Activision is one of the few big publishers to shy away from putting online passes in its games, but with Prototype 2, it would seem the company is definitely looking to maximize brand new purchases. Early adopters of the game will gain access to an exclusive "Radnet Edition" of the game, which showers them with 55 pieces of additional content.
"This weekly scheduled content will include in-game Events, Challenges, Avatar Items, Dynamic Themes and Behind-the-Scenes videos, as well as bonus Mutations for PROTOTYPE 2's main campaign," explains Activision. "Fans that participate in ALL of RADNET's weekly challenges and events will unlock the ultimate shape-shifting reward...to be revealed in March 2012. PROTOTYPE 2's RADNET Edition content will only be available for free while supplies last."
Now this is ... very interesting. In fact, this is the kind of purchase incentive that makes more sense -- the full game is intact, but early adopters are actively rewarded with extra content, not a full portion of gameplay that was gated off behind a pass. Above all, it's optional -- there if you want it, but you don't need to put a dumb code in to access a core part of the gameplay.
In fact, it seems kind of like Call of Duty Elite -- except free. Which isn't so bad.
I'll remain on the fence for now until we see more, but I am legitimately interested in seeing how this works. Combating used games in inventive ways that reward new gamers (rather than punish used ones) is worth giving a chance. Nice to see ingenuity and effort over lazy gameplay ransoms.
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Reward early adopters, late adopters have no legs to stand on with a deal like Radnet Edition. They miss out on a ton of goodies, the game is still there in it's entirety. People whine over that because they can't get the goodies, one of my favorite phrases..."Cry me a river"....fits the situation pretty well.
So...having extra DLC that comes with all new copies is evil, but having extra content only in the first run that gives you access to extra game content and gameplay is good.
wat
@Mechman @xenoslave42 - It's not the same thing. This isn't a 7-part questline that was ready for launch, then arbitrarily locked-away behind a code you have to enter. This is a collection of superficial bonus goodies that are not required to fully enjoy the game.
It's not even "content" in the same way that the questline in Amalur is. Unless you consider behind-the-scenes videos (usually put in collector's editions), XBL avatar items, and "challenges" to be the same as questlines. If you do, there's no helping your kind of stupidity.
I am very curious to see what they have changed up in this game. I had a fair bit of fun with the first. I could care less about these fancy bundle packs it's just more shit to clutter up my drawers and take up more space than necessary on my shelf. Though this kind of incentive is cool for those who like this stuff.
This is not only the same as an online pass - and will probably work in the same way, requiring code input or registration of some kind in order to function - but is also worse in that it requires a consistent allocation of time over the course of a year. How many people's schedules are actually that consistent that they'll be able to play this game every week, when Activision says, to get some part of the game that was, despite how many times that they say it's bonus extra freebie stuff, planned from the get go to be gated off and released piecemeal over the course of a year. Granted a lot of the content they're talking about putting out is unnecessary crap, but the only difference from this and the Cerberus network or any other online pass is timing of release and semantics. Mass Effect 2 worked fine without the Zaeed and Kasumi stuff. Completely unnecessary additions that the main story worked fine without. That's exactly what Kingdom of Amalur's doing: content that is non-story-centric to be delivered as a reward to people who buy the game new. No harm in that, bonus content, right?
The fact is, there is no such thing as bonus content for a game. Every time there's something extra sold or distributed for a game after it's original release date it's surely because that content was either planned to be sold separately or it wasn't ready for release, but it was definitely planned for all the same, and a conscious choice was made by the developer to say "this stuff is the main game, this is stuff we'll sell later," and approving Activision's take on breaking a game into fundamental parts and selling them separately is to approve EA's and everybody else. Either the game's whole or it's not, and you can be sure that Activision's end-game isn't fostering a sense of competition for a game that nobody should even be playing for that long (seriously, how many of you are planning on playing the same game a year from now? How many of those games are single player?), they're still planning on reselling the important bits for every rational person that didn't want to waste the time weekly to play this game. Semantics. The only difference is the way it's being phrased and marketed. The end goal is the same: make more money by selling incomplete games.
You're wrong. It's content that won't be available to ppl who don't preorder or buy at release. If i buy the game new, it doesn't (or shouldn't) matter when I buy it. I want all the damn content if I'm paying full price!
Nice, resorting to name calling so soon. If it was just Avatar items and vids that were being made available with this I'd honestly have no qualms. But it was clearly stated and shown that powers/mutations would also be made available via RADnet. That's content that if I'm paying full price for the game I should get. period. Rewatch the video before you make a fool of yourself again.
I never said it wad limited to that, brat. The point is, you're just a stubborn crybaby who wants to be unreasonable about this, bitching about early buyer bonuses like an idealogue.
i wanted prototype 2 cuz i loved the first one... and i was gonna wait.... but now i cant! do we have to preorder from their site or is radnet available at like amazon or something? cuz thats where i preorder most of my stuff
"The PROTOTYPE®2 RADNET Edition is a highly limited edition of PROTOTYPE 2. Designed for early bird' fans, it comes equipped with a RADNET Access Code found on the back of the game manual. RADNET Editions can be distinguished from the regular edition of PROTOTYPE 2 by a distinct RADNET Sticker placed on the front of all new shrink wrapped copies of PROTOTYPE 2."
I still read access code, which means its not transferable if you buy new, which also means, this is just like online pass type nonsense. Sadly I may want the content depending on what it might be but I wouldn't put up full price for the game to find out. I will get the game in the future though, that's not gonna change.
What they should be doing is just reward new buyers, meaning, have a limited run of either preorders only to manufacture as the special edition and then just have regular editions, this would allow new adopters to first, enjoy their full price game, 2nd, beable to re-sell it without forfeiting content, and third allowing all fans who actually like the game to get their hands on all the content if they can't afford or even know about the special released edition.
So I think I'll be passing on getting this for release price just on the account of not seeing a reason to buy a game that has a blackhole attached for some of the extra content.
"Fans that participate in ALL of RADNET's weekly challenges and events will unlock the ultimate shape-shifting reward"
I wouldn't be at all surprised if starting in week 30 or so they begin requiring post-launch DLC to continue trying to complete the yearlong challenge. You don't start reeling in until the hook is set.
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Contest:
8:00 AM on 01.31.2012 | 
There's just no winning with gamers.
wat
Agreed. This crap is no different than any other preorder bonus. Why can't I just buy the damn game on release and have *all* the content?
It's not even "content" in the same way that the questline in Amalur is. Unless you consider behind-the-scenes videos (usually put in collector's editions), XBL avatar items, and "challenges" to be the same as questlines. If you do, there's no helping your kind of stupidity.
The fact is, there is no such thing as bonus content for a game. Every time there's something extra sold or distributed for a game after it's original release date it's surely because that content was either planned to be sold separately or it wasn't ready for release, but it was definitely planned for all the same, and a conscious choice was made by the developer to say "this stuff is the main game, this is stuff we'll sell later," and approving Activision's take on breaking a game into fundamental parts and selling them separately is to approve EA's and everybody else. Either the game's whole or it's not, and you can be sure that Activision's end-game isn't fostering a sense of competition for a game that nobody should even be playing for that long (seriously, how many of you are planning on playing the same game a year from now? How many of those games are single player?), they're still planning on reselling the important bits for every rational person that didn't want to waste the time weekly to play this game. Semantics. The only difference is the way it's being phrased and marketed. The end goal is the same: make more money by selling incomplete games.
You're wrong. It's content that won't be available to ppl who don't preorder or buy at release. If i buy the game new, it doesn't (or shouldn't) matter when I buy it. I want all the damn content if I'm paying full price!
You're a spoiled, self-entitled brat, crying about not getting vids and avatar items.. ffs
Nice, resorting to name calling so soon. If it was just Avatar items and vids that were being made available with this I'd honestly have no qualms. But it was clearly stated and shown that powers/mutations would also be made available via RADnet. That's content that if I'm paying full price for the game I should get. period. Rewatch the video before you make a fool of yourself again.
I still read access code, which means its not transferable if you buy new, which also means, this is just like online pass type nonsense. Sadly I may want the content depending on what it might be but I wouldn't put up full price for the game to find out. I will get the game in the future though, that's not gonna change.
What they should be doing is just reward new buyers, meaning, have a limited run of either preorders only to manufacture as the special edition and then just have regular editions, this would allow new adopters to first, enjoy their full price game, 2nd, beable to re-sell it without forfeiting content, and third allowing all fans who actually like the game to get their hands on all the content if they can't afford or even know about the special released edition.
So I think I'll be passing on getting this for release price just on the account of not seeing a reason to buy a game that has a blackhole attached for some of the extra content.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if starting in week 30 or so they begin requiring post-launch DLC to continue trying to complete the yearlong challenge. You don't start reeling in until the hook is set.