I’m going to start by saying this may actually be a bitch/rant and I’m not 100% on my facts yet but I hope you can understand my frustration. As Brianemone pointed out in a recent post, GRAW now has new downloadable content available in the marketplace. While generally I’m all for new content the thing that gets me is if you don’t get this content you’re basically removing yourself from online play all together.
The problem is if you buy this update, then host a game, you can’t get people that don’t have the content to join your server. When you think about this logically it does make sense because you’re in a way you’re actually using a different version of the game. Essentially this update significantly reduces the value of the stock standard retail game and more or less forces you to purchase it to remain compatible with the majority of online players. This wouldn’t be so bad if the updates were cheaper, but when you’re just a casual GRAW gamer and more or less forced to pay 1200 points to ensure compatibility that seems wrong to me.
My younger brother tells me people on his friends list have said there’s a way around this, although he wasn’t sure about how to actually do it. I did a little searching and couldn’t find anything to solve the problem. While I have every intent in purchasing the GRAW update as soon as I have the funds, I know that’s not the case for everyone and don’t want to miss out on gaming with them because of this. Why isn’t the game just designed to allow maximum compatibility. For example, why can’t users who don’t have all the downloadable weapons just not be able to select them and only be able to watch other players use them? Why can’t it just force players that choose not to upgrade into a spectator mode while upgraded players are on one of the new maps? Honestly the only reason I can think of is to ensure maximum sales of the new content.
I hope I have the wrong end of the stick and there actually is a logical explanation for all this. Xbox 360 is all about putting users at the centre of the experience and to be honest while the new content is good I do feel it puts money making in the place of the user. As I said at the start of this post I’m not sure I have all my facts straight at this point but from my first experience with this apparent/possible side effect of the new update I’m feeling a little like someone is using my love of GRAW against me, my wallet, and the casual gamer. Here’s hoping I got it wrong.