It’s true, I have an addiction… I love DLC expansion packs!
So why does it seem like I’m always feening for them? I’m sure I’m not alone in that if they were of sufficient quality, I would spend a fortune on them: for example, the MGS4 pack for LittleBigPlanet – despite the fact it was so short, I felt it well worth the money because of the ingenious game device it added (the Paintinator). If that weren’t included I’d want at least twice as many levels for the money, but Media Molecule just aren’t giving me the opportunity to give them more of my money!
So far all they’ve given us is costume after costume – I used to spend money on MapleStory, I’m done spending money on imaginary clothes. Give me something fun to do instead, and I’ll happily spend the money.
It seems the top franchises in the video game realm completely forget about the promises they made about DLC. MediaMolecule made it sound like new level packs would be coming out for all kinds of video game tie-ins, and so far all we’ve had is one. Hire the kid who made the God of War levels to make like 6 really clever tie in levels, perhaps with a velcro-ball-on-a-string to replace the hook thing, and I’d totally freakin’ pay for it (again though, if you’re not going to introduce a new game mechanic, 6 levels is not enough game for $10).
Don’t even get me started on Valve and Left4Dead though. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that Valve release additions to their games for free, long after many people paid for it… but when Left4Dead was being hyped they made it sound like there’d be a continuous stream of new campaigns. We’ve now had two “campaigns” one of which was the lame-sauce survival mode which doesn’t even really count as a campaign.
The saving grace of these two games is that buried under an insurmountable pile of garbage there are some great user-generated levels. But really though, I especially don’t understand the PlayStation titles – they have a huge chance at drawing so much money out of people’s pockets and the thing I’ve spent the most money on is extra songs for Guitar Hero.