ME2 Arrival DLC Playing Dirty

DLC has become standard issue these days. Mass Effect 2 takes full advantage of the system which forces game owners to pay more money to buy the complete version of their already steep $50-$60 investment. What ever happened to the days of free add-ons and expansion packs?

Read about what EA has done according to the first reviews after the break...

[Emilio_Estevez]

Shoulda gave it like a $3-5 price if it's really that short.

[dry_ice]

Yeah, this is getting a little out of hand...

[Nate-Dog]

It's BS. Like someone said in the other topic about the DLC's length, if you play it on easy and blow through the enemies, don't watch cutscenes and conversations then yeah, it's about an hour, that's the only reason these sort of articles are made. I played it on Insanity, died only about twice (I learned my lesson from how many times I used to die in missions in the main story before on Insanity) and it took me about 2.5 - 3 hours.

[dry_ice]

It's exactly that kind of thinking that will perpetuate this kind of exploitation. To me that kind of money isn't worth a couple hours added on to an already large purchase.

[gamingdroid]

... and everyone thought map packs from Activision was expensive while pro-claiming their love for EA!

The sheep turned out to be a wolf!!!

[femshep]

honestly people just are never satisfied even if the price was cheaper then they would cry about the length or if the length was good then they'd complain about the content, ive heard people complain about free downloads before its just stupidity in the end

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

I was hoping it would be as good as Lair of the SB.

Im sure it will still be good so Ill buy it eventually. I have to finish my insane game before I but it anyways. Maybe it will go on sale some time.

Im more disappointed at bioware for makng the cerebrus netwwork acces kinda lame. What about all the Free DLC??? Zaeed was just something cut from the final game and firewalker was just ok. Im glad I got it with my new game, Id be pissed if I bought it separate because it sure as shit isnt worth paying 15$ for access to cerbrus network for people who bought it used.

I think this should be free for people with cerbus since it leads into ME3.

[dedicatedtogamers]

The gaming public as a whole does not like DLC. Sales numbers do not lie. What console is the only one that DOESN'T push DLC at you? The Wii. What is the highest-selling console with the majority of this gen's highest-selling games? The Wii.

[cyclonus007]

Third party publishers are the ones that are pushing for constant DLC now (thanks CoD). And while the Wii does have a lot of high selling games, most of their sales come from being packaged with the system.

But I digress. You don't have to buy DLC and it's a way for companies to make some money from the used market. It sucks for people that bought the game day one but its a steal if you bought the game used for $20.

[gamingdroid]

If you wait long enough, you will get the entire game with all the DLC released with possible extra content never available before for $20.

Early adopters that bought the ME1 LE for instance got screwed content wise. Now if you kept the game sealed or in excellent condition, it is worth a lot on eBay because it was so rare....

I see no reasons to get a game day-1 anymore, except for maybe Gears of War 3!

[cyclonus007]

Exactly. It's a double-edged sword. Publishers want the pre-orders and day one sales but everyone now knows the game is going to be cheaper in a few months, sometimes weeks. If you wait long enough, you can buy the game and get the dlc for less than the actual cost of the game. On the other hand, if everyone waits, the game doesn't make enough money. There are a bunch of games that have come out in the last few years that were good but didn't get the sales to warrant a sequel (I still want that Mirror's Edge 2, dammit). A poor selling game can shutter a studio.

I treat games like movies. If there's a movie coming out that appeals to me, I go on opening weekend. Even though I know it will cost me less if I wait to rent it. If we gamers don't show companies that there is a market for other titles beyond Military multiplayer FPS, that's all companies will make.

And it will be our own fault.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

I think some DLCs are good, but I think that even alot of the good ones are overpriced.

[DaReapa]

"...does this mean exploitation of gamers will become common practice for major titles in the future?" -author

Sadly, the exploitation of gamers has already become common practice for major titles in the future, present, or otherwise.

[dry_ice]

You've got a point. A strong case can be made that we're experiencing the escalation of that exploitation. Gaming is becoming an upper-class luxury instead of the common man's relaxation.

[DaReapa]

Exactly. Gaming is indeed becoming an upper-class luxury. Long gone are the days where the only thing you had to pay for extra content was time and dedication to beating a game on the most difficult setting.

[femshep]

what happened to our hobby should be the rel question.....look at the wii its all casual 3rd aprty crap.....and MS and Sony are following suit....bethesda started the DLC rein with the horse armor pack....and uncaring parents let little kids play games that are not for them and the kids get into trouble and somehow it gets spun to games never movies or books which tend to be worse more or less of the time....and then we as dedicated fans get caught up in favoritism and end up arguing over 2 things that in a sense are exactly the same and the media eats it up =[

[Oldman100]

I have never purchased a single piece of dlc so far this gen. And i plan on never doing so unless its actually worth it.