On March 30 your 'mapathy' woes might be cured, but you're going to need psychological counseling for years to come. That's because your about to be raped. More specifically, your wallet is about to be raped. Activision has come out and announced the price of their Modern Warfare 2 "stimulus package" map pack and it's ridiculously high. For 1200 MS Points ($14.99) you get five multiplayer maps, two of which are remakes from maps in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
So the question is: does this seem fair?
To put it into perspective, $14.99 is a quarter of what a full retail video game release would cost you. To further put that into perspective, Modern Warfare 2 released with a full 8-10 hour campaign, a full co-operative mode, and 16, yes 16, multiplayer maps for $60. If Activision is trying to say that five maps are worth $15, are they also saying that roughly $45 dollars of the Modern Warfare 2 retail release was for the multiplayer maps?
What this essentially comes down to is Activision knowing full well that Modern Warfare 2 is the hottest game right now and that gamers will pay any amount just to get new content for it. Because as soon as this map pack releases, players who refuse to buy it will be limited to what match-types they can play, being booted from matchmaking if one of the new maps gets cycled through on the playlist.
Consider this a rant but I really think this is pretty disgusting and merely an attempt by Activision to bleed us gamers dry because they know they can. Modern Warfare 2 was the highest grossing piece of entertainment ever. Aren't Activision's pockets full enough? I really don't think they could stuff any more money into their wallets, honestly. So as a "thank you" to all the people that made this possible by buying Modern Warfare 2 in the first place, couldn't Activision give this map pack away for a few bucks. Maybe even for free?
Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. The map pack will release for $14.99 and sell like hot cakes. Gamers won't be able to resist the purchase and Activision won't learn a lesson, meaning this will happen again. Hell, the next map pack could be even more expensive because Activision knows they can get away with it. Lame.
