The danger of priced downloadable content

Since the start of this console generation, we’ve been assaulted by downloadable content. The incessant nagging of this digital devilry can be troubling but it’s not all completely trivial. On one hand it’s a nice boost for the games we truly enjoy, but it could be giving companies the wrong idea. 

Let me start off by saying that DLC is a fantastic idea. Now that practically everything is online, having the ability to expand on a game is marvelous and easier than ever. Expansions, extra content, new maps, it can all be distributed without any real obstacles and it can make for a richer, more entertaining experience. With all the good though, come the spam and the most contrived forms of DLC you can imagine.

It all starts with pictures, themes, and clothing for your avatars. Sony offers premium themes and micro-transactions through their home service, but I feel this is much, much worse on Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Games typically offer picture packs with five or so photos you can use for your profile picture. You also have to pay for extra clothing and accessories for your avatar. And to top it all off, you have to pick up Microsoft Points to do any of this. Sure it’s your choice to pick up any of this stuff, but would you willingly pay $10 for an assortment of profile pictures and a lightsaber for the avatar you only see for a couple seconds? 

I feel that customization is a requirement to making your account unique in many different ways. Adding a premium price on every little thing walls off the crowd who might’ve explored this feature further. There are still various amounts of free materials you can download, but anything worthwhile is priced. For me, if it’s even a dollar I’m not going to bother with it. For one, I have to pick up extra Microsoft Points that are just going to sit on my account since there’s no way to buy the exact amount. That’s not a huge deal, but more importantly I’m turning on my system so I can play some games, not look at my avatar.

This is all trivial though compared to how certain games are abusing the ability of DLC. As I stated earlier, it’s amazing how developers can augment their games whenever they want now. However, there have been quite a few games that have been built around the utilization of DLC. Tomb Raider Underworld pretty much had no ending unless you picked up the DLC. Ubisoft’s new take on Prince of Persia had a cliffhanger ending that was only answered if you picked up the Epilogue Pack. Even the renowned Fallout 3 dabbled in this theme. In its defense, the extra content was actually good, but a lot of it was glitchy and if you bought them all it’d cost you an extra $50, or almost the price of a full game.

To go against DLC would be stupidity. A lot of it is quality material and especially for competitive multiplayer games and titles like Rock Band, it’s almost necessary. But no matter what way you look at it, it’s tough to justify a price-tag for something you can’t test out. You don’t know if the maps are the next best thing or are equivalent to a pile of rotting carcasses. Demoing certain content can make or break something but with talks about bringing prices to demos, that too could be an issue. 

All I’m saying is that tagging a price to everything isn’t the way to get your extra content sold. Why not award players with pictures or avatar awards for doing certain things or unlocking trophies/achievements? And if you’re going to release 20 different episodes of extra content give the players who bought the rest a little discount or gift. Just a little more focus on quality can make the distinction between excellent and forgettable DLC.
 
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Mega Man 10 Review

This may not come as a surprise to many, but I’m going to say it anyway; Mega Man 10 is ridiculously tough. Of course, that’s how Mega Man rolls and is probably why people like me keep coming back to it.

If you’re any kind of a Mega Man fan, or have at least played a couple of the original games, you already know what you’re getting yourself into. The tenth installment, like the rest of the games, offers a unique attempt by Dr. Wily for world domination. This time a virus called Roboenza has been unleashed which causes robots to go all crazy and it’s up to Mega Man to prevent the robots from taking over the world.

Standing between Mega Man and bringing Wily to justice is the standard eccentric cast of eight robot masters. When you have to fight against a robot sheep that controls cyberspace and electricity, eccentric is the only word that can possibly describe the situation. As usual, the robot masters all have a severe weakness to another’s power and finding that certain weakness makes the game infinitely easier. Easy though, as I’ve been saying, is not the word used to describe this game. Realizing this, Capcom decided to implement a brand new easy mode for the people who just can’t wrap their head around how game difficulty used to be. It’s certainly nice for newer players and people who just want to be done with it, but Mega Man was meant to be hard. Something is lost when running through a stage with sparse amounts of robots and platforms preventing your untimely death on the spikes below. Death, my friends, is what Mega Man is all about.

Putting aside my splendor for sadism, Mega Man is known for its pretty rockin’ soundtracks and 10 definitely delivers. Among my favorites are Strike Man, Nitro Man, and Blade Man coming in close behind. There’s a great deal of other excellent tunes and a lot of them, like Pump Man, are very atmospheric. What’s even better is the ability to play as Proto Man or Bass instead of the Blue Bomber. Both characters have specific play styles, like Proto Man can charge his weapon, slide, and even block certain enemy shots while jumping. Bass can fire in multiple directions, dash, and can even fly when combined with his dog companion Treble. And if you’re a real aficionado for DLC there are special stages and an endless mode on the way. All in all, there’s definitely reason to play through the game multiple times.

Compared to the rest of the Mega Man games, I can definitely say that the bosses in this one are among the toughest. Mega Man 9 had some very tough fights but 10’s bosses do more and follow erratic patterns which make it rough. Solar Man was the toughest boss to fight with the Mega Buster. I swear, whoever concepted that guy has no soul. I’m thankful though because the Challenges have been overhauled. Instead of finishing a stage and having random messages pop up like, “You’ve finished a stage in constant motion!” you can now visit individual rooms that challenge you to beat a boss like Solar Man. It’s good practice and lowers frustration since you don’t have to go through the level to get to him. Believe me, if you’d been through a level as many times as I have only to get your ass handed to you by the stage boss… there’s nothing better than those rooms.

Mega Man 10 succeeds in, once again, revitalizing the wonderful 8-bit formula. It’s everything you’ve come to expect of a series known for its rockin’ music and sadistic difficulty. Mega Man 11 can’t come soon enough.