Dead Space 3 offers microtransactions to improve weapon crafting

You gotta pay for easy mode now, apparently.

The goddamn greed those companies have.

I always knew games could make you cry. Tip one out for another of the fallen.

@all above.

There’s nothing with this. ME3 multiplayer did something similar and it didn’t take away from those that got the same content the old fashion way.
This option is for those that doesn’t have the same time that those who spend there time commenting on gaming blogs do.
Gamers nowadays complain about everything they find different. As if we can’t handle change or something! Ffs.

@4
Agree. If it’s unbalancing to MP or realistically required in SP then I’ve got an issue with it. If it’s just a way for people to do things quicker then I’ve not got a problem.

There is nothing that will break the spell of a game more than a message stating ‘buy DLC’ or similar. While I enjoyed ME3, those messages trying to tempt me to buy packages really put me off.

Those microtransactions were supposed to make games cheaper (f2p), but instead, they are now slapped on just about any game, even when offered at full price. Shame…

I agree with #4…”there’s nothing with this.”

@4: Oh shut up. It’s just another way for the big companies to make more money. It’s pathetic and the people involved should be ashamed of themselves.

It really pisses me off, as Free-to-Play games over the same stuff but you don’t have to pay for the game at all.

It’s greed and nothing else, completely inexcusable.

Don’t want people to waste time unlocking stuff? UNLOCK THEM ALL at the beginning.

Micro-transaction is not done because people have not got the time, or to be nice and make the game easier for someone… DON’T BE FOOLED!

With micro-transactions there will be forced hours of grinding, and constant nagging of buying.

This Is greed and completely unacceptable, and the final nail in the coffin for this game.. RIP DEAD SPACE GAME SERIES!

@8
“It’s just another way for the big companies to make more money. It’s pathetic and the people involved should be ashamed of themselves.”

Yeah the games industry as a whole is just awash with cash and spare money, now they want more. How very dare they want paying for things, the cads!

*If* this means regular plays have to grind to get the same stuff then fine, boycott, rant, rage all you like. If it’s just a way to make it quicker/easier for those who don’t have the time or don’t want the challenge of the regular game and it helps keep game prices down then it’s a good thing. Devs making more money from other people is fine by me.

This is fucking stupid. It’s really unbelievable how greedy these companies are becoming. What’s next? Are you going to charge the consumer to press the bumper buttons on their 360/PS3 controllers?

I Agree with #8

Also I would like people to keep in mind that this is just a start, it always happen like this, then you will see these microtransaction turning into mAcrotransaction, and parts of the game will be accessed by real money, ……….etc

Remember when Dead Space was this really really nice HUD-less game where everything was in universe and totally in-keeping with the theme and environment of the game.

Now we have our universe creeping into almost every game breaking what little immersion was left when you add in notifications and fucking achievement pop ups.

“I sure am I scared right now, I mean right on the edge of my seat…

“xXxeXtReMesNiPaxXx69 has signed into live!”

“Fuck”.

@13
How did Dead Space 1 not have that? Did it disable it? You could always disable the notifications yourself.

I played it on PC.

So yeah it never had it. Now it comes with Origin! Two clicks away to buy them goods. Also I’m sure you can turn off Achievements but not Trophies.

hhmmmm It could be something akin to the Cerberus Network in ME2 in that the gun part buying is actually a gun part vending machine in the World say and that you can “Add funds from Earth-Gov Account”.

I hate this bullshit… I can’t say “it’s wrong” because it’s a business selling a product, but I hate the nickel and diming shit. It really sticks it in your face that you are nothing but a cow to be milked to the publishers. I think it shows a lack of respect for the consumer…

Don’t like microtransactions? Don’t pay for them.
They only exist because they make money.

You shouldn’t be cross with publishers for adding this, you should be cross with the segment of players that are stupid enough to use microtransactions.
They’re the market, they’re where the problem is.

Since my first (bad) experiences with Origin I avoid buying EA games for the PC, however – I disagree with some of the opinions thrown around here. Be it micro-transactions, DLC or high prices for games (a PS3/XB360 title is usually € 69.- here were I life), we always vote with our money and that’s how the economy is working. You can be as upset as you want about it but a good chunk of the (quiet) majority of gamers will still click “buy” if they want it and they can afford it.

Would you get upset about a parking station which is offering you to wash your car while you’re away (shopping, cinema, or whatever) for a small fee, which is saving you time? I don’t think so. You can do it yourself during the weekend if you feel that your leisure time is worth less than the cost for the washing, but that’s the only decision you have to make.

For games and in this specific example it’s the same. Why would you get upset because someone else thinks that their time is more important thatn a few dollar or euro to get the game experience (story) a bit faster?

Except non-profit organisations everyone is out there to make money and if the company is listed on the stock exchange they have the responsability towards their stock holders to make as much money as possible. Period. This means that company will do EVERYTHING to serve the needs of customers because ultimately that’s the way to stay in business -> if there is no demand, there is no sell, the company will vanish.

In a nutshell, that means we gamers (beware, generalization!) create the demand for all these little extra services AND we are ready to pay for it.

U-U-D-D-L-R-L-R-B-A, IDKFA, DNSTUFF

The good old days, when you didn’t pay for “cheats”.

Why would I care?

Its directly impacting my connection to a game. Its directly affecting what I find enjoyable about gaming. I find it off-putting and jarring to have real money advertising within a game world.

Would you have liked Avatar more if all the Na’vi drank cans of coke? I mean its not affecting anyone, if you dislike seeing this why not just close your eyes?

EA, you just lost a customer.

I’m out, going back to my SNES.

Jesus, some of you are acting like you’re being forced to pay extra…

Who gives a fuck if they offer other people, who are not you and willing to spend extra money on a game they like, the option to do so?

How does that impact on your game or your playthrough? If you’re not spending the money – WHY DO YOU EVEN CARE?

@viralshag: ANyone with a single gamer-bone in their body should find this repulsive. My basic problem with this is, as a gamer, I just wanna buy the fucking game and for that to be the end of that.

But nowadays, you find that you need to download various bits of DLC to get the true true ending (eg. Asura’s Wrath, Mass Effect 3 etc.), or (in the case of Dead Space 2 and maybe 3) buy extra guns and suits for the game which SHOULD be hidden in there somewhere, play fucking facebook games and bullshit like that in order to open chests in Borderlands 2, have adverts stuck in your face for other shit you should download…

I just wanna pay for the game, get the full game and then be left the fuck alone. And that’s why I care…

And the number 1 thing that is disgusting about all of this is, ask yourself if the customer who pays for this bullshit isn’t being massively ripped off. How much work went into this ‘product’? There’s no new art, there’s no deep programming or memory required. It’s just a line or two of code. [Money = 10,000 credits] Give us $5 now plz, ok thnx bye.

Bit of a late response, as I was busy throwing pound coins down the drain.

You have to be a total idiot to actually buy anything like this in a game that has a short life span. MMOs, yes I get it – but for a game that will be soon outdated by DS 4 within 2 years?Naaa

And I do hate the ‘you dont have to buy it’ arguments. The fact that this is creeping into games more and more takes the piss especially when you look at how short, broken some game releases have been of late.

But hey this is EA and they will squeeze every penny they can. Next they will be charging to view the boxed artwork.

And that just sealed the deal, no more EA for me. EVER.

EA have been doing this for a while. It doesn’t bother me if you can still get the items without buying them. There’s a big lazy demographic out there who would rather spend $2 than grind for a bit. I would put the blame more on them than on EA, because if people didn’t buy this, they wouldn’t see it as a viable option.

@27, Spot on. They must see some return on these “nickle and diming” ideas for them to continue on doing it.

@24, I like playing SP games but this still doesn’t bother me in the slightest. If there’s content I think is worth buying, I’ll buy it. If there’s content I don’t think is worth it, then I won’t.

It’s as simple as that for me. I don’t have some strange need to have everything the game has to offer, just because it exists. I will play the game as if that extra crap isn’t even there. Makes no difference to me.

Enjoy what you pay for.

Dead Space 3: The Facebookening.

@17 I’m sure publishers everywhere are shedding a tear for your dedication, but at the end of the day they have a direct responsibility for the quality of their products.

Breaking the fourth wall by trying to entice you to get your credit card out when you’re in the middle of the game doesn’t exactly help the immersion.

I don’t play the Dead Space Games, but I do think the microtransaction stuff is tettering on absurd. On PC there are a butt load of free2play games that are funded by microtransactions. The difference is that those games don’t cost 60usd to purchase in the first place. Said games have you downloading the clients for free, then paying for features you find important.

Seems like some companies are going about it backwards and trying to double dip. And just as bad are the gamers that keep defending it by saying it isn’t THAT bad instead of asking is it THAT good? Somethings should not be judged on where they currently stand, but on the direction they are going.

:/

That wasn’t at you OG, it was at the whole “Don’t buy if you don’t like it” argument. Well yeah, but doesn’t mean I can’t come on an internet forum and voice my opinion by saying that it’s fucking bullshit.

I agree with your sentiment TG. I feel that way too. Sometimes dedicated fans are so dedicated they don’t see the flaws with said product. So instead of talking about it they flash the hate badge and tell you to F-off. Kind of lame, imo.

Ok, firstly I think microtransactions and nagging are a shite bi-product of an increasingly monetised and desperate publishing cabal.
But lets be realistic, you spend £30000 on a shiny new car. What do you mean sat nav updates are £180? You can live without it but sooner or later you’re going to come up against a missing road and wish you’d bought it.

I’ve never regretted not purchasing worthless DLC.

@32, I’m not saying you can’t voice your opinion, I’m doing the same in that I disagree with you. However, some people think because they don’t believe this is the “right direction” it’s wrong. Maybe it’s going this way because the majority of people are happy with this direction.

A storefront is a storefront, a game is a game. One is an entertainment product, the other is a retail outlet. It’s beyond apples and pears.

Combining the two will certainly ensure that videogame stays a third rate medium compared to everything else.

Imagine the middle of a book being full of adverts for other products sold by the publisher. Or Skyfall littered with pop-ups trying to sell the latest James Bond boxed set.

Simply would never happen.

@36

Yep, they wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t making them money.

@38 And game sales are down by at least 20%. Let’s not kid ourselves that videogame publishers are viewed by anyone as captains of industry. They’re very much the underachievers.

There is quite a big difference between the structure of a f2p title and what EA is doing here.

Question for people who don’t want this. If the actual alternative was a higher basic price for games how many would be happy to pay that?

@37: Yet it happens in videogames and it pisses me off. It pisses me off that this thread alone has so many apologists. This practice is simply inexcusable.

It’s not us who buy these things, it’s the casual players, the ones who play a game once a year, there are a lot of those people out there and EA will react to that in the most negative way possible. They always have.

Cheats that cost money.

Then buying AIM-BOT for games is now okay I guess. So much greed.

@40 I think it’s a problem that you default to putting it on the customers.

At which point can we demand that publishers begin to control their expenses and retool their business into a viable one that doesn’t require reaching for every unlikely dollar they might?

It’s mindboggling that it always comes down to “gamers aren’t paying enough”. I mean… Really? How on earth did the industry survive this long?

If a governments solution to every single problem it has was to raise taxes, that government wouldn’t be in power very long. For some reason publishers get a free pass.

@40: Then i will stop buying games period. There isn’t even a reason why games should be as expensive as they are now. 60 Euros for a new game is insane and nothing else.

If F2P Titles can live on Microtransaction alone, then so should others. If DS3 has Microtransaction it should cost half of what it costs now or 1/4.

At which point do developers/publishers actually thank there fanbase? I mean actually giving something back, like you know, free DLC.

CD Projekt RED and Flying Wild Hog seem to be the only ones for now and they have nothing but my utmost respect. And my money.

Don’t be a fool, it’s greed and nothing else.

@44

That’s true bro. F2P titles cost about the same amount to make and distribute as a AAA console title.

I’d just like to remind everyone that Turok was £70 when it launched.
Games are unbelivably good value for money and are incredibly cheap now, compared to 15 years ago.

But Fin, alot of people don’t have the same type of money to spend that they did 15 years ago. And I have issue with such a borad sweaping generalization. Some new games are better value then some games from 15 years ago. Where I have the biggest problem is when content that was once included with the game is now extra paid dlc, such as EA Sports games.

People pissed off with Trip A gaming, can find alternatives in the indie PC market. Some very high quality, inovative games. Like many others I buy far fewer big boxed games then I used to. I think it has been four years in a row now that industry wide sales have fallen? Maybe only three years, but the point being the same.

And I blame preditory pricing as much as anything else. Sure gamers don’t HAVE to buy. And many aren’t.

Don’t know about Turok but I know other games (Street Fighter Turbo 2 SNES) cost a lot but then they were hardware based. The publisher had to buy the carts up front, how many and production time. Today, they can upload it on a server somewhere and save on not only the hardware/software cost of each title but also packaging, transport etc.

Of course the customer was rewarded in much cheaper games once this happened… they did come down right? …they didn’t still blame piracy or retailers did they? Evil second-hand sales. …beware the invading space chickens.

They will never drop prices as long as it meets there calculations as to what the market will bare. This will never be fair but unfortunately they will take every advantage a virtual good offers whilst depriving you of the most obvious benefit.

@47 And that’s not all. Licensing a graphics engine also costs a fraction today of what it used to, and digital has shifted the margins from about 40-60 in favor of retailers, to 70-30 in favor of publishers.

… And somehow they still aren’t able to make any money.

Sure, let’s blame the customer.

Remember when things like this would be implemented via ‘Cheat Codes’?

@21: Make that 2 customers. It makes the decision easy. Now I can turn my attention to more deserving games.