Batman: Arkham City

I have mixed emotions when it comes to the "Online VIP Pass" in games these days. If the Pass includes the right content, then the Pass is a lucrative idea - like EA including the original American McGee's Alice with copies of Alice: Madness Returns, or the Gears of War 3 Season Pass including (at a discount) the first four DLC packs. It's when a Pass is required to unlock more fundamental features - like online multiplayer (Mortal Kombat) or campaign chapters (Batman: Arkham City) - that I think publishers need to lighten up a bit. NetherRealm Studios head & Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon states:

“When we sell a game, we need to recuperate the cost of development. These games cost many many millions of dollars to produce. If somebody is re-selling our game and cutting us out of the sharing of the profits of the game, to pay for our games we need to do something to protect our investment. The people who only rent games or people who only buy used games probably go through a lot more games in a shorter period of time. We feel like in order for us to continue to make games, we need to get enough back to pay for it. That’s the motivation there.”

I have to call fucking bullshit on this one. On a recent list of best-selling games worldwide, none of the Top 10 games incorporated any type of VIP Pass. Black Ops sold 13.07 million units, Modern Warfare 2 sold 12.62 million units, and Halo 3 sold 11.34 million units - not including DLC. As a gamer, I'm already paying for the console hardware and accessories, online subscription service (XBL, PSN), internet access, the game, and DLC. But if I had a choice between used copies of Mortal Kombat or Halo Reach (and both were similarly priced), I'd choose Halo because I wouldn't have to pay $10 more to play online.

I bring this up because the interwoven Catwoman campaign in Batman: Arkham City is only available via the Online VIP Pass. As a fan of the Batman franchise, I look forward to playing through a story through another character's cat-eyes. Fast forward to Thursday, I get a phone call from GameStop, reminding me of my Arkham City preorder - which I do not recall making. I intended to buy the game used a little farther down the road, because I never finished Arkham Asylum. I have a limited allowance for games this season,  so I'm delaying or denying myself many tasty gaming morsels. I'd only committed to buy Forza 4, Skyrim, and The Old Republic. I'm going against my character here, but I decided that I'm further delaying Forza 4, and will pick up Arkham City instead - which commits me to playing the shit out of Arkham Asylum this weekend, so I can justify the purchase. I don't want to pay extra down the road for the ability to play the Catwoman campaign.

Speaking of Arkham City, NVidia announced the Ultimate Arkham City PC Collectors Edition on their Facebook page, but no word yet on when or where it will be available (or how much). This thing is fucking sexy - and if I were in the market for a new computer at the moment, I'd be all over this shit!