The great Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack European misadventure
DLC (downloadable content) has the capacity to turn a game from an also-ran into a contender. Which is most certainly the case with Unreal Tournament 3 and the free Titan Pack update. Unfortunately for those of us resident in Europe, obtaining that blasted DLC has been somewhat of a chore.
Unreal Tournament 3 is currently undergoing something of a resurgence in popularity thanks to a great piece of free DLC having been released. The Titan Pack may be available at no extra charge for those who already own the game but the content contained therein is game-changing enough that it could probably have warranted a price being put on it.
I ignored Unreal Tournament 3 when it first came out. That could have been a mistake but the reviews were mixed and there were better alternatives out there. However, with the prospect of the Titan Pack on its way, I decided to take the plunge and picked up a copy at the beginning of March.
The Titan Pack was originally intended for release on both the PC and PS3 on March 5, 2009. As well as the Titan mutator, turning players into 30 foot versions of themselves with the ability to kick ass, the Titan Pack also contains new maps, new game modes, and new characters.
While the PC version duly arrived on the date intended, the PS3 version was delayed until March 19. Instead, PS3 gamers got a v2.00 patch which added a split-screen capability, Trophies, and a raft of other improvements. This was certainly good enough to tide us over until Sony and Epic sorted out the Titan Pack.
However, things took a twist when the Titan Pack was released on March 19. While the U.S. Playstation Store got it, the European and UK stores missed out. Epic Games put the blame entirely on SCEE and us PS3 Unreal Tournament 3 players had another week’s wait ahead of us.
And then it got worse. March 26 arrived, and so did the Titan Pack on the European Playstation Store. After excitedly downloading the 500-odd MB update, I loaded the game up and nothing had changed. It turned out that SCEE had put the wrong version up on the Store – the update intended for the United States. So the Titan Pack could be downloaded but wouldn’t actually sync with the main game data.
We arrive at the present: April 2, 2009, and the right version intended for the European region is finally uploaded to the Playstation Store. Anyone with a European version of the game is now sorted. Except it turns out that I somehow have a U.S. disc and still can’t play the Titan Pack! Which begs the question why last week’s update didn’t work with my disc?
This whole thing has been a debacle that, for me at least, is still ongoing. I was hoping to have a review of the new Titan Pack-Unreal Tournament 3 up by now but I’ve still yet to be able to play the new maps or game modes. The Titan Pack DLC may well be a game-changer but because of a right royal mess-up from Epic and SCEE, I still have no way of knowing.
I now have two options – buy a European version of the game, even though I thought I already had, or set a U.S. PSN account up and see if that version of the Titan pack works with my existing copy of the game. What an absolute shambles.
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29 Responses to “The great Unreal Tournament 3 Titan Pack European misadventure”
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April 2nd, 2009
“SCEE had put the wrong version up on the Store”
Genius, absolute genius!
That sounds like something SCEE would do.
April 2nd, 2009
no one answered me last time i asked… is the split screen for 2 player… or does it allow 4 players?
April 2nd, 2009
tinyurl.com/caq2kr
ohh hey… whats that? could it be a podcast Im in? ohh I never would have guessed it…
warning… I sound very tween-ish… damn vocal cords…
April 2nd, 2009
bigmickyd, AKAIK it’s only 2-player split screen but I’ve only ever had 2 controllers plugged in so not 100% sure. The biggest problem is it’s limited to horizontal split, whereas I’ve always preferred vertical, especially on a wide screen TV.
April 2nd, 2009
I know about your problems dave… its a shame that good games like UT and team fortress dont get supported by the devs after release… its a shame…
April 3rd, 2009
Vertical split …. bllahhhh Horizontal is the only way to go.
Harry – finally got our 360 to connect via the laptop (damn M$ not having wireless). gamertag is “H1ISpideydog”. I won’t be getting gold membership though
April 3rd, 2009
spidy
you can at least get 1 month free when you sign up for a silver
April 3rd, 2009
Well Dave, I picked up a copy of UT3 for the 360. It was $18 and it’s not bad but I can see why Epic will not waste it’s time for the 360. The game comes nothing close to Gears where most Epic fans spend their time.
April 3rd, 2009
sigh, i really do like it when there a four way split screen in shooters… makes it fun… have any you played left 4 dead with 3 of your mates in a lan where your all sitting together?…
or with 7 of your mates playing 4 on 4… do you know how fun it is with them sitting there… instead of online where you just type “LOL” when they die…
sony should come out making it a must in games like they did with trophies
April 3rd, 2009
Sorry, I should rephrase … I will not be keeping the gold membership when it expires. It will need to do something “outstanding” for me to keep feeding them money and it’s not just a M$ thing either. I refuse to do it for WOW or other money pit games. But that is just me
April 3rd, 2009
Bigmickyd
Ihat is your online experience on the PS3 then you really need to experience LIVE.
Spidy
Comparing the price of WOW to the price of LIVE is a bit funny. $50 a year vs Monthly subscription for WOW is a bit of a stretch for your policy. But hey that’s just you.
April 3rd, 2009
sorry should have said if that is your online experiemce
April 3rd, 2009
CAD you started off well and then came out with that garbage ………..
You are way too touchy ….. I wasn’t literally making a comparison between LIVE and games that charge subscription. I was making the point that I don’t see value for money in those services whether you pay $5 a month or $30 a month.
From what I have seen so far, LIVE doesn’t make me want to shell out subscription fees. If you do, that great for you. But I suppose I have been spoilt with a free service both on PC and PS3.
April 3rd, 2009
“But I suppose I have been spoilt with a free service both on PC and PS3.”
Yeah thats the same reason I won’t pay for Gold.
April 3rd, 2009
I guess these problems don’t occur if you live in NA. Titan pack works fine. I wonder if it could have anything to do with Dave DL’in the NA pack…..
April 3rd, 2009
OK Spidy I understand.
April 3rd, 2009
I send you a friend invite.
April 3rd, 2009
play warfare CAD and then tell me it doesn’t come close to Gears.
April 3rd, 2009
What COD? Is that the warfare your talking about.
April 3rd, 2009
I need to clarify that I’m only talking about the MP aspect of the two games. UT3 SP is a long tutorial to get you ready for the MP.
UT3 has a Warfare gametype. Its basically a combination of onslaught and assault from UT2004.
I don’t have Gears 2, but Gears 1 and UT3 on the PC don’t come close to each other. My understanding that Horde was the “big addition” which is the same as Invasion in UT2004.
In all fairness the games are too difference to be compared. UT3 is a run and gun twitch shooter. I never got that impression from Gears. Halo 3 would be a better comparison, but that too is nowhere near the fast twitch shooter that UT3 is. The only game IMO that comes close to be able to compare would be Quake 3. Q3 however doesn’t have the cool gametypes that UT does.
April 3rd, 2009
Since the 360 has Quake 4 that could work as a comparison as well.
April 3rd, 2009
ID is meh. Doom, Quake, meh meh all outdated and boring.
At least Epic moved UT forward from straight DM.
Also, they had the nuts to keep the nuke instead of turning the BFG into a rapid fire rocket launcher.
Its been a loooooooong time since I’ve played UT3. I may dust it off to see what this new addon gives me. I don’t really expect to keep playing it tho. I really like that crazy ass ball you can roll around in, and the arty!
ROAD RAGE! Fun old manta.
OK, now I want to play it…
April 3rd, 2009
Oh they are very different. The only similarities are the characters. They have the same build. UT3 isn’t bad at all, I’ll be getting more into it this weekend if I don’t get called to play Gears. I fell like I need to turn off my Live sometimes just so I can get into other games that I just have sitting there. There is always someone calling you to play Gears.
April 3rd, 2009
Gears is a pretty fun game, way too slow paced for my tastes though, run, hide, set up reticle at cover before the other dude, and just hang there and wait for em to poke out, bam instant win. Too slow.
I prefer the faster paced games like Battlefield: BC, Killzone 2, Counter-Strike, and especially Unreal.
You could throw Halo in there, i dig the vehicles, but everything else is kinda meh…its just my opinion but the story is much better in Unreal than in Halo ( lol ) and i don’t dig the designs on in the Halo universe ( aside from the vehicles) and thats just an art thing which is subjective, some don’t like the design in Killzone but love the game…
April 3rd, 2009
the story is much better in Unreal than in Halo ( lol )
You are kidding right?
April 3rd, 2009
Personally I think Gears is paced well. You can Run or walk, Run and Gun or take cover. Unreal is basically that, “Unreal”. That thing is so fast. I can smoke a sliff and play Gears but I cannot attempt that wiht UT3.
April 3rd, 2009
CAD
Maybe not better but equal. Ok here is the problem.
If you JUST play the Halo games, the story is generically mediocre at its BEST.
BUT, if you are dumb enough to give MS more money, by buying the graphic novels, then the story is actually pretty decent.
But guess what? We don’t review games ALONG with their graphic novels now do we? So, bare bones Halo, the story, screams mediocre.
Its the very same thing i hate about Killzone. <==see i am not just a fanboy…
Killzone has such a rich, believable universe. IMO, Killzone’s background and storyline is much, much better. I like the whole Soviet/Natzi themes and undertones. BUT, Killzone is also plagued by the same problem Halo has. Lack of actual story content IN THE GAME.
In order to fully understand what is going with the Helghast ( they are actually the “good” guys trying to get back what was stolen from them ) you have to dig around the internet. The story in Killzone is mediocre as well, but, at least it scores points in my eyes, with keeping with a realistic future. So, its probably exactly one step, heck half step, ahead of halo.
So in terms of Story, yes Unreal’s is on par with Halo’s, while Killzone edges them out by half a step.
But BOTH Killzone and Halo both suffer from lack of actual background story included in the game. Heres what i mean pertaining to Killzone: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=351913
Scroll down by the timeline
April 4th, 2009
Yeah I agree, the ut3 story was pretty crap … They should have stuck to the tournament style story. Halo actually had a story to tell.
April 7th, 2009
UT3 was one of those games that passed me by. I just don’t have time to play every single game.