Run DLC

The arguments for and against Downloadable Content on current-gen gaming consoles are numerous, but so little attention is given to the negative impact it has on the gaming micro-economy. Games on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 now charge 60 dollars just to ride, while developers that withhold already completed content for later distribution through PSN and LIVE grow in number. It is being suspected that the new Mass Effect DLC, Bring Down the Sky, is guilty of that characterization. That it was either deliberately withheld, or broken and taken out as a time constraint. And now it is available to you for download at an additional five dollars on top of the 60 you paid to play. This is certain to be the first of many downloadable episodes for Mass Effect, a game that is intended to span a trilogy. Let's suppose for a moment that this is the first of four downloadable episodes for the first Mass Effect, and that each subsequent entry into the series will follow a similar pattern. Without regard to taxes for the title itself, to play the Mass Effect trilogy in its entirety would then cost upwards of 240 dollars. Is this an acceptable amount of money to pay in foresight to learn the outcome of a single story arch?

This money vacuum could no doubt be worse than I have illustrated, with publisher EA's recent acquisition of Mass Effect developer Bioware. It begs the question; when we are now asked to pay an additional ten dollars to account for development costs for new-gen titles, shouldn't we be provided with additional incentive, rather than additional obligations in order to see all of the title that we have already purchased? Would it be acceptable on any level to purchase a Bluray film and discover months later that a previously removed scene from the middle of the composition could be downloaded for your viewing pleasure at 3.99?

Exceptions do exist. Most notably, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's expansion packs. Specifically, The Shivering Isles, which was a post-production expansion pack that introduced an entirely new map that nearly doubled the travelling area of the original game. It introduced a unique environment with new enemies, weapons, armor, side quests, spells, achievements and dialogue. It is robust and gratifying, and it is very clear in experiencing it that it isn't a portion of the game that has been intentionally withheld to siphon additional money from the consumer that has already paid 60 dollars for a product with unlimited replay potential.

When Bioshock released, files were discovered that listed the eventually released expansion pack's (if you can call it that) content. In that case, it was evident that portions of the game were removed for later distribution. Development costs are causing developers and publishers to take their loyal consumers for granted and pinch them at every turn. If a solution can't be found to this DLC disaster in the near future, it is going to draw additional negative attention. As time goes by, you may have to open your wallet to every game you have already purchased. Five dollars here. Ten dollars there. I say, at sixty dollars, either leave the game as it is, or provide us with additional content free of charge out of gratitude for the success of your product, and the support of the individuals that enable you create a true sequel to your title (or new intellectual property, entirely). I am admittedly victim to this trend, in that I will inevitably download the Mass Effect expansion pack out of a concern that I did not truly complete the product in it's entirety without the hour and a half contained in the five dollar download; a product that I have, thus far, enjoyed immensely on it's stand-alone merits. However, I already know for certain, even before my experience with the new content, that it will lower my opinion of the overall product solely due to the inconvenience it will cause me. Five dollars may not kill everyone. But it's that sort of thinking that makes it ok.

Give me a complete product. Or give me a new game.