Downloadable Content, otherwise known as DLC, in my opinion is a double-edged sword. It’s additional content that can elicit joyous responses from fanboys across the world who are eager to get their controller handling mitts on new maps for the latest Call of Duty title, while at the same time evoke furious feelings of rage regarding what many consider to be overpriced. This is all in reference however to post-launch content, which in many cases can be a great thing, but one thing in particular bothers me personally.

The dreaded PRE-LAUNCH DLC!

Pre-launch DLC is becoming more and more common these days, with many games such as Bioware’s Dragon Age 2 even offering DLC the very day the game is out in stores, and it’s something I absolutely hate. As a matter of fact hate isn’t even a strong enough word to convey the intense feelings of loathing, abhorrence and disgust that erupts from my soul over the very mention of this latest despicable practice. I think I can handle, begrudgingly, being reminded by Jeeves every single damn time I warp back to my Sanctuary in Fable 3 that “new content is available in the store for you to look at my lord!”, but when I see the kind of shenanigans that EA is about to pull off with the upcoming release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters I realize that the future is very dark for gamers everywhere.

How dark you ask? How about $260+ dollars worth of darkness and pure evil waving in front of your face before you can even buy the game! Gaming website PlayStationLifestyle.net details the following available content for Tiger’s new golf game, and while some of the items you can actually unlock within the game by playing it the thought of the sheer amount of filth being offered by the devil developer known as EA is enough to make me retch.

My thoughts exactly Leo.... my thoughts exactly.

Want a new golf course like the Greek Isles? How about throwing EA $8+. What the heck is an “Eagle Pack” and why can it possible be worth over THIRTY TWO DOLLARS!? My God, that right there is half the price of the whole game itself! Wait, let me correct myself. You’re not buying a “whole game” when you pick up the new Tiger Woods title considering that a bunch of this crap is already on the disc and you’re given the option to pay to unlock it. The game isn’t even out yet and EA is expecting gamers to be dumb or impatient enough to throw away more money on unlockables or add-ons.

The future is dark my friends, a future where we’re not sold the games themselves but a storefront to purchase the ability to play everything the game could offer you. EA has already perfected this with the Sims 3 and now it’s being tested on their flagship golf game.

Just you wait. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8 will be releasing in a few years and you won’t be able to get any kills online unless you pre-order the game to get the 10,000 free bullets* with your purchase. Now pardon me while I go quietly weep in the corner.

*Also available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 2400MS Points. Each additional 10,000 rounds may be purchased for 800MS Points!



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Major LOLS at the picture that you used Chris!

and yes....that is all ridiculous.

*takes a bow*

I tried to make ya proud.

You did very good

Wow, I never thought any other game would out do Ace Combat 6's on disk DLC, which cost around $180 bucks to access of all it.

This goes hand and hand with my optical media vs. digital download article. I think EA is bad for the business of gaming and too many compaines follow suit, because year over year EA retains such a high profit margin. Gamers will continue to see more DLC released the day of or only days after a games launch, because they know gamer will almost always pay for what alot of them feel is an unfinished product. When game add-on are released for a products that have already or will most certainly exceeded sales goals, nothing is going to stop or more importantly there's no incentive for companies like EA to sell DLC at 8 dollars when they can move just as many units at 15. And it's not an issue of damand, when you can still find DLC 1200 points or more 3 years after it's initial release, it's an issue of greed. In the future gamers will pay more and more for DLC build right along side it's full release and in some cases cut from the final retail release and be left wondering why it constitutes the price it does, when in some cases it's cost half the retail games price.

I think it's great that we get access to content that may have been cut from a game due to release date constraints. But, it's unfair to see it at such a high price point and in alot of cases in tandem with the release of it's retail counterpart.

Also, on a side note, I think we'll see more and more games being released that are flat out broken, only to be fixed with DLC patches in post game launch, like Fallout: New Vegas and COD Modern Warfare 2. But, that's for another article altogether.

Buy COD 12, insert disc....

load welcome screen...

WELCOME TO COD 12...

PLEASE INSERT YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER TO CONTINUE PLAYING.