Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 get online pass restrictions courtesy of Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, the publisher of both games, have confirmed that both their modern military first-person-shooter, Battlefield 3, and their end to the Sam Shepard trilogy, Mass Effect 3, will ship with the online pass.
It was a move few were doubting, yet now that it they announcement has been made, the feeling of dread is now replaced with a feeling of foreboding for the gaming community. That in itself may be a misguided and disillusioned reaction to the online pass systems, however, that is a different debate altogether.
The news broke when Alan Kertz, Battlefield 3’s core gameplay designer, responded to a fans question on, the popular social networking site, Twitter on whether gamers needed to purchase a new copy of the game to play on Xbox LIVE.
His response was, “You can also purchase an online pass for a used copy.”
Not only did that 11-worded sentence confirm what almost everyone already knew about the online pass implementation, it also apparently gave the gameplay designer an urge to explain why the online pass system was being implemented across the gaming industry.
He explained that it would help the publishers and developers, who pour their heart and soul into the projects from losing out on lost revenue, which in turn is used to keep the online servers running; or as he so aptly put it, “because servers cost money, and used games don’t make developers any money.”
Bioware, the developers behind Mass Effect 3, also confirmed that their latest game would come complete with a multiplayer feature as well and these days, online multiplayer seems to automatically equate to online passes.
However, the move to implement online passes will not affect gamers who buy their copies first hand, but rather the pass will only come into play when gamers purchase a second hand copy of the game and try to access its multiplayer features.
Single player can be accessed by anyone, regardless of the fact as to whether they have a pass or not, so there is some relief there.
Battlefield 3 has been under a bit of criticism over the past few weeks for quite a few reasons; the multiplayer beta came under a fair amount of flak from gamers who found the experience substandard, even by beta standards.
Also a recent story explained that DICE were planning on releasing a large number or downloadable content packs for Battlefield 3, which is seen by many as a move to squeeze every last penny out of gamers who purchase their games.
However, those two issues themselves should do little to dissuade any of the serious Battlefield 3 fans from purchasing a copy of the game come release day, yet for those who are sitting on the fence Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 may seem a better option.
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