my thoughts on the hardened edition of MW3

[riderpool]

Well, we knew somehow a hardened edition was coming...sadly though I did not expect...this.

Dun get me wrong. I see nothing wrong with it now that I heard both sides, getting all the DLC at 10 dollars off is good and the ability to get extra XP sounds good...on paper.

The problem I see is actually down the road. Will anyone still be playing (probably) when the final DLC comes out? how many DLC packs WILL come out? Why say that the service we have on is gonna be the add on for hardened edition?

To me also the pricing to elite is the problem. 49.95 a year seems extreme especially to XBL users like me who already have to deal out now 59.95 plus tax. So lets look at it like this...

DLC 60

XBL 60

CODE...dear god it abbreviates to that dun it...50

The thing they say is people will get DLC with the CODE so its at least giving 10 dollars off all the DLC, so with that it brings the total to 110 dollars. Now sadly I do not do the yearly code rather I just use the specials that show up when my tri monthly subscription so I pay about 52 dollar a year so my total goes to 105 dollars and since tax is never included with XBL that's not really bad...in theory.

You see all your saving is 10 dollars. Unless they give you a free month of XVBLA or PS plus or if your a PC user you dun get either but then again you get dedicated servers, I'm not even gonna bring up the fact that PC gamers dun even get this hardened edition since I brought that up way way earlier in an older article...way before I even start posting my articles on the web.

After checking up on the package this is what we get in the console versions (or version, only the 360 version is available at this moment)

one year of Elite (brought this up before)
Founder Status (the MW3 blog states this gives you an exclusive in game emblem, player card, camo, clan XP boost and other exclusive benefits that are not stated yet.)
a Steel book case ( I wanna take a minute to talk about steelbook DVD cases, I really am in the 50/50 about this, if there not built well they can warp on transit or actually break before opening. The halo 2 LE case had the problem of scratching discs making them unplayable. IF there built well they can be good, if not they can be terrible)
free XBLA avatar outfit : The juggernaut...have no clue.
A field journal (not an artbook a field journal with detailed articles and pictures, ok thats not bad, I enjoyed the journal that came with the heroic version of halo reach)

So in one hand its cool...on the other hand it seems kind of hollow. The one thing I enjoy about paying for special editions is the fact that they give you tons of stuff to make it up for the price.



For example

the Batman Arkham city collectors edition is something I am fully paying off. It comes with the following
Custom batman statue from kotobukiya (whose work includes the amazing Bishoujo collection, and many other great statues)
Art book (meh)
Early access to DLC
A free digital OST
bonus movie Batman Gotham knight
and four collectable cards

one collection features amazing additions and great stuff, the other is MW3.

Now let the fans bitch at me but the point is this. Both of these are 100 dollars but the problem is the Batman statue might be worth 50-70 dollars itself but you can show that off to your non gaming friends. You know, the ones who like comics and books instead of games? The ones who know how awesome batman is before the dark night came out? The ones who get into arguments about who is the better voice of batman, Kevin Conroy or Michael Keaton?

You see that edition is fun, MW3 does not give you anything but a journal, and although I love added ons that explain stuff like this, I'm a nerd for explanations about how things work but this is not enough to make me run out trampling babies.

Christ even Star Wars:The Old Republic maybe 150 dollars but listen to this.

Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
Game discs in a metal case
The journal of master Gnost-Dural as annotated by Satele Shan
A galaxy map of the old republic
A SWTOR CD
A HQ collectors box
7 digital items
and a security authentication key

Ok, I can admit someone at the COD camp will say I have no right making fun of MW3's edition while TOR costs 150 dollars. Oh really? I can counter this with the fact that if you think about it their gonna probably raise the price of the prestige. Oh yes, I can say for a fact that it might be a real future.

Also to anyone wanting to get the prestige here's some cold hard facts.

The hardened edition of black ops sells for more than the prestige edition...suck on that.

And before someone fires HAET at me I am a fan of COD. I have played every game from one to black ops. This is more me just saying the obvious.

Taking death from the terror of evil
David Phillips

Please do no tell me of death. I met death, She's a fox
Follow me at ODST_Rider at twitter

Hooked on a Feeling
gamefanstv@yahoo.com

[substantial_snake]

(Kinda rant-ie...but ill bite)

I've been debating in the back of my mind about this as well I probably wont pick it up.

I don't really care for any of the other extras in the package with the only thing interesting me being the free DLC. I have never really been a big far of the overpriced DLC that comes with the COD games and this edition doesn't provide much of a potential discount anyways so I don't really see the point in picking it up.

If whatever they release in the next year interests me enough I might pick up the DLC heavy GOTY edition whenever that is released but since nothing else interests me Ill be passing on the hardened edition.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

....wtf???




If whatever they release in the next year interests me enough I might pick up the DLC heavy GOTY edition whenever that is released but since nothing else interests me Ill be passing on the hardened edition.


dont hold your breath, i dont think they release those versions till at least 2 years in the future

[The 1 2 P]

My thoughts on this are pretty simple: Activision is just trying to do what they always do: get more money from their customers. Thats pretty much the only way I can explain COD elite since other sites(specifically Bungie.net and Halo Waypoint) offer up pretty much the samething at no cost to the user. But with Activions service you get free map packs(kind of) and a few other things such as daily contest(which other sites do for free, atleast weekly ones) and competitions that you can participate in for a chance to win prizes. So it might be worth it for some people but I'm not one of those people.

From my personal experience, I have enjoyed Modern Warfare, Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops online multiplayer, all without ever buying a single map pack. So while I can understand you not wanting to pay another $49.99 fee each year keep in mind that you are not being forced to do this. You can still get the regular version and buy or not buy map packs at your own leisure. Also, whats up with this:


49.95 a year seems extreme especially to XBL users like me who already have to deal out now 59.95 plus tax.

Who is really paying $60 a year for XBL? I've been on for 5+ years and have never even paid $50 a year. There are $30 or less deals for XBL cards all the time and have been for years. I know that $30(the average amount people pay for XBL) isn't exactly free but it's very managable when compared to cell phone bills and such.

I'm going to wait the whole COD elite thing out(the paid parts). Their obvious goal was to monetize COD with a subscription because it works so well for WOW and both are extremely popular. But they have been monetizing COD for years with map packs and they make over 1 billion a year in map pack purchases alone. But I guess even that wasn't enough for them. But again, no one is really being forced to pay for COD elite so it's not that big of a deal to me, despite me being a huge shooter and MW fan.

I'm just wondering if less than 1 million people worldwide get this subscription will they cancel it the following year or hope that it grows in the years to come.

[exit]

I tried reading this but some of it did not compute, so I stopped.

[NE146]

How much is the hardened edition?

And unless you don't have Xbox Live and are only getting it for COD, I wouldn't count it towards the total. Might as well shove in the price of the console too while you're at it. :p

[LaughingMAN.S9]

i tried to reread that again but it made my head hurt, so im just going to say get battlefield 3, which is offereing basically the same thing with no subcribtion.....PLUS JETS!

[riderpool]

How much is the hardened edition?

And unless you don't have Xbox Live and are only getting it for COD, I wouldn't count it towards the total. Might as well shove in the price of the console too while you're at it. :p

the hardened is 99.95 and my calculations are on a renewal basis.


i tried to reread that again but it made my head hurt, so im just going to say get battlefield 3, which is offereing basically the same thing with no subcribtion.....PLUS JETS!

sadly i might just do that at this point. I like the story to MW and wanna see the end but I might just get battlefield at this point.

[NE146]

Well again, most people with an interest in Xbox Live will renew it anyway, with or without COD in the equation. And if you do it right, buy it on sale sometime in the year.

I still don't think it should be included in the price of "elite" (which I won't be buying by the way despite being a COD multiplayer addict)

[riderpool]

Well again, most people with an interest in Xbox Live will renew it anyway, with or without COD in the equation. And if you do it right, buy it on sale sometime in the year.

I still don't think it should be included in the price of "elite" (which I won't be buying by the way despite being a COD multiplayer addict)

at this point i am thinking that battlefield is the best choice, my friend got banned for running a modded server that had no XP gaining.

[kupomogli]

sadly i might just do that at this point. I like the story to MW and wanna see the end but I might just get battlefield at this point.

People play Modern Warfare for the story?

[riderpool]

People play Modern Warfare for the story?

well i kinda wanna see if captain price kills bears with his badass beard and hat!

[LaughingMAN.S9]

People play Modern Warfare for the story?


the stories pretty much been garbage to mediocre ever since cod4, but this is the first time in a long time i've been genuinely curious to how a sequel to a shooter is going to play out, not enough for me to run out and buy this thing day 1, but it is on my radar, if black friday has any type of sale on this game anywhere whatsoever, im jumping on it



as it stands?



BATTLEFIELD 3.

[skaar]

Play another game.

[dgdgagdae]

I tried reading this but some of it did not compute, so I stopped.

Really? I dun know why.

Yeah.

[gepeto]

I haven't seen live cards for 30 in a minute. With the exception of best buys price drop on the black ops prestige edition the prestige seems to be selling for over 100

[substantial_snake]

dont hold your breath, i dont think they release those versions till at least 2 years in the future

I am more then ok with that as long at its all released on a disc rather then a download voucher system.

I get about 90% of my fun from COD games playing private matches with personal friends of mine while talking shit and just hanging out. I don't care if in two years time the majority of the fan base has moved onto the next COD by then. (which for whatever reason "PSN Friends" find that weird or off putting to play private matches but whatever)

Although I got tired of MW2 pretty quickly I will be definitely be picking up the Black Ops GOTY Gold whatever edition if/when its released. The various Zombie modes are worth it on its own even outside of all the extra maps.

[The 1 2 P]

I haven't seen live cards for 30 in a minute.

The best way to get them now(outside of Amazon deals) is thru Best Buy. Every few months they have coupons in their gaming magazine(@Gamer) for $20 off XBL 1 year cards. Just grab the old $50 cards(from my experience most Best Buys still carry them) and use the coupon for a total of $30.

Outside of that, just do what I always did before the magazine deals. Wait until the next store(it could be Sears, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, etc) has a $30 or $40 sale. If they run out of cards before you get there(which they might) then just go to another store that does price matches. I've been doing this for years so thats why I still find it hard to believe that there are people out there(I would assume they are mostly casual gamers that don't know any better) who have been paying $50 or $60 for XBL 1 year memberships.

[Leo_A]

Any word on releasing the original Call of Duty expansion pack as a bonus for this year like they did with the original Call of Duty a year or two back?

I'd like to be able to experience that on a console someday since that's where I've always played this series (Either on the PS2 for the exclusive SD games, or on the 360 for the HD primary games in the series).

[Nature Boy]

Activision is just trying to do what they always do: get more money from their customers.

Welcome to Business 101 class...

[The 1 2 P]

Welcome to Business 101 class...

So thats the reason all these video game companies keep trying to get our money. And here I thought they were just being greedy.