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Skate 2: play or pay
Now that Skate 2 is live, I finally ducked into the downloadable content section to see what Electronic Arts had on offer. Maybe a few player skins, some crazy costumes, or the promised camera filters for the replay options?
Instead, there's only the "Time is Money Pack" for $5, described as follows:If you are busy, or just plain lazy, "Time is Money" will unlock all locations, skaters and gear that can be earned by playing through Skate 2's career and online modes.
I can't tell if the description is insulting or just brutally honest. Electronic Arts took the same approach with their terrible Need for Speed Undercover, which offered to let you do an end run around the gameplay for the low low price of a micropayment to get the car upgrade you'd normally unlock by actually, you know, playing the game.
It's absolutely shameless that EA continues to do this. In protest, I purchased the pack and then went online and groused about it over voice chat during multiplayer games while 12-year-olds told me to shut up.
By Storm_Trooper at 2:38 AM ON 01/27/09
honestly... it's not to bad an idea to offer those who have no time to complete a game 100% and just want to play, but its easy to download someone elses profile (with their permition) that has finished and change the name to yours... i have done this with cod 4 for my bro... i had finished the online game 100% copied the profile and changed the name so that we could play lan and online with the same stats and unlockables.
By BobJustBob at 4:01 AM ON 01/27/09
Skate 2 saves are copy-protected to prevent that.
Some people will argue that this sort of thing should be handled by cheat codes. I'd argue that your game design should never include locking content in the first place.
By Dan Taylor at 5:06 AM ON 01/27/09
Hmm...this is a tricky one. On one hand, I applaud EA for giving the option to breeze through to end game content and all the associated unlockables, as they're offering the ultimate satisfaction: Choice.
On the other hand, if you're just jumping straight to the end, how do you know how to use all those skills that you should have acquired during regular play?
By Tom Chick at 5:25 AM ON 01/27/09
Dan, excellent point about how Skate 2 relies on the player building skills.
Also, I'd just like to suggest a minor correction. You write that you "applaud EA for giving the option", when it would be more correct to note that EA is "selling" the option. They're not giving you anything until you fork over five bucks. This is what galls me.
By Chijts at 6:56 AM ON 01/27/09
I'd have to be one of the some people that Bob talks about. If you really want to unlock all the gubbins it should be via a cheat code, like the good old days. Also the present days too.
You already paid for the game, to ask for money for no additional content is just insane. But they won't stop now anyway, too many people won't/don't care enough to do anything about it (myself included - I just won't buy it) and maybe more companies will catch on to this evil in the near future.
Chijts:
I'd have to be one of the some people that Bob talks about. If you really want to unlock all the gubbins it should ...More »