First they announce Dedicated Servers when Infinity Ward decided not to. Then they promised party chat when Infinity Ward not to support the feature fully. When Infinity Ward tried to be funny with “F.A.G.S”, DICE responded with “FRAGS”. And now, even the DLC…releases the same day Modern Warfare 2 does. For free.
The comparisons are never-ending for fans, but ever wonder what’s it like on the developer side of things? If people have been following developer tweets on Twitter or generally hearing EA’s claim to outdo Activision they’d know that there is some smack talk going around. Take DICE’s Senior Designer Alan Kertz for example, who tweets that he doesn’t “buy the BFBC2 vs MW2 bs, diff games.” directly to community manager of Modern Warfare 2, Robert Bowling.
Though that’s well and nice, the irony comes from a few posts below in which a fan blasts DICE for claiming their DLC counts as “map packs”. For those unaware, the reality of the DLC for Bad Company 2 simply consists of the same maps receiving existing modes. For example, at launch, certain maps contain either Mode A or Mode B (Rush/Conquest). DICE however withholds the other mode to add as DLC (for free). Criticism stems however, from the fact that this withholding of content is a cheap tool for fighting used-game sales. Despite being free the alternate modes are only free if you buy the game first-hand, leaving used-sales buyers having to fork over $15– the same amount for MW2’s Stimulus Map Pack. When confronted, Kertz replies “It’s free. It’s in the first month after [shipping], other games wait 6 months to pay cash for 2 maps they already had.”
Ouch! Though not direct, it’s evident that the jab was at IW charging $15 for 3 new maps with the addition of 2 maps from Call of Duty 4.
This is sure to add fuel to the BC2/MW2 debates that constantly rage. Though the games do play completely differently it’s quite amusing seeing DICE nudging IW in a seemingly friendly, but cut-throat manner. Besides, how often do you see developers constantly competing with each other like this? Whether or not IW takes any of this personally is debatable. They have largely ignored DICE and EA as they have a laugh or two (or three) at their expense. After all, it’s friendly competition, right?
Personally, as much as I love Bad Company 2, DICE and EA have done a lot of talking, and that’s because they have a lot to prove and live up to. And though they have constantly aimed to outperform Modern Warfare, DICE have ran into their fair share of shortcomings. The pot calling the kettle black, or light-hearted competition? As Kertz said, the games play very differently, but that hasn’t stopped EA and DICE from throwing darts at their Modern Warfare 2 posters.
