14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that the North American console versions of the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will come packaged with an unusual new restriction. Only those players who have preordered the videogame at the GameStop retail chain will be able, for the first month, to engage in the fresh Squad Rush multiplayer game mode. The game is set to arrive on March 2.
The interesting fact is that the PC version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which is coming at the same time as the release for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony, does not have the same restriction. Squad Rush is also instantly accessible to all those who pick up the European version of the new title developed by DICE, which is set to arrive three days after the North American one.
These days, it's pretty usual for publishers to offer big retail chains some exclusive in-game content for those who preorder. The GameStop offer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does this with exclusive access to the AKS-74 assault rifle.
But it seems that the deal between publisher Electronic Arts and the retailer has gone further do a limitation that will probably see a lot of gamers locked out of one of the new additions to the series for a while. The rational decision for most of them will be to shun the GameStop preorder program and either pick up a PC version of the game, which does not have the restriction, or even import the game from overseas.
Squad Rush is based around two teams made up of four players who are fighting over a series of objectives. Those players who have the GameStop version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will be able to invite their less fortunate friends to the game mode for the initial 30 days after the release date.