Microsoft launches PremiumAssault
MechAssault content that costs.
The best things in life may be free, but I feel sure they wouldn't be if the proprietors had Microsoft's smooth transaction management system for premium content. Those of you firing up MechAssault this morning to engage a few poor souls over your corn flakes may have spotted a rather spangly, 3598-block addition to the Downloadable Content menu in the shape of a new "Objective Package". It's a hefty chunk of new content - two new multiplayer game types and three new maps - but the most striking thing about it is the cost!
Microsoft is obviously tiring of free MechAssault content, which is fair enough given the sheer volume of treats released since the game's launch in late 2002, and as we near the anniversary of the game's launch they've finally decided to start charging for added extras. In this case, the new Objective Package comes in at $4.99 in the US and £3.63 according to our UK Xbox.
According to reports, the premium package consists of new game types "Check It" (a sort of capture-and-hold affair where two teams have to try and control several outposts by the time a clock runs down) and "Take It" (with two teams competing to bring a single Data Core back to their base), and three new maps to play with them - Secret Outpost, Magma Fields and City Under Siege. All you have to do to get your hands on them is enable Premium Content downloads and hit A - and the £3.63 will be stripped from whichever card number you entered when you signed up.