Has Xbox Live Marketplace Been Tainted by EA?
This is a tough one, it really is. On one side, I feel immediately disgusted by the very idea. But on the other, I can almost understand the reasoning behind the gouging. At least, with this latest release of “premium content”. The first round was just plain despicable.
Yes, I’ve got my EA hate on again. Actually, I’m not sure if it ever left. If you’re an Xbox 360 owner you’re probably aware of the latest round of downloadable content released by EA for the new Tiger Woods game. For those that aren’t and those that are upset by this, let’s discuss…
This morning, EA released a round (no pun intended) of “premium content” for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 that is nothing more than a handful of cheats. No big deal, right? Cheat codes have been around for ever! Right… but we’ve never had to pay for them, until now. Here are the 5 cheats that are now available from $2.50-$4.00…
- Unlock golfers (200 points)
Unlock all golfers in the game- Own everything in the pro shop (300 points)
Save time by unlocking and owning all items in the pro shop- Maxed out player (200 points)
All skills will be set to 110 percent- Sunday Tiger (240 points)
Play Tiger at his Sunday best.- Unlock courses (200 points)
Save time and unlock all locked courses.– descriptions via Destructiod
Now, this could be totally harmless. But it could also be a sign of horrible things to come. I’ll let your imagination run wild for a second and think of all the possibilities of how they could ruin gaming if these tactics are taken in the wrong direction.
DickMcVengeance over at Destructiod was able to get an EA rep on the phone to answer some questions this afternoon. I encourage you to head over there and check out their discussion. I was glad to see some questions answered with “No, certainly not.” and the like. But we’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out. I can’t say I have any faith in EA that they’ll do the “right thing”. After all, they believe they’re doing gamers a favor already.
Oh, but one instance of evil isn’t enough to warrant a post like this. Less than 2 weeks ago, EA released 4 Madden “video strategy guides” on the Marketplace for 160 points a pop. You know, the kind of stuff you can find just about anywhere online for free. Just like cheats… the things we’re used to having at our finger-tips are soon to come at a price. Or so it seems.
Well, what do you think? Is this bullshit, or is it acceptible? Like I said, I still have mixed emotions about the cheats. I can understand where they’re coming from – wanting to make the bonuses you get for actually playing the game available to those that don’t have endless hours to put into games. But still, it just doesn’t sit right. I really hope this doesn’t go down the other path. Paying for required content to finish games, paying to save your progress, paying to finish the game! (!!!) Gah! I’ll stop there.