Warner Bros. Insists that All Catwomen Be Paid for New and Be Connected to the Internet

Forcing people who buy used games to pay a little extra fee seems pretty tame to me. The internet connection requirement seems like a pain though, there are definitely people who will be hindered by that.

I'm really starting to get annoyed with the online pass thing. I can kinda see where the vendors are coming from... "We want to be the only ones making money from our game" but why don't they just all go digital distribution for that point. This is getting a bit ridiculous. Console game is trying to be like PC gaming, where everything is going digital and you cannot trade any games to a friend or sell any of them. Once you use your code, the game is yours, it's like old school PC gaming with "CD Keys" only the CD keys are used up on activation for "special content". Eventually I see this going back to the CD key way, no special content, just buy your CD key on your console, redeem it on your consoles version of a store, and only then once you get your 116 kb activation download can you play your game. Do you own your game? In so far as it's on your console and you can play it. Can you do anything else with it? Sell it? Borrow it to a friend? Share the game with a relative? Nope, not anymore if this current trend continues. That's what makes me nervous, and makes me wonder how much people are going to take before they say "enough is enough" and just quit buying games with ridiculous pre order "ON DISC" DLC, or pass keyed "special content" with a new game.

@chaosnovaxz: Yah that would be the most ideal solution. Unfortuentatly that will probably never happan......

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD I SAY. WAY OF THE FUTURE. Fuck all these retailers. If we go to digital downloads it be so much easier for publisher/developers to lower their prices fast. That way a game like Enslaved doesn't get but raped.

I understand why people sell and buy used copies (specially if ur struggling with money) but personally I rather buy fewer games, but make sure that my money is actually going to the people who made the game and not some middle man who is trying to rip people off. While I feel ripped of in a few incidents with some online pass stuff (like being connected to internet for catwoman stuff, or some pre order stuff ) I feel more ripped off when I sell and buy used games. If I can't afford a game I either rent it, where at least I know some money is being paid to developer/publisher or I wait till the new game price drops (I did this with darksiders for instance)

I understand what people are saying about the exposure that games get from used sales, but look at an awesome game like Enslaved, which I will bet sold a ton of copy in used market. unfortunately a) there is no concrete data on how many people played it and b) publishers are not gonna okay a game squeal just because it sold well on the used market. Like it or not this inudstry is a business and sale numbers and profits matter, not some obscure notion of exposure

I don't really like the super political statements at the end of my news articles.

how did I know this article was written by alex?

Because the title is stupid.

Otherwise, a great article :D Buying Batman:AC new anyway, so no biggie.

@piropeople13: Hello, and welcome to America. Don't like politics, that is America.

I'm normally a huge advocate of online passes, especially in terms of multiplayer, though I could also justify a bonus mode or two behind it. Something like Cerberus Network, just neat little extras.

But Catwoman has been touted in promotional art since day fucking one. The E3 footage was all basically "YO you can play as Catwoman!" Endless previews and features in different editorials all had something to say about playing as Catwoman.

This is a bait-and-switch, plain and simple, and while I'm still going to buy the game new as I always buy new and would like to support Rocksteady (who I can almost guarantee were firmly against this), Warner Bros. can seriously fuck themselves with a long stick.

Also thumbs up to the Occupy Wall Street comment, made me giggle a little.

TOPICAL!

@JRock3x8 said:

the only way this garbage stops is if you all agree not to buy the game and we all know that will never happen

PSN ID is Judge-Fang. Watch me not buy it. Sick to death of developers/publishers thinking they're entitled to ever more bites of the pie. Restricting bits of content is total BS. I'd actually respect them more if they just came out and said "our console games now have an out-and-out CD-key. One use, no resale." Instead, this pussy-footing around with retailers and publishers trying to play each other off whilst each trying to milk more cash out of the collective game-playing public just makes me hate where big money gaming has ended up.

@chaosnovaxz said:

Also, there are a ton of people out there, more than you might think, that buy games and never use the in-box codes.

*Raises hand*

While I'd like to be all noble and not give them my money...

It's Batman: Arkham City. They pretty much have me by the balls.

Just fucking issue CD-keys with the games already.  I hate this. 

@UnbreakableVow said:

I'm normally a huge advocate of online passes, especially in terms of multiplayer, though I could also justify a bonus mode or two behind it. Something like Cerberus Network, just neat little extras.

But Catwoman has been touted in promotional art since day fucking one. The E3 footage was all basically "YO you can play as Catwoman!" Endless previews and features in different editorials all had something to say about playing as Catwoman.

This is a bait-and-switch, plain and simple, and while I'm still going to buy the game new as I always buy new and would like to support Rocksteady (who I can almost guarantee were firmly against this), Warner Bros. can seriously fuck themselves with a long stick.

Also thumbs up to the Occupy Wall Street comment, made me giggle a little.

This is important to note. It might not seem like a big deal, but everyone just remember how much they marketed Catwoman. This is totally a new low for this shit and even if it doesn't inconvenience you in anyway, you should NOT be okay with this.

I mean, I'm cool with the fact that the content requires a one time used code, but does it really need a constant Internet connection?

You know, I'd be more ENRAGED about this if it were more publishers doing this. So far it seems to be the three publishers I care least about - EA, WB and THQ. Think about it, how many games from these companies represent your collection? I know it's not a lot with me. WB is MK and that's it, THQ is Saint's Row and that's it, EA is a couple more titles, but not many.

Honestly, the problem isn't that it's sweeping the game industry - it clearly isn't. The problem is three publishers whose only reason for attacking used games is that they don't have the full-featured catalog that other publishers do... Well, and EA's circling the drain, but that's another post.

@probablytuna said:

I mean, I'm cool with the fact that the content requires a one time used code, but does it really need a constant Internet connection?

No, it's just a code. Alex's headline is just misleading to get more views.

Alex:  
 
This article requires clarification.  The way you've written the title and subtitle implies, and judging by the comments, fairly strongly suggests, that the DRM requires an constant online connection.  However, looking it over, it sounds like by "online connected console" you're just referring to the necessity to connect once in order to activate the online pass.  Does this require a constant connection ala Diablo 3 or not?  Please include your answer as a correction in the article.  It is very misleading as written. 

Oh for fucks sake... I Couldn't afford it at the moment so I was gonna pick it up cheap next year. But now I'm pirating out of spite.

I can understand why people who are hyped for this game wouldn't care, but for someone like me who is sicked of being tugged along by publishing companies, this is just another reason for me to not buy a product. The whole marketing scheme seems really schizophrenically retarded, I mean it was basically all but said that the Catwoman campaign was part of the main campaign!

I already pre-ordered a full pass for BM:AC on Onlive for $35 (30% bonus for playpack members) and got 40K: Space Marine for free as a freebie. Which is pretty awesome. Of course before this sounds like a commercial for Onlive, I should note that 40K: Space Marine on Onlive STILL doesn't have the multiplayer or coop working (Over a month out past the game's launch)and they won't say when it's coming. :( And of course it looks a little bit blurry and washed out.

Either I'll get the Catwoman missions with the Onlive version, or I won't. I'm certainly not spending another $10 or buying a console version at full price, and if it weren't for the great bargain I'd be willing pass the game by until it hits $30 because of the online pass locking content away. The PSN pass is why I didn't buy resistance 3 and won't buy Uncharted 3 until they hit $30 or less.

And it's a principle thing because I don't know anybody who owns a PS3 anymore except the guy next door who mainly plays Madden and COD MW2 on it. Everybody else I know had wives tell them to ditch all but one console or something similar. If I was with anybody right now (2008 was a rough rough year for me) no doubt I'd be in pretty much the same boat. One friend tried to hang onto his Ps3 as a blu-ray player so his wife bought him a $80 blu-ray player so he could ditch the extra console. Another got stuck with his Wii because his wife likes the Wii Sports Bowling a lot and the Wii does Netflix anyway. I have no one to lend games to or borrow PS3 games from any more. And if I want to lend or borrow games they pretty much have to be on the 360.

But the whole online pass thing still pisses me off. I intend to wait until Mass Effect 3 hits $30 too. The only games I'd buy new and at full price with such a scheme are Skyrim, Borderlands 2, and Halo 4 and I'd hate myself for doing it even so. I thought Diablo 3 was on that list until the always on issue came up. That was a final straw so I will be skipping the PC version and that means that if there is no console version that can be played offline I will be just off the Diablo 3 wagon entirely.

" Of course, the answer is "playing video games and writing enraged Internet comments at nobody who can actually affect change." Right then. Carry on."

I wasn't the one who put a forum style comment box under EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE Alex. If you don't want a variety of replies and such then just say so. No needed to wax all jaded and too hip for the dumb drooling room the bad men make you work in.

@UnbreakableVow said:

I'm normally a huge advocate of online passes, especially in terms of multiplayer, though I could also justify a bonus mode or two behind it. Something like Cerberus Network, just neat little extras.

But Catwoman has been touted in promotional art since day fucking one. The E3 footage was all basically "YO you can play as Catwoman!" Endless previews and features in different editorials all had something to say about playing as Catwoman.

This is a bait-and-switch, plain and simple, and while I'm still going to buy the game new as I always buy new and would like to support Rocksteady (who I can almost guarantee were firmly against this), Warner Bros. can seriously fuck themselves with a long stick.

Also thumbs up to the Occupy Wall Street comment, made me giggle a little.

This is one thing I do not understand. You have a problem with this, openly complain about it, but then still say you're going to buy the game? Exactly what good does your complaint do?

On another note. This is not something I'd usually say, but I hope people pirate the shit out of this game.

@Kazona: I bitch about my power bill as well and the unethical practices that go on behind the scenes there (things like fuel charges for backhauling, etc.), but at the end of the day, I still need power and they hold the cards.

I need Arkham City like I need to breathe.

I pre ordered my game but I still think this is bullshit.

Just because they have heavily advertised the catwoman components of the game for a long time now and never said anything about this! So they have built hype around deception. Very shady. It's not like Warner Bros. wasn't going to already make a shit ton of money off this game....

This is BS, but I can't say I'm shocked. WB have made such an awful move with pre-order bonuses already.

"Of course, the answer is "playing video games and writing enraged Internet comments at nobody who can actually affect change." Right then. Carry on."

Looking at the comments here.... yep. Pretty much this.

the only way this garbage stops is if you all agree not to buy the game and we all know that will never happen

Honestly? I'm tempted to wait for a used copy just to spite the Catwoman content now. I never even wanted it in the first place. Gonna let my roommate have it.

@bybeach - For large gap in story see Assassin's Creed 2. Missions in the middle of the game were just removed to be used as DLC at a later date. They say in the game that the memories are "corrupt". Of course the only way to fix them is to pay $15 a pop.

The worst part about this is, this means that the catwoman parts of the game can be removed and not effect the story in any way apparently. Instead of integrating what should have been a central part of the game, it's only crafted to be easily lopped off the side so that they can sell it separately.

Even if you're buying the game new, they still chopped up the game and subsequently altered the story in order to do this. Same with every other pre-order DLC. This is not right, never has been, never will be.

The list of companies I'm willing to buy from has shrunk to almost nothing in just a few years time. I am absolutely sick of all this money and dicing mucking up my games. They're supposed to be art, the newest and highest potential form of art. You don't chop up the Mona Lisa and sell it in pieces.

Don't look now but the is ANOTHER preorder bundle for this game, something about free rental time as the pack in. I think this game hands down is the pre-order game of the year for 2011.

@popmasterruler:

If people are genuinely annoyed by this they'll just stop paying instead of shifting blame over to something else in order to justify their purchase.

If they're fine with it I can sit here and complain about gamers these days like a grumpy old dude. I'll probably not buy this anyway thanks to them sticking Games for Windows Live on it.

Im buying it new but this really sucks for people buying it used

Protip to you all hating online passes and not wanting to give WB your money.

Buy the game used.

then buy the online pass for $5 on ebay.

Worked like a charm with me and MK. Rinse and repeat for other online passes.

My opinion is that we are eventually going to see CD-key style installations for console games. And with that, people will just end up buying 2 or 3 games a year instead of 10.

Pre-order cancelled. This is from someone who has put in enough time in the first game to platinum it three times over.

Stuff like this is an insult not only to me as a consumer but the craft of gaming itself.

@Anwar: No. They were sizable downloads.

Besides that, they were released several months from the game and from each other, which disproves the "already on the disk" theory.

the only way this garbage stops is if you all agree not to buy the game and we all know that will never happen

CD keys. All digital downloads. And some sort of rental disc or code generator, because the rental industry supports the publishers, unlike the used games market.

This bugs me, but only in the sense of all these online-to-access things bug me but since they seem to be here for awhile there's not much we can do (other than not buy the game and no one's going to do that). I don't like single-player, on-disc parts of the game being placed behind a curtain unless you bought it new, though. DLC and multiplayer, I can understand, but if it's already printed to the disc, it should be accessible to everyone. I really expect at some point in the future, you're not going to be able to play the final level of a game unless you've bought it new or purchased the online pass.

My issue with this is far removed from what most people seem to be upset about. I live in Japan but i am originally a Brit. When i came to Japan i bought a PS3, with the beauty of the system being completely region free, knowing that a simple purchase of an import game, or sometimes a Japanese game, if it supports English as well, will be all i need to get my gaming fix. Then last month i put in my Japanese copy of Resistance 3 only to find that i need to redeem a code that can only be redeemed with a Japanese account, which esstenially meant that any online trophies that i wanted to get would be impossible to achieve on my UK Account. Now the idea that i will somehow have to find a way to get UK copies of these games at a much higher cost really makes me upset. What ever happened to the games where you buy a game and then it's yours to do with what you wish? So with this and Uncharted 3 doing the same thing i am just about ready to give up.

@BR4DL3I9H said:

My issue with this is far removed from what most people seem to be upset about. I live in Japan but i am originally a Brit. When i came to Japan i bought a PS3, with the beauty of the system being completely region free, knowing that a simple purchase of an import game, or sometimes a Japanese game, if it supports English as well, will be all i need to get my gaming fix. Then last month i put in my Japanese copy of Resistance 3 only to find that i need to redeem a code that can only be redeemed with a Japanese account, which esstenially meant that any online trophies that i wanted to get would be impossible to achieve on my UK Account. Now the idea that i will somehow have to find a way to get UK copies of these games at a much higher cost really makes me upset. What ever happened to the games where you buy a game and then it's yours to do with what you wish? So with this and Uncharted 3 doing the same thing i am just about ready to give up.

This man has a valid reason to complain. Sorry to hear that dude.

With the huge blow my wallet is going to take in November, I was looking for a way to save a little money. Thanks WB, preorder cancelled.

@Foxtrot0245: WHAT?! Did you pre-order a used copy? I fail to see how this would affect you if you already pre-ordered the game.

When Warner Bros is hyping up Catwoman, I'm sure they're hyping it for the guy who's going to buy it used in three years for five dollars.

@msavo said:

@BR4DL3I9H said:

My issue with this is far removed from what most people seem to be upset about. I live in Japan but i am originally a Brit. When i came to Japan i bought a PS3, with the beauty of the system being completely region free, knowing that a simple purchase of an import game, or sometimes a Japanese game, if it supports English as well, will be all i need to get my gaming fix. Then last month i put in my Japanese copy of Resistance 3 only to find that i need to redeem a code that can only be redeemed with a Japanese account, which esstenially meant that any online trophies that i wanted to get would be impossible to achieve on my UK Account. Now the idea that i will somehow have to find a way to get UK copies of these games at a much higher cost really makes me upset. What ever happened to the games where you buy a game and then it's yours to do with what you wish? So with this and Uncharted 3 doing the same thing i am just about ready to give up.

This man has a valid reason to complain. Sorry to hear that dude.

Just redeem the code on the JP account, then play the game on your UK account. Boom. Problem solved, you are welcome. Online Passes work across all accounts on your PS3, just like games and DLC.

Used games have a right to exist and be sold! Online passes be damned!

Hmmm.

It's all economics, intended to take as much money out of your pockets as possible. Here's the formula: Online pass = gay .. Online pass + not-free launch DLC = fucking lame ... gay + fucking lame = see you at GameStop when you're $20, used, bitch.

They have invested a lot of money on this, why should Gamestop be the only one earning money on a used copy sale?

@KamikazeCaterpillar: It wouldn't, but I don't like to encourage this type of thing if I can help it. If super huge, triple A titles like COD, Halo, MGS, etc were to incorporate BS like this, well I would just suck it up and deal with it. These titles are so popular and so superb that they could do DRM-shittyness like this (but they normally don't, because they know they are so good that people will buy new). Batman is great, but I think it's a little presumptuous to think that they could demand terms like this for a series of games (starting with Arkham Asylum) that no one expected to be much of anything.

Everyone says that shit like this won't stop being forced down consumers' throats until people stop buying from the developers that partake in these practices, so I don't care if you or anyone else join me, but I'm refusing to accept it from a game like Arkham City.