DICE Confirms “Online Pass” for Battlefield 3.

Several months ago, in an interview with GamerZines, Patrick Bach eluded to the fact that Battlefield 3 will have an online pass-esqe system in place for used copies. He refrained from calling it an online pass. Patrick explained “I don’t think it’s an online pass, I think it’s our own backend. I’m not sure I want to call our system an online pass.”

Today, Alan Kertz, DICE’s Core Gameplay Designer, was asked by a fan, “do you need to buy a new battlefield 3 to play xbox live?” Alan responded ”You can also purchase an online pass for a used copy.” It’s worth noting that Battlefield Bad Company 2 had a “VIP” pass, which gives players full access to all maps. Second hand buyers have to buy the VIP pass to have access to all maps. We still don’t know if the new online pass for Battlefield 3 will lock out some maps, or if it is a traditional online pass. Traditional online passes require player who have purchased a used copy of the games to pay about $10 to have online access.

This move by EA shouldn’t come as a surprise since the publisher has been pushing this system in one form or another in many of its games.
sursa: MP1st – DICE Confirms “Online Pass” for Battlefield 3