Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's Online Pass Contains DLC and Mass Effect Goodies - Polidicks

[IMG]http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/220459-header.jpg[/IMG] If you haven't been living under a rock, then yesterday you would've noticed Destructoid's article that gave us our first glimpse at EA's online pass for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. You'd think that because this is stricrly a single-player game, EA would be hard-pressed to find something to lock out of the game with this online pass right? Nah, that's easy, just lock out the Mass Effect items and DLC! Contained within Reckoning's online pass is free access to the first of Reckoning's two DLC's (The House of Valor quest line) and the ability to redeem your rewards for playing the Mass Effect 3 demo. The House of Valor packs 10 hours of content into a chain of seven quests that will begin bridging the gap between Reckoning and 38 Studios MMO set in the same world, Copernicus. In a response to the outcry of the Reckoning community after the first announcement of Reckoning's online pass, BigHugeGames' had this to say; The House of Valor content is, for all intents and purposes, our first DLC content. Instead of holding onto it for a month or more and charging everyone for it later, we opted to give it to those who purchase the game new for free. DLC pricing for consumers that choose not to purchase the online pass has yet to be announced. Also included on the online pass is a code that will allow you to redeem your N7-inspired Shepard's Battle Armour, and Omniblade Daggers that you get for playing the Mass Effect 3 demo. [url=http://www.analoghype.com/video-games/playstation-3-news/kingdoms-of-amalur-reckonings-online-pass-contains-dlc-and-mass-effect-goodies/]Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's Online Pass Contains DLC and Mass Effect Goodies[/url]

We can still get the DLC if you don't have an online pass right?

[QUOTE=Liem;34430143]We can still get the DLC if you don't have an online pass right?[/QUOTE] If you don't have the online pass you'll have to buy them later, otherwise you get them for free immediately.

Omniblade Daggers sound pretty cool.

Tried the demo, instantly unlocked some random stuff for Mass Effect 3. [editline]28th January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=KingPariah;34430413]Omniblade Daggers sound pretty cool. So why do I have to buy another game to get content that is canon within that series?[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON-7v4qnHP8[/media]

Most of the items they seem to be giving away are also included in the Collectors edition, so mm...

Couldn't this online pass idea be used to combat piracy, thus making intrusive DRM unnecessary, or am I being an idiot?

[QUOTE=Jasun;34430801]Couldn't this online pass idea be used to combat piracy, thus making intrusive DRM unnecessary, or am I being an idiot?[/QUOTE]You are. You can simply warez the game with dlc already downloaded. This is to combat resale of games, not piracy as pirates can just copy the content and distribute it anyway.

[quote] You'd think that because this is stricrly a single-player game, EA would be hard-pressed to find something to lock out of the game with this online pass right? Nah, that's easy, just lock out the Mass Effect items and DLC! [/quote] Bioware did this with Dragon Age: Origins. There was a companion (Shale?) with a quest to get her, that you got for free with the code, or you had to buy it as DLC.

Just EA's business model to prevent used games, moving on.

[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;34432160]Bioware did this with Dragon Age: Origins. There was a companion (Shale?) with a quest to get her, that you got for free with the code, or you had to buy it as DLC.[/QUOTE] [quote][img]http://images.wikia.com/dragonage/images/b/b9/Shale_1.jpg[/img][/quote] Her?!!?

[quote]If you haven't been living under a rock[/quote] Fuck off you pretentious article writing prick, Jessey. Immediately turned me off this game by not wanting to read any further into your article, nice work. [sp]Aimed at the source in OP, not the OP, obviously..[/sp]

[QUOTE=thrawn2787;34432767]Her?!!?[/QUOTE] Well you know it's a bunch of living rocks, hard to tell its gender after all. And I widely prefer that to Gaia in god of war 3 which [url=http://images.wikia.com/godofwar/images/b/bb/Gow2-gaia.jpg]had a gigantic pair of rock breasts[/url]

It's to help combat used-game sales. it is a common tactic that EA uses for their sports games. It helps them get money back from used-game sales though DLC. Not a big deal if you buy the game new anyway.

Unlock that and dat for Shepard male trousers! [editline]28th January 2012[/editline] Yay!

[QUOTE=MR-X;34436173]It helps them get money back from used-game sales though DLC.[/QUOTE] That's bullshit. What do you think must happen for a new copy to become a used copy ? Someone has to buy it. If someone has to buy the game new before returning it and making it a used copy, it means the company has already made profit out of this one copy. Which means this is complete and utter bullshit, it's not to "combat" used-games sales, it's to make more profit out of already made profit. And yeah it's a big deal, because there's way too much companies who do that shit and it sometimes features massive amounts of gameplay. Mortal Kombat's multiplayer is unusable on the long run because of that shit, AC : Revelations' multiplayer is locked up if you don't have an online pass, you can't play as catwoman in Arkham City if you didn't buy the game new, etc.

The way I see it, unlike piracy, A used game sale is literally a lost sale.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;34436406]That's bullshit. What do you think must happen for a new copy to become a used copy ? Someone has to buy it. If someone has to buy the game new before returning it and making it a used copy, it means the company has already made profit out of this one copy. Which means this is complete and utter bullshit, it's not to "combat" used-games sales, it's to make more profit out of already made profit. And yeah it's a big deal, because there's way too much companies who do that shit and it sometimes features massive amounts of gameplay. Mortal Kombat's multiplayer is unusable on the long run because of that shit, AC : Revelations' multiplayer is locked up if you don't have an online pass, you can't play as catwoman in Arkham City if you didn't buy the game new, etc.[/QUOTE] You don't realize the used-game market is huge and companies like gamestop really do take a lot of money from the developer. The devs don't see any money from used-game sales. For some companies it is a big deal because they're not as large as other studios.

[QUOTE=MR-X;34436686]You don't realize the used-game market is huge and companies like gamestop really do take a lot of money from the developer. The devs don't see any money from used-game sales. For some companies it is a big deal because they're not as large as other studios.[/QUOTE] Because EA and Ubisoft and Warner are such small companies. You know it's the publisher forcing the dev to make online passes, not the opposite, right ? [editline]29th January 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Nikota;34436571]The way I see it, unlike piracy, A used game sale is literally a lost sale.[/QUOTE] The game was already bought. If you can't make your game appealing enough to be bought 60 bucks by everyone (70 freaking euros in France) , then you should either work better on your game or charge it less than fucking 60 bucks.

I played through the demo for this. It basically felt like Fable without Molyneux's bullshit promises and with less loading. The Mass Effect items were a nice touch, but I don't think I'll be getting this. The chakram looked like a really cool weapon, though.