Battlefield: Heroes!
- Thread starter Nanor
- Start date
That trailer is very well done. It has me thinking I might like to try it out.
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elDiablo
Guest
Not sure if it will beat TF2 (what with their up coming changes and the fact that Valve seem only to be able to do good to a lot of things), but it does look fun. Also, the trailer doesn't mention that although the game is free, it has adverts in the game (which are (supposidly) more intrusive than those in BF2142) and it will feature a lot of "micro-payments".
This is EA's stand at a new financial model for this era. Which is a good thing. But it's EA. Who care a lot more about money than gamers (IMO, of course, feel free to disagree
), and I can see this being a "here's the game, and to actually make some money, here are 15 addons which you have to play with anyone else who has downloaded them", or some such. I could be very wrong of course!
Also, it has planes. And people can sit on the wings of planes. I like planes. I might give that a go!
This is EA's stand at a new financial model for this era. Which is a good thing. But it's EA. Who care a lot more about money than gamers (IMO, of course, feel free to disagree
), and I can see this being a "here's the game, and to actually make some money, here are 15 addons which you have to play with anyone else who has downloaded them", or some such. I could be very wrong of course!Also, it has planes. And people can sit on the wings of planes. I like planes. I might give that a go!
2142 had adverts? I barely noticed. On the same scale as that would do fine by me.
But it's EA. Who care a lot more about money than gamers (IMO, of course, feel free to disagree
Recent publicity from them seems sufficiently humble that they might, in fact, have started to learn from their past mistakes.
If their revenue stream is advertising-based then they'd be insane to lock people out of the game by "requiring" add-ons in the fashion of BF2/2142's expansions. I bought the first expansion for BF2 and was so underwhelmed I've avoided all the expansions since.
thatbloke
Junior Administrator
Indeed Ronin - I bought both booster packs for BF2 and the Northern Strike one for bf2142 - both were "good" in their own rights but server admins were reluctant to add them into the normal map rotations (probably because when switching to an addon map it boots off all the people wihout the addon). Because they weren't on regular server rotations you then had to play either just the main game or just the addons, which caused problems. The get people playing on their servers the servers all seemed to be just "vanilla" bf2/bf2142.
When I played 2142 alot you were lucky to find more than 20 servers (out of 700 or so that always showed up in my filters) that were running the Northern Strike addon.
There was also that special forces addon that I never personally played and (i think anyway) gave an unfair advantage to people who had it because it allowed them extra kit when playing people who only had the normal game without the expansion.
When I played 2142 alot you were lucky to find more than 20 servers (out of 700 or so that always showed up in my filters) that were running the Northern Strike addon.
There was also that special forces addon that I never personally played and (i think anyway) gave an unfair advantage to people who had it because it allowed them extra kit when playing people who only had the normal game without the expansion.
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elDiablo
Guest
Maybe. Though publicly offering Take Two a huge amount of money to buy them out a very short time before GTA-IV is released, after 2 unsuccessful private bids, and officially saying that they won't buy Take Two after the game is released, really makes me think otherwise.
As for the addons, I hope they have learnt. And the 2142 adverts were huge in game billboards that a lot of people ignored. Heroes is meant to have unskippable 30second adverts at the start of the game, or so the rumour mill turns:
BBC said:
Original article that a lot of people have been quoting. Like me! The micro-payments come via way of in game items you can buy to customise your character which have no effect on the game itself.
PsiSoldier
Well-Known Member
Looks fun and all, but you gotta remember; free game = hacker's(And/or script kiddies, griefers, exploiters, 12yr olds!) paradise.
Cookalarcha
Member
Hope it becomes a Downloadable content or summit for consoles..
What a interesting idea by EA! They are obviously ridding on the success of TF2 though, which is fine by me - I love TF2! BF:Hereos seems to have the necessary elements of a good fps these days, with promotional structure and unlocks.
PC games are so cheap these days, the fact that its free is of little consequence. The big question is as has already been addressed, "will advertising get in the way of the fun?" We will not know the answer to that until we play it. Personally I didn't mind the ads in BF2142. However, if they do it "more in your face" then I woudn't like that, I never watch live tv cause I can't stand watching up to 5 minutes of adverts at a time.
I'm not sure the developers are even sure how they will play the advertising card, it's a case of try it and see I guess. The Ad's could cause issues for MOD's and clan matches too. Maybe later they will introduce an option where you can pay a small fee to switch the ads off....?
BF:Hereos is a risk by EA....giving away a game for free that they could have released on all platforms for a tidy profit. They must be confident.
PC games are so cheap these days, the fact that its free is of little consequence. The big question is as has already been addressed, "will advertising get in the way of the fun?" We will not know the answer to that until we play it. Personally I didn't mind the ads in BF2142. However, if they do it "more in your face" then I woudn't like that, I never watch live tv cause I can't stand watching up to 5 minutes of adverts at a time.
I'm not sure the developers are even sure how they will play the advertising card, it's a case of try it and see I guess. The Ad's could cause issues for MOD's and clan matches too. Maybe later they will introduce an option where you can pay a small fee to switch the ads off....?
BF:Hereos is a risk by EA....giving away a game for free that they could have released on all platforms for a tidy profit. They must be confident.
Nanor
Well-Known Member
thatbloke
Junior Administrator
This brings up a debate:
Which is better? Multiple massive amount of sales at release (that, for instance, a game like Halo 3 achieved), or a constant stream of income from something like advertising/monthly subscriptions that over time will yield the same amount of profit?
As a company I think that the second option there offers much more in the way of stability for a company than a massive initial windfall would.
It also gives more reason to keep developers on it, fixing bugs and adding new content.
I hope this move is successful. But if it gets too much like some of the shitty attempts at DRM that are out there then I will have to reconsider.
Which is better? Multiple massive amount of sales at release (that, for instance, a game like Halo 3 achieved), or a constant stream of income from something like advertising/monthly subscriptions that over time will yield the same amount of profit?
As a company I think that the second option there offers much more in the way of stability for a company than a massive initial windfall would.
It also gives more reason to keep developers on it, fixing bugs and adding new content.
I hope this move is successful. But if it gets too much like some of the shitty attempts at DRM that are out there then I will have to reconsider.
waterproofbob
Junior Administrator
It very much depends on the company, if it is a fledgling/struggling company it may need the instant income. But for a company like EA it will look to make stable and steady as a priority and if it gets quick windfall income as well then that's a bonus.