Until this point, Battlefield 3 has been running an almost flawless marketing campaign. Great trailer after great trailer had people eating out of the palm of its hand, so much so you voted it your game of E3 2011.
Even the fastest hype train can be derailed by a single hiccup, though, and Battlefield 3 just hit its first hiccup.
Over the weekend, the "Physical Warfare" pack was revealed by publishers EA (so far it's only been shown off for the UK market), in which customers pre-ordering the game receive weapons, equipment and ammo that places them at an advantage over customers who don't put down money early.
Sounds harmless, but this being an online, multiplayer shooter with a passionately loyal (and long-standing) fanbase, people are understandably upset.
This Reddit thread seems to be the tallest lightning rod up at the moment, though in general the internet in its entirety seems unhappy at this.
As they should be! EA and DICE tried this once a few years back and were forced to fall on their swords, so it's interesting seeing them try almost the exact same thing three years later. Perhaps in the hope that everyone would simply...forget how shitty a deal it was.