Electronic Arts' Massive 2012 $1.6m Battlefield 3 Tournament: Consoles Yes, PC No

[qubit]

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:

We continue to believe that the console is a strong platform and will continue to be the gold standard.

The competition website excitingly states:

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.



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.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[qubit]

Big thanks to crazyeyesreaper for the lead.

 

[Ikaruga]

retarded

 

[qubit]

retarded

You got that right, brother. :shadedshu

 

[Deleted member 24505]

If i didn't want to play this so much i would be tempted to say fuck ea and not buy it.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well considering how shitty and buggy the beta is so close to launch im tempted not to even bother myself lol

 

[imitation]

Fuck EA! I'm not buying it!

 

[AphexDreamer]

So this is how they market to both.


EA: PC IS THE BEST!!!! So that's why PC is BF3's lead platform!

EA: But.... Consoles are also still the shit, so no Tournament for you awesome PC guys.


Great....

So you end up buying to play for Tournament and buying to play the game the way it should be played off PC.

Sadly they are going to get a lot of peple who will be buying the game twice at the very least, once for PC and then once for console.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I bet it looks sweet on consoles with their shitty specs. *sarcasm*

EDIT- it probably also means the pc gamers will get fucked over on servers by EA too.

 

[Fourstaff]

PC gamers sign up here:

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2011_Global_StarCraft_II_League_October

$100k every 1.5 months, not counting special events.

Or the recent DOTA 2 competition for $1million by Valve, we don't need console elitists to shaft us.

 

[WarraWarra]

Maybe EA feels safe with the low age and low quality expectancy of the console users for any junk as long as they have something to play vs mature people using PC's for gaming and expecting nothing but the best. Hell pc gamers have invested in it they deserve the best.

Well we can not blame EA as their guy in charge never even knew what a PC was or how gaming feels on a PC so what do we expect from EA / toddlers ??

Amazing so EA expects a child to play this tournament on their $30 pm allowance after school while renting a $1 a week game from some dvd rental joint on their $120 console.
Everything except my dvd drive cost more than this console toddlers whole gaming rig.
LMAO

Surely this game is rated 13+ or something ??
So how can EA man in charge and the developers actually develop a game for a rating older than what EA staff is ?
Sounds like another remake of "Lord Of the Flies"

LOL Gold standard this sounds like Apple with their laptops, $799 old tech laptop with a $1400 half eaten 2nd hand Apple / logo on it.

 

[Jegergrim]

"Gold standard" that seriously made my day. Desperate much?

 

[m4gicfour]

"Gold Standard" for uninformed consumers willing to accept whatever crap they decide to push on them, and pay for the privilege.

I actually had someone the other day tell me that "Xbox360 has way better coding than PS3. They make the games look so much better on SD even though PS3 has HD since it's blu-ray" I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but he figured since the PS3 had blu-ray discs as its medium, that all content on said discs was 100% 1080P HD, and that XBOX was not HD because it uses DVDs. I'd wager 90% of PS3 content is 720P, with 5% above and 5% below. There is a difference between medium and content, and if you can't wrap your head around that, you'll be a lot easier for big companies to indoctrinate you into their "we're the best because we say we are" and "Boo YAH! Consoles RULE. WE LEAD THE INDUSTRY!!!!" crap they keep pushing.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

seems i helped create a news thread people like bitching in score 1 for me.

 

[qubit]

I actually had someone the other day tell me that "Xbox360 has way better coding than PS3. They make the games look so much better on SD even though PS3 has HD since it's blu-ray" I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but he figured since the PS3 had blu-ray discs as its medium, that all content on said discs was 100% 1080P HD, and that XBOX was not HD because it uses DVDs.

No way, this level of ignorance physcially hurts!

seems i helped create a news thread people like bitching in score 1 for me.

Yeah I'll bet this thread runs for miles as this is the kind of thing that really gets stuck in one's craw - it's so damned bloody minded of them.

 

[Dave63]

That is because they know the PC far superior and that would be unfair.

 

[Marv]

For the 'Gold standard' comment, that was from Gamestop's president in fairness. Now I'm not familiar with Gamestop, but doesn't it mainly sell console games in store? Like Game over here?

I think that they're simply attempting to lure console gamers away from yet another COD (4.2 now?), as when the beta's out there are going to be a lot of disappointed console gamers after the gameplay trailers shown...

 

[purefun65]

That is because they know the PC far superior and that would be unfair.

yes it would show how crappy consoles really are!

 

[H82LUZ73]

No way, this level of ignorance physcially hurts!



Yeah I'll bet this thread runs for miles as this is the kind of thing that really gets stuck in one's craw - it's so damned bloody minded of them.

Yeah it feels just like my ex girlfriends thong in my butt crack....PAINFUL!!

 

[qubit]

Yeah it feels just like my ex girlfriends thong in my butt crack....PAINFUL!!

<splutter> You made me spill my coffee!

 

[fochkoph]

Man these guys just keep shooting themselves in the foot. One second they're blasting the PC for being nothing but a pirate ridden haven. Next thing they're saying the future of gaming is on the PC. Now this? Get your PR team together for fucks sake!

 

[techtard]

I guess nobody told EA "You never go full retard".
PS Pre-order cancelled. Vote with your wallet folks. There are enough good PC games out now, and coming out. Send these guys a message where it counts, in their wallets.

 

[qwerty_lesh]

what surprises me most is yous expected better from EA?

 

[Steven B]

EA can ************************************* themselves!

 

[INSTG8R]

Yep EA are just one big ball of fail. Say one thing, say another, do the opposite of both etc.
Gobsmacked really...