I’ve Had Enough DLC

By Mike Mason

“I’ve Had Enough…” is a regular feature by Cubed3’s Mike Mason, dissecting some of the games industry’s more irritating practices.  This time: the surge of downloadable content – but could we really game without it?

I like the feeling that I have the world at my fingertips. I like the idea that I can grab whatever I’m after in a reasonably instantaneous fashion within minutes of deciding I want something.  It’s a reason I love digital distribution of music, even though I still prefer having things on shiny discs with colourful books.  The same applies to gaming.  I’m addicted to downloading things, to the jolt of pleasure given by an off-the-cuff purchase that gratifies immediately.  The first thing I did when I bought a PlayStation 3 a few months ago was not to pop in a disc, but to connect to the Internet and see what I’d been missing out on in the PlayStation Store.

Despite my love affair with the medium, however, it isn’t all flowers and sunshine.  I have as many concerns about this method of content delivery as I do joys.  I can’t imagine that I’m the only one.  I will say that I have consoles in mind as I write this; I’m not about to start a battle against Steam, both because it seems delightfully bargainous and also due to my inexperience with PC gaming at large thanks to a long ancestory of dodgy, generally ungameworthy laptops and desktops.

Today’s been a good day on the whole, so let’s start with a sprinkle of positivity.  I’ve already mentioned the speed of delivery when downloading, but it bears repeating in my eyes.  Downloadable content allows fast, easy and convenient access to new things, and I’m typically quite happy with new things.  Let’s say I wake up on a Saturday morning – which I do occasionally manage – and plonk myself in front of my 360 for a sneaky play about before I have to do something semi-useful with myself.  I scour my games but discover that I’m not really feeling like shooting things, driving cars or rolling the contents of the world up into a big ball.  In times past I would either slump off to do something else or grumpily vow to pad down to the shops to see if anything takes my fancy.  Not any more! Now I log into Xbox Live, go to the games marketplace and fill my boots with… something, even if it is just a demo.  Superb.

Yet that convenience can become somewhat of an inconvenience in itself.  Let’s now say that I’m in an unpredictable, impulsive mood.  I’ve just been paid.  And in my hand sits a control pad with the suspicious ability to empty my bank account to big uncle Microsoft with the greatest of ease.  When in states of lessened self-control, it can be all too easy to let a few pounds mount up, since you’re never seeing the money.  Tip: buy the points cards instead to be safe.

That’s another issue.  Points.  Sony dodge the bullet on this one with their upfront use of real money, but both Microsoft and Nintendo opt to fuel their downloadable games portals with crafty custom currencies.  It’s always told – at the time of points purchase – exactly how much these points cost, but never at the time of buying content (outside of full games) is the real cost mentioned.  Which of course undoubtedly makes it easier to justify purchases.  It’s not a crime on the console manufacturers’ parts at all, but it is a bit of a cheeky trick to grease the wheels of purchase.  Especially in the way that there’s often a sum left on your balance that isn’t quite the amount necessary for something else.  A worrying tendency, particularly on Xbox Live, has been a gradual creeping up of the average game price tag, the standard now seemingly closer to the 1,200 mark than the previous benchmark of 800 Microsoft Points.

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