Rage is to feature its own version of the increasingly popular online pass, which blocks second hand game buyers from accessing select game content.
"If you bought the game new, that would be open for you. You still have to download it, but you don't have to pay for it. Those [sewer] hatches are all over. Most people never find them. But as soon as you do, you're like, oh. And then you start to look for it. That's our first-time buyer incentive."
Willits went on to say that Rage's single player game is larger and more in-depth than any previous id game, and that even those with access to the sewer content may not end up playing it.
"Most people never even see it. I can tell you, some people will buy Rage, download that, and still never set foot in those things. They just won't. I think that's fair. It's cool. It's outside the main path. We're not detracting from anything. But I know some consumers, when you can't avoid it, then you get a little touchy subject."
Last week publisher Bethesda detailed the Rage Collector's Pack, which will be available exclusively at GAME when it launches in the UK on October 7.
Check out eight minutes of Rage gameplay here.
Comments
35 comments so far...
lordirongut on 15 Aug '11 said:
So it's not as much an online pass as an offline pass? What's next, Square Enix making you pay for side missions in Final Fantasy? Bethesda cutting half the dungeons from Skyrim for pre-owned buyers? That's a disgusting business practice and one that I absolutely will not support. As much as people slate Activision, at least they don't resort to this draconian bulls**t.
Drusus on 15 Aug '11 said:
So it's to pay for the multiplayer this game doesn't have. What a crock of horse dung.
jays club on 15 Aug '11 said:
why not go one step further in 2020 if you by a game second hand then you put in your console it blows it up and a message comes on TV that says "you should have bought it new ha ha ha ha".
ladycroft142 on 15 Aug '11 said:
In fairness Activision charge ridiculous prices for the CoD maps still this is an unfair move by id Software. I miss the days when you got to experience everything a game had to offer for whatever price you paid for the disc.
metallicorphan on 15 Aug '11 said:
that's just it,it does have multiplayer....4 player combat rally and legends of the wastelands co-op mode(side missions)....but its sounds like not many people would be bothered with that,so they f**ked over the single player instead for this online pass crap
should of done it like Dragon Age Origins with day one DLC,not like this(or at least word it like this)
TheCrimsonFenix on 15 Aug '11 said:
It's bad enough that content is held from the actual release before the game is even out but to then actually screw people over who don't rush to buy your product is even worse. It's not a question of buying it new if you can afford it. It's the fact that certain people are being f**ked with an incomplete experience, no matter how small.
f**k you, ID. That goes for any other company that follows suit with this pathetic sort of thing. It's s**t like this that's killing game for me.
bawrash on 15 Aug '11 said:
Increasingly popular with who?
It's certainly not the gamers.
jim2wheels on 15 Aug '11 said:
So, if you're not online it's tough s**t?
I hope the people who frequently back DLC on this site are reading this article, I would love to hear their defence of this. I said this would happen in under a year less than a month ago, the slippery slope of DLC is fast approaching the cliff edge.
Not getting a penny from me.
nathar on 15 Aug '11 said:
I cant say I'm too dissapointed at losing a sewer level.
Do you think we can also lose the following levels?
The 'Submarine Dock' level.
The 'Helicopter Attack' level
The level where you crawl through man sized air vents.
The level with too much of the grey/brown filter
The level with too much bloom
The level where someone you thought was a friend betrays you and reveals themselves to have been working for the other side all along.
TheLastDodo on 15 Aug '11 said:
I noticed all the id and Carmack fanboys from other Rage articles are staying quiet.
I'm not particularly interested in Rage but if I was then this would make me buy pre-owned just to spite id.
Denther on 15 Aug '11 said:
I don't understand why everyone is getting so wound up?
Basically they are saying thanks for buying the game brand new have some free content.
What's the problem?
woodins on 15 Aug '11 said:
What surprises me the most is how long it has taken CVG to report this story. I mean, for the past few weeks we have had nothing but iD Rage related stuff brazen as you like on that scrolly main bar thing on the homepage. This factoid seems to have been reported all quiet like. I for one can't think why.
StonecoldMC on 15 Aug '11 said:
Seems fair enough to me
.
It will not detract from the main Games SP Story but it will offer more to those that buy new over pre owned.
If the Devs and Publishers are wanting to combat the second hand market, this is something that we are all going to have to get used too.
TheLastDodo on 15 Aug '11 said:
People are getting wound up because the content is already in the game, it isn't free bonus content, it is single player content been locked out, if you buy new then you download an unlock file, if you buy pre-owned then you can't access it at all, you can't even go on XBLA/PSN etc and buy the unlock file.
This is much worse than the EA's Online Pass for me.
@jim2wheels: I'm starting to come round to your line of thinking on this kinda stuff.
Denther on 15 Aug '11 said:
I read it as second hand buyers could buy it if they wanted, although that point isn't clear.
Even if not I'm afraid that I still disagree with you and think that it's ok, but then that's just my opinion
I see it no differentrly to (rubbish example warning) going into HMV buying Lilo and Stitch and getting a free cuddly Stitch toy, which second hand buyers obviously would not get
jim2wheels on 15 Aug '11 said:
So, what about those who are not online? You're deluded to think this doesn't detract from the SP, collectables are not part of any story. Does that mean it's ok to remove those? How about the Assasin Creed side missions? Or any side missions for that fact. Practically all games have side missions that have nothing to do with the story.
Wake up!
StonecoldMC on 15 Aug '11 said:
I am wide awake, well kind of, but it is Monday after all
.
I get that their is a ot of Hate for this type of Pass, but were going to have to get used to it.
The second hand market is something that I dont agree with and I always buy my Games new, although I probably dont buy as many Games as some on here because of this.
If you want to experience RAGE in all its beauty, buy it new. If you want to take FIFA online and play a match where its a Englishman v a German, buy it new or pay for the Pass.
I suppose we could start a petition or something similiar if were really this angry and upset about it. We vote with our wallets, and you either buy the Game new or you buy it seconf hand. We all have that choice.
TheLastDodo on 15 Aug '11 said:
LOL I see it more like new buyers get a Stitch toy but second hand buyers get the Stitch toy without a head
.
Uzi77 on 15 Aug '11 said:
If you're not online by now you people need to wake up and smell the 21st Century air, for God's sake, who doesn't have the net? You all clearly do. As for the 2nd hand stuff, why don't you tight asses pay a couple of extra quid (actually, it's not even extra, you just don't pay as little as you normally do buying real customer's scraps) and support the damn Developer who has put possibly years of their life into a game that you'll play once for 10-50 hours. People are never happy...
Very_Silver_Ownz on 15 Aug '11 said:
Not everyone has a stable internet connection. At random times your internet could go out just like that and as for your used game comment yes developers who make good games need to be rewarded for their efforts but what about crap games like Haze ? Would you buy it off the PSN Store for £40 or a fiver used ?
Personally I think games need to be cheaper around £25 to £30 like it was last gen. People will buy more games and it means more money to the developers.
jim2wheels on 15 Aug '11 said:
I'm actually not against online passes for multiplayer, I understand the principles even though I don't agree with them - but that's another debate altogether.
DLC and the removal of off-line content is where my issues start and end. I buy 95% of my games new, but it's not really the point. People shrugging their shoulders because it doesn't effect them are displaying a "not in my back garden" mentality. If it effected your gaming, you would be up in arms about it. Voting with wallets doesn't work, in fact, I dare say it steels the publisher to do it even more. Blaming used sales for s**te games is the trend that is being set. How do you counter that with your wallet? I'm boycotting these games, but eventually I won't have a choice in the matter.
I've sold over £400 worth if games on eBay this year, every penny of that goes towards new games. So any argument about used games being bad defies logic in my opinion. What it takes with one hand, it gives with the other.
jim2wheels on 15 Aug '11 said:
Your ignorance is mind blowing. Just because the UK has good access to the Internet, it doesn't mean the rest of the gaming world does.
gmcb007 on 15 Aug '11 said:
So if you buy the game brand new and have no internet connection then you lose out on content? How is that not a problem? Their (id) defence is utterly pathetic. May as well just have said "Tough s**t".
I'm glad CVG actually decided to finally mention it, even though it was announced on Friday
@Uzi77
Not everybody has access to the internet you know. Like I said before, the main problem is that they're f**king over first time buyers as well. If I buy a game I shouldnt be required to download patches to access on-disc content. Oh, are you aware of the mass unemployment and global recession the took place recently?
Solaris on 15 Aug '11 said:
First EA with the crap (online pass)and now id, i hope they will get burnt with this big time. But for the love of God
Bethesda, do not follow suite with Skyrim.
humanhand on 15 Aug '11 said:
I sure hope R* doesn't start doing this with their games.
xfullboost on 15 Aug '11 said:
Sweet, I will be enjoying this bonus content while you poor bastards without internet connection dont. god i hope they cut side missions out of assassins creed to see all you bitches whine some more. long live id!
humanhand on 15 Aug '11 said:
-1 for poor first post.
TheCrimsonFenix on 15 Aug '11 said:
I think people would certainly be up in arms a lot more if they bought an album or DVD with missing songs/lyrics and scenes but hey.. it's okay. It doesn't detract from the experience if you know the ending right?
This is content that has already been announced and isn't going to be available for anyone buying it in any other state than brand spanking overpriced new. Deliberately holding back content is why people are up in arms about this sort of s**t. The cheap/pre-owned market does not suffer as much as the games market likes to make out when it comes to other industries, so why do games companies who release games each year that are almost identical to a dozen experiences before them complain that they aren't getting all their money for a game someone has already at some point paid full price and chosen to part with because they personally feel it is not worth keeping?
http://www.nonprofituniversityblog.org/wp-content/uploads/greed.JPG
theblkwhsp on 15 Aug '11 said:
Well this is a real easy one for me; I'll just wait until it comes down in price within a couple of weeks and buy it new for £25 or something. I'll still be on with Deus Ex and Driver anyway.
Developers and retailers need to find a way to work together and fast because the more these stories get air the more gamers are gonna wise up and find ways to cut them both out of the equation. I now buy most games off eBay for dirt cheap and skip the DLC. Developer gets nothing, neither does the likes of GAME. I don't want it to be that way but I'm tired of being the chew-toy between two rabid Rottweilers...
Fr33Kye on 15 Aug '11 said:
Hey i buy my games new as well, but years from now, a used copy may be all you can find. Or a new copy may be ridiculously expensive. If you start cutting out single player content then these games are no longer intact for the future.
It's just a bad road and supporting sets a bad precedent. I have no problem with the online pass for multiplayer though, but i also understand that it makes single player games with no multiplayer component especially susceptible to the used game market. Which is why i think digital distribution could be a great thing if the pricing is right.
wtb127 on 16 Aug '11 said:
This is just wrong. I understand developers are looking for ways to interest people in buying first hand. But this is taking the issue to a core level. I don't care if I pay $1 for a game. Is I have to pay for a download the rest of the game to complete the full experience, I am being done a disservice. NOT COOl!!
sonic_uk on 16 Aug '11 said:
I agree fully with Multiplayer online passe's as you are using a service (servers and network infrastructure) that costs money and time to maintain, money you have not paid if you bought it secondhand. However, Single Player requires only the disc and the equipment you owns so shouldn't cost a penny more to secondhand buyers. I can understand to a certain extent its like the Limited Edition of games (MOH as a recent example) where if you preorder you get free content but where they start taking content out of Single Player games so they can charge you more for it separately is when I draw the line (which has been going on for years with some corporations dlc like Assassins Creed 2 for example and is something I will never buy into). If you've paid for it it should be on the frigging disc and fully accessible. It starts gently enough with stuff like this whereby you can still actually play the game offline but with a missing feature, but when it comes to the day that you have to enter a dlc code just to unlock the actual game I will draw the line, vote with my wallet and refuse to buy any game that contains this Single Player online pass. As I collect games as well as play them, if a system like this became mainstream I'd have no way of re-activating a game of mine if I needed to format my hardrive or buy a new machine five or ten years from now once the servers inevitably shut down rendering my collection worthless. That's something I'm not going to accept and will stick to the retro and modern games I already have by then when that day arrives.
budge on 17 Aug '11 said:
I've recently read that the PS3 version is lagging behind the other versions with bad pop-up. Is this true?
sonic_uk on 17 Aug '11 said:
You wouldn't be trying to start a flame war by any chance? If you are indeed innocent then I would say there is a true saying..."Don't believe what you read in the papers".
jim2wheels on 22 Aug '11 said:
Where have all the mods gone? This place is turning into a spam fest again.