Recently in DLC Category
The website is reporting that paintball mode in Goldeneye: Reloaded will be exclusive DLC for people who buy the game at GameStop. Seriously.
I realize moaning about a simple paintball variant is a weird thing to get hung up on, but hell, paintball was one of my favorite modes from GoldenEye 007 Unlocking paintball wasn't easy, either; it required beating the Dam stage on Secret Agent in two minutes and 40 seconds. This was a satisfying achievement before Microsoft attached scores to such things. My friend group would sit around the TV for hours, playing each level over and over again, in hopes of shaving a few seconds off our time.
We never did unlock Invincibility.
Maybe Activision, the company publishing the Goldeneye remake, will be gracious enough to let customers eventually pay for paintball mode, which was indeed a fan favorite. But the nickel-and-dime approach to DLC is one of the most annoying trends within gaming, since it's getting harder and harder to escape the conclusion that players are being charged for incomplete products when they buy new games.But when we finally unlocked paintball, we'd earned the right to play paintball--and damn it felt good. So while anyone who picked up GoldenEye 007: Reloaded through GameStop could optionally unlock the mode early, everyone else would still have the ability to flip on paintball the old fashioned way: earning it.
In this writer's opinion, there's nothing wrong with companies charging for substantial DLC, the kind that's like an expansion pack gives real value for somebody who has already paid $60 for a retail game. Bethesda and Electronic Arts, for example, have done well in offering quality DLC for games like "Broken Steel" for "Fallout 3" and "Lair of the Shadow Broker" for "Mass Effect 2."
But DLC that doesn't actually expand upon a player's initial purchase is ridiculous. As much as I would praise Lair of the Shadow Broker, I have no interest in paying for Mass Effect 2's alternate costumes. That's the kind of thing that gamers used to unlock by actually playing the game, when paying for a new game once was considered to be enough.
I can't embed the trailer because it's M-rated and our blogging software won't let us put the madness behind an age gate. If you're old enough, click the link to see hints of a story that has something to do with people whose minds have been downloaded into robots with big television screens for eyes, robo-scorpions and many, many large weapons.
Old World Blues is scheduled for a July 19 release for PlayStation Network, Steam and XBox Live.
Dubbed "Mass Effect: Arrival," the DLC once again puts players in the role of Commander Shepard. This time, Shepard's mission is to travel across the Milky Way to save an undercover agent who may have evidence of an "imminent Reaper invasion." Anyone who has played through the Mass Effect franchise knows what that means.
Mass Effect: Arrival will retail for 560 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, $6.99 on PlayStation Network and for 560 BioWare Points for PC Gamers.
XBox 360 players got first crack at Dead Money way back on Dec. 22. Bethesda reports that they will release three additional New Vegas expansions within the next few months with simultaneous release dates for all three platforms.
