Battlefield: Bad Company 2

[Pennilenko]

I would get in on a squad pack.

[caladein]

Squad Pack me.  Also, I'm CA so I can coordinate one sans sales tax.

[NiX]

Have they even confirmed the Steam packs?

[Malakili]

Hmm, this looks better than I thought originally.  Keeping my eye out.

[Malakili]

Available for pre-order on Steam as of now. 49.99, allows access to open beta (starts next week), and gives you access to weapons once the game comes out. (not sure if they are exclusives, or if they are unlockables you just get "for free."  No "squad pack" option, as of the moment at least.

[schild]

Limited Edition
Improved Vehicle Armor: An up-armor package is mounted on all vehicle types, decreasing the effect of both explosive and penetrating warheads, significantly improving vehicle survivability.

Supreme Vehicle Firepower: Additional weapon packages are mounted for the driver of all armored vehicles, greatly expanding the range of targets the vehicle can successfully engage and destroy.

Vehicle Motion Sensor: Use this electronics warfare package to locate enemy units in direct proximity to the vehicle.


Tracer Dart Pistol: This magnetic dart attaches to any vehicle surface, allowing squad members to track, lock on, and fire rockets onto moving targets even beyond line of sight.

M1A1 Sub-machine Gun: Reliable but heavy this classic weapon is a powerful force in the hands of any Battlefield veteran.

M1911 Pistol: Highly customized M1911 are favoured for its dependability and the power of its large .45 caliber round.

[Venkman]

Oh yes, will get. And mostly because I really enjoyed the last PC-based BF game, for the teamwork and the vehicles.

[Nightblade]

Have they even confirmed the Steam packs?

Apparently they are "working on" getting a 4 pack deal ironed out.

[NiX]

Apparently they are "working on" getting a 4 pack deal ironed out.

You are correct:

Lot's of Q's regarding the possibility of 4 pack BFBC2 bundle on Steam. We're working on this, hope we can realize this options asap.

[Sky]

Limited Ed sounds like it's pushing onto the 'buy a better gaming experience' territory. Is Don Rumsfeld working for DICE?

Must suck to face limited ed players in vehicles, an up-armored tank, ffs? I don't get worked up about DLC/RMT, but that looks to be a shitty direction for a competitive FPS to head.

[waffel]

I agree. It is pretty shitty to give limited edition/pre-purchase players in-game bonuses. Unfortunately, its the direction I see more and more games going in the future. That, on top of DLC and guaranteed expansions makes it seem like players nowdays are getting less and less with their original purchase price of a game and are being baited into throwing their money at a game as early as possible.

[Malakili]

Limited Ed sounds like it's pushing onto the 'buy a better gaming experience' territory. Is Don Rumsfeld working for DICE?

Must suck to face limited ed players in vehicles, an up-armored tank, ffs? I don't get worked up about DLC/RMT, but that looks to be a shitty direction for a competitive FPS to head.

I think that the limited edition only unlocks the items for you right away, but are still available to everyone through the normal unlock system.

[Sky]

That's cool then. I mean, in a way, I don't like unlocks :P Let's reward the better players with better gear so they can more effectively stomp the shitty players. For FPS and PVP, I'm something of a stickler for 'even playing field', since skill is already making it tough for people who can't dedicate their lives to the games.

I tried jumping into TF2 for a bit, it's a fun shooter. But playing against vets kinda sucks some of the fun out of it. Look at the two achievements I unlocked :)

Iron Kurtain
Take 1000 points of damage in a single life.

Rasputin
In a single life, get shot, burned, bludgeoned, and receive explosive damage.

[Malakili]

That's cool then. I mean, in a way, I don't like unlocks :P Let's reward the better players with better gear so they can more effectively stomp the shitty players. For FPS and PVP, I'm something of a stickler for 'even playing field', since skill is already making it tough for people who can't dedicate their lives to the games.

I tried jumping into TF2 for a bit, it's a fun shooter. But playing against vets kinda sucks some of the fun out of it. Look at the two achievements I unlocked :)

Iron Kurtain
Take 1000 points of damage in a single life.

Rasputin
In a single life, get shot, burned, bludgeoned, and receive explosive damage.

TF2 has done a pretty remarkable job of making their unlocks not straight upgrades actually.  But I am with you, I think in an FPS just making everyone available to everyone and let people play.   Though, veterans will always have a huge advantage in FPS games where pure skill (ability to aim, knowledge of maps, etc) is important.  Thats why I gnerally like to get into a multiplayer fps either at the beginning or not at all, because they generally have a much harder entrance curve if you join later.

[NiX]

BC unlocks weren't too bad. You never felt gimped because you didn't have X weapon. They each had an up and a down to them, you got a nice graph of what each weapon was good at and often anything more powerful came with crazy spray or something else to even it out.

[Nightblade]

Limited Ed sounds like it's pushing onto the 'buy a better gaming experience' territory. Is Don Rumsfeld working for DICE?

Must suck to face limited ed players in vehicles, an up-armored tank, ffs? I don't get worked up about DLC/RMT, but that looks to be a shitty direction for a competitive FPS to head.

I thought the preorder players only got certain unlocks that everyone could unlock, only right from purchase. Did I read something wrong somewhere?

[Malakili]

I thought the preorder players only got certain unlocks that everyone could unlock, only right from purchase. Did I read something wrong somewhere?

No you are correct.


Also, there is a video here talking about the PC version of the game: http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/battlefieldbadcompany2/video/6246914?hd=1

At the very least they are talking a good game.

[Venkman]

Heh. They could basically say anything but "eff you PC gamers, you'll buy the stupid thing anyway" and be talking a good game In all seriousness, this is going to provide some much needed competition.

[LK]

I'd like to see if DICE's handling of community and information distribution can surpass the laughable efforts of Infinity Ward and Robert "I use Twitter so much for business purposes, I should be paying them a license fee" Bowling.

[Azazel]

I'm holding off buying this atm in wait for a 4-pack.. Should we start organising f13 4-packs now?

I'd be in on one, but not to coordinate it, since I'm in Australia, the're likely to charge more once EA kicks in.

[fuser]

The Steam edition will also have SecuROM. We are working closely with Steam to make the integration well-functioning.

[waffel]

Eeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhh 

From what I've read it should be pretty non-intrusive to run it. On top of being able to install it on 10 different machines at one time I don't think there will be much of a problem.

[WayAbvPar]

Why the FUCK do they need SecuROM on Steam?? That makes zero fucking sense, and is seriously making me reconsider buying it.

[NiX]

Why the FUCK do they need SecuROM on Steam?? That makes zero fucking sense, and is seriously making me reconsider buying it.

You do know that most Steam releases are pirated, right? And clearly it didn't stop people from playing MW2 online.

[ashrik]

Why the FUCK do they need SecuROM on Steam?? That makes zero fucking sense, and is seriously making me reconsider buying it.

You do know that most Steam releases are pirated, right? And clearly it didn't stop people from playing MW2 online.

I didn't know that most Steam games are pirated, at least not to the degree that non-steam ones are. Or that many people were playing pirated versions of MW2 online. The last time I had tried to get around Steam, I ended up having to use an alternate browser like All Seeing Eye to only play on a much smaller set of pirate servers with other people who had downloaded it. This isn't the case anymore?

Because as I see it now, the only reason I ever choose to buy games atm is because they are coupled with Steam.

[NiX]

Depending on the game, sometimes it takes a third party program to play online, sometimes it just works and for the rest you just get single player. With more games going Steam only, the "scene" groups are trying even harder to make it possible for people to play most of them online. I think the MW2 fiasco was probably what made DICE/EA go with SecuRom on top of the typical Steam copy protection. And as long as it doesn't stop people from playing, I don't think most people will notice.

[tgr]

As long as the damn activation limit isn't as hardcore as they were to start with, like for example spore.

I'm looking at Mass Effect 2 for this, apparently that has a hybrid version of this, where you have the offline mode where you authenticate by using the DVD media, and it doesn't go online (or, I hope it doesn't, fuck them in the ear if they do), or you can do up to 10 authentications which are valid for 10000 days. And apparently you can revoke those activations as well.

All in all, if that's how they end up going in the future, then I'm happy as a consumer again. At least their servers going poof won't stop me from playing the game in 10 years time (if I should so choose).

edit: I haven't researched BC2's copy protection when it comes to this, yet. I usually leave that till after it's been released and a few people have bought it and started whining if the protection sucks.

[fuser]

Humm beta opens today, hope they mention if the four pack is going to be ready before release or not.

[waffel]

You can pre-order, play beta, then cancel your pre-order before the game is released and get your money back. Excellent way to try before you buy and cancel if you don't like it. I wish all games did this.

[waffel]

Beta is downloading on steam now. Should be fun.

[Nonentity]

I had to kick the tires for a bit to get it to start, but I have it downloading now as well.

[Malakili]

Been playing this for an hour or so, I like it a lot.

[Jherad]

Rubber-band-tastic so far for me. Tried several servers (sub 15ms pings) and all have the same problem. Judging from the swearing, not just me.

Also, when I unload an entire magazine into someone's torso at close range, and see a red mist spray off them, I kinda expect them to fall down. 1 shot 1 kill this is not (unless that is more netcode screwiness).

[waffel]

Is there any way to see your health?

Also, wtf sensitivity. It goes from 0.0 to..... 1.0. That is all the slider allows. I even went into the config file and manually turned it up and it does nothing. 6.0000 is the same as 20.0000

[Malakili]

Rubber-band-tastic so far for me. Tried several servers (sub 15ms pings) and all have the same problem. Judging from the swearing, not just me.

Also, when I unload an entire magazine into someone's torso at close range, and see a red mist spray off them, I kinda expect them to fall down. 1 shot 1 kill this is not (unless that is more netcode screwiness).

I think its netcode screwiness, because when I've gotten on servers with low ping, the experience has been great.  People definitely die in just a few shots.  The quality has gone way down to the point I haven't even been able to consistently connect in the last 45 minutes or so though, so I don't know what the deal is.