BF2 Booster Packs out soon

[Ruslan74]

I suppose you read it elsewhere but read it here again or just below for a merciless copy & paste job from Eurogamer :

"EA has announced plans to release two new booster packs for hit wartime shooter Battlefield 2.

First up is Euro Force, which will introduce the new European Army and three new maps. Each Euro soldier will come equipped with a new primary weapon, such as the FNP90 or the Benelli Tactical shotgun, and you can expect four new vehicles - including the Eurofighter. The maps are titled Operation Smoke Screen, The Great Wall of China and Taraba Quarry.

The second booster pack, Armored Fury, will put the focus on "large mechanised battles, harking back to the El Alamein style maps on BF1942." It'll feature three new maps - Midnight Sun, Operation Harvest and Operation Smoke Screen - and two new vehicle classes. You'll be able to hoon around in Attack Jets and Recon Helicopters, too.

Euro Force will be released on February 8th, with Armored Fury following on March 28th. They'll both be available online via the EA downloader priced £5.99, or €9.99 if you're foreign."

I guess BF2 is going to be a mother of a cow for EA to milk hey?

[stoke]

And too many expansion packs spoil the broth.
Grrrrrr.
This time i'm not falling for it - theres not enough sf players as it is.
[of course - i said that last time]
[i like the way we get charged more for no good reason whatsoever]
/me phones bud in uk ... i'll get im to get it for me .. anybody else want it too ?
<aaarg ... no no no ... i'm not getting one mkay>

[Ruslan74]

some new screenshots of the booster packs.

[rainy]

I will most likely not get any of the booster packs. Firstly, I already spent money on vanilla BF2 and, in a lapse of sanity, SF, and I am not even playing SF as is. Secondly, I have a general distrust towards anything that says 'Downloader', 'Automated Patching' etc... reminds me of Steam, and call me oldfashioned, but I don't like these systems. Thirdly, knowing EA they will probably have some fancy dongling/copy protection system in place for these downloads, so you can use them only on the PC they were downloaded on... Or something like that... Lastly, I think 3 puny maps and a few weapons, that's what they could deliver to their valued customers for free.

/me thinks back to UT2003/2004 with these massive, free bonus packs...

[Ruslan74]

yeah... UT has a great record of pleasing their customers... EA only thinks about their pockets... sigh...

[TG]

The problem is that many people ARE going to fork out money for these packs, which proves to EA that it's a viable solution.

[Bass]

Couldn't agree more Rainy - also had a brief lapse of sanity & I now have an expansion pack that I don't play, & don't really like much ... oh well .. might be able to sell it to a friend ...

I'll certainly wait a bit on these expansion pack though - make sure they don't go the same way as SF ...

[Ruslan74]

looking at the current trend in games TBA this year you better save your money...

[doobiwan]

So what's hot on the horizon?

As much as I loath giving EA more money, the thought of playing Al Amein (sp) and Gazala type maps is enticing

[Darnit696]

Yep a couple of new maps that actually worked would be fun, but I dont reckon I'll be rushing in there in quite such a hurry as with BF2SF. Burned ma fingers for a couple of bucks with that one. IF the stats are right... and memory serves correct... I'think I've played it about 20 odd minutes. Deifintely NOT enough bang for R180 bucks I forked out. As stoke would say "NO way Hoze.". EA need to get SF fixed first before they think they are going to get more profit from me.
... and speaking of profit. The price they are going to charge is an absolute rip off. You might think "Hey but its cheaper than the expansion I got at Incredible Corruption.". Actually for EA the profit margins are MUCH higher on this downloaded "Booster pack" Lets check the list
No packaging cost.
Very little marketing cost.
Miniscule distribution cost. ( I am being nice and counting the cost of running the server).
No middle men. Distrbution agents etc.
No Retailers. (and this is usually a big chunk of the price, I know I deal with all of our countries leading retailers as a supplier)

Off a product sold on the shelf, EA would NEVER see the profit they are planning to see on the booster packs. BF2 players are being suckered.