OpFlash: Dragon Rising DLC this month News

Love the aggressive DLC flogging going on these days!

Pretty soon we won't need games at all, we can just pay for DLC upon release date....

Perhaps they could fix the actual game before shipping DLC. The squad AI is utterly atrocious, scripted events can fail forcing a mission restart and walking up a flight of stairs can result in instant death.

"Our intention is to align [the patch] with the first DLC pack that's coming out as well, which is due around the end of October. Hopefully we'll do the whole thing in one."

Yes, because it's more important to prioritise DLC rather than releasing a patch which makes the actual game work properly.

"it's not a lot of fuss for us to make new content - it's actually quite easy for us to get it out there, with regards to things like levels"


Maybe they should have put more in the actual game then? This better be free DLC or it's being traded in...

Take my money now, please ! I don't need it. I need DLC ! I want to buy, smell, eat and throw up DLC. I want small DLC, large DLC, overpriced DLC, bugged DLC, DLC for my DLC...

Should be free this close to launch, I mean 8 missions!!! No wonder it's nice and easy to get DLC ready....just slash the campaign in half and you have 8 missions ready to charge people for just after launch.

I'm starting to dislike Codemasters more and more. I used to love them back in the days of the incredible Colin McRae games.

I really hate the yank-friendly over-the-top adrenaline arcade racers they make these days. I've never understood why people were so positive about Dirt, Grid and even Dirt 2. It leaves me completely cold. Just give us a good rally sim again!

It's also funny how Operation Flashpoint 2 should've been released Q4 2008. But then it got delayed like 4 times to be released in Q3 2009. And even after all the delays the game is still pretty buggy and average at best.

Jup, they've lost my respect.

What a joke. DLC within weeks of a game that's sorely missing a crap load of content. So glad I sold this already. This is a disgusting trend. "Oh look, here's a load more content we've just knocked up in 2 weeks and definitely not held back from the game we released 3 weeks ago, noooo"

Tossers

Well, to be fair to Codemasters - I loved DiRT, GRID and DiRT 2. But this game seems to be taking a wrong turn for them!

They should stick to the racing games, it's what they're good at....

TBH I was happy with the game and haven't had any bugs so far. Played it online and off and haven't got through all the campaign missions yet.

I'll be happy for more DLC as it's a great game. There is a bit of a hole in the market for this type of game on consoles, especially with no GRAW or update to R6 this year.

It's a shame I'm having so much fun with the game... because otherwise I could be crying about optional DLC and bugs that are being fixed too.

Bug fixes are sold as DLC these days, you guys only just realised that?

@Nephirion - Just wanted to pop on quickly to make it very clear that the title update/patch being released to address bugs and networking issues is completely seperate from the DLC, even if they are released on the same day.

Also, the exact dates for the release of the title updates/patch and the DLC are still yet to be officially confirmed.

I think the point, XdarXideX, is that we don't want it to be optional DLC since the game is so light on content to start with, plus given how long it was in development we should expect major bugs to have been fixed BEFORE it was shipped...

"XdarXideX
21/10/09 @ 15:35
ignore poster | #11

It's a shame I'm having so much fun with the game... because otherwise I could be crying about optional DLC and bugs that are being fixed too.
"
I think I speak for a lot of people who don't mind paying for DLC if they don't feel that the game was cut short to make way for downloadable content. If a game is a complete package, like GTA, people don't mind paying for the DLC episodes as they are extending an already polished experience and want to enjoy it further. A half finished game released much later than expected.... with DLC available a matter of weeks after release date just looks really bad imo and puts people off paying for the DLC.

DLC comes with an AutoUpdate to allow it to work anyway. What he meant was that he wants the bug fixes AND the autoupdate that allows the DLC to work to be one and the same.

The game would have been ready roughly 6 weeks before release... since then they would have been working on DLC and minor bug fixes that their internal QA found... and that's if they've not been assigned to a new project. Now that additional bugs have been found after release, they will have to work on those too. So an update to fix the bugs will probably take longer than the DLC to be released. Except they've just said that basically they're pushing to get the fixes out alongside the DLC.

But you're gonna whinge anyway aren't you guys?

Lol @ instadeath for walking up a flight of stairs.
Don't you know its dangerous.

@Booner

Half finished as in buggy? Or too short? If it's the latter then maybe it was designed to be played over and over in co-op or singleplayer... hence the large open-world environment. Yes the game is going to be a DLC machine (and they HAVE already mentioned this) but apparently much of this DLC is going to be free.

Sorry but I fail to understand how this game is light on content still... please explain. How many hours have you people put into it? How many playthroughs? Secondary objectives? Co-op? Hardcore mode? Multiplayer?

Probably spent maybe 11 hours on it, but given about half that is just walking...yeah it's light on content. And replaying on different difficulty levels or in co-op is not extra content.

I don't like how there's at least 5 missions kept out of the game to be given to retailers as 'exclusive' unlock codes either.

i would much rather they fixed the hundreds of bugs listed on their forum before they even think about adding more content.

@XdarXideX

Well I am taking it slow and already on mission 6 on regular difficulty. I have been doing secondary assignments where possible, but due to the nature of the missions rushing you to certain objectives to avoid failing, there is little time to take these slowly or even explore a vast landscape.

Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it, although I feel as though it could have been a massive game and it's fallen really short of this.

I agree with Lollers

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

As others have said, the game should've worked perfectly when it first arrived. Ignoring the bugs, the difficulty in getting three other friends into a ranked co-op game are a joke. Not to mention that the missions are dull beyond belief.

I thought this was supposed to be a sim-like combat game... I assume the supposed sim-quality doesn't include vehicles. As for the helicopter, could that get any more arcade in it's controls. Close quarter fighting is a joke. And with distance battles, once the AI has spotted you, their radar-like vision is locked on for good.

All in all a rip off at it's current price. An absolutely boring videogame. Poorly executed combat. Bad feature decisions. Ridiculously arcade vehicles (although why I expected anything less that this from Codemasters is beyond me!). Bug ridden. And incredibly boring. Everyone I know has already gotten rid of this or is planning to. I tried on several occasions to get back into the game, but it's literally sucking the fun out of videogaming. Fortunately I can part-exchange it on Friday for Forza 3. I already feel sorry for the poor sod who's going to end up with piece of crap.

I'm getting Modern Warfare 2 as I think this will be far more sim-like than Codemasters could ever create. A sad demise to what was once my favourite developer who used to be a guarantee of gaming fun and brillance.

FU C*ntmasters. You've disappointed me with three games now. Now hurry up and screw up that F1 game so a decent developer can take over the franchise and do a proper job on it.

To all the people bitching and moaning about paying for DLC, please understand this:

People work on the DLC. These people get paid. If they charge for DLC, its probably to cover those costs. If the DLC is free however, then this ALREADY came out of the games budget, and the game is not as polished as it could be.

If the DLC for operation flash 2 was free, chances are the operation flash point 2 you are playing now would be even more buggy.

Zuljin, see - Burnout Paradise.

Ok, I can understand there is a lot of walking involved in the game, but at no point did I think this game was going to be an action filled, COD-like experience. It was always marketed as a slower paced, realistic military shooter that was closer to simulation than a typical FPS video game.

As for the amount of bugs in the game... well you can't catch everything and you can't fix everything before your time is up. As someone said, the game was delayed several times. I'm sure Codemasters were getting pretty desperate to get the game out... but that doesn't mean it was unfinished. Bugs are found by consumers all the time. It's hardly new to video games.

@zuljin

It's just not that black and white though is it? I mean it's not like sales are there to cover costs, they are there to make profit obviously. How much profit they make and whether that comes from game sales or DLC is entirely up to the developer, as is the budget they decide to spend on those things.

@ XdarXideX well you can't catch everything and you can't fix everything before your time is up.

Well maybe the time spent making this DLC would have been better spent catching and fixing.

@jenson

I'm getting Modern Warfare 2 as I think this will be far more sim-like than Codemasters could ever create

LOL

seriously...

I though dragon rising was crap (sorry helios), but saying MWé will be more realistic...

@LOLLERS
"Zuljin, see - Burnout Paradise."

See what? Did they offer free content or paid content? Does it contradict anything in particular I said?

@skillian
"It's just not that black and white though is it? I mean it's not like sales are there to cover costs, they are there to make profit obviously. How much profit they make and whether that comes from game sales or DLC is entirely up to the developer, as is the budget they decide to spend on those things."

True, you could argue too that the additional DLC release re-boosts falling game sales, but the point still stands. People need to get paid, and that money needs to come from somewhere.

@skillian

I understand your point, but they may not have seen these bugs before working on DLC.

They offered loads of free content for Paradise. Yes it costs money, but the point is that instead of getting money in return you build a community of fans instead.

A game like this is based on:
-A big map
-In-game assets
-Generic rules
-Mission editor

The missions themselves are nothing but a series of scripts, of enemies placed in location x, or circling area y.
No cut scenes, no new assets, nothing.
All it takes to create a new mission is a bit of imagination, pacience and time, as any OFP veteran must remember.

There were lots of user-created missions available for the first game, some really great.

Creating more missions as DLC is the right thing to do in this type of games, especially since console players won't be able to play user-created content.

Was the game cut short to sell missions as DLC? I don't know, I hope not.
What I'm sure is that a month is more than enough for a group of developers to create a pack of missions for this, so perhaps it wasn't cur before release after all.

Burnout Paradise consistently... from day one... failed to attract a large community of online players. It needs free DLC more than any other game.

@striker

Actually, that's true. I take back what I said, these missions (as far as I can tell) could have been cooked up in the small window between game going gold and release.

ChaK,
I'm pretty sure Mario-Kart has more realistic vehicles than Operation Sh*tf*ck! And having played the original Modern Warfare I'm sure the combat in the sequel will be more realistic than Codef*ckers efforts. If you're enjoying the game, I'm happy for you. You're one of the few. And to think, I actually convinced a couple of friends to get this. What was I thinking... Cockmasters making a good game... those days are over. Anyway, you get the idea... I'm incredibly annoyed with another massive dissapointment of a game, that was sold on a promise that didn't deliver in the slightest. I was even warned to rent it before buying and the idiot that I am, I didn't listen. I've finally learnt my lesson about this developer... steer clear of anything they produce!

@ Helios_CM : The single player is great - I *really* enjoyed it and found "Experienced" to be a good level of challenge and I'm about to start a "Hardcore" run through. It is VERY short though (something not mentioned in any reviews) and I was really suprised when the credits ran signifying that the main campaign was over. I then put in the codes I earnt from the official website plus 4 more I found on IGN. That extended it a little but once finished I moved onto the car-crash that is multiplayer.
I thought this would be the most fun and interesting part of the game, adding longevity but is in fact schockingly poor - assuming it finds any games to start with - actually getting intop a lobby is very hit and miss (though looking for a host with "UK" in their gamer tag works most times). Spending 15 - 30 mins hitting refresh, trying to connect and then hitting refresh again until you finally connect to a lobby has no place in 2009.
Once in, it's just a bun fight, no real skill evident. This is mainly due to the collision detection being way off as compared to the campaign mode - you can take time (5/10 mins), carefully flank all the way round behind an unsuspecting enemy, crawl into your final position, line them up in your sights, (no need to adjust for distance as I'm *THAT* close) and then put a whole clip or more into someone, blood/mist blooming from each shot and then they just turn round and kill you with two rounds! Then you re-spawn, it's often into an AI soldier that's got himself shot to hell and about to bleed out!? Not good. Not rewarding of effort or tactics. Not finished.
Yes a Beta would have helped, so why wasn't there one? It's not like the game hadn't been delayed enough. Before you release a game, make sure it damn well works!
Finally, if you are releasing DLC within a few weeks of launch, it's either what you've been concentrating for the last couple of months instead of doing the fine-tuning that you should have been spending time on, or it's going to be rushed and suffer for it, or maybe it should have been part of the campaign but CM figure they can squeeze a little more money out of people before MW2 comes out?
I've had CM games since BMX simultor on an Amstrad CPC 20 odd years ago and while that was short, it was a budget title and you got what you paid for. With DLC this close to launch, I can't help but feel that I'm NOT getting everything that I paid a LOT of money for. Fix the game first, then look at padding out your margins. I just hope that there is still a good Trade In value for this when MW comes out as the Campaign will have been done by then on Hardcore and if it's not sorted, the multiplayer will still be a complete waste of time.
/rant over.

I wish they'd give us some DLT instead. That guy was AWESOME!!

@Stroller4 - The upcoming patch/title update has a large focus on improving the MP experience through numerous networking improvements and game fixes. As an example, a common issue we've seen is where you on occasion shoot someone 10 times and they don't die, this will be addressed in the patch/title update.

"DLT"... groanlol

Helios_CM: "As an example, a common issue we've seen is where you shoot someone 10 times and they don't die, this will be addressed in the patch/title update."

One has to wonder how the chuff that got past QA...

Will this update add artificial intelligence to the game?

It would be nice if we had seperate game-finding servers for the UK or EU... though I've found that friends on BT/Sky broadband have latency issues connecting to my games, and vice versa. I'm not a Network engineer so I have no idea why this could be but I assume it has something to do with the network code as other games are fine.

@Boomerang - From my experience in testing, I can tell you that these things can often crop up in a retail environment without being seen in testing. Some issues are unpredictable, especially on unique game engines.

Really glad theres a patch coming, hopefully it will fix this broken, but great game :)

@ Helios_CM : That's great to hear. I *really* wanted this to be a game that I was going to be playing for years and if the MP is fixed, it may still be. At least I will reserve final judgement until after the patch.

As others have said, the out-of-the-box lack of a Mission Editor, or a free roam option where you can encounter enemy patrols as you make your own way around the island... it just limits the long term appeal. Hopefully that can also be patched/made DLC as a mission editor (available for the last X-Box would help build a community for the next in the series far more than a few extra missions.

Helios_CM: "As an example, a common issue we've seen is where you shoot someone 10 times and they don't die, this will be addressed in the patch/title update."

"One has to wonder how the chuff that got past QA..."

+1
The equivalent racing game issue would be… we’ve noticed that the steering doesn’t work on certain tracks. Last time played an FPS shooting and killing was the core mechanic. I might add that this bug has f'ked me on numerous occasions whilst playing hardcore and I’m still on my first play through.

@jenson : if you readed my message, you should have noted I thought game was crap. Sold it 3 days later.

At least it doesn't have zombies in it.

how about checkpoints for bloody co op games!!!!!!!!!!

Loved it until the end of mission 3, plugged many troops with 6+ rounds in the head no effect and they killed me. Followed by ordering my troops to retreat and they attacked.... My mates got the PC version and loves it but he's playing co-op. Single player seems totally broken.

DLC is code for "I can't believe we used to give this away for free".

Bohemia Interactive, a much smaller outfit than Codemasters, released the ArmA Warfare mode feature for nothing as part of one of their patches. Wouldn't it be nice if Codemasters could make such gestures.