medal of Honor series is set to be given a reboot by EA. Last couple Medal of Honor has been disappointing. MoH once a top shooters has been dwindling, but this time EA determined to correct the wrong. So when asked what went wrong with the series, EA games president Frank Gibeau share his thought.

"I think any franchise that's been around for a long time, they get in a rut, they become over-annualized. They run out of innovation," explained the EA exec. "The team pounds on a game every year, and they get tired, they run out of time and effort to be innovative and try and take some new risks. That was my view on how the franchise has fallen."

Of course that is not the only concern, Frank admitted that previous MoH series lacking in online play department. "I also felt like the online component wasn't getting enough attention," Gibeau confessed. "Any shooter worth its salt is going to be really breakthrough in its online play, and I think Battlefield: Bad Company is a good example of that, I think Modern Warfare 2 is a good example of that, I think Halo clearly is a good example of that. The power of a franchise in the shooter category is in the online component and modes."

What Frank Gibeau said was right, and it is exactly what has been happening with Call of Duty series. true that Activision lets different studio to make the Call of Duty series, but it hasn't change the fact that we still hasn't seen any innovation since Call of Duty 4. The gameplay has been more or less the same.

So the fact that EA is working hard to bring Medal of Honor to be in line with Modern Warfare is really exciting. I really hope we can see a different AAA shooters in the market soon.
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Premium downloadable content coming from EA

In further monetization of digital content. EA has a new plan in the horizon. While we are already familiar with post release DLC and game demo. EA want to try something new called "premium downloadable content". Think of it like a very long game demo with 3 - 4 hours of playing time, sort of like Battlefield 1943. This DLC will be available shortly before the release of full blown packaged game and will be priced at $10- $15. 

From EA point of view, this will serve a low cost marketing tool and limit the risk of completing and marketing the full game. They can determined whether people like this game and to identify what change should be made based on user feedback before they release the full game.

While I'd say that this is an interesting idea, we need to further see what EA means by this premium DLC. If this is like a big chunk of the full game before the actual release, maybe like Gran Turismo Prologue, then I think it is just ridiculous. Having to spend $15 then another $60 if you like the game, is a definite turn off. 

However if this DLC is something that you cannot find in the full game but somehow still in relation to the story and its universe, then I think it can be interesting. Think of it like Resident Evil 5 DLC The Lost in Nightmare episodes, put it into pre DLC instead of post DLC.
Even though I wouldn't dare to say that people will love this idea, as least make them feel their money worth something. The question is whether developers like EA will deliberately cuts off the chunk of full game and separate it to make more money out of it. I think they will.
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EA games, hyped but come out short

Dante's Inferno, the newest title from EA will has released. It's about a dude try to save his girl that he even go through hell, literally. This game has spun quite a hype among gamers, and EA really aggressively pushing this title. They even planned to advertise during Super Bowl. Do you know how much it cost for 30 secs advertising during Super Bowl?
With the support is that good, EA must have some faith in the game, no?
Then reviews comes in. I was surprised that Dante's Inferno has been given C- by 1Up.com and 6/10 elsewhere. Sure, we should not trust 100% what reviewer said. However, I read thousands of reviews from many websites, and reviews has been a very good guidelines so far.
It said that Dante's Inferno is unpolished and rushed. While the hack and slash is quite fun, but the story and level design is way far from God of War 3.
Why does EA games comes short. I mean look at previous title. Army of Two 2, is no means a bad game, but we should really expected and compared to Uncharted 2 and Assassin Creed 2. The jump from the first to the sequel is huge! I mean those game are mind blowing. EA should know what went wrong with the first, and they should make a correction. The second Army of two is very short, much like the first one and the story makes no sense. Though I must say the combat is good, that makes the game solid but not great.

I think EA is too big corporation with issues with its policy. Why Dante's Inferno is rushed? Maybe they want to release it before GoW 3 using its hype? Is it the budget was over, and release date missed? Too many projects, less resources maybe?
It is no surprise that EA decided to cut down new IPs this year, maybe they want to focus to deliver more AAA title than half hearted game. But so far, it's been disappointing. Right now, all eyes are looking to Battlefield Bad Company 2. This the next title that EA has biggest hope in terms of FPS. Could it be as good as it is expected? We'll see.
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