Pay For Old Maps? I don’t Think So!
For the past few days, the Internet has been an abyss of Call of Duty news regarding the “leaks” of recycled maps Nuke Town and Terminal. A few days ago, Mark Rubin, the Executive Producer for Infinity Ward, confirmed that Modern Warfare 2’s Terminal would be appearing in the latest Call of Duty title in the form of downloadable content. Also, if you pre-order Black Ops II, gamers will be able to get the Nuketown multiplayer map, via a leaked image from a Gamestop store. While this may be good news for some, I am a bit frustrated.
Being a fan of Terminal, I am pretty excited about this, but Nuketown? Not so much. The interesting and more important point to all of this is that these maps will be free. And quite frankly, they damn well better be! Considering we already paid for the maps once, via the purchase of Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops I, the notion of paying for more DLC on “updated” maps is asinine. Now I understand that video game companies should be compensated for the work they do, however, recycling or just “polishing” old maps and then charging for them is unfair and greedy.
Consider the fact us gamers (consumers) pay $60 for the game itself, plus you add in premium services, additional DLC, and whatever other fees the industry tacks on, one is spending up to $100. Remember the Stimulus Map Pack for Modern Warfare 2? Yeah, we spent $15 (1200 MSP) and we received three new maps and two from COD4. So instead of five new maps, we paid for three new and two old. I guess you could look at it like we paid for three and got two old ones for free, but I don’t see it that way. Why didn’t they just incorporate all of the old maps they did for Modern Warfare 2 and release that DLC to the masses — for free — as an appreciation for Infinity Ward’s faithful fans? Yeah, I know, that would be crazy, but the almighty dollar rules and that is exactly my point!
New maps should be simply that, NEW. I have no problem paying for things that I don’t have, but to be charged for a “newer” version of something I already paid for is unacceptable. Fortunately, Inifinity Ward will be giving the gaming community Terminal for free and if you pre-order Black Ops II, Treyarch will give you “Nuketown” for free. I’m buying the game anyway, so I might as well take advantage of this “deal”.
I was able to find the video of some Modern Warfare 3 Terminal map gameplay. The video has been taken down from the original up-loader who was able to hack it, but I was still able to find it from another source, which is embedded underneath the poll.
No date has been set in the release of this map, but Mark Rubin did advise, in a Tweet a few days ago, that there is, “No specific date yet. I really don’t know one. Not hiding it.”
What is your view? Ok to charge for old maps or not? Take our poll or give us your thoughts in the comment section below.
Sources: IHCJames Youtube | IGN.com | Mark Rubin’s Tweet | MP1st.com | At7addak.com
I wouldn’t even say that Terminal looks polished for MW3. Looks like they literally just stuck it in the new game without any changes.
I had to stop by and say ANY company who thinks rehash map packs are a great addition are lying out of their ass. They are quick money grabbers that people eat up. I knew this was going to happen with the new Blops but not before the game hasn’t released. It’s applauding that they do this stuff because it is about going forward in game development, not back tracking.
Vaughn
Yeah, that is what I thought Volks. Really just a cut and paste. Vaughn could not agree with you more.
Isn’t Cod all about recycling maps. didin’t a few maps from mw1 make into to mw2. this isn’t anything new for cod.
Well, I would guess Infinity Ward is more lazy than Treyarch, considering they have had more maps recycled. Crash and Overgrown made it into the lineup with the Modern Warfare 2 game, which were COD4 maps. Considering Treyarch has Black Ops’ Nuketown to play with, it’s unfortunate that they are using the same tactic as Infinity Ward by recycling these maps. Don’t know if the COD franchise is “all about” recycling maps, but it is clear that they love using older maps.
[...] out the screen of the Tweet below to see for yourself and you can see some gameplay of the map here. Thanks for the heads up, [...]
[...] take the video and screen caps with a grain of salt. I will say this, however, Terminal was leaked back in June and was very quickly confirmed from Infinity Ward and [...]