Capcom Taking Heat for "DLC"

Recently there has been an uproar about the inclusion of downloadable content that has already been located in to a game's disc. Mass Effect 3 has received heat for this because of a character, whose coding was already fully in the game, but players were forced to pay extra in order to unlock him, after paying for the full game.

Recently however, another game has been exposed as using the same alienating practice. Street Fighter x Tekken. This game has forced players on the Xbox 360 to pay for extra unlock-able characters. Most of which were already coded in to the game.

This is not the first time Capcom has used a ploy such as on-disc DLC during the release of their games. Recently released Marvel vs. Capcom 3 also supported DLC for characters, of whom were already coded on to the disc.

Now here's the interesting part. The PlayStation Vita version of the game ships with all of these characters unlocked. This shows that the developer (Capcom) is using a promotional tactic with Sony, in order to increase Vita sales, by adding more value to the handheld's games, when compared to consoles.

Tactics such as this indulge in every form of media. However, a media such as video games relies more heavily on consumers. When people stop buying a companies game because of poor quality, or underhanded tactics, it forces them to either change their ways, or face bankruptcy. Hopefully developers realize the error of their ways, and start catering to the consumer, as they should.


If you wish to understand more, there is a very informative rant video, a personal favorite reviewer of mine, Angry Joe. Credit for much of this information goes to him. I advise you to watch his video entailing these events.






-Chris Hodgkinson

Battlefield 3: Snipers

I recently posted a video entailing a Battlefield 3 conquest round on Kharg Island. In this short video, my team controlled all points on the map, and as I was about to leave the area, I saw a little red dot on my mini-map.

This red dot was an enemy sniper, perched halfway up a building under construction, far away from his side of the map. With my team controlling the entire map, you would think he might have some common sense to at least capture a control point on our side, to give his team a much needed spawn location. He didn't. The sniper was quite content laying down in his building, bi-pod set up, and rifle in hand.

I ascended up the stair-well chasing that little red dot, until I appeared behind him. Calmly watching him as he obliviously maintained his attempts at sniping from afar, I approached him, my knife ready, my mind eager for his dog-tags. With one swift motion, and the click of a mouse button, my character turned him over, and delivered a swift stab in to the bottom of his throat, to ensure a quiet kill.

It was done. His dog-tags flickered on my screen, and his name glistened in the kill-feed. My life was joyful. I went on my way, to go help out my team. After all, that is what the assault class does.



Hopefully this story strikes home to snipers out there on the Battlefield 3 servers, whom I'm sure have been on the receiving end of this scenario many times. Sniping is all well and good. At least attempt however, to support your team by capturing objectives, when the time calls for it, and for goodness sake, do not go prone whilst trying to pick off enemy players whom are actually being useful. Otherwise, your dog-tags will certainly fall in the hands of a giddy assault player, with his M16A3.

- Chris Hodgkinson

Star Wars: Battlefront 3 NEWS - Spark Unlimited + LucasArts

Tuggie posted this yesterday, showing some evidence that Spark Unlimited's unannounced game is almost certainly under contract by LucasArts! Since Spark Unlimited has made 3rd/1st person shooters in the past, it almost certainly seems as though a new Battlefront is in the making. It is most likely to be revealed this summer, probably at E3.

Tuggie also said it could be a new Jedi Knight game, but personally I don't believe LucasArts would give Spark Unlimited such a critically acclaimed franchise, given their recent game receptions. (Legendary, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, and Call of Duty: Finest Hour all received average/below average reception.)

All credit of this goes to Tuggie, and the other sources he himself names in the video. I suggest you check him out, he runs a great channel, and gives a ton of info regarding Battlefront 3.

- Chris Hodgkinson