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EA Sports Debuts Premium Pass - Moving Toward Subscriptions?
Thanks to GameInformer for its story discussing EA Sports' announcement of a new Premium Pass service for Madden NFL 2005 players. Although it's explained that "This package of paid subscription-level features will be available [on the PS2 and Xbox Live] at no cost to Madden NFL 2005 owners, as long as the user enters their credit card number, by way of sponsorship by Dodge", there's some speculation that subsequent Madden seasons will include a higher-tier, optional fee, especially as "If you do not have a credit card, you can still sign up for the EA Sports Premium Pass with a PayPal account, or Telecheck for $19.95." In the meantime, this extra service means: "Players who sign up for the EA Sports Premium Pass receive a boost to their online Reputation Rating, which is a publicly visible indicator that rewards and penalizes players for following EA Sports Fair Play rules", as well as receiving: "Name in lights... personalized career pages... members only medals [and forthcoming] Web leagues [and] enhanced Web tournaments." Update: 08/06 17:47 GMT by S : Game Informer now has an interview with EA's Chip Lange which helps clarify the subscription-related shenanigans.
come for the naked robots, stay for the zombies
Yeah. Could you imagine the outcry if all you had to do to get ahead in your MMORPG of choice is go on EBay and buy a better character?
No... wait...
This is my sig. There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
Football? Er? Is this like the EverQuest or Galaxies for those people who used to beat me up? Is that why they took my lunch money?
As usual, Penny Arcade once captured my griefs with EA quite well (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2004-