On Tuesday, as Mark flew away to Texas, I got up early to wait outside the Target before it opened at 8 AM to get one of the two special edition copies of Mass Effect 3 for the Xbox 360. Why did I need to do this? I have no idea. Apparently, because many nerds pre-ordered the special edition, it was nigh impossible to find just sitting around. Monday night, Mark called pretty much every place in Myrtle Beach that sold video games to see if they had extra special edition copies. Save Target, they all said no. This is how I came to find myself outside of Target, early that morning.
Still, you may be wondering what could possibly be so great about the special edition that I would be willing to lose sleep over it. First and foremost, Mark wanted it. I have enjoyed the other Mass Effect games, so I knew we would be getting the third one. There is no reason we couldn't just get the regular version, but there were two reasons to go out of my way to get the special edition.
1. When you purchase the special edition, you get a robot dog that follows you around while on the Normandy. We can obviously not live without that. If it keeps Mark from asking for a real dog for a bit longer, I'm okay with it. Actually, as soon as he accepts a great dane into his life, he can have a dog.
2. The special edition also gets you the day one DLC for free. I know it's not actually free because I had to pay more for the special edition, but it feels less like getting stabbed in the kidney when we get other bells and whistles in the package.
Let me explain DLC for those of you who are unfamiliar with the idea or term. DLC stands for downloadable content. When a game comes out, the publisher has the ability to offer further content, items, and perks via download due to the wonderfully connected world we live in now. This is a great option when a game has been out long enough to be beaten, as the publisher can offer additional quests, lengthening the life of the game for you. Of course, these things come at a cost, but ten bucks isn't much if you get to hang out with the characters you grew to like while spending hours upon hours playing a game with them.
Right now, you should be loving DLC. Instead of your kid asking for a brand new $60 game, they just want ten bucks. You can buy some pretty cheap peace and quiet that way, and it's obviously cheaper than a brand new game. Unfortunately, it appears that there are instances where you should have just gotten that content included with the game when you paid $60.
Mass Effect 3, which launched Tuesday, had day one DLC, meaning that on the day the game launched, you could pay $10 for an additional character and the accompanying missions. Regardless of the time it takes to create something like that, it bothers me to have to shell out extra money on the launch day to fully experience a product that is already completed. If it can be released at the same time as the game, why isn't it just on the disc? Sometimes, maybe the game discs went into production before the additional content was completed.
Let's give BioWare, the game's creators, the benefit of the doubt. They do excellent work and create great products, so let's reward their gifts to us with some good will. Maybe the DLC wasn't completed in time to just be part of the game. I would like to believe that is the case, but I'm reading online that a great deal of the files for the DLC are located on the game disc that I bought Tuesday. To rein in my anger, I'm going to tell myself that the disc only holds the dialogue or maybe the character design; I'm trying to convince myself that some vital piece wasn't ready. Otherwise, it's just poor form for a publisher(EA) to ask their customers for an additional $10 for content that should have been part of the initial game.
Don't think I'm just picking on BioWare and Mass Effect 3. There have been many games recently getting in on this racket. DLC, which should have been a way to lengthen the life of games, has become just another way to get gamers to shell out more money. Mark has spent six bucks to download the ability to maybe get to play as Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII-II. You don't need to mock him for that, as I have already done so for you.
I imagine day one DLC is so popular because some gamers are notorious for wanting it all. It's why they have achievements in Wow. It's why there are trophies offered on the Xbox. We all like to feel like winners. If you're going to experience a game in its entirety, you shouldn't have to pay an extra ten bucks on day one. There are players who won't finish the game, who will eventually lose interest. If they save the DLC until the game has been out for a while, those players are less likely to buy it. By offering the DLC when the game launches, they make more money.
I suppose it is time to actually review the downloadable content offered for Mass Effect 3 on launch day. For only ten dollars, we got an extra character and a bunch of missions. All in all, it's definitely worth ten bucks. If we hadn't found the special edition, we still would have purchased the DLC. Realistically, that doesn't make what the publishers or the creators are doing right. I'm not an expert, so I'm not sure how much of this is EA and how much is BioWare. I am more inclined to believe that EA is behind the decision, but I don't actually know.
All I know is that day one DLC is ridiculous. Complete the game before releasing it. Downloadable content should be to extend the length of the game as more content is created, not to charge ten dollars for files already loaded onto the discs consumers have paid $60 for. If you bought Mass Effect 3's standard edition, shell out the $10 for the DLC. Obviously, this doesn't fix the problem, but I wouldn't want you to miss out on it.
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