While opinions are divided when it comes to Zipper Interactive’s huge online shooter MAG, one thing’s for sure and that’s the developer’s continued commitment to its new IP. Apart from taking onboard and listening to feedback from fans with regards to patches and other updates, Thursday 25th March saw the first available DLC for the game arrive on PSN. The aptly named “Trooper Gear Pack,” offered players a bunch of new goodies to outfit their chosen soldier(s).
Included were two additional uniforms that can be used primarily for the levels with a more urban design; three different types of flashbang grenades that can be used to confuse, disorient or distract your enemies; and finally a handful of new Special Edition light machine guns for each of the factions: For Raven there’s the APEX 100SE, for SVER the RTK-74 Vla and finally for Valor the Mk 46 Mod 1. These aren’t just new licks of paint for existing guns either as all of these new weapons came with a number of performance adjustments as well.
The best bit? It’s all free. That’s right, zip, not a sausage, nil.
Zipper were clearly in a generous mood because, in addition to the content, anyone who played MAG from Thursday until 11:59pm on Sunday 28th were awarded double XP for all activities within the game, including stacked XP for veterans who already had bonus’ attached to their stats.
The developer has also stated that this is the first of many DLC packs due to be released in the coming months. There was no mention of new maps and whether or not any forth coming DLC will again be free remains to be seen but, according to the people at the helm, this is “just the beginning of our ongoing commitment to MAG”.
In light of Activision charging a whopping £10 – that’s 1200 points – for the “Stimulus Pack” for Modern Warfare 2, (a map pack consisting of five maps, two of which are older ones from the previous Modern Warfare), it seems that fans of MAG are off to a good start with additional content for their game. In a time where gamers are feeling more than a little disgruntled at having to pay through the nose for much of the DLC currently available and for content that, realistically, could have featured in the full game to begin with, this display of generosity can only be a good thing for both developer and publisher SCEA in eyes of the gaming community.
