Firing Squad writes: "Micro transaction based games are slowly becoming more prominent in the Western market, after being a huge success in far eastern locations, such as China and Korea. A lot of these games are based around free base gameplay, with the option to purchase cosmetic or functional upgrades through an in-game marketplace. This is essentially the basis for Xbox Live and the Playstation Store, which offer numerous upgrades for many game titles. Electronic Arts may have attempted to get into the market when it was leaked that some weapon unlocks for Battlefield: Bad Company may have been for sale over Live, instead of garnering the necessary achievements. Although it was later announced that the weapons would be free for all users, there was a huge outpouring of negative publicity. EA's upcoming Battlefield Heroes will still feature micro transactions to some degree, although as of now, those will remain purely cosmetic."
