Madden NFL 10 charges extra for, well, everything

by **Event Status** Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:13 am

Most games available for online consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3 let players download special bonus content for a nominal fee.

But with a massive list of game-enhancing tweaks on offer -- many of which amount to little more than typical game cheats -- does the upcoming blockbuster Madden NFL 10 charge too much for too little?

Gaming blog Joystiq points out some of the game's quirkier downloadable items, which include everything from simple one-time enhancements (letting a severely injured player fully recover, giving all players a 10% stat boost for one play) to the more robust "Elite Status" download. For $5, Elite Status will let players "access exclusive VIP lobbies, leaderboards and play the all new Elite Gametype," which is essentially a tougher difficulty setting.

In other words, you'll pay $60 for the game, then an additional $5 if you want to enjoy the sum of its features.

That kind of nickel-and-diming has in the past proven irksome. Shortly after releasing their award-winning role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, publisher Bethesda unveiled their first piece of downloadable content: armor for a character's horse. Though priced at a meager $2.50, gamers were outraged at what was considered at the time to be an act of gouging them for extra cash for content that should have been in the game from the outset. Similar complaints were aimed toward game maker Capcom over a downloadable extra mode in their hit game Resident Evil 5, as well as EA for a $5 "unlock everything" cheat code in the skateboarding sim Skate 2.

So what do you think, prospective Madden player? Are these sorts of microtransactions just part of the game, or do you feel duped? Sound off in the comments!

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/madden-nfl-10-charges-extra-for-well-everything/1342925