14 DAY TRIAL // Battlefield: Bad Company is the next game in the long running Battlefield series developed by DICE and distributed by Electronic Arts. DICE says that the game should be out to retail in the Summer of 2008 and a beta test is due to begin shortly. But even before the launch of the beta, some design decisions are starting to draw fire from gamers.
When gamers looked at the weapons list for the future game, some of them were locked with a sign that detailed the fact that they should be bought from the Xbox Marketplace service that Microsoft runs. The service is a digital distribution channel that allows Xbox users access to both free and priced material like add-ons, map packs and unlockables.
Now, Electronic Arts has released an explanation regarding the locked weapons and the means to unlock them. It says that there will be ten game weapons that will not be part of the boxed version of the game, which players will be able to directly pick up at launch. However, not all of them will require a sum of money to be unlocked.
Five of the weapons are locked for promotional reasons. Five major game sellers will promote game packages that allow access to one of those weapons and all five of them will be unlocked shortly after the game launches. The other five weapons will remain locked until the player gets them from Xbox Marketplace, or until he buys a "Limited Edition" version of the boxed game that will become available at a later date.
A spokesperson also responded to players' fears that the unlockable weapons system might seriously unbalance the game, by saying "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 item."
Electronic Arts' move remains highly controversial and we'll probably see more reactions once Battlefield: Bad Company hits stores in June.