EA’s Online Pass Hits The Sand
Tiger Woods online? Not yet.
Published: 22:30, 01/07/2010 by Alex C [nofi].
None.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 is officially released in the UK tomorrow, but some people already have the game in their possession. You’ll no doubt recall that this year’s Tiger is the first EA game to lock down the online mode for anyone that’s not bought the game brand new, requiring an additional purchase to allow online play on second hand copies.
However, although original versions of the PS3 game contain a code to activate the so called Online Pass, they don’t actually work, yet, according to unanswered complaints on the EA forums.
Apparently once you enter the supplied code, the game fails to pick up on it and still shows the activation required message, blocking out online play. Bizarrely, the option to jump in and demo the internet based sections via the game’s alternative method – a seven day ‘trial’ – appears to work just fine suggesting it’s not EA’s servers at fault.
Rather, many are speculating that it’s simply to do with the game still a sleep and a bowl of Rice Crispies away from hitting the shelves, and hopefully everything will just kick into gear in the morning.
Our review copy didn’t come with a code at all, so we can’t verify any of this yet.
Thanks, slickhenry.
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01/07/2010 at 22:36
Member since: Feb 2010
SO wait, if your review copy didn’t come with a code, how do they expect you to review the online play in it? Or are they shilling you on that by saying “Hey we gave you the game, least you can do is pay us for the online play”. That’s a bit cheap of a publisher to do that to a review copy.
01/07/2010 at 22:36
Member since: May 2009
umm wait i could swear that UFC 2010 came with a code to use online ?
01/07/2010 at 22:37
Member since: May 2009
woops didnt mean to reply to that
01/07/2010 at 22:39
Member since: Feb 2009
Ufc isn’t ea. Ea mma is.
01/07/2010 at 22:40
Member since: May 2009
wait i just read it yeah i know i thought it said 1st game to have the unlock thing sorry my bad
01/07/2010 at 22:38
Member since: Forever
I presume we’re to use the 7 day trial.
01/07/2010 at 22:41
Member since: Feb 2009
I reckon the review copy will work straight out of the box with no need for 2 code. Retail copies are probably the only ones that require a code.
01/07/2010 at 22:36
Member since: Apr 2010
Wow it really has hit the sand lol
01/07/2010 at 22:40
Member since: Feb 2009
Im not interested in the game, but hopefully, this game will act as a ‘beta’ for the online pass, and it will be working perfectly by the time I buy a EA game that requires this.
01/07/2010 at 22:42
Member since: May 2009
also did PES 2008 try this ? im sure they did ? (i know its konami) but i dont remember a whole song and dance about it
01/07/2010 at 22:42
Member since: Feb 2009
Sadly, this game will still sell millions. It’d be great if everyone boycotted it because of this. Annoyingly i know that’s not going to be the case.
02/07/2010 at 10:02
Member since: Feb 2009
well, i won’t be buying it, but then i wouldn’t anywa so my boycott is meaningless, if only people who were going to buy it didn’t, then it would have some meaning.
something like this makes me determined to only buy those games preowned.
if no online mode is the price i pay, i pay it gladly.
01/07/2010 at 22:53
Member since: Dec 2009
Personally I like the idea of the code, it supports the industry, helps get back some of the ‘loses’ a company get when someone buys preowned. Then again, online gaming isn’t a big deal for me, besides co-op. It’s single-player / co-op all the way :-)
I’m sure the codes will work in the morning, what would suck is if people who entered their code early somehow broke their code due to the server locking them out yet still allowing code entry, making it so they used their code up but the server still doesn’t recognise it. That would suck.
02/07/2010 at 13:40
Member since: Jun 2009
What losses is it that you refer to? It’s been mentioned before, but the developer/publisher (or whatever) will have already received their money from that game – What the consumer chooses to do with it after the initial sale (trade it in, use it as a frisbee etc) is entirely up to them. The servers won’t have to account for any more load etc, as the original owner won’t be playing it anymore & will instead be replaced by the new owner, so what difference does it make to them?
I get the idea that it supports the industry & for smaller companies this must look very attractive, but do companies such as EA & Activision really need increased revenue streams? I think not.
02/07/2010 at 14:20
Member since: Dec 2009
That’s why I put loses in quotes, since they aren’t technically losing money, but you could look at it in the way that the person who bought preowned would be forced to buy a new copy if there were no preowned ones.
01/07/2010 at 23:31
Member since: Nov 2009
i find it funny that people complain that their game that is not released untill tommorow is not working properly.
lol, its like the people who complaind that the copy of batman didnt work properly on the PC, a month before release.
Love the online codes, its a win win situation. well i love THQ’s online code, which was realisticly priced. EA, and Sony’s code prices have been found wanting so far.
01/07/2010 at 23:37
Member since: Jan 2009
it was officialy released in most of Europe today (or yesterday as it’s past midnight here now)
01/07/2010 at 23:42
Member since: Nov 2009
i know the release dates lol. i meant UK, i doubt the other areas will be effected by this, but the codes shiped to the UK.
still, if this is another way to stop street date breaking aswell as piracy and profit from pre-owned, im all for it. just make the codes a realistic price.
01/07/2010 at 23:36
Member since: Jan 2009
EA have acknowledged the problem now. From the community manager:
“We’re looking into this guys. I’ll keep you posted.”
Oh.. and it was officially released today in most of Europe and Australia.
At least the offline modes (apart from some bugs and glitches) have grown massively since ’10 and ’09. True-aim with carry distances and no landing-zone finally makes the player think like a real golfer.
I’m re-learning how my wedges spin now, and hopefully the online part will work tomorrow.
01/07/2010 at 23:51
Member since: Apr 2010
‘You’ll no doubt recall that this year’s Tiger is the first EA game to lock down the online mode for anyone that’s not bought the game brand new, requiring an additional purchase to allow online play on second hand copies’
Actually I think you will find that was last years ‘The Saboteur’.
02/07/2010 at 06:27
Member since: Aug 2008
Wait, wait, wait. What? Really? There’s online play in last years ‘The Saboteur’? You think we’ll find that?
Actually, I think you’ll find you’re talking mince. ;)
02/07/2010 at 13:45
Member since: Jun 2009
I know what you are thinking of – The Saboteur did have a one-time use code to add a bit of nudity to the game (& a small side game i think), but it didn’t have any online play which this is generally referring to.
I.e. some people may now end up paying for the ‘priveledge’ of getting online if they buy titles second hand, but it’s unlikely that you would pay an extra premium just to see a few boobies dotted about here & there (although that could be a new angle for Tiger Woods games!)
02/07/2010 at 16:32
Member since: Aug 2008
Oh and what about 2008′s EA/Harmonix game Rock Band 2, which came with a single use code to download 20 extra songs, if purchased new? (on xbox, anyway). I guess that’s about as relevant to the ‘paying for online play’ thing. Sorry, but you were implying that TSA had their facts wrong, and you did so in a slightly supercilious manner. No hard feelings tho, bud!
Anyway to finish with a happy story, I bought The Saboteur pre-owned and the code hadn’t been redeemed yet. Yay! Free nips!
02/07/2010 at 09:59
Member since: Feb 2009
now we’ll see what i was talking about, they want the benefits, lets see how they deal with the responsibility.
as they’re effectively declaring the online mode a paid for service, they have a responsibility to their customers.