Though the inclusion of an online pass in a game with Electronic Arts' name attached to it does not come as a shock, word that SSX will follow the trend got the usual people riled up. I was prepared to perform the obligatory shrug and go about my day, but the specifics of what content is restricted interests me.
EA issued a response to Game Informer, which says passes will come with all new copies of SSX and those who buy used can pay $10 for a code if they so choose. Same old same old, until:
In SSX, players without an Online Pass are able to compete and play in both of SSX's online game modes, Explore and Global Events with no restrictions. In Global Events, the top finishers from each event are awarded with in-game credits. These in-game credits earned during play will not be awarded to the player if they do not have an Online Pass; these credits will be stored so that at any time, if a player redeems an Online Pass code, all the credits that they had previously earned in Global Events will be immediately awarded to them.
Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore.
This isn't so bad, if you ask me. I don't tend to buy used copies of games, but if I did happen to make this game an exception to the rule, I wouldn't feel totally burned by EA.
SSX's Online Pass Doesn't Sound Too Bad [Game Informer]
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Contest:
7:00 PM on 01.30.2012 | 
I think you'll likely be able to earn credits from single player as well. You'd just get more if you play online with a new copy or pay for the online pass. Just means more work for you if you buy used and refuse to pay online pass is all. What you unlock with the credits may not even be worth it, who knows. The game isn't out yet.
"Economy balance makes it possible to unlock all available content and allows you to participate in all event drops across both Explore and Global Events, with credits earned solely in Explore."
Really? You only had to read four paragraphs...
It seems like some kind of compromise, but it really isn't. Online passes have no fact based necessity, and there has never been a single shred of evidence in support of publishers claims to the contrary (that I know of), and a glut of evidence pointing at publishers' notions on the subject being dead wrong.
Its brilliant PR spin. Create a problem, overstep your bounds in creating a solution to that problem, then watch as the community sees things like this as compromise.
Shit of get off the pot.
Etc.
Online pass = no buy period, new or used.
The only time EA every used an online pass properly was Alice: Madness Returns and they didn't even fucking market that game properly. It didn't punish, you just didn't get the original game if you bought used. That was fair, the rest of the online pass implementation has been bullshit and its doesn't matter if its mild or severe bullshit - I will not be told how I should buy my games.
Basically they're just making used buyers work harder?
Because games aren't about having fun, they're about WORK, man.
(I don't even know what point I'm trying to make)
People are still being punished for buying used.
Also, purchasable virtual currency. Just sayin'.
Regardless I have to pre-order tonight as its the only way to unlock one of the characters less you wait for him as dlc at a later date.
That seems like a pretty fair bonus/incentive to by new, not that I would ever buy SC used as I like to support the FGC community every way I can.
I've realized that what that "Online Pass" should have been.
Stop making excuses for shitty business practices, you corporate shill.
It's my understanding that there is only one pre-order bonus (that character) regardless of wherever you pre-order (ie no site/retail exclusive pre-order bonus like in mk9) so I would assume you get that same pre-order bonus if you pre order from amazon.
Hope that helps, its definitely better than having to wait a month or something to have access to him and then have to pay as well :/
How about "Credit Voucher"? Oh hey, that's not so bad.
They've done that in the past.
"If you don't give us money we did absolutely nothing to earn, we're still going to fuck you over, we're just doing it in a different way."
I don't care how you frame it. If you take value out of my products, I'm not going to buy them from you. I haven't bought an EA game in over two years now, and I don't plan on changing that unless they change their anti-consumer business practices that fuck over legitimate consumers.
You mean the one you probably pirated and has insanely gimped controls?
@The Cast
Lol, the most pointless one, if anything I'd rather have the first game remastered seeing as it got swept under the rug at the PS2's launch.
@The Silent Protagonist
You say that as if you was actually going to buy the game in the first place, LOL
Personally this is almost null and void to me, as I'll be getting this new (it is SSX after all!!!) and apart from a little ballache in putting the code in, it won't really effect me.
Still, keep up the fight brothers!
Right now it's physically impossible to hook my console upto the net, the broadband out here's limited and the 200 year old building I live in doesn't like wifi signals so my xbox is a standalone unit and only gets updates like new dashboards when I buy new games that insist I install them before I can play.
I only ever bought the Xbox for single player, having completed Saints Row 3 recently (bought brand new) I feel short changed, it felt cut short to allow for DLC which I won't get access to, and I couldn't even download the professor Genki Pre-order pack because of my setup.
Now SSX (which i'm a massive fan of) is going to be limited fun because even though i'll be buying the launch game brand new there's no way i'll be able to access parts of the game unless I move house. Crap. I know this is the way things are going but spare a thought for the folk who seriously cannot hook their kit onto the internet even if they wanted to.
I feel your pain and am in pretty much the same situation. Those without online access to their consoles are the ones who get screwed the most by this kind of thing (though not really in this case). We're essentially being punished with less content when buying new, which is just all kinds of retarded.
I was going to buy this game at launch, but now there's an online pass attached to it, it'll have to drop significantly in price before I even think about getting it. >.>
or can you get credits playing 1 player and use those to unlock stuff?
as long as it doesnt effect my single player modes, i dont care. prob wont be playing this online anyway
When should I be looking out for F2P SSX with a cash shop?
could of been worse
"Why does everyone always say you only save $5 if you buy a game used?"
Because straw men arguments are easier to tear down.
@ FPS Baby Jesus
"why is it newsworthy every time an EA title gets an online pass"
Because some of us want to be kept up to date on what titles to avoid and what new publisher/developer is trying to screw over gamers. It is newsworthy, but you don't have to read it if you don't like it, and you certainly don't have to comment about how it shouldn't be commented on. Shine a light on this stuff I say.
Why is that a problem for anyone else? If an online pass doesn't effect you, then why do people feel the need to comment on others who are choosing not to pay? Clearly that doesn't effect 'you' either.
It's funny how much people will say 'speak with your money' and then when it comes to doing that people will tell you that you're whining or bitching.
For the benefit of those who haven't researched, in SSX there are a credits system in which if you beat the medal times in Explore mode, you get awarded credits (AFAIK a Gold medal gets you 20,000). You can also get credits for surpassing various targets (e.g. air time, grind time, number of backflips etc), picking up developer placed collectables etc. If you have an online pass, you can also gain credits by beating your friends times and picking up user placed collectables and winning Global Events. You can spend your credits for unlocking courses in Explore mode, and various equipment upgrades and similar stuff.
We shall see how much the lack of online credits will affect used gamers at launch: quite honestly I don't think it will.