DLCs: More Harm Than Good

Downloadable content (more commonly known as DLC) started to figure into our lives during the era of the first Xbox. Yeah, the Sega Dreamcast and even Atari had their own versions of DLC; but these were extremely limited in nature (in terms of size). The content offered to gamers then was more or less free of charge. Only in the current console generation though has DLC been implemented to in such a commercial manner. The Xbox 360, the Playstation 3, the Nintendo Wii, and even the Nintendo DS have all sorts of content that you can get from their respective online stores/marketplaces. Yes, some are still free; but there are those that can really be quite expensive.

With Atari's Ms. Pacman DLC, you can opt to turn Ms. Pacman into a male.

Microsoft started this trend. They set-up the Xbox Live Marketplace and came up with their very own currency system. And what do you know, Sony and Nintendo followed suit. This move by the current “holy trinity” of console gaming is what made it possible for downloadable content to permeate the video gaming world like never before. In the current console generation, almost every game released DLC of some form – extra levels, new weapons, optional bosses, and even stuff as mundane as new hairstyles for your character.

Microsoft was also responsible for this trend.

Sounds good, right? The concept of DLCs allows developers to continue to work and “improve” their games long after their release. They can also add extra content when the disk space of the game is all spent out. It isn’t that bad after all, some would say. If you don’t care about money, doesn’t hate the feeling of being ripped-off, or is just a plain fan boy, I guess there isn’t a problem. Money isn’t much of an object to me now since I now have a means of earning. But still, I can’t help the feeling that I’m being ripped off by most gaming companies. I mean, I already paid 60-hard-earned-dollars for a game, what more could they want? Alas, more money, of course. And yes, I’m well aware that downloadable content isn’t a required purchase. But that’s besides the point. Every time they release DLC, especially if it’s just a month/a few weeks/just DAYS after the release of the game, or DURING THE RELEASE DATE ITSELF, you just can’t help but feel that they purposely left some stuff out (well, it tends to be really obvious when they’ve got DLC ready at the date of the game’s release). Yes Resident Evil 5, even though I love you, you crossed the line.

He's definitely a fan of boys.

I don’t care about DLCs that only add to aesthetics such as more clothing for your character or a new map for your friends to battle in. They can charge as much as they want for that since that is what I would define as OPTIONAL content. But a lot of DLCs, such as in Fallout 3 for example, enable you to get more levels out of your character (it increases the level cap from 20 to 30); this of course translates to more skills for your character, improved stats, and a whole new experience for you. This kind of thing SHOULD NOT be optional. As a perfectionist in most games, especially in RPGs, I would feel shortchanged if this was left out initially. The option for enhanced level cap came months after the release, long after you’ve probably finished the game. Now, I’m sure many wouldn’t mind diving back into Fallout 3 since it was a great game, but yeah, they’ll make you pay another $20 or so first before you get the complete Fallout 3 experience. Sucks, eh?

Well, that’s the harsh reality of it. DLC can make the developers real lazy or flat-out greedy, since they can put off working on in-game content when they know they can just release it on an expansion pack or something. You have to spend roughly $80-$120 just to get the COMPLETE version of most major releases. And we can’t do nothing about it since about every on else eats it up.

Eating DLCs up is what we do best.

You know it.

GTA IV : Good Ass Slavic Fun, Some Quirks

Disclaimer: This is NOT a proper review.

Kind of late for this since it’s a 3-year old game, but I only got to play it this year. I enjoyed it tons. Some quirks though:

1) Should’ve played it first over Red Dead Redemption. RDR fixed many of GTA’s faults (ex. lack of a decent checkpoint system, clunky gunplay); hence, GTA looked quite inferior. RDR is also one of my favorite games this gen.

Can't use guns the way you want to? U MAD?

2) The mission ranking you receive after every mission that they introduced with Gay Tony. You have to make sure you do the missions a certain way in order to get gold after every mission. This sucks, since what I like about GTA is getting reckless and doing things your way. With this system, instead of RPG-ing enemy vehicles, I have to take them down via guns. Instead of driving like a madman to get away from police, you have to drive carefully. It sorts of dictates the way you do things, kind’s of restricts the supposed “free” game. That ain’t GTA to me. In RDR, this was okay.

3)  Collecting 200 god-damned pigeons. 50 would’ve been OK, 200 is simply overkill. It’s just an annoyance, a waste of time. It would’ve been nice if it was fun. This is the only thing that kept me from going 100%. I didn’t mind collecting 30 hidden cars all over the city; at least I got to cruise in it and listen to some music. I’ve never liked collecting stuff around the map in games. That’s why I didn’t go for Crackdown, they say it’s collection heavy.

These little critters will peck away at your life little by litte..

4) Stunt jumps. Same as the pigeons. Boring as hell.  Rockstar could’ve given us more optional missions instead of  the tediousness that are pigeons and stunt jumps.

Oh what fun it is to ride! Ugh..

Fix those in the next GTA and I’m all good. I didn’t mind the “realistic” approach they took – the main qualm of many disappointed GTA fans. It’s a step forward. Sometimes, others just find it hard to embrace change.

You know it.