Downloadable Content
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Downloadable Content adds new features and content to already-distributed video games via the Internet. Examples include new maps for FPS games, new songs for rhythm games, and new cars for racing games.
Nickel and dimed by BioWare
The amount of content in these packs is not entirely unreasonable... in a vacuum. Unfortunately, the DLC space, while young, is not brand new. This puts Mass Effect's paltry DLC efforts into the same marketplace as those of Fallout 3 and Borderlands. I'm sure Mass Effect 2's DLC is fantastic just as was the rest of that game, but, for most of us gamers, it is difficult to ignore the value we are getting for our dollar. Fallout 3's shortest DLC addons were about five hours long at $10. Mass Effect 2's hour-long Kasumi loyalty mission costs gamers $7. The math is easy; you'll pay $2/hour for Fallout 3 DLC versus $7/hour for Mass Effect 2 DLC.
That fact is I really loved Mass Effect 2--perhaps even more than Fallout 3. I would have paid $7 for more of that even though it was criminally short if not for one fact. I, like many of my fellow Mass Effect 2 fanatics, had already completed the campaign by the time of the addon's release. The addon, unlike Fallout 3 addons, inserted content into the middle of the game. For the completionists in the audience, this is not a problem. They will gladly fire up a new campaign and play it just to get to the DLC. I'm more of a tourist; I typically go through the game, experience what it has to offer, and reflect on the experience never to go back. I certainly don't want to replay a bunch of content just to get to the new stuff I have paid for. I relished the Fallout 3 content because it was all free-standing. It didn't depend on the player's position in the campaign. This makes it appeal to many more types of players, myself included.
Will BioWare learn and correct the errors of their ways? Most likely not. If this DLC sells reasonably well, they will have succeeded in selling a smaller chunk of content to players than what Bethesda and Gearbox have provided for their players at a nearly comparable price. This will provide them positive reinforcement and all the incentive they need to keep cranking out tiny packs and overcharging us for them. My only solace is in knowing they won't fool me into buying them.
The amount of content in these packs is not entirely unreasonable... in a vacuum. Unfortunately, the DLC space, while young, is not brand new. This puts Mass Effect's paltry DLC efforts into the same marketplace as those of Fallout 3 and Borderlands. I'm sure Mass Effect 2's DLC is fantastic just as was the rest of that game, but, for most of us gamers, it is difficult to ignore the value we are getting for our dollar. Fallout 3's shortest DLC addons were about five hours long at $10. Mass Effect 2's hour-long Kasumi loyalty mission costs gamers $7. The math is easy; you'll pay $2/hour for Fallout 3 DLC versus $7/hour for Mass Effect 2 DLC.
That fact is I really loved Mass Effect 2--perhaps even more than Fallout 3. I would have paid $7 for more of that even though it was criminally short if not for one fact. I, like many of my fellow Mass Effect 2 fanatics, had already completed the campaign by the time of the addon's release. The addon, unlike Fallout 3 addons, inserted content into the middle of the game. For the completionists in the audience, this is not a problem. They will gladly fire up a new campaign and play it just to get to the DLC. I'm more of a tourist; I typically go through the game, experience what it has to offer, and reflect on the experience never to go back. I certainly don't want to replay a bunch of content just to get to the new stuff I have paid for. I relished the Fallout 3 content because it was all free-standing. It didn't depend on the player's position in the campaign. This makes it appeal to many more types of players, myself included.
Will BioWare learn and correct the errors of their ways? Most likely not. If this DLC sells reasonably well, they will have succeeded in selling a smaller chunk of content to players than what Bethesda and Gearbox have provided for their players at a nearly comparable price. This will provide them positive reinforcement and all the incentive they need to keep cranking out tiny packs and overcharging us for them. My only solace is in knowing they won't fool me into buying them.
Agreed. Bioware isn't doing it right with most of their current offerings (I haven't played DAO or it's expansion Awakening yet, so I can't judge that one).
I favor more of the "expansion pack" mentality of the 90s and early 2000s to the DLC offerings we have today. Give me another Baldur's 2 with Throne of Baal, or Diablo II with Throne of Destruction over the current pick-pocketing mentality.
I haven't jumped at any DLC other than buying a retail copy of Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles for the PC. All other games I've played, none. I'm not a big fan of DLC. Imagine if Nintendo made Yoshi playable only by DLC.
I'm not sure why I'm not interested. GTA IV... the original game was enough for me, same as Fallout 3, Fable 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. I'm sure if I loved the game enough I would pay for more. That's probably my problem, because by the time I finish the original I'm done.
@Claude: I can certainly understand. I have usually had enough by the time I go through once, but there is that rare game I just can't get enough of.
I got the feeling that some of the ME2 stuff has been fairly linear and straightforward. The kind of DLC I'd prefer would be stuff that adds significant variables to the existing product, like if you have a new ability that changes how you deal with old places, or locations with significant change in mood. The new character + new mission for ME2 seems like walking around and clicking to me, while the hovertank stuff looks like training missions on worlds set up to work with the tank. I was sort of hoping they'd bring back the random worlds in the first place for ME2, with a smarter variable set. Maybe I just want a different game than what ME2 is, I dunno. Something like Starflight or Star Control with more meat in the ground parts.
I'm doubtful that Bioware actually set the prices on this content but you make a good point. I have not yet started to play Mass Effect 2 or the Fallout 3 DLC (although funnily enough those are the next two things on my to-play list) and I probably won't play the Borderlands DLC but while I'm excited to jump into the Fallout 3 DLC having completed the game a month or so ago the prospect of a DLC mission crammed right into the middle of Mass Effect 2 seems very unappealing to me. Don't get me wrong, I loved Mass Effect and am very excited to start the sequel but I don't have much money and I'm not even sure if I'll want to pay up for the DLC at the point I reach where it would have been in the game and even if I do complete the game and want to come back to the DLC later it just won't flow as fluidly trying to grind through the game just for that one hour of play. You could argue I could just create a save at the right point and jump back to it if I do get the DLC but I fear this would only serve to make the DLC seem more detached from the main story than it already does.
@Gamer_152: You're right. This is probably all on EA.
I have to say, time to money isn't always the best way to look at a game. Platform games (and more recently puzzle-platformers) have always been my favourite type of game, but you can complete them in less than an hour at times, usually about two and a half on the first run. I think it's quality that matters more than how long I get out of something.
You also forget that your time with Kasumi and her DLC compatriots can be upwards of 40 hours too. if you have the DLC in a new game or a New game + then you have a lot greater chance to utilise them.
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