Day 30: The Hottest Games You Shouldn't Buy

Remember when a game used to just be a game? You bought the god damned thing, played it, and that was that. There were no online passes, no DLC expansions, no DRM, no day 1 patches, just a game. Well, at least a few people aren't jumping on the 'milk the customers' bandwagon. Here's the biggest titles you should be avoiding and in what capacity.

WB Games: (Mortal Kombat, Batman: Arkham City)
Starting with the newest Mortal Kombat title it's safe to assume Online Passes will be a regular feature going forward including the upcoming Batman title, which has no online component whatsoever. In the former case you're excluded from Mortal Kombat's most attractive feature, online battles. In the latter case you're unfairly locked out of single player content. In addition, they've already announced DLC plans for Batman and it seems reasonable for a GOTY edition to be released next year for it and possibly for MK as well. As long as they're selling online passes their games deserve a rental at best.

Bethesda: (Rage, Skyrim)
Bethesda games are grand and exquisite. However, Bethesda is renown for almost single handedly ushering in the DLC age all games succumb to now. In the case of Skyrim there's definitely going to be plenty of DLC but a GOTY edition next year is inevitable so just wait for that and all's good. In the case of Rage they're locking out single player content via an online pass of sorts while the co-op and vs modes are left intact. I don't like this and unless you're playing on PC I'd be skeptical of this game altogether. For the most part don't buy Bethesda games Day One, wait for the GOTY edition, they make it more than worth it.

EA: (Need for Speed, Battlefield)
EA were the first to adopt the online passes in earnest. In the case of the last Need for Speed the lack of online practically crippled the game's appeal. I wouldn't be surprised if the new NFS adopts the online pass as well and thus doesn't deserve my money at all. I'm not big on racing games anyway. Other titles like Battlefield are going to be exclusive to Origin on PC. Anyone playing EA games on PC should stop giving them business altogether as long as Origin exists in its current form. Fuck Origin, fuck EA, and fuck Battlefield if those are the terms we have to accept to play another military shooter. On console it may not be as bad if the online pass is absent. If the online pass is enacted however then Battlefield is garbage across the board.

Others: (Resistance 3, Final Fantasy 13-2)
Sony has recently adopted the online pass as well and it's changed Resistance 3 from a curiosity into a leper. You can't hope to compete with Call of Duty, luring away some of their fans AND force them to pay you more to play your game. You can't have your cake and eat it too, even Activision knows that. No one cares how good you think your multiplayer game is...no one is going to pay for it twice. Unfortunately, this means most Sony titles going forward will have online passes in some degree. As soon as they were starting to make some headway with the strongest exclusive lineup around they decided to stab themselves in the back? Well played Sony, have fun in 3rd place!

Final Fantasy XIII-2 recently had DLC announced for it. Now, if this turns out to be a bunch of crappy outfits, overpowered weapons, garbage content then hey, by all means have fun with the game. But if there's some major expansions going on here? Fuck it, wait for the GOTY edition. Square fans are good at waiting for shit that takes way too long to come out.

In summation, if any publisher wants you to pay for a pass to unlock content in your game, don't buy the game, just forget it exists. If a publishers tries to overwhelm you with DLC and nickel and dime you to death, effectively raising the game's cost from $60 to $100 or more? Fuck them, wait for the GOTY edition and don't fall for their trick. If you stop buying it then the evil practices will stop. And don't have a sense of pride for paying top dollar because 'it helps the developers.' All your money goes to middle men and rich ass publishers who milk a cash cow for all its worth then fire everyone who built it. If you want to support 'the industry' then start buying indie games directly from the developer.