DLC Dilemma

So here we are. It's 2012. About ten years this console war has raged on. Nintendo obviously destroyed the competition very early on and left Microsoft and Sony to fight for second place. Everything feels so very different now. When I was a kid you could see the distinction between a game on it's platform but the line seems very blurred when Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 is concerned. In the 16-bit era you had a tough choice when choosing between Street Fighter II Turbo for the Super Nintendo or Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition for the Megadrive. The Super Nintendo game looked and sounded far better than it's Sega counterpart but the Megadrive six-button gamepad did really change the way we played the game. Nowadays it seems like it's more a choice or controller preference alone or where our friends are playing.

This is all a little off the topic I'm trying to talk about though. It's a little bit of a controversial subject but one I feel should be mentioned. From what I understand, DLC is supposed to be extra content added to the game to increase the length we stay involved in the game so game companies can help fund their next project. While I accept DLC, which would be more accurately called expansions are great. You had Shivering Isles with Oblivion as well as the Fallout 3 expansions. These large chunks of gameplay add enough to not only justify their purchase but also feel like it's something that was clearly developed after the game was launched or at best was only in the planning stage during development. Yes, those are great. I love playing game of the year level content but that is clearly the minority of DLC out there today.

Next you have the cosmetic DLC. These are annoying but mostly harmless to the person who does not want to dish out cash for the post game DLC or the special edition for all the day one crap we see. The main problem with this type of DLC is that it really adds nothing to the game experience so developers make these as a cheap way to cash in on those with a disposable income. The other problem is the fact that most of it is release with either a special edition or in the market place on day one. This means that the content was developed by the time the game was ready to launch. You could argue that it was developed in the time it took for the game to be shipped and put on store shelved but this is not the case, clearly not for DLC that comes with a new game or special edition.

The third type of DLC is added quests. This is mostly the same as the above but unfortunately it does add something, even if it's little and mostly pointless. The problem is that I find it hard to justify paying as much as 800 Microsoft points for what is basically ten minutes to a half an hour quest. As such I'm left feeling as if my game is incomplete. Of course this feeling will vary from person to person. I still like to blow into a Super Nintendo cart every now and again and play some Super Metroid or whatever the game may be. If Nintendo took away a power up from the game back then and I didn't buy it...I sure as hell can't now. That's me without screw attack for the rest of my life. Maybe I'm taking this all too seriously but that's how it comes across to me.

Now for the worst offender. When a game is designed in such a way that DLC was in mind from the start. This means that developers have to take out content which they otherwise would of put in the final game. Or at least they could of with the fact they made it anyway. Capcom are a big culprit in this area. God knows I love most of their games (when they don't shelve them to die. I still miss Breath of Fire and I'm still trying to get over Megaman) but the fact is that Capcom more often than not develop a game from scratch with the idea of making money from the DLC. At least it's the impression they give me. I wont bore people with Street Fighter X Tekken as you can type that into google and you'll probably find more about the locked content before you find anything about the actual game. So this time I'll talk about what I reviewed last time. Yes and I promise I'll let it go after this but for now you're going to sit there and listen to me complain.

Asura's Wrath is arguably the worst practice behind game development I have seen in so many years as a gamer. The content is not locked on the disk but it's worse than Street Fighter X Tekken could ever of been. Don't believe me? Okay well at least hear me out. I might just be going crazy with all the DLC talk. Some of the DLC released for this game has already been released as of writing this post. It serves as a chapter between chapter 11 and 12. This would not be quite so bad if it was not for the fact that the content was clearly something that was “missing” from the game. Later on they plan to release a chapter between 15 and 16. Same deal again here. The worst thing is the ending which I have already mentioned. Some argue that this is only an epilogue however this suggests that the final climatic battle has already happened but no. The way the game ends is with a twist and then being greeted with “To be continued” Now I really want to avoid going on a tangent about this as I've pretty much said all I have to say. There is some Ryu/Akuma crossover content but that doesn't matter at this point.

I'm not actually that angry about the game as a single offence. Yes it did completely ruin the game for me but the main worry I have is that, like with the online pass. People will start to see it as good practice and copy it. Namco Bandai have already started turning the tales series into a massive DLC festival with downloadable costumes. That would be fine if not for the fact Tales always had the costume content there for free but now it changes. This is proof that they do these things because they can and not because they need to. What does the future hold for the industry...Who knows...I fear that it's getting worse however.

Thanks for putting up with my lengthy post this time. If you agree or disagree. Feel free to let me know. I'm not really saying this as a fact but more my impression of the industry. It is true however that it's getting worse in some shape or form. I just figured it would be an interesting subject between reviews. Also feel free to suggest something else for me to talk about and if I'm “qualified” then I'll sure give it a go.