I bought Episodes From Liberty City a few weeks ago and I don't regret it one little bit (apart from it's now a fiver cheaper), granted TLAD was completed within a day but it adds a bit of fun into the game... Admittedly some stuff should be included in with the game, but there are other things (like second stories) that can be worth the extra money you shell out for them
'Cos it's cheap so we justify it as an impulse purchase without considering its real value. That's a generalisation though/
While I'd totally agree with your point about paying for a beta version I think you're making a bit of a inaccurate generalisation about paying for stuff that was once free as PC games have had 'paid for' expansion/mission packs for donkeys years. For example, even the first game that bought the PC to the attention of mass gamers (Wing Commander, circa 1990) had two addon packs you had to pay for. If anything, DLC makes it easier to buy/get hold of such addons.
True enough - some DLCs, such as the Oblivion horse armour you mentioned were a complete rip-off. It's one of the reasons I haven't bought any DLC recently - none of them seem to offer more than a cosmetic addon for at best a couple of hours extra gameplay.
Because it's not free anymore. DLC has been around for ages, IIRC Wolfenstein 3D had some map packs. But payed DLC and free updates can go side by side. Look at Killing Floor for instance. There are 2 DLC character packs for like what, 2 dollars each? But at the same time the game recieved a huge content update for free.
I'm a bit disappointed Borderlands has paid DLC, I'd hoped for something for nothing (there are now 2 Borderlands DLC packs, neither look very big, though the 2nd offers co-op arena.. hmm) But yeah, free content updates are almost expected these days.
I dont mind paying for DLC if it actually adds something to a game, If the DLC is just 'shiney' stuff that adds no real value i give it a miss. Didnt bethesda admit that the horse armour shouldnt have happened though?
Well for one, it's very rare for a company to release new free content, the two companies that come to mind are Blizzard and Valve, they're games made by gamers for gamers funded by gamers kind of companies. The rest are games made by gamers while stockholders whip them. There's no incentive for most companies to release free extra content later, and very few of them did. Then you also have to remember, that releasing a few new maps for old games such as the old C&Cs was incredibly easy, making a new map pack for a game nowadays is expensive, just like how games are much more expensive to make. Those fancy graphics and clever coding take much more skilled labour to make than a game that's 5 or 10 years old. I've also not seen a MMO released where there is no end game. I remember WoW when everyone was complaining that there was "no end game" even though almost half the instances in the initial release were for level 60s only, and they had released several more instances in the first half year. I have the first DLC pack and it's very good from what I've played, it's not just some 10 minute job, the location is drastically different from the usual barren wastelands. It's this really awesome spooky forrest swamp thing with loads of different zombies and strange pumpkin head boss and stuff like that. Really looks like they've put a lot of work into it.
Thanks for the info It's just that, at £6.30, it's quite expensive, considering I bought all 3 CoH games today for ~£6.25...
The Dragon Age DLC is pretty expensive but it does add alot to the game. Stone Prisoner adds two new quests, two new achievements, a new character, and equipment. Warden's Keep gives the main character two new skills along with a place to store items, achievements, a new merchant, 2 sets of armor and a unique weapon. I vote that they are well worth it. Granted I got Stone Prisoner for free...
Ok i have to ask, has anyone here worked in the video game industry (no working at gamestop or your game store doesnt count)? Has anyone here worked for a company that makes video games? Myself, I spent 3 years at activision. So when i hear someone say something along the lines of, "they just released a DLC for game X edven though it just came out? they are ripping me off!" it kind of irritates me. What you dont seem to understand is that the game that was "just released" has proebly been finished for a while. Once the final code build is finished it goes down to QA were a few THOUSAND man hours are poured into the game to make sure it works (however some companys tend to skimp on this). and i mean EVERYTHING works. Some of the checklists we had at activision were over a hundred pages. testing damage values, health systems, AI, enviroment, art, cut scenes, language, punctuation, collision detection on every single piece of barrier (wall, window, tree, crate, etc) in the entire game. usually each check list was done in duplicate to make sure nothing is missed. more often then not if something is found that doesnt pass the checklist the build is rejected, the code gets fixed, a new build is made, distributed, and the entire QA procedure starts again from the beginning. so when i hear people whine about paying $5 - $25 for a DLC that might add some more "fresh" hours of gameplay to a game you have enjoyed, i can only tell them to shut their mouths. its not mandatory. you dont have to buy it. no im not going to go buy cloths for my XBL Avatar. I will go pay for the fallout3 DLCs that have added HOURS of fresh gameplay. "but i used to be free"... it also used to be cheaper to make. just my $0.02
It's the customers' perogative to 'whine' about the cost/value of the products on offer. It also used to be better made and offer better value for money without even a sniff of 'DLC' or an expansion.
I don't. The only DLC that seems justifiable was the Burnout Paradise Islands DLC, and the GTA stories stuff. The worst was FarCry 2 to be honest, the fact that there was anything made me laugh, and glad that I didn't buy it.
DLC is also starting to become an anti piracy feature on PC, seeing as a lot of games get pirated I publishers realize that if they offer paid DLC they might milk some money out of the pirates or as an incentive to buy the game to get access to the DLC. I bought Dragon Age, and got stone prisoner, then bought wardens keep, I've already paid $5 for the upcoming return to ostagar and am looking forward to the new expansion in march. The way I see it is that I'm getting a lot more out of my initial purchase even if I am paying additional small amounts. Tho I dont understand why guys in the EU and US are bitching, $5 is what like a cup of coffee in the EU and maybe two in the US? Its funny to see guys bitching about paying $10 for a DLC pack that took hundreds of hours to make, and yet spend more than that a day on smokes/energy drinks/coffee...
