Turns out the Internet’s rabid paranoia was right on this time around.
When Activision issued detailing pre-order incentives for GoldenEye 007: Reloaded this week, it mentioned GameStop pre-orders would have a code unlock paintball mode, a classic visual "cheat" from the original. The fear was no one else would have access to paintball mode, but Activision dismissed those fears, telling me it was a standard in-game unlockable.
"If you don’t pre-order the game from GameStop you’ll still be able to play the Paintball mode, but you’ll need to unlock it by progressing through the game," said an Activision representative to me on Tuesday.
All good, right? Wrong. Activision sent me a note earlier today with a rather unfortunate correction: paintball mode actually is exclusive to GameStop. You will not be able to unlock it any other way.
“For online multiplayer, paintball is exclusive to Gamestop consumers, you can’t get it without an unlock code,” said the rep. “It’s still available as an offline mode for Mi6 Ops missions.”
Okay, fine. Maybe Activision’s simply planning to roll this out as downloadable content, as has been standard practice this generation.
“All DLC is TBA [to be announced], nothing is confirmed yet,” said the rep.
If you're playing online and the host has paintball turned on, you'll see it, too...which means it's on the disc.
Sigh.
I realize moaning about a simple paintball variant is a weird thing to get hung up on, but hell, paintball was one of my favorite modes from GoldenEye 007. Unlocking paintball wasn’t easy, either; it required beating the Dam stage on Secret Agent in two minutes and 40 seconds. This was a satisfying achievement before Microsoft attached scores to such things. My friend group would sit around the TV for hours, playing each level over and over again, in hopes of shaving a few seconds off our time.
We never did unlock Invincibility.
But when we finally unlocked paintball, we’d earned the right to play paintball--and damn it felt good. So while anyone who picked up GoldenEye 007: Reloaded through GameStop could optionally unlock the mode early, everyone else would still have the ability to flip on paintball the old fashioned way: earning it.
In light of Warner Bros.’ decision to lock Catwoman behind an Online Pass, despite heavily promoting her involvement until the week before the game’s release, it’s not hard to feel like things have gotten wildly out of control. Publishers, where the heck is the line here? Players, maybe we need to start drawing it. For me, apparently, it's blatantly taking advantage of my nostalgia.
The situation reminds me of an image I found on Reddit, a sentiment that probably rings true with some of you:
There are reasons this has changed, though.
The relationship between players and marketing has evolved, becoming more personal--witness the rise of the community manager. It’s about “brand engagement” today, with companies obsessing over the number of retweets, likes, and shares across social networks. Many fans are completely okay with this. It works for some fans, and doesn’t for others.
At some point, though, when has everyone lost sight about, you know, the game?
That’s what rubs me wrong about this. You wouldn’t include paintball mode in a remix of GoldenEye 007 unless you were intentionally strumming the strings of my own memories, but by locking it behind a retailer purchasing incentive, it insultingly misses the point. You know what's worse? Paintball was unlocked by default in the Wii version from last year. Default.
Perhaps it’s telling that Activision told me one thing on Tuesday and another thing on Thursday--even the publishers we're upset at aren’t sure what’s going on or what to do. Activision had it right the first time, though, and it still has time to fix it.
Activision is doing something terrible? Say it ain't so!
Removing things from games in a re-release: a new low for pre-order content.
What assholes.
This is why we need Valve to make a console. They would tell the publishers with these crazy content exclusivity deals to go fuck themselves.
Time to play Devil's Advocate, I guess.
I can understand the use of pre-order-exclusive content as a means to drive up new game sales (while also discouraging used sales, which are increasingly becoming a bigger and bigger problem for devs and publishers), and definitely try to support studios I like by buying their game new. In most cases, I would have pre-ordered the game regardless of what was packed into it. I am, however, not thrilled with the marketing of the pre-order bonus above the game. I really do not CARE if I get a different type of Batman, or bonus levels, or any of that. I buy a game new because I like what the developer does, and want to support them.
By that logic, I do not buy Activision games new.
Get mad at the people who buy it and/or buy it from gamestop that reinforces to Activision that it's ok for them to keep pulling such crap
I certainly know Klepek was never going to play it.
Sega beat Activision to it with Sonic Adventure on PSN and XBLA. Capcom did something similar with Street Fighter III Online Edition.
If you're playing online and the host has paintball turned on, you'll see it, too...which means it's on the disc.
Uh, of course it would be. How else do you expect it it work in multiplayer?
I honestly hate the "It's on the disk!" complaint for this exact reason. If it's going to affect other players, then it not being on the disk (or there not being forced patches to add it to everyone's copy) just plain doesn't work!
I thought unlocking modes early was fine when this was first announced, but now backtracking and making it a retail exclusive is a pretty crappy move. Regardless if it was the original intent or if they just decided to change it there and then.
While I think this sucks, I don't like Pat using his news position as a soapbox.
Poor form Activision. Oh well, it's not like they care since untold multitudes will still buy it and reinforce this bad behavior.
if there weren't-- you know, crazier games coming out, i would be annoyed by this decision (apart from the fact that it's pretty disappointing that this has become how you distribute cool features) but that game comes out on the same day as UNCHARTED 3.
@davecuk: then you'd never see games for it, har har
Wow, I didn't expect a rant like this from Patrick. I thought it was an Alex piece before I read the author.
Not that Patrick's wrong, of course. I, too, believe that online passes for consoles have gone way too far. I think it was when games started coming out with a ton of pre-order DLC, and then the companies say that they won't be selling it at all afterwards is where I drew the line.
@Sgtpierceface said:
Hey, I love Klepek. One of the best things to happen in the site in ages. How does this convey personality though? It's an overlong rant.
This feels like an PDF text from a Sesslar's Soapbox.