It is being reported that the Catwoman missions in Batman: Arkham City, which apparently make up 10% of the game, are locked unless you enter a ‘1st Purchaser’ code, which is included with new copies of the game.
This code will also unlock Catwoman as a playable character in challenge mode
Second hand buyers will have to purchase a code. If you don’t have a code, Catwoman will still appear as part of the story, you’ll just not be able to play as her.
This echoes the sort of online pass issues we mentioned last night with regards to Mass Effect 3.
Update: this has been confirmed. The code will cost second hand buyers 800 MSP / £7.99.
Source: Eurogamer /ArkhamCity.co.uk
Reality Check
No one blaming SONY this time :D They seem to get blamed for everything nowadays.
hazelam
yeah, usually for stuff they’re responsible for.
nofi
4 Trophies are tied to Catwoman, are they not? Boo.
Starman
Heres a tip – rent the game on release day. The pass won’t be used yet. Then buy 2nd hand for half price a few weeks later!
hazelam
this is a gradual erosion of our rights as owners of the content we buy.
this is all leading to the day when every single console game is locked to a single person/account/machine forever.
how this industry gets away with violating the rights of it’s consumers day in day out fucking astounds me.
and what is truly saddening, is people actually defending this.
“buy new, won’t affect you”
that is such fucking horseshit.
if you buy new they’re taking away your rights over your property what kind of sycophant will defend that shit?
ok, maybe this isn’t locking the whole game, but it’s still deliberately devaluing your property.
there just aren’t the words to convoy just how unbelievable it is that people will actually defend this crap.
they don’t even have the, frankly pathetic, excuse that it’s paying for the servers.
this game has gone from must buy to not a in a billion fucking years.
imagine a bird flying to the top of a mountain five times higher than everest and sharpening it’s beak, every thousand years later a descendant of that bird comes and sharpens it’s beak, even after all those uncountable numbers of birds have worn that mountain flat i’d still not support this shit.
Starman
Totally agree. The problem is ‘gaming’ is still seen as a niche geeky pastime which is regularly ridiculed in the press and as such theres no chance of any serious involvement from lawmakers to address and put a stop to it. As i said in another comment it won’t be long until a code is needed for the entire game.
Starman
Ultimately I think the long term target for the industry chiefs is a PS store/360 mkt place as the only place to buy there games, thus eliminating the 2nd hand market and removing any reason to price competitively
hazelam
maybe they’ll get that, that’s when i’ll get out of gaming.
maybe budget stuff, but not full priced games.
there’s a psychological thing for me, if it costs much more than a tenner, i want something i can hold.
of course if they have their way, even that wouldn’t truly be mine either.
fattyuk
Ever thought of finding a new hobby hazel as you really do seem to get wound up by gaming these days, can’t be healthy really seriously do you enjoy just sitting down and ploughing through a SP or spending time online MP…. or just focusing all your time on the “negative”(in your opinion) side effects of what’s happening to the industry( which is ironically at all time high and growing month by month)
hazelam
and why do you have such a problem with what i say?
what’s got you so bothered about this issue you don’t care about?
how does it personally affect you?
my go, it is you isn’t it?
that dickhole from the forums, this is the exact same argument he came up with all the time.
thanks for pointing out what a two faced arse mb was by the way.
and that last bit, that’s him to a tee.
trying to make me look petty for complaining about gaming while he’s the sad fuck complaining about what somebody says on a website.
what’s your response gonna be? let me think back.
something about getting bored of seeing me go on.
yep, it’s all coming back.
fattyuk
I’m not on the ps forums lol havent been for years. and no this does not effect me as i aways buy new and buy collectors editions etc
moshi
I’m just going to wait for the price drop, not complain and get on with my life.
a inferior race
What about the people that don’t have PSN/ XBL access? I didn’t realise it was a requirement to play SP modes of games in their entirety.
To me it looks like we either put up with this crap, DRM or go back to my Mega Drive.
Radiitz
I went back to retro-gaming a while back once all this crap with online passes amongst other stuff that pissed me off.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. the offline gamer gets screwed, again.
Sad Panda
Over the last few months I’ve drifted back to my old SNES and N64 more often. I’ve even dusted the Wii off to play on the VC too.
Games may be prettier now, but I’m not sure they’re as much fun.
fattyuk
Strangly enough I’ve been back on the old mega drive.
mega drive classics with trophies :o)
DrNate86
An excellent point. It doesn’t matter if you lock out the MP component of the game if people have no internet to redeem the code, but it is unfair to prevent someone who has paid full price for the game from playing the whole single player if they have no internet. I would like to see the complaints team justify that.
jikomanzoku
“Thank you for calling Warner Bros Customer Support, we are currently experiencing an unexpectedly high volume of calls and apologise for the delay. Your call is important to us, please hold and we will connect you to a customer support advisor as soon as one becomes available”. :D
Radiitz
And the current-age game industry sinks to a new low.
Still gunna stick to my Dreamcast.
hazelam
and just wait, it won’t stop there.
OllyBobs
Online passes everywhere you look now… :(
hazelam
gotta love how they give it an innocent sounding name.
1st purchaser code, sounds ok doesn’t it?
doesn’t sound anything like an attack on my rights does it?
fattyuk
what else could they call it?
“buy new or you have to pay us directly later code”
“wait till the price drops for a new copy down to a 2nd hand price range and everyone’s happy code”
“thanks for purchasing new and help fund future games code”
Would anyone be happy if they had the little video that says thanks….like they do before certain blu ray films(if anyone’s seen them)
hazelam
illegal?
criminal?
theft?
your legal rights don’t concern us code?
those are certainly more accurate.
colmshan1990
This doesn’t infringe on your legal rights in anyway.
You know, in advance, what you’re buying (In this case, Batman Arkham City with catwoman DLC). You can sell this if you want.
The next person can buy Batman Arkham City, and the DLC if they want it.
Bear in mind, the product has not hit the streets, you have not paid for it, and it’s contents can change at any time up until you pay for it.
When you exchange money in good faith, the game is yours. Until then, it’s not, and you have not have had anything stolen from you by the omission of Catwoman.
Get over it.
hazelam
they’re trying to stop preowned sales, and legally they have absolutely no right to do that.
that is not up for debate.
twist the words around all you want, “technically they’re not doing this”, “they’re not actually doing that”, and “the other is just to protect themselves”
ok, this doesn’t totally prevent you from reselling your game, but it does devalue it, they’re rendering 10% of the whole game unplayable if you resell it, don’t try and fucking tell me that doesn’t impact it’s value.
deliberately devaluing purchase to interfere with my right to resell that purchase.
in any other business that would see the company under criminal investigation.
the thing is they won’t stop here, that’s been proven,
i keep getting told “they won’t go further than the online pass”, or that i’m paranoid.
well i think this has proven that they will.
if we let them.
if this is allowed to go on, we’ll see whole games locked off, that will end many people’s interest in gaming, and as i’ve explained, i believe the whole industry will be worse off if there’s no more trade ins.
and it’s funny i keep getting told to get over it by people who can’t seem to follow their own advice.
i should get over this when it affects me and my rights over my property?
while you can get annoyed and have a go at me over something i say, that by the way has fuck all to do with you, on a website.
and yes, i’m aware i’m also responding to something somebody says on the net, the difference being you’re addressing me personally.
so there is a reason why i am personally invested in this discussion.
i fail to see why you care.
oh and that “it was there when you bought it” defense, that’s been proven to be no defense many times in the courts.
so if you ever run a business, don’t think that gives you carte blanche to do whatever you feel like.
KeRaSh
“ok, this doesn’t totally prevent you from reselling your game, but it does devalue it, they’re rendering 10% of the whole game unplayable if you resell it, don’t try and fucking tell me that doesn’t impact it’s value.”
Sorry hazelam, but you do know how the second hand market works, right? Second hand products usually are worn out and might not be in 100% perfect condition and thus loses value. What if the original owner didn’t really take good care of the game box and accidentally ripped the code apart or simply lost it? It’s a risk you have to take with second hand products and while this is a dick move, I don’t think it’s illegal.
colmshan1990
“in any other business that would see the company under criminal investigation.”
I’m calling bull.
It’s perfectly legal to devalue a product in case it becomes 2nd, or cars wouldn’t depreciate so damn fast. Something like 10% before you even drive a new car out of the garage, isn’t it?
jikomanzoku
A car devalues on leaving the forecourt because it is then a 2nd hand product, not because of any action on behalf of the manufacturer. Similarly, a 2nd hand game is cheaper than a 1st hand game – maybe not by much in some cases, but as I stated elsewhere, supply and demand dictates that factor.
fattyuk
colmshan1990
IMO its not really worth the conversation.(if that’s what you want to call it)
talk about banging your head against a brick wall! lol , I’ve noticed that Hazelam doesn’t actually respond to any genuine points made in a debate but rather just types essays about anything else to try and justify not actually responding to certain comments. or just doesn’t seem to understand common sense ( sorry hazel but it is seriously hard these days to make any sort of point to you!)
Shakugan
I miss the old days… and i hate this gen
Forrest_01
Yep – I remember when all this was fields… & when you bought a game, you got the whole damn thing.