I finished GTAIV the other day and for the first time had the urge to play the DLCs for the game, since they were basically their own version of the same game I just played with new characters. I didn't, but it was the first time I've been intrigued.

I feel like most games use DLC properly, but other times it feels like they stripped something from the game and tried to sell it on the side to make more money. Horse armor? Special advanced pre-order items and special deals all sound like conniving ways to make **** games cost more. We already pay 60+ for videogames, why pay another 5 or 10 for content that is usually aesthetic, should've been in the original game, or only expands the game another hour?

I wish the cost of games was more reflective of how much time and fun the actual game was. I think Steam helps that a lot, allowing me to purchase games when they're discounted for something I consider fair for the content. Usually games that are less than awesome become cheaper the longer they've been on Steam, which is closer to a model I would spend more money in.

In the end, I think I'd prefer to buy expansions when there's enough to call it an expansion. Micropayments for minor details seems lazy, while the briefcase of content in something like Liberty City Stories is more realistic. But then I'd call it an expansion, not DLC.

How do you feel about DLC?

I don't mind getting the DLCs to games I really enjoyed, otherwise I wont be bothered. Just like the CoD MW2 map packs, still haven't got them. I don't understand paying over 2400 microsoft points for some addon maps

Depends on the game and what you get. A lot of it is ****. Some games have really fun DLC that adds a lot to the game though (like FO3's Broken Steel DLC or Borderlands' General Knoxx DLC). These usually get released later in GOTY editions and such so you can get them for a pretty good price too with the game included.

I don't mind DLC, but sometimes it is obvious that they held stuff out of the game simply to force you to buy it later. Assassin's Creed 2.

I'd say I dislike it because I find a lot of it pointless, but I have been intrigued enough to buy the odd bit before.

I picked up the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned on a whim, thinking "well, it's probably gonna kinda suck", but I enjoyed it.

I don't really get the point of mini-expansions at half-retail price.

I don't mind episodic content like Sam and Max or HL2EP1&2, but that seems paradoxical and then I don't really know what the method to my own madness is anymore. I guess it has to do with worth, but you can't know its worth until you buy it. DLC is a gamble, and a rather expensive gamble at that.

While DLC was originally off to a bad start with examples like Oblivion's Horse Armor, I find that they've evolved into something great in recent times. Of course, there is still plenty aesthetic bullsh*tery but hey, people pay to dress up their miis and their playstation home avatars and their xbox 360 avatars (guilty >.>), so there is obviously a market for it.

That being said, I'm picky enough about what I buy. For example, I didn't buy Mothership Zeta for Fallout 3 because i hate the concept from the get go. I don't buy extra abilities in games like infamous. I did however buy every DLC for Mass Effect 2, and a ton of Little Big Planet costumes and levels, and Street Fighter IV costume packs, and Fable 2 missions packs.

Through and through, though, I feel the concept of DLC is at its best when they are new missions and new features such as new mp mods and what not.

I'm definately not part of the "Waaa waaa paying for what I already bought", that's for damned certain. Sure some devs do strip certain features out of games in order to release it as DLC later on. We have to live with that. They aren't our friends. They don't develop video games because they love us. And honestly, they don't develop video games because its an art. Its not like writing a novel. Sure some are passionate about it, but when it comes down to it, its purely business. Business is all about making mo moola.

While I know most people here hate Ctrl-alt-del comics to the core, he touched on this topic today here. I fully agree with him, even if he can be a ranting lunatic.

It's one thing if the DLC is some tiny crappy addition to the game, but as mentioned above, in cases like Fallout 3, and Mass Effect 2, where it adds hours and hours to the gameplay. I'll buy it. I typically only like DLC for RPG type games as well. I'd probably never buy DLC for a first person shooter.

Thats not really true anymore. There are plenty of sites out there that review DLC addons almost on release nowadays. In the days of Oblivion amongst other games, though, yet, it really was a gamble.

Heck some of the more popular DLC packs are even rated on metacritics.com

Maybe you can't no for certain if its right *for you* but you can at least make an educated guess based on others' opinions.

Yes, it is price discrimination. Similar to how Windows comes in 8 different versions.

DLC is very hit and miss, but one nice thing about it is, it's (usually) optional.

Cases where DLC sucks:

A. It's something that came with the game that they just "unlock". That's BS and I don't buy it.
B. It does something like Mass Effect 2 where if you buy it used, you have to pay for the privilege of getting DLC.
C. The DLC is stupid crap no one likes, like avatars, map packs that are almost required for playing, music tracks in non-music games, etc.
D. Paid versions of "cheat codes", where you basically start with weapons/etc that you would normally earn in the game through playing.

Cases where DLC rocks:

A. Additional story/significant content.
B. Additional game modes.
C. New characters.

I have no qualms with the lack of a "demo" for DLC. I almost never get demos of games except on the 360 anyway, I just read reviews and watch videos to decide if I like it. They do the same for nearly every worthwhile DLC download nowadays, so that's no different.

Normally I do the same, and it works pretty well. But once in a while, it bites me in the ass. The Witcher. Looks good, is not good.

Yeah that's how they get you. You know you always have leftover microsoft points so you figure, i'll just buy this t-shirt for my avatar (I bought the ohio-state tshirt and a couple other small items but I wont waste anymore money on that ****)

there are these things called reviews... usually you can get a feel for which reviewers like the same things you do

and best of all reading reviews is free

I agree with CoolMatty, except that packaging DLC with new games doesn't really bother me.

You've got that wrong. Used-game users can get any priced dlc packs as usual (Kasumi Goto pack, Overlord mission pack, alternate appearance pack).

What used-game users don't get without paying is the FREE DLC such as the launch missions, an additional squad member (Zaeed), certain weapon packs and the Hammerhead vehicle pack. They essentially pay 15$ to get that content.

I feel this is a good deterent to purchasing used games. Devs don't get a dime when someone buys a used game. Really its a practice most people will give into, but we're all putting the future of the industry at stake, just like we do when we download games online for free. Its not illegal no, but the less devs make, the less game development will be worthwhile.

But they already made money off the "used" copy

Er... you're not thinking this through, Z. Yes. They made money with that copy. But the second person that buys that copy is not going to buy it used, thus one less copy sold by the devs. This second person is still playing the game they developed, yet their not making a dime. Less sales, less money, less profit, less funds, less interest, less games.

If 1,000,000 copies are sold by the devs, and then resold used, 2,000,000 people have played the game yet the devs have recieved only half of their deserved money.

Are you 100% positive, because that's now how I read it was. I obviously bought it new so I can't test



As much as I like to support devs, you could apply this to any used sales. What about car manufacturers? Do they get to say "well if you want to use your radio in the car, you need to buy an unlock code from us"?

Also, keep in mind that MOST people who sell used games sell them to buy NEW games. Thus keeping the money in the market.

I know, but I think I'm commenting on the fact that the price point makes the idea of worth more subjective. 99 cent iphone apps are pretty easy to buy because even if you regret it, it's not a big deal. 5 to 10 bucks isn't a bad deal either, but it seems awful subjective as to what that really means. I can read reviews, but ultimately the smaller size allows them to make more money on impulse buys, regardless of whether the customer feels satisfied at the end.

A and B... yes those suck especially the ME2 thing
C and D... more like "meh"

For the first question: Yessir, I'm 100% certain. You pay 15$ for the cerberus network feature, which offers the free DLC. BUT you can buy the regular DLC off xbox live like you do for any other game.

For the second part: True enough. But wasn't the car industry in a serious financial crisis this past two years? Regardless, I find it normal that developpers would want to deter used-game purchases in what ways they can. I thought Bioware had a good way of doing so with their free dlc content for new purchases.

This is true. But the way I see it, lets just say those people who buy the used copy, don't buy a used copy and will probably not buy a new copy either. So the developers aren't really loosing out.

UHHHWAAUUHHHH???

Looks like I need to reinstall ME2 for another go. Some new DLC I might have missed out on for free. Not to mention, potential new stuff?

Ohh we had a different term for this back in my day, we called it shareware! oooooo



(Maybe]

Yep, and the new Overlord mission pack is amazing. Sure its costly and a tad short, but it adds a lot of awesome stuff. Its one of the best side missions in the ME2 franchise yet!


And Zanardi, I'll concede that point to you and Matty. Used game sales help keep the money in the industry, otherwise we all probably couldn't afford as many games.

Man, I'm such a fanboy for the Mass Effect franchise... I'll probably get/download/buy/sellsoul this stuff this weekend if I can survive moving without dumping my bank account.

Yea, I'm pretty much the same. Mass Effect is easily my favored gaming franchise at the moment, if not of all times, along with Monkey Island. King's Quest and Elder Scrolls used to be there too, but one's long forgotten and the other's latest installment sucked.

tldr this thread but, generally, I don't purchase DLC because it has either been free or I wait until the game is released in a GotY type format with all previously released material included. Having said that I have purchased some DLC and would continue to do so if it was for a game I cared so much to buy at release as opposed to wait for the more complete and cheaper version to be released. I enjoy DLC that adds more to the single player experience of the game. I generally download additional content affecting MP aspects of the game because I'm weird and feel some need to have everything added to the game but I usually won't if it isn't free until I actually play the game in MP (which is rare).

I liked Oblivion. It just lacks replay. We can only hope the Mass Effect movie doesn't scar the game's so-far amazing track record.

I liked the Fallout 3 DLC, but I think most of them should've been available in the game from the get-go. For example, the Brotherhood of Steel one (where the game doesn't end at the purifier and lets you play on a la FO2).

I'm all for it as long as it's not used as an excuse for developers to release unfinished games and then charge people extra to fix it.

It really depends on the DLC for me. I've bought DLC for ME2 and DA:O and they've been pretty good. It really comes down to the content for me. If I feel it's worth the price, I'll buy it.

I don't mind packaging free DLC with new game purchases. In the case of ME2, there has been a fair amount of addition content that has come out through the Cerberus Network, so even someone who purchased the game used and has to pay for it is going to get their money's worth out of it.

Also, if the extra content is going to ce out on disc sometime after release, I just wait and rent it like I did with the GTAIV stuff.

I hate when DLC becomes required. Gears of War 2 is guilty of this. It's now impossible to play social matches without the map packs. You can go play ranked, but if you just want a fun game with your friends, you're ****ed.

I'm a fairly big fan of DLC when it's used well. The expansions for Fallout 3 are a good example of DLC being used to significantly add to the content of the original game. The free weekly releases for Splinter Cell: Conviction have been pretty fun in my opinion; even if they are only unlocking content already on the disk they are trivial items which don't detract from the game in their absence, and the one DLC you have to pay for (the Insurgency pack) adds enough content to the game to be worthwhile.

I don't have a problem with DLC items that unlock things you can get for yourself in the game (Soul Calibur 4 weapon bundles, for example). They always explicitly state this in the DLC description so they're just harmless extra options. I haven't ever bought purely alternative costume-type DLCs and I can't see myself doing so in the future. That to me would be past the point of paying for too little.

I am, however, also guilty of doing the "spend leftover MS points on avatar clothing" thing. But it was just one t-shirt!

I also hate when you can get special stuff for pre-ordering a game or buying it from a specific retailer that you can't get any other way.

Whether DLC sucks or not really depends on the game and the studio it's coming for. You can always tell if a developer has had enough time or cares about it.

One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes studios have to outsource DLC which means DLC can absolutely suck balls compared to the real game and the original studio won't have enough time/money to fix it.

this... very much this

i never mind too much when a pre-order bonus just unlocks some **** early but some of those exclusive bonuses piss me off

This right here is the main reason I dislike DLC. There's also the fact that there's a lot of DLC that should've been in the game to begin with, or added for free.
Some DLC I don't mind, it's the overall effect of this DLC fad that is sucking.