hey developers these are not DLC these are cheat codes

Cheeky fuckers be chargin' playas for uurrey-ting des days yo.

I see no problem with this if I can still unlock it by playing the game.

I can actually see this as being legit for a fighting game. Some people fucking HATE having to unlock characters in fighters, and just want to get to the fucking meat of the game without having to do all that unlocking bullshit.

If I could pay $1 to have Baek unlocked as soon as I start playing Tekken 6, instead of having to beat the game with 8 other characters I don't give two shits about just to play as the character I like, I'd probably do it.

Can you tell I hate unlocking characters in games?

This is what cheat codes are for.....Good God. This shit is literally sickening to me. This whole DLC thing is a load of bullshit. Everybody wanted to hop on the digital distribution bandwagon, and look what that got you - Or, more realistically, look what its taken from you.

I'm all for Digital Distribution and all that nonsense, but it's just another excuse to charge people out the ass for shit that should already be included in the game.

To each their own though, I suppose.

That's pretty sad.

sorry - Arc System Works*

Jim Sterling is showing a little bit of ignorance in this article.

DLC threatens to reduce the value of a FIGHTING GAME, a genre whose value can only be found in its competitive multiplayer, by allowing you to opt out of the single player for a price?

This is probably the only kind of DLC I can actually make an argument for being a good idea. Unlocking content for a competitive multiplayer game by grinding the singleplayer is one of the most ridiculous ideas ever in the industry. Even Capcom is starting to realize how stupid unlocks are, see MvC2 on XBLA/PSN. I still don't like the idea of spending money for content already on the disk, but that's a whole lot less evil than having to grind out singleplayer to get to play the real multiplayer game.

Nobody is forcing you to buy it and nobody is forcing you to play with anyone who bought it if you so choose, Sterling. Step being a whiny little girl and get the hell over it. More money for developers and happy (if stupid) consumers is a win-win situation for everyone but the offended bystander, who only looks more stupid the longer he bitches about it.

Y'know it's sad, but a lot of kids these days don't even know what cheat codes ARE =/.

linuxguy said it best.

@Zeno, Kyo, Jayge
You completely missed the point. We're saying that these used to be cheatcodes when we were younger. Cheatcodes were also optional, yes, but they were FREE.

I'm telling you, characters like Bison/Seth/True Ogre/Justice were all unlockable via cheatcodes you would input at the title screen. Some games STILL have cheat codes (did you know Guitar Hero or Rock Band lets you input a code at the beginning, and unlock every song right away? Probably not).

Anyways, these codes can easily be put into the game, but instead, they're charging you to buy a cheatcode, when even developers like Activision are still putting them in their games, free of charge.

@Naim
Haha it's one thing they're doing right! The industry moves in cycles: wait 5 years, and they'll pull an EA and deliver some awesome original games, then maybe we'll be burning some other company at the stake.

Magnalon, these used to be cheatcodes when we were younger because they didn't have the means to implement unlocks. Then they went from cheats to unlocks. Keep in mind the alternate colors (eh...not a big deal) and console specific characters (WHAT?!) in SF4 do NOT have cheats to unlock without grinding out the singleplayer.

Cheatcodes aren't the best answer anyway either. If you're playing a multiplayer title, you have to input them every single time you launch a game.

The absolute best solution is to avoid unlocks/cheatcodes altogether and give the gamer access to everything the game has to offer up front. Keep in mind that this is for competitive multiplayer titles, but that's what BlazBlue is.

I never thought about how these people are paying to lower the value of their game. That's great. And by that I mean awful.

I fail to see the validity in the "people don't want to grind single-player to unlock characters" argument for this kind of DLC when five years ago I could simply take a minute to look up a cheat code instead of paying for content that I had already purchased.

More and more DLC is showing up that once upon a time would have been in the game for free. Nobody with any sense should be attempting to justify this behaviour, unless they like things being taken out of their games so they can buy it in installments.

As long as they are telling you upfront that you can unlock this by playing the game I see no problem with it.

What an overwhelming bunch of assholes on Dtoid lately.

You're not gonna pay someone else to watch a movie for you or read the last chapters of a book do you? Unlocking a character should be a reward. If a game is any good you should have plenty of gameplay even without unlocking everything. For instance Fallout 3. It took me a long time to get the platinum trophy. It was rewarding. But even if I didn't get that Trophy there was more than enough to see and do.

I don't even know if you can use those characters in multi-player. If it's only in single-player I rest my case. Do whatever the fuck you want, if you want to screw your game up that's fine by me. But if it ruins my online experience I will not be happy and never buy those games again.

If I'm playing against someone that has unlocked something very hard I will compliment him or her. It also makes me more determent to get it as well. Now with this bullshit happening I'm will constantly ask myself if they are really that good. But I guess you will know that after one round. I haven't payed attention to this game and I don't know what those 'Unlimited' variants actually do but I hope for the developers that it isn't some really cheap form. Because that would certainly be fucked up for the ones that refuse to buy that crap.

I vote for no unlockable DLC bullshit and no cheatcodes.

Ugh, some of you guys are idiots. What is the harm in this?

Capcom's alternate costumes for SF4 weren't unlockable via gameplay, were included on the disc, AND cost more. Here, Arc is offering a way to skip boring unlocks for those people that want to pay for it.

Bitching about this is like complaining that a game was console-exclusive and now no longer is. What's to complain about? It doesn't take anything away from you if you choose to ignore it.

If you're not going to buy them, then they will not affect *your* personal enjoyment of the game...so why would you care?

And btw...this is different than unlockable characters. At least, all of the characters come unlocked from the start...THESE unlockables are just souped-up versions of the same characters that are banned from ranked matches. If Tekken 6: BR ships with locked characters I will be pissed...

Takeshi still doesn't get it.

Unlocks in a fighting game are basically a "you can't actually play the game in its intended function until you do this set of requirements."

Again, I main Fei Long in SF4, so I lucked out regarding how to unlock him, but what about the people who want to play Gouken?

Having all the required characters is when a fighting game's value BEGINS, not when it ends, and unlocks are only a way to delay seeing that value. Arc is just giving players a way to opt out of the single player grind and get to the real meat of the game for a minimal price ($1 for your main).

@ Takeshi

I'm totally with you with this type of DLC, but what if you want to get together with your friends the day the game comes out, and you realize that you can only play it for a much shorter time because there is so much content hidden away? I was overjoyed to see that Rock Band 2 had a temporary all-song unlock option in it so that we could mess around with all of the new songs the first night I bought it. After that night, I turned off the option and worked on unlocking them the regular way, which no one at a party would want to wait for me to do. In this case, having cheats unlock the full game is a really good option for those who want to use it. And if you don't? Fine, enjoy yourself. I like that option.

It doesn't really effect me much. It is optional, and as someone already mentioned I'm pretty sure these guys are banned in competitive play anyways. Although the EX characters were, at least for me, pretty easy to unlock in the various Guilty Gears, I can see how some people would have trouble with them, or simply not want to bother, so I don't see a problem with Blazblue having an "I'm too lazy" opt-out function, especially since I won't use it.

That being said, I can see why people would have a problem with it. It could be considered a bit of a slap in the face to work so hard to unlock a certain character, only to discover that every asshat online just paid a dollar to get him.

@ill will
None of you guys are nailing it. The standard should be "all characters are unlocked for online/vs play" by default.

Your contention is "hardcore gamers who earn fighters shouldn't feel good about themselves". Ergo, you're siding with casuals, who just want everything without having to earn it: which is fine. Therefore, why not just have them be free anyways? If you want the game to be more casual, why not offer every character to people who, for instance, have dial up, and cannot sign up for Xbox Live? Why should they be left out because they don't have internet?

You guys are looking at this from a very narrow perspective: casual, hardcore - it doesn't matter. All of us as consumers are getting screwed in the end by charging for unlocks - period. "It's optional" - you know what else is optional? The developer optionally making them all available from the start: it's sleazy business.