UPDATE: Shacknews has the story on exactly what this news means, straight from EA:

"Battlefield: Bad Company will release five unique weapons free of charge through five different promotional programs prior to launch," the rep noted. "EA will again make these weapons available to players free of charge after launch, in case anyone missed the pre-launch promotions."

The other five weapons will be made available to players who purchase the Gold Edition of Battlefield: Bad Company, which will be released alongside the standard retail release this June. "For players who do not purchase the Gold Edition of the game, they can still buy the five weapons at a small individualized price per item," the representative continued.

"All weapons are balanced for gameplay," they added. "More weapons offer players more choices but do not create an advantage/disadvantage for players who do not opt to buy new items." 

As reported yesterday, EA’s upcoming shooter Battlefield: Bad Company will be beginning its beta next week. While the servers will not open until the 25th, gamers are allowed to download the beta yesterday. Peeking around inside of the empty gameworld exposed what could be a horrid finding: some weapons may only be obtainable by buying them on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Out of the ten unlockable weapons, five of them have icons that prompt players to go to the marketplace to purchase their digital weapons. While this is far from Horse Armor, it is despicable nevertheless.

There are a few possibilities that could make this less sacrilegious. One possibility is that they are weapons usually only attainable with the special edition of the game, a practice which is more accepted. Also possible is that they are either modified versions of the weapons, in which case anyone willing to spend a few dollars to buy a golden pistol deserves to be charged. It is either that, or maybe  they are unlockable through gameplay or a purchase; so you can either earn it like a man or be a cheating scumbag.

This is a commentary on the way microtransactions seem to be going. If this path continues it can only end badly, with gamers being charged for things that should be in the game at the first place.

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