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Thoughts on DLC from one who cannot get it
Posted on Saturday, November 6 2010 @ 04:06:22 Eastern

Downloadable Content seems to be the new thing these days. A lot of developers are wising up to the idea of making more content for their games post-release (and sometimes during), it seems like every game nowadays hits the shelves half-baked, with the final portion online for those with money.

This does mean that those of us who don't have the capability for going online to get the last few pages of the story we've been enjoying for so long tend to get the shaft. And it's really starting to piss me off.

I was fine with it for a while. I mean, it's not like I'm missing out on much. Most of the game's still on the discs now, and the other portion isn't overly necessary (Well, except for Mass Effect's Bring Down The Sky DLC), but I was always a little miffed that I was missing out on those sections.

But, since Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition came out, it got more annoying.

You see, according to the hype, this edition was to come out with all 4 of the DLC packs. I was really looking forward to that, as I already had bought a CD (legitimately) with the first two, and the last two seemed to be great additions.

Then, it came out and it did indeed come with all 4 DLC packs. As download tokens.

Now, I don't know about you, but that seems like a real cop-out to me. It's like buying a DVD, only for it to end 20 minutes early and tell you that if you show your receipt to the filmmakers, they'll give you the missing footage. I can kind of understand the last bit of the DLC, as I heard it wasn't ready by the time the GOTY edition shipped, but not to include the other 3 is annoying.

It's not like Borderlands is the only sinner in that respect, either. The Special Edition of Resident Evil 5 did the exact same thing with the add-on campaigns. Is this the game developers new method of stiffing us for not upgrading our connection speeds, or is it their way of screwing over the used-games market, with us as 'collateral damage'? What the hell!

It's not like they couldn't make it available in other ways, either. As I said, there's a disc for Borderlands that allows you to buy the first 2 DLC, Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot without needing a download, and Burnout Paradise: The Complete Box (which is far from complete, by the way), also includes some of the DLC that has arisen since the game launched.

If any developers are listening, then please allow us slow-net people to get ahold of your DLC packs as well. I don't care if it's by extra CDs we need to pay higher prices for, or even just by allowing us to port them to offline consoles by 'borrowing' someone else's high-speed connection. It would mean a lot to us.

Comments

pennpsu
Joined: Sep 2010

Posted: Nov 29th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
What console are you using that doesn't allow you to go online? Unplug your ethernet cable from your modem and plug it into the back of your 360. Silver package is free. Or is it a lack of bandwidth?

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Tyrranis
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Nov 29th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
Lack of Bandwidth.

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wildmario
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Nov 30th, 2010 at 5:32 am
The problem is people in your situation are such a small minority now that the developers are not willing to waste extra money catering to the, when they can get more sales from people with better connections, who are larger in number.

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pennpsu
Joined: Sep 2010

Posted: Nov 30th, 2010 at 10:10 am
I would be frustrated too, pretty much every type .developer assumes a high speed connection is a given. I have wondered if I could survive without cable and high speed internet. Cable..absolutely. High speed connection...never

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slowdiver
Joined: Nov 2008

Posted: Nov 30th, 2010 at 10:32 am
I'm equally frustrated with game manufacturers that assume that the only time I would wish to play a multiplayer gamme is online. While there are some games out there that allow me and a group of friends to sit in the same room and play a game together, there are far more that expect that either a) my friends only want to play against me when they themselves are sat at home or b) that my friends regularly come round and bring their 360 and another television set with them. This is aside from the comments the OP made, which I also agree with. But then, with the 360 at least, it's Microsoft isn't it? Recent iterations of Windows, from XP onwards assume a permanent, high speed internet connection for the system to work properly, so I suppose from their perspective, making the same assumption about the gaming community was a valid thing to do. I can't say I agree with them.

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WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Nov 30th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
@slowdiver: What are you talking about? Up until last year, I didn't even have internet on my main PC, and it worked fine with Windows 7.

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Tyrranis
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Nov 30th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
@WILLS_COOL_MODE: I think he was referencing the Auto updates thing. Which is easilly turned off.

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Rinnon
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 1:30 am
Most people don't understand that there are legitimately some places, even in the states, that you CANNOT get Broadband Internet. Sometimes you live a little too far out of town, and the cable company isn't willing to go that far... and you end up stuck with Satellite internet... which isn't exactly the best thing for downloading or online games.

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hythloday
Joined: Mar 2006

Posted: Dec 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
i think your just pissing into the wind.

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bobthequiet
Joined: Sep 2009

Posted: Dec 5th, 2010 at 10:05 am
Its a valid grievance. For example, with the Borderlands GOTY if you are going to release a disc set that allows access to DLC then make damned sure the DLC content can be installed directly off the disc. Think about it, there is absolutely no legitimate reason why developers cannot cater to customers with both high speed and low speed connections. In the end they just make even more money by catering to both rather than just the one. It is simple laziness on the part of an increasing number of developers.

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wildmario
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Dec 5th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
If it were that easy, bob, why aren't developers doing it? As you said, it would make them more money, so how come they are not doing it? I believe that it may be too much trouble for companies to be catering to people with low internet speed and could cost more than what they make back from the sales. High speed internet is tons cheaper these days and most of the consumer base is on it, so of course companies are going to cater to them, even if a few low speed internet consumers are left in the dust as long as the profit is nice.

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bobthequiet
Joined: Sep 2009

Posted: Dec 8th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Wow, that's funny...didn't realize I had said anything about it being "easy". I said there was no real reason, and it seems to me that "DLC" was being released on disc a very long time before it became available primarily through internet download. After all, they keep on shipping the discs to the stores, why not include the actual download-free DLC on those discs? A DVD costs what? A couple bucks per disc? You do the math.

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wildmario
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Dec 10th, 2010 at 5:32 am
Again, they would never bother spending the money, no matter how cheap it is, just appeal to the very few. You say the discs are insanely cheap, but then again, how come they are not doing this? I know Valve does this sometimes, but not many others are following suit.

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WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Dec 13th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
@wildmario: It's actually a lot cheaper to throw the DLC on the same disc as the game than it is to pay for the bandwidth required to allow anyone to download said DLC.

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bobthequiet
Joined: Sep 2009

Posted: Dec 16th, 2010 at 7:43 am
wildmario, I suspect the only reason they are not putting the DLC on disc all that much anymore because some moronic corporate executive who knows precisely nothing about anything decided that that was how it would be done. Economic considerations were likely put to the side and largely ignored. And why would it appeal to only the very few? I have a fairly good connection, nothing great but by far better than DSL, and I would still prefer not having to use up my bandwidth downloading something if it could have just been on the disk to begin with.

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