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I think it’s safe to say that the Battlefield 3 launch hasn’t been silky smooth. The beta was full of bugs and had far more players than server spots; over the past few days, server outages have become a huge problem for every platform; and the single-player campaign was more than a little disappointing. (For a full breakdown, check out our review .) These all seem like they’d be pretty embarrassing for EA, considering that CEO John Riccitiello compared BF3 to Modern Warfare 3 by saying “We have the superior game engine, a superior development studio, and a flat out superior game.” But if all of that wasn’t enough, now it seems that EA is trying to pull a fast one on PS3 owners. Last summer, at E3, Sony and EA put together a little perks package in an attempt to persuade gamers to choose the PS3 over the Xbox 360. As part of this exclusive package, Sony promised that customers would receive a free copy of Battlefield 1943 with the purchase of the PS3 edition of Battlefield 3. However, when PlayStation owners finally tore the shrink-wrap off of their copies, Battlefield 1943 was MIA. Well, it looks like a new deal between DICE and Sony superseded the BF1943 exclusive, but Sony never quite explained this to their customers. In September, EA announced that PS3 customers would have access to Battlefield 3’s DLC packs a week before Xbox 360 customers (just like the Xbox/Call of Duty exclusive, only crappier). This seemed like yet another perk for PS3 customers, but, apparently, it also meant that players wouldn’t receive BF1943. 
The most annoying part of this story is that EA seems completely unaware that they’re perpetually disappointing their player base. In a recent interview with PC Gamer, EA/DICE executive producer Patrick Bach bragged about Battlefield’s console superiority: “Our biggest benefit for the console has been that we’re leading on PC,” he said. “It has forced us to push the limited technology of consoles compared to the PC to a new level, because we set the bar with what we wanted to create on PC and said, ‘How the heck are we going to do this on consoles?’” Wouldn’t it be nice if they just apologized? By Josh Engen |