Ian Healy

A quick look onto the official 2K Forums, and there are currently 12 threads on the first page of the Multiplayer Forum dealing with some form of DLC issue. Let’s just take a step back for a moment…

About a month ago, an official Xbox publication documented that a new Bioshock DLC (Downloadable Content) package would be released on April 29th 2010. The article simply told us that six new maps were coming, as well as a Rebirth feature. The enthusiastic 2K community had discovered this months previously, and we knew what maps were coming long before we heard anything from 2K Games. There wasn’t an utterance from 2K until the 27th of April, two days before the DLC was due. Major Nelson broke the news that the DLC was delayed. By now, we weren’t expecting to hear from 2K first. No reason was given.

When 2K finally released a statement many hours later, two pictures of the new maps were given. The usual attempt at keeping the community happy.

On May 6th, a trailer for the Rapture Metro Pack DLC was posted on The Cult Of Rapture. Again, this had been discovered by the Bioshock community much earlier, and it was practically “old news” by the time we got official word. Still no date for release was given.

On Monday, stories began appearing on the internet about the Rapture Metro DLC being released the following day, May 11th. Shockingly, it took 2K quite a long time to post an official statement, and many of us had our Microsoft Points bought and our days off work booked by the time we heard anything. Yes, the DLC did come online, and there have been constant problems since.

The Rapture Metro DLC promised 6 new maps, new achievements/trophies, and a new Rebirth feature, which let you begin ranking up all over again.

Problem number 1:
Its now Friday. Its nigh on impossible to get to play a public game on the new maps. It was expected that 2K would release some sort of separate playlist for the gamers with the new maps. The current system of matchmaking is completely useless to the loyal fans who have actually bought the DLC. In a lobby of 10 people, all 10 must own the new map pack, or the game will be played on a standard map. With an already small uptake on the DLC, and it being unlikely that many more will buy the DLC from the feedback on the 2K Forums, this is not good. A statement from Elizabeth Tobey on the forums last night certainly didn’t help.

“We didn’t want to assume everyone would have the maps, and we didn’t want to split the player base (because in previous weeks, we’d already established that sucks.) So DLC maps are in public map rotation if everyone has the content, and otherwise base maps are used – that way you can play with your friends even if they don’t have the DLC content. If you want to only play DLC maps, however, private matches are the best way to go about that – that way you can use only those maps.”

Basically, we’re not getting a separate playlist and those who have bought the DLC are being left high and dry. Yes, technically it is possible to play the maps on a private match, but why should we have to? When buying a map pack, you expect to be able to play it online with people from around the world! Being told by a gaming company that you’ll have to organize your own games if you want to play with what you bought is simply not good enough! Oh, that also means you practically can’t get two of the three new achievements, which depend on playing on the new maps in a public match.

Problem number 2:
The Rebirth feature has reset leaderboard settings. For some, the leaderboards were the only reason they played the game. No warning came when using the Rebirth feature that leaderboard stats would be reset, and this has certainly irked a lot of people. Once again, 2K apparently weren’t expecting this to happen:

“I don’t know of there being any leaderboard resets, so please PM me info so I can check on that.”

For anyone who has been following 2K for the past few months, expecting a fix in the next few weeks would be beyond optimistic! You’re darn right stupid!

The Bioshock 2 gamer will have to make a choice. Either Rebirth and rank back up, or play private matches on the new maps, because you can’t rank back up in a private match. Enjoy all your DLC at once? Evidently, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

Problem number 3:
A major patch had been planned for Tuesday, to co-incide with the DLC release. Over three months after release of the game.

“Also, if you aren’t experiencing changes listed in the patch notes, please let me know of that, too”

If one is to believe feedback from the 2K Forums, and the small size of the patch in comparison to the myriad of problems it was to fix, then this was simply a “patch” to include the new achievements for Rapture Metro, a patch which leaked onto the Playstation Network recently. Three months post-release, and the game is still full of bugs.

If things weren’t bad enough, this isn’t the first negative experience that the consumer has had with 2K Games and Bioshock 2. In fact, the game has been surrounded with controversy since it launched. The packaged game came full of glitches and bugs, things which clearly weren’t tested properly before release. Until this month, the “patch” was a big secret, and since February, we’ve just been told that “it’s coming soon”. When the original DLC came out, Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack, there was a huge controversy. The content had been stored on the disc, and your purchase of the DLC bought you a 100KB unlock key. With the Rapture Metro pack came a separate DLC, the Character Pack, marketed as unlocking 2 new characters. Yet, when Jordan Thomas, the Creative Director of Bioshock, simply omitted mentioning the Character Pack in a post on the Playstation Blog, the community knew 2K was out to deceive their consumers gain. The so-called “new” characters were actually the two pre-order “exclusive” characters; Characters which many people already had, characters present in almost every public game, characters detailed on the 2K website and in the Deco Devolution artbook. What does the word “new” mean, nowadays? Luckily, the community read 2K like a book, and nobody seems to have wasted buying extra Microsoft Points/PSN cards in anticipation for two characters which they already owned.

Summary:
2K Games clearly does not care about its online community anymore (if it did ever), and with some blockbuster games about to be released, they’ve just about laid the final nail in their community coffin.

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Tags: 2010, 2k, 2K Games, Alley, Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Dionysus, DLC, dreams, Drop, Fail, Fighting, Fisheries, Fontaine, Hideout, May, McDonagh, Metro, Of, Pack, Park, Pauper, Rank, Rank 50, Rapture, Rebirth, Sea, Sinclair, Siren, Smuggler, Solutions, Tester

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