In the wake of the recent Castle Crashers DLC announcement, it occurs to me that gamers ("hardcore" or "blogging" gamers) just don't want DLC. You can't please all of the people all of the time, but considering the arguments against most of this stuff, maybe companies shouldn't even bother?


The Hidden DLC

This is that Namco, hidden on the disk stuff. 1kb "downloads" that open up whole new levels and characters with unique art and everything. Brand new Soul Calibur outfits! Boy, these sure are detailed and took no time to download!

*The argument here that if its already on the disk, why not let the people have it.

Pretty straight forward. You're paying for the right to get what's on the disc. If its something I can spend a hundred hours grinding for OR get the chance to just buy it, that's pretty spiffy. But its right there, and I can't have it until I pay you more money? Makes no sense, I can't defend it.


Developed with the Game, Released as DLC

This is your chainsaws and horse armor (I reckon). Stuff that's put through development right there with the rest of the game. If the release of the game was delayed, then this stuff could probably just go right on the disc. Great.

*The problem here being that I'm paying more for a product that pretty much could have been in the full scope of the original release, given a little more time.

This, I personally can handle. Sometimes (and maybe more often than anyone would want to admit), a release date isn't about a finished product. While the Miyamotos and Team Icos of the world are given a huge swath of time to bring their master pieces to fruition, most teams don't have the luxury of autuer reverence that would buy them more time.

I have complete faith that a thousand high school students given a thousand years can code the greatest game ever created. But considering the monetary responsibility of equipping, housing and feeding those students, I probably won't be able to afford to let the project run that long. Better to release a game, pocket that money, and get that content out to further support the team.


Developed (Primarily) after Release

My guess is that the CrackDown DLC and GTAIV DLC fall under this category. You've got a game that's sold enough units to convince a guy in a suit that DLC would, in fact, be attractive. You put your team on it, tighten down all the bolts on your ideas during release development and get together some extra content that arguably

* The problem comes in here where people will say that they won't be playing Game X by the time the DLC comes out. Why bother?

This one confuses me. If new, never before seen content comes to a game, why wouldn't you consider just picking it up and playing it? The idea that the time for a game passes so quickly doesn't sit right with me.

If you told me that tomorrow, by ridiculous magic, that I could update my DuckTales NES cartridge with LaunchPad as a playable character and 5 new stages, plus vehicles, I'd probably be all over that. The DuckTales cart and NES system a buried under piles of storage, and I'd still go through the trouble of that just to get more play out of that game. I don't play it now, but the experience was cool and mixing it up is pretty attractive.


Songs for RockBand

Every week, new songs are added to RockBand at the a little more than a dollar a pop.

* People seem to be OK with this.

Go figure. I don't know the first thing about a RockBand, but if you're paying a dollar every week for just one new song, You'll have bought enough to at fund your purchase of RockBand2 . . .

The idea is cool and all, but considering what you'd get from a full RockBand, this seems pretty complain-worthy.


Solutions and/or Gross Hyperbole?

So I guess the ideal DLC would be:
* Has alot of stuff. Loads of stuff
* Is cheap
* Comes out before people stop playing the game the first time through
* Comes out late enough so it doesn't look like they could have delayed the game to put it in
* Has no development time at all while the rest of the game is being developed
* Comes at a regular clip

Huh? Cheap, quick, but not too quick, substantial and often? Yikes man, why don't they just make you a Christmas Feast while they're at it?

Granted, each case is a little different. I don't mind so much that The Behemoth is "nickel and dime-ing" us, because they could use the extra scratch. I just bought the Mass Effect DLC on the cheap, and it'll probably get me interested in the game when I decide to go back to it. I bought nearly all the DLC for My Life As a King, because the game was wicked fun, and the added stuff looked (and was) like a good time. For less than the cost of a chicken dinner (sans tip), added gameplay is within my grasp. If I'm having a good time with the full product, I'll say, "sure, why not?"

What the hell does everyone want from DLC content? Expansions or GTFO? Whatever, just make it cheap/Free? Why do we complain about "nickel and dime-ing", when we used to pump whole quarters just fine into game machines?