Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition
has Activision forgoing the toys and trinkets associated with past special editions of the franchise . As every COD fan knows the cost of DLC hit`s you like a misthrown Flashbang only adding to the anticlimax of a 3 hour single player campaign that consititutes your Michael Bay leaning Modern Warfare experience....So all in all the £75 for a year`s worth of DLC and your very own Founders seat in your very own COD Elite members club does not seem too bad...Wait one....The irony of it all is that we are now subscribing to play our FPS games and getting our MMORPGS free in increasing numbers ....
The makers of Modern Warfare 3 feel the need for you pay a subscription to get all the features of their game and in doing so Activision/Blizzard are trying to socially monitise the humble FPS the same way Blizzard managed to with it`s MMO subscription model
There is a cloud on Mr Kotick's silver pressed latinum lining , as a FPS is not an MMO , the social interactions are completely different ,at present the height of social interaction in your average console FPS is the traditional expletive contest..usually in the lobby whilst waiting for the next level to load .Further casual gaming people , the ocean in which Call of Duty fishes, actually play in short bursts ( with some noteable lethal Korean /Chinese exceptions..correction ... those marathon gaming session actual fatalities occurred whilst games players were engaged in RTS and MMO games ..not FPS games) , generally do not care outside 3 or 4 friends who they play with , have no friends,and the many actually play because the online aspect of FPS games are FREE !
Monetisation is why Modern Warfare 3
and Battlefield 3 are getting jiggy with the "social network" , and for that matter so is Assassin`s Creed Revelations. Time was when a major FPS game released effort was devoted to developing it`s graphics engine , in today`s post social network and App happy games verse , more time is now devoted to developing a social network based /App gaming revenue engine . The aim is to make money after all in a market with spiralling diminishing returns , and aged console hardware that barely coping with yet more Unreal 3 engine skinned games.
iD`s 20 hour single player RAGE campaign may have more than Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3 put together , but it is the latter two that have led with the promise of a post social network gaming experience that are generating and have generated the most the most hype and fan frenzy.
3 is a magic number.....
Thus the thing that hits you about this years new batch of threquels to last years sequels , apart from the magic number 3 ...and a funny feeling that you are paying for the same game over and over , is that they all invest the player heavily into this feeling they are socially gaming . But for 40 odd years videogames have been antisocial and proud ,right down to the solemnly lonely chore of making that boot disk, installing the game and then maybe just maybe making it past the menu screen .Unless you are going to somehow promise to improve this shy set of gamers Mojo with the fairer sex, your FPS pay to play model is going to be as effective as paid for porn in a Google world where your target audience is used to getting all its virtual kicks free.And that includes fragging.
Of course as a games fan I will contribute to Mr Kotick`s pension fund , through the purchase of MW3 hardened edition,purely through the kindness of my heart , but this pay to play model has to provide sufficient content.
Has Mr Kotick missed a beat as gaming revenue returns models have also adapted , whilst he has been adapting his to reap maximum returns...?
The new kids in town, iOS ,Android ,Browser based games have been leading with freemium models . This year they have been joined by the genre that draws most revenue and the highest number of gamers the the Facebook gamers , potentially 500 million of them . Add to that the traditional millions of players that play MMOs. Lord of The Rings , Dungeons and Dragons , Conan , and soon Star Trek Online , Battlestar Galactica online , are just a few examples that have gone FREE. World of Warcraft on the other hand has seen declining subs and has responded with a limited free to play version.
And there`s more : The biggest name in PC game distribution , (no ,not Zynga !) but Valve ,purveyors of Steam are moving big time into Free 2 Play gaming, and with the likes of Counter Strike , TF2 , and the coming Counterstrike GO ,with more added weekly, all based on free to play or 0 sub models , not to mention EAs Battlefield Online , Battlefield Heroes and the rest of that series .
The Flash is about to hit the fan....
Recently Epic showed the Unreal Engine running in Flash , now that brings a world of FPS games closer to running from your Facebook Page , or browser , or tablet or tv... a world of FPS games , to gamers choice always beats out dictated games playing schedules ... can DLC really extend and hold interest on one FPS game , over the space of one whole year , a year in which sooooo many games across the vast array of formats that we have access to: every thing from phones to tablets and pcs to tvs will taking up our time ?
Did not an Angry Bird and Farmville outshine all last years AAA multimillion $ gaming franchises? At least they did according to the number of live TV sketches on US chat shows..
Thus ,unlike Modern Warfare 2 which launched in a world yet to be enslaved by Freemium games , MW3 is swimming against a tidal change in the way we game . But there is yet more potential doom and gloom.
How many players can actually play at one time? MMOs have seriously large numbers of players playing at any one time from PCs , consoles cannot compete , and certainly cannot compete in the FPS genre , the current console game with the largest number of online players is MAG , a PS3 exclusive that is a riot to play , but hardly taking the world by storm . And it is of course FREE of a subscription fee. MW3 and Battlefield 3 on consoles are going to have significantly smaller in game player counts , on the PC though they will shine . To feel this you have to have been around when Battlefield 2 was at it`s height with 64 player battles , once you are part of those you never want to go back to sparsely populated console FPS games . Do you see the server problems coming ? Millions of players vying for a small number of play slots in each MW3 game , you may actually spend more time in the MW3 lobby ,than on any of it`s maps .
£70 to £90 or so for MW3 Hardened edition , there are going to have to be a hell of a lot of maps and upgrades to justify that cost , and considering you will only get one year or so free , so next year you will also be paying £90 for Modern Warfare 4 or Treyarch`s latest . And really do FPS gamers have the devotion that even MMO players of late have been lacking which has led to all these great MMOS being free to play .
An FPS however good it is cannot have the staying power of a great MMO , or the mass addiction of a Facebook game. Call of Duty like all FPS games has a half life so to speak , where interest gradually wains. Of course what is left of Infinity Ward could be holding back two thirds of the game to release as DLC to make the £90 or year long sub worth it.
What may kill Activision Blizzards FPS gamer farming quest is one of the major criticisms levelled at the Modern Warfare series:brevity .We have been tuned to the idea that a Call Of Duty games single player length runs at around the length of a Michael Bay film (directors cut). On PC in fact you may actually play through the entire game in a shorter time than it takes to install the 20gb or so... ( note to self ... a worthy challenge) . So maybe I will play through , and pass on the multiplayer , instead playing that other social FPS that is free to play online Battlefield 3 , on my PC and consoles . MW3 with its inflated value will be a good 1 day play through and trade , I kid you not Mr Kotick , later when they release the GOTYR I may get the Steam version to play .. for around £10 like I did with COD Black Ops ... At least I would if I had more sense than gaming addiction...
Still I fear paying a sub for DLC , cannot work , no one is that invested in MMOs as a gamer any more, even the mighty Bioware knows not what the future holds for it`s Star Wars The Old Republic , as you can see by World of Warcrafts recent problems , and the droves of MMOS moving to free to play models so how will this model work for a FPS game ? The audience for COD is being misread , no one would describe the FPS scene as socially mature on consoles , most online console FPS game sessions are expletive ridden , tribal affairs that descend into playground comedy faster than a weekly Priminister`s Question Time session... always .. go on log on an start playing one now ...how long till the game descends into West Side Story with grenade launchers?
In fact why not make one of the DLCs Modern Warfare 3 Expletive Contest ... and do away with the FPS part altogether....
The blind hope of ActiBlizzard is that MW3 will have such a strong social network component , where friends chose it`s servers as venues to gather forsaking real life and their better halves , and play and keep paying to play. But again an FPS is not a social experience like an MMO or Facebook game , you play an FPS to frag , not sit around in lobbies swapping stories , so where exactly will you socialise in these games , behind the shed whilst the rest of the games occupants go around sniping and fragging to their heart`s content ..?
The finest example of an FPS game that used post release DLC to increase it`s base audience is Borderlands , but take a quick look at the price of the game now , and most of the DLC was single player . To make MW3 worth £90 the DLC has to be the equivalent of a full game , full single and multiplayer game ...
Core gamers will pay £90 for collectors editions ,rare games , but an FPS is something different even if it is MW3 . And the slippery slope that you will find yourself on is an annual fee of £90 for the hardened editions of the same game to play on servers , that will go for the next year or two before the next gen consoles release and they make you pay £129.99 for the update version of the same games or subscriptions to the next .
COD games are usually higher priced than normal releases , till this point you justified that cost by saying you would play multiplayer for a year ..but that was free ...now if you want it all you will be paying extra , and at a time when there are MANY alternatives not least in the FPS genre with Battlefield 3 , just the Alpha of which I could have played all year !
Then factor in all the streamed games , iOS and Android , all the other great genres , and time hogs , a little real life , and a lot of lost life to all those now free to play MMOS ... and soon to be free MMOS and you know what MW3 may be the first COD game where I am happy with the less than 6 hour single player campaign ...
In the final analysis I find myself totally annoyed by the way Actiblizzard is trying to milk the COD franchise ,slightly amused at the lack of noise against it , and find it absolutely hilarious that in an age where we get MMOS ,iOS , Android, Browser and Streamed games for free , we find ourselves being asked to pay yearly subs by Activision to a now ageing First Person Shooter franchise ... more power to D.I.C.E... and come on Epic , Digital Extremes and iD come get some!
this is what you get with the Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Hardened Edition : now for £69.99 on Xbox360 and PS3
in the UKmultiplayer map packs, memberships, in-game unlockables, and a one-of-a-kind book on many of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s untold secrets, the ‘Hardened Edition’ is the definitive experience for the Call of Duty fan.
The Hardened Edition includes:
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game disc, featuring unique disc art
- 1-year Call of Duty: Elite membership - includes future Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 downloadable game content (including map packs)
- Special ‘Founder’ status on Call of Duty: Elite - includes exclusive in-game emblem, playercard, weapon camouflage, Clan XP boost and more exclusive benefits
- Premium, collectible Steelbook case
- Exclusive Special Ops juggernaut Xbox Live outfit
- Limited edition, collectible field journal chronicling the entire saga with 100+ pages of authentic military sketches, diagrams and written entries
or get it from Game or Zavvi in the UK ....still no news on a PC version....
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