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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Will Have Online Pass

Posted on Friday, January 27 @ 12:15:54 Eastern by


Electronic Arts has sent Game Revolution Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning well in advance, and I've already poured about 14 hours into the action adventure RPG. It surprised me - and yet not surprising at all given EA's track record - that the Xbox 360 version comes with an online pass.

People are right to complain about the idea of an online pass, particularly for a single-player title, that in this case locks seven in-game quests for the House of Valor, which from what I gather is a place where players can partake in gambling and gladitorial battles. It also locks the Mass Effect N7-inspired Shepard's Battle Armor (pictured below).

Of course, I can't access any of this content with the code until the game is fully released, so as a reviewer, I can't be certain of my overall grade until then. Not having access to this gambling arena until I'm something like Level 50 will likely change how I experience the game compared to the common player, who will likely have access throughout the game.

On the other hand, this is hardly the first time we've seen the online pass, notably for Mass Effect 2's Cerberus Network (and probably Mass Effect 3's multiplayer mode). It's in Electronic Arts' best interest to have people purchase games new, and having the Mass Effect 3 promotional items will likely boost sales for and interest in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, as it already has for the game's demo.
Related Games:   Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3
Tags:   Electronic Arts, Kingdoms of Amalur


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POST A COMMENTComments
  • Bossner
    Bossner - Joined: Jan 27, 2012


    The Online Pass is simply free DLC for folks who buy new.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 27th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
  • sliverstorm
    sliverstorm - Joined: Jun 23, 2007
    Seriously. How is this a bad thing?
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 27th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
  • Bossner
    Bossner - Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Apparently I can't link to the announcement, it's on the official forums.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 27th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
  • NecroWolf
    NecroWolf - Joined: Oct 28, 2005
    Meh, if the demo is any indication, I won't care.... because its too awesome for me to care. It's like Skyrim had sex with Fable, and then an affair with Dragon Age, and their genetic code got mixed up, and Kingdoms is the result. It's awesome, I love it.

    I don't like online passes, though... won't stop me from buying the game. I am a consumer whore.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 27th, 2012 at 1:31 pm
  • TurinAlexander
    TurinAlexander - Joined: Sep 29, 2006
    After playing the demo, I was on the fence on whether or not to buy this game, this news has helped me decide to not bother with it.
    1 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 27th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
  • davidjames
    davidjames - Joined: Jan 28, 2012
    I have recently played this game and I must say its excellent and quite interesting to play it.
    1 1Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 28th, 2012 at 5:07 am
  • Rinnon
    Rinnon - Joined: Nov 8, 2005
    It's mainly bad on the premise that attacking the used game market is wrong in some way.

    Some will say that every market has a used market to deal with. There's a used book market, used cars market, used computers, etc. Almost anything you can buy, you can also buy used for cheaper. It's part of the rights of consumers, to resell their property to someone else. No one would try to tell you you can't sell your home, or your car, or a book to someone else. Or that when you sell a book, a chapter is missing, or the back seat is missing, or the windows, etc. Some would further infer that it's wrong for the Gaming Industry to be doing just that. To be withholding some of the content and disallowing it to be transfered when the item is resold, devaluing it. Essentially, people want to be sold a product, and then be free to do what they want with that product. People don't want to feel like they are being sold a "license" that can be revoked or changed at whim. They want ownership, and the freedom that comes with owning an item.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 30th, 2012 at 3:14 am
  • Rinnon
    Rinnon - Joined: Nov 8, 2005
    (Previous comment was meant to be a response to silverstorm above, this continues)

    The counter argument of course is that these missions are not in fact a part of the original product, but an "added" bonus for persons purchasing the game new. That the company is trying to reward people for purchasing the game from them instead of buying used. Additionally, it could be argued that many other industries are doing the very same thing and the Gaming Industry is not unique. Certain warranties on Cars are non-transferable. Some books (like textbooks) come with 1 time use subscriptions to websites offering additional content. Etc. Lastly, it can be argued that there is nothing wrong with a company trying to maximize it's sales by trying to beat out it's competitor that is the used game market. Surely you expect Sony and Microsoft to try to one up one another to increase sales, why should you not expect EA to one up EB Games by offering more content for "free"?

    I'm not sure which side I buy into to be honest.
    0 0Like or Dislike?
    Posted: Jan 30th, 2012 at 3:14 am

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