After the whole debacle with EA initially planning to charge for certain weapons in Battlefield: Bad Company, I’d almost forgotten that they hadn’t even nailed down a solid release date yet. Well, now they have, and that date is…June 23. Gamers who’d rather pay for some extra weapons will be able to pick up the Gold Edition of the game for a limited time. That’s also when we’ll probably find out whether that whole weapon-charging business has driven off any potential customers.

Via Press Release

Well, congratulations to every squeaky wheel out there who made a big fuss over the revelation that EA would be charging extra to unlock certain weapons in the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company. EA has now announced that all ten formerly-locked weapons will be available to anyone who purchases any version of the game, with a slight catch. The people who purchase the Gold Edition of the game will have access to five extra weapons right off the bat, while those who purchase the regular version will be able to get them by reaching the final rank in the game. So basically, you can still pay extra for those five weapons if you want to of just work extra hard to unlock them yourself. The other five weapons that were reported as being DLC will be given away for free during a number of marketing promotions following the game’s release. And yes, this is happening because of all the noise people made, according to DICE senior producer, Karl-Magnus Troedsson:

It’s really important for us to get across that we do listen to what people say out there. We don’t have time to run around and comment on everything but we do listen to what people say out in the community. It’s really important feedback and that’s why we make changes like this.

Go ahead, people: cheer, applaud, have your moment and whatnot. Just try not to think about the fact that somewhere, an EA exec is thinking of a way to get that lost profit back one way or another.

Via Kotaku

We may be bad company for some after this weeks episode of the File-N-Forget podcast.

Thanks to the graciousness of Electronic Arts, Shawn Ron and Gaming Today PR Czar, Daniel Perez all had an invite to play and discuss the Xbox Live! Beta for the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company. We cover what impressed us and what didn’t and even got to enjoy Ron’s pained Rant about finally shelling out the cash for an Xbox Live! Gold membership.

This weeks show is available by direct download here.

As always, you can get past episodes from our podcast page at http://podcast.filefront.com, and you can send your comments, questions, suggestions, or snarky comments to podcast@filefront.com.

File-N-Forget is also available on the iTunes Music Store.

Ever since EA revealed that the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company would feature weapons that had to be purchased before they oculd be used, I’ve been waiting for someone out there to make a parody video about it. Thankfully, Sarcastic Gamer has delivered with this hilarious spoof of a video game ad. I’d explain it, but the video really just speaks for itself. They’re also calling for a boycott of the game, but it still looks too sweet to pass up to me. “EA: It’s in the game!”*

*Just not all of “it”…

Via Sarcastic Gamer

Missed out on getting a key to the Battlefield: Bad Company beta going on right now? Well if you’re the illegally-minded sort of person who doesn’t worry about the risk of having your 360 blocked from Xbox Live, the internet may hold a solution for you. Rumor has it that a copy of the beta has leaked online and can be played through a burnt DVD-R. However, several download sites are also claiming you’ll have to modify your console in specific ways in order to get it to run, which could void your warranty. Of course, there’s also the fact that things could go very bad if you are discovered. Microsoft is not very kind when it comes to people breaking their terms of service.Via Xbox 360 Fanboy 

Since the Battlefield: Bad Company beta starts today, it seems EA has decided to commemorate this by releasing a new trailer for the game. Luckily, this video is just pure gameplay footage, and it makes the game look pretty awesome. So far, it kind of looks like Call of Duty 4, just with vehicles and destructible buildings. And that really isn’t a bad thing in my book. Guess we’ll have to wait and see what news we hear from the beta.

You may recall a few days ago when it was discovered through the Battlefield: Bad Company beta test that some weapons in the game were ominously locked and labeled “Available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace.” Naturally the internet erupted in an uproar, because, seriously, who wants to have to pay extra for something that should just be available right out of the package? Well, EA decided to respond to this and give their own take on it.

“In addition to the core set of weapons, Battlefield: Bad Company will release five unique weapons free of charge through five different promotional programs prior to launch. EA will again make these weapons available to players free of charge after launch, in case anyone missed the pre-launch promotions.

At launch, EA will release a Gold Edition of Battlefield: Bad Company which will feature an additional five new weapons. For players who do not purchase the Gold Edition of the game, they can still buy the five weapons at a small individualized price per item. All weapons are balanced for gameplay. More weapons offer players more choices but do not create an advantage/disadvantage for players who do not opt to buy new items.”

So you can get five of these weapons by buying the Gold Edition (for a higher price probably) and get the other five through special promotions following the game’s release. You know, this wouldn’t be a big deal if they offered the weapons for pay download a couple weeks after the game had launched. At least then, gamers could feel like they’re actually getting something extra rather than a disc with a lot of locked content on it. This sort of move just makes it seem like EA is some money-grubbing corporation who thinks their customers will complacently buy anything that’s shoved down their thoats, because they really don’t have much choice…oh, right.

Via Kotaku

Want proof that we live in a world filled with microtransactions? Then look no further than Electronic Arts because apparently they will be charging for additional weapons for the Battlefield: Bad Company Beta via XBL Marketplace.

Ten different weapons in the beta show up as locked and next to them is the message: “Available for purchase on Xbox Live Marketplace”. Five weapons of the weapons are listed as available for purchase, while the other five are listed as available via the gold edition or for purchase. This raises quite an issue with people, especially ones who play multiplayer games and who do not have the desire to download additional weaponry. What if these weapons give your opponent an major advantage over you because you do not have the same weapon? How would this be fair to the other players who either A) did not want to download the extra weapons, or B) cannot afford the MS points (yes, there are some out there). Plus, this is the beta, not the actual game so are they going to give credit to the beta testers towards said weapons when they purchase the full game?

Paying for extra content is fine when it is maps, new songs, skins, new characters, or something that helps enhance the overall gameplay. I do not have a problem with that because if it is extra content not included with the game originally, the developers and publishers should – by all means – get compensation for their product. My main concern with this is that while extra content should be paid for, extra guns, cannons, bows and arrows, shields, or anything else that would give you an unfair advantage over another player is just wrong; plus these items could easily have been included in the original game the first place. Why not make them unlockable by completing certain missions or earning achievements like all of the other games?

Personally, I think that EA is trying to nickle and dime the gamer to death in the day and age of downloadable content. It is bad enough that once we purchase the content we cannot play it unless we are “logged in”, but to start charging for things like weapons that should have been included in the game to being with is nothing short of exploitation and borders on the unethical. But look who I am talking about – since when has EA been considered “ethical”? Add to this equation the monopolistic Microsoft and you have yourself a New World Order so be prepared gamers, your wallets will be crying before too long.
The beta for Battlefield: Bad Company launches on March 25.

Source: Videogaming247

Dice has released a new trailer for their upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company. This time around, they’re giving more attention to the single player campaign (i.e. actually giving it something other than a bunch of bot matches). Of course, there’s still going to be a fleshed-out multiplayer component, which is discussed here. These matches will involve one team trying to capture “boxes of gold” while the other team tries to stop them. Yeah, it’s pretty much like the control point setup from past Battlefield games, except one team starts out with all of them. Hopefully they don’t focus their efforts too exclusively on the single player.

Looks like Battlefield: Bad Company will not be headed our way in April after all. According to a recent podcast, DICE senior producer Carl Magnum stated that the shooter will be coming in the Summer instead, although he failed to mention when exactly. Same goes for the beta – its coming, but we have no idea when.

So hold on just a bit longer folks, it will be gracing your PS3 and Xbox 360 before you know it. In the meantime, you can check out our previous posts on the game while you listen to the full interview by clicking on the podcast link below which, consequently, is the same podcast containing Fable 2 information that was posted earlier.

Thanks: Major Nelson