Every day is the "End of the Week"

     It's times like this that I thank my friends for lending me spare cash in the past so I could purchase a used game or an expansion pack of. I look at prices of games and think, "Well, these games DO have enough content in them to be worth this much...I think."

     Apparently not.

     The fifty or sixty dollars that you spent on that game is just the beginning. A lot of games nowadays have extra pieces of their stories or multiplayer modes in downloadable content packs on their respective systems' marketplace. For a price, you can enjoy your ever-so-loved game to the utmost extent. For that same price, you could probably feed your entire family for a day.

     DLC packs today have simply become far too expensive for people to be comfortable buying them. Some games sell their DLC for cheap, but the DLC is numerous as a whole. An example of this would be Disgaea 3, whose DLC features characters and additional story arcs. A LOT of characters and additional story arcs. Total, the DLC rises to about $60-$70; however, NIS also has a DLC Bundle to obtain ALL of this DLC for "only" $50. I spent $20 on Disgaea 3; as much as I love it, why would I spend more than double the price of the game on DLC?

     Other games tend to charge you for less material than what you want for the price. Call of Duty is a perfect example of this, with its most famous DLC being...maps. No story, just multiplayer maps. How expensive are these maps, you might ask? 3 Maps are $15 dollars and they release more maps every couple of months. In one year you will have spent $60 in addition to the $60 you've already spent on the game needed to play the content.

     The most popular form of DLC is found in fighting games such as Super Street Fighter IV, Dead or Alive: Dimensions, and the sort. Traditionally, DLC for these games is found to be additional characters, costumes, and fighting modes (SSF4 released a free DLC mode called "Tournament Mode," where up to 8 players can play in a traditional tournament-based set of games). Most of this DLC comes at a semi-fair price; DoA Dimensions' costumes were free per day (players would receive a Spotpass costume once per day). SSF4 charges $3.99 for costumes for 4-6 character sets, in which you receive all 10-12 colors of the alternate costumes for each assigned character.


     Alternatively, DLC can also be in the form of whole games on each of the systems' marketplaces. Digital downloads of full games are a popular form of DLC -- it saves you the trouble of traveling to the store to actually purchase the game, at the cost of your hard drive space. But they're still at full price, and this is often more expensive than the games' respective retail price.

     With the rising price of DLC and digital games, this often leads to people performing acts that aren't universally approved. Primarily on the PlayStation Network, this is done by gamesharing. Gamesharing utilizes the 5 PS3 and PSP activations each account is permitted and essentially lets other people use your purchased material if they've signed into your account on their system.

     Most often this is criticized as a form of piracy, when simply it's taking advantage of a function meant to split the content between family and siblings. That's only one of the things that was created from the rising price of DLC.

     Another, more common and also more illegal method, is by download via many different methods -- Torrents, Direct Downloads, etc. This is piracy. And that's no good!

     Although the two above methods are looked down upon (and in direct downloading/torrent's case, illegal), gamers unfortunately feel forced to do so when they look at the steadily climbing rates of DLC prices. To those people who feel forced to commit acts of piracy, I say this -- if you can't afford it, don't play it.

     DLC and game prices are rising. If items get more and more downloads (not purchases, downloads), the prices will keep rising. It's how large companies are able to get away with raising the prices of their DLC -- they still get the money, because they know someone within the Gamesharing group will purchase it nevertheless, and so they can continue to hike the prices up. It hurts the initial buyer the most.

     Simply said, DLC is a great extension of a game. The only negative part about expanding your game is that it may come at a greater cost than that which you're willing to spend!

 

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