Recommended Posts

Really? Free? Since when EA published titles let content go for free?. Not complaining, just shocked

Mass Effect 3 had a whole lot of free multiplayer DLC.  I have yet to play PvZ:GW, but this games multi seems patterned after that from what I've read (admittedly not much.)

Starting next week, players will be given the option to purchase coins from the Sticker Shop, which allows players the ability to access new packs and character content more quickly ? all the same content that can be earned through regular gameplay. Now you have the choice to play your way; you can play to get new packs and content via earned coins in the game, or you can purchase coins to get more of the packs and content you want right away.
 

 

 

 

http://www.ea.com/news/play-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-zomboss

Why? Is it cheaper on PC? 

 

No, but I knew there was a catch when they announced free DLC. X1 owners were my guinea pigs to see how long it would take for them to announce it.

 

I didn't think they'd actually be stupid enough to do it ahead of the PC release in June, but alas... it's EA. Stupid goes hand in hand with their name.

 

Will wait for the 90% Steam Sale if I ever buy it now.

 

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1202445-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-available-now-on-xbox-one-pc-in-june/?view=findpost&p=596284103

No, but I knew there was a catch when they announced free DLC. X1 owners were my guinea pigs to see how long it would take for them to announce it.

 

I didn't think they'd actually be stupid enough to do it ahead of the PC release in June, but alas... it's EA. Stupid goes hand in hand with their name.

 

Will wait for the 90% Steam Sale if I ever buy it now.

 

Ohh I didn't know it wasn't out yet on PC,  in fairness they only said it wouldn't have any "at launch" and admitted they'd adopt a similar micro-transaction system to Mass Effect 3 from the start though, it was only Titanfall EA said wouldn't have any. 

Ohh I didn't know it wasn't out yet on PC,  in fairness they only said it wouldn't have any "at launch" and admitted they'd adopt a similar micro-transaction system to Mass Effect 3 from the start though, it was only Titanfall EA said wouldn't have any. 

 

They weren't that honest about it

 

 

"We're not going to have any microtransactions at all at launch," PopCap Games producer Brian Lindley confirmed in a statement to GameSpot - though he noted the studio will look at in-game metrics to determine how to support the game post-launch. Thus he couldn't rule out that microtransactions won't be added, but he remained adamant that they "definitely" aren't part of EA's plan upon the game's release next week.

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-21-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-wont-have-microtransactions-at-launch

 

This has been planned all along, they just didn't want to say so because it'd kill the sales for a lot of people.

They weren't that honest about it

 

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-21-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-wont-have-microtransactions-at-launch

 

This has been planned all along, they just didn't want to say so because it'd kill the sales for a lot of people.

 

It was obvious it was going to happen, they kept using that term "at launch". With Titanfall it was said "No microtransactions". No extra "at launch". 

I have to say, I think some people are being a bit unfair to this game and just writing it off because of new micro transactions. I get it that the X1 version is pretty much shunned, but that version has advantages over the pc version if you are playing with friends locally.

Adding these things to it, does not change what the game does well and I have no intention of buying into any of the micro transactions.

I don't know, maybe I don't hate EA enough or something, but the game is pretty fun.

No, but I knew there was a catch when they announced free DLC. X1 owners were my guinea pigs to see how long it would take for them to announce it.

 

I didn't think they'd actually be stupid enough to do it ahead of the PC release in June, but alas... it's EA. Stupid goes hand in hand with their name.

 

Will wait for the 90% Steam Sale if I ever buy it now.

 

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1202445-plants-vs-zombies-garden-warfare-available-now-on-xbox-one-pc-in-june/?view=findpost&p=596284103

I have to ask. Why do you think the micro transactions ruin the game? I am aware of your stance on it in general and how you called that this would happen eventually (so props to you for sure), but based on what they laid out as the micro transactions, how will that ruin the game?

I guess the most obvious line would be 'pay to win', so is that why it ruins the game in this case?

I mean if the game has been good up until now, then the micro transactions must make it a bad game by screwing the in-game economy. Now that people can choose to buy items that you would otherwise earn in game, I can see how that could create a poor multiplayer environment.

I have to say, I think some people are being a bit unfair to this game and just writing it off because of new micro transactions. I get it that the X1 version is pretty much shunned, but that version has advantages over the pc version if you are playing with friends locally.

Adding these things to it, does not change what the game does well and I have no intention of buying into any of the micro transactions.

I don't know, maybe I don't hate EA enough or something, but the game is pretty fun.

I have to ask. Why do you think the micro transactions ruin the game? I am aware of your stance on it in general and how you called that this would happen eventually (so props to you for sure), but based on what they laid out as the micro transactions, how will that ruin the game?

I guess the most obvious line would be 'pay to win', so is that why it ruins the game in this case?

I mean if the game has been good up until now, then the micro transactions must make it a bad game by screwing the in-game economy. Now that people can choose to buy items that you would otherwise earn in game, I can see how that could create a poor multiplayer environment.

 

From what I read it's more like Jim Sterling's coined phrase "pay to wait". Speeding up something you can otherwise unlock playing the game.

 

I'm not shunning it because it's X1 either, I've already explained I own PvZ GOTY on PC and want to keep my collection together, so was always going to buy it on PC. And as I explained earlier in the topic, it's not about hating EA either just because it's EA. They certainly make it easy for some people to hate them though. 3 rounds of layoffs at Popcap since they bought them IIRC? Now making them put microtransactions into their games when they had no history of it before. Charging $40 for an XBLA type game :no:

 

I'm still buying it, but won't until it's much cheaper. Most likely when/if they do another GOTY version. I've never commented on the game being good or bad cause I don't own it. This isn't a case of me saying "microtransaction, automatic change of mind". I saw the microtransactions from a mile away so my stance hasn't changed in that respect.

I'm still buying it, but won't until it's much cheaper. Most likely when/if they do another GOTY version. I've never commented on the game being good or bad cause I don't own it. This isn't a case of me saying "microtransaction, automatic change of mind". I saw the microtransactions from a mile away so my stance hasn't changed in that respect.

So you don't think the game was worth $40? I mean just content wise, not including stuff like this.

As I said before, I congratulated you about making the call. you made it in the thread for all to see. You made it clear that if they announced such things, it would change your buying choice, and it has. Now that you know, you will only buy it when its bargain basement cheap. That wasn't a quick switch, that was a well planned out switch :laugh:

All I can say is that from playing the game, the current way you earn things has not seemed overbearing or obviously slow. If they mess with that formula, then that will suck. If they are just adding a way for people to buy their way into things that would take time, then it doesn't anger me as much. If people want to waste money on cheat codes, so be it. That is not for me.

So you don't think the game was worth $40? I mean just content wise, not including stuff like this.

As I said before, I congratulated you about making the call. you made it in the thread for all to see. You made it clear that if they announced such things, it would change your buying choice, and it has. Now that you know, you will only buy it when its bargain basement cheap. That wasn't a quick switch, that was a well planned out switch :laugh:

All I can say is that from playing the game, the current way you earn things has not seemed overbearing or obviously slow. If they mess with that formula, then that will suck. If they are just adding a way for people to buy their way into things that would take time, then it doesn't anger me as much. If people want to waste money on cheat codes, so be it. That is not for me.

 

From the reviews I've read/watched it seems pretty light on content, although I've heard from some people it offers more than Titanfall.

 

Will find out myself one day I'm sure :P

  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone play coop on this game? If so, how is it?  It's on sale through the 19th so I may get it but I'm curious if coop is any good.

It's actually quite fun, but the second player essentially becomes a guest (achievements don't unlock and no progress towards challenges). One thing to note is that it is entirely the Garden Ops mode but with split-screen players.

  • 1 month later...
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Google reshuffles its AI coding team as it struggles to catch Anthropic by Karthik Mudaliar Google is already reorganizing the AI coding “strike team” it created roughly two months ago, as it attempts to find ways to close the gap with Anthropic in one of generative AI’s most commercially important areas. According to The Information, Google DeepMind is expanding the team’s focus to include “midtraining,” rather than concentrating only on coding tools and agents. Midtraining takes place after a model’s broad initial training but before the final stages that prepare it to follow instructions and perform specific tasks. In simple terms, it gives developers another opportunity to expose a model to carefully selected data before it is polished for release. That could help Google improve Gemini’s underlying coding abilities instead of relying only on better prompts, interfaces, or post-training. Previous research has found that midtraining can be particularly effective for code and mathematics, where models must move from general language knowledge to more structured tasks. Google reportedly created the original strike team in April. It was led by Google DeepMind research engineer Sebastian Borgeaud, who previously worked on model pretraining, and focused on complex, long-running programming jobs. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Google DeepMind chief technology officer Koray Kavukcuoglu were also reportedly involved in the effort. DeepMind researchers were said to believe that Anthropic’s coding tools were outperforming Google’s Gemini models, prompting the company to give the project more attention. Anthropic has made coding a central part of its AI strategy through Claude Code and its Claude model family. The company has continued improving that area, with Claude Opus 4.8 offering upgrades for coding and other agentic tasks, along with the now-unavailable Mythos and Fable models. The reshuffle also comes at a time when Google faces increased competition for AI researchers. Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer recently announced that he was leaving Google for OpenAI, while two other researchers who contributed to Gemini and DeepMind projects are reportedly preparing to join Anthropic. It remains unclear whether the reorganized team will produce a new public Gemini model or developer product. No release date, team size, or specific performance target has been disclosed. Source: The Information
    • Just remember - Microsoft is a trillion dollar company. They didn't have to raise the price this high. They chose to.
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      kinowa earned a badge
      First Post
    • Rookie
      krychek57 went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Grand Master
      Jaybonaut went up a rank
      Grand Master
    • One Year In
      Philsl earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      413
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      168
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      132
    4. 4
      Xenon
      73
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      73
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!