Wednesday, September 28th 2011
Electronic Arts' Massive 2012 $1.6m Battlefield 3 Tournament: Consoles Yes, PC No
While PC gamers are getting understandably excited about one of the year's biggest releases, which is guaranteed to have standards-setting graphics at least, there's a kick in the teeth waiting just around the corner. EA and Virgin Gaming have teamed up to launch a massive BF3 contest with $1.6m in cash and prizes - for consoles only. Yes, you read that right. And the reason? Consoles are the "gold standard". That's the aging console platforms reported on TechPowerUp a few days ago. GameStop's president Tony Bartel said in an interview with IndustryGamers:
The competition website excitingly states:
This strategy appears to make no sense. Why spend all that money on developing the game only to alienate a massive market segment, even if it's perceived to not be as big as the console one? It will very likely sell massively well to PC gamers regardless, but wouldn't it have made even more dollars by not artificially restricting the competition like this? This goes to show the arrogance and contempt that some big companies show towards their customers and EA is no stranger to controversy, restrictive DRM issues being a major source.
Source:
Maximum PC
We continue to believe that the console is a strong platform and will continue to be the gold standard.
The biggest, most realistic, room-shaking FPS ever demands a tournament that will always be remembered," the contest's sign-up page brags. "That's why Virgin Gaming, and EA DICE have come together to bring you an online competition you'll be telling your grandkids about. So strap on your boots and check your magazine-when the spoils of war are this rich, you can bet things are gonna get messy.That page then goes on to include links for PS3 & XBOX360 to register, but not the lowly PC. On top of that, it won't even be available on Steam, but gamers will instead have to sign up for the competing EA Origin platform.
129 Comments on Electronic Arts' Massive 2012 $1.6m Battlefield 3 Tournament: Consoles Yes, PC No
#2= EA: Close second but I'd consider tied with Acti at times. Reason: oh thats a given but recently...Origin game store and app. Then the feud with Valve and Steam.
#3= Ubisoft: Former 2nd and at one time probably the first. If their titles, other than the ones from Montreal, didn't suck so much, they might be able to rise back up in the hatred ranking. Just years of shoddy quality after they had such a good beginning.
even though i have both PS3 and XBOX, it will not change my mind to get BF3 for PC. since PC is the best choice for playing FPS, since it can provide better gameplay and better graphics.
It's a Virgin-run/hosted tournament, and Virgin are not at all interested in PC gaming. The quote came from the president of Gamestop, who are almost not at all interested in PC gaming. BF3 has been chosen because EA's PR team got to them first, rather than this being a $1.6m MW3 tournament, thus losing publicity, and sales.
Let's face it, I doubt that we would see BF3 at all if the console sales didn't subsidise the PC sales.
I'm not sure I like the way the article has been written though. It seems to have been written in such a way as to deliberately garner a large reaction, rather than simply reporting on the news in an unbiased way, which is something I've enjoyed about TPU for several years now (just didn't sign up until recently).
that makes PC still superior from consoles,
>Look for qubits name.
So, anyone else going to boycott the game ? I'm sure a lot of people out there were waiting for a reason to.
In my personal case, even though I think it's a bit of a low move and don't like to see crap like this, I wouldn't boycott it over this, since I normally only play single player and am not bothered with these competitions.
I'm more likely to boycott it over DRM and the fact I have to register with Origin. However, I would reserve judgement on that one until the game is released.
EA has officially lost the last shred of respect I had for them. If they don't want me to be a part of what they got going on, then I don't want to be a part of what they got going on.
I will not purchase this title.
Sure you can play it. If you prefer feeling like a crippled retard in the middle of hardcore action. But since everyone are like this it doesn't matter... No gamepad will ever be more precise and fluent to play than mouse + keyboard.
I haven't played any of the recent games but i do own the PS2 and have played Black and Killzone on it and even though it was ok, i couldn't get past the fact that gamepad is the most retarded tool for the task. It's like giving all the rally drivers joystick instead of a steering wheel. You can imagine no one will drive well even after years. Just like you can't brush your teeth with a powerdrill or cook a steak with a flamethrower. Some tools are simply not universal. But they try to do everything using just gamepad. It's just a no go.
I thought that if they did, the PC will be completely erased in the homes of gamers ...
plus, it's important to recognize that DiCE is not EA and vice versa. publisher's are evil, DiCE is a good developer. stand by the few good developers in existence even if you have to deal with a crappy publisher or two.