Pick 5: Problems with Downloadable Content

Lets face it, Downloadable Content(DLC) are everywhere in video games nowadays. No matter what, you will be bothered with new DLC promos and free ones to "enhance" your experience in a given game.Some are great, like the added content giving 2-3 more hours into your game time, but most of them are completely useless or flat-out done poorly. DLC is fairly new, and it will get better in time, but there are just very bad practices that make DLC a waste at times.

Downloadable content already on the damn disc

Yea, I'm talking about you Capcom. There's a reason why it's called "Downloadable Content", its content made after completing the final product, which is then purchased separately and then downloaded to include in your game. But when the added content is already finished and is actually on the disc? Do we really have to pay for it? It really feels like I'm paying for it twice if it's on the disc.

Big example is of course Capcom's approach with their DLC's. On the release of Street FIghter X Tekken, I guess they didn't realize that there are people in the world that actually look into the game disc files to hopefully find something useful. well, they struck gold when they noticed that all the planned DLC characters are already on the disc and is actually playable, with only a simple code to unlock(which is pretty much what you're buying, the key).  Capcom got a lot of bad rep from this one and they keep saying that it's still not complete. Well, don't add it in the disc then, and don't say complete because we see footage of the characters very much playable. bad Capcom, bad.

Map packs are always overpriced 

I love competitive online games like Call of Duty or Battlefield. It can be quite relaxing at times and at first, I was excited to "enhance" my experience by buying a couple of map packs. Well, I never did in either of my purchase of either Call of Duty or any game that has 'Team Deamatch' because it turns out to be a waste in a couple of months. Thanks to the yearly release of the popular Call of Duty and whatever FPS game EA cooks up for that year, buying map packs feel like  a waste to be honest. It's hard to justify a $15 bundle with 5 new maps when I have a lingering thought that a new game will be released next year. You also lose a good portion of players flocking over to the next best thing making you regret your purchase even more. Plus, these map packs come out more expensive that any other DLC.

Season Pass DLC can be a risk at times

Get the season pass now and get the first 5 DLC for free when released. That's pretty much the gist of what a Season Pass does in most games. Getting the pass comes out cheaper than buying the DLC one by one, that's the catch, but sometimes some of the DLC included in the pass maybe something you might not want, or simply just suck. A lot of big titles do this now like Assassin's Creed or Uncharted. I remember the pass for Uncharted 3 and looking back, I was pretty thankful I didn't get pulled into buying it. Why? because all I wanted is the coop DLC, I'm not interested in the rest.

But this method of releasing DLC isn't so bad, some can just be risky and pointless. Best application of the Season Pass? The Walking Dead game. An episodic game series that has the game divided into 5 episodes. It makes sense in getting the pass if you want the game, and you need all 5 anyway to get the most of every episode since choices get carried over.

Content that shouldn't be DLC's in the first place

I have this theory that some studios literally hold off 10% of the full game for DLC. As much as they say all DLC is done after the completion of the original content, we all know that's a load of bull. Two games come into mind that supports my theory. First, Mass Effect 3. As much as I loved the game and series, the day-one DLC that gives you an extra squad member and additional mission felt like it shouldn't be placed as exclusive content. Why? Well, because it's Shepard finding the last living Prothean and knowing their history a bit more is a pretty big deal. Mass Effect fans will agree with me on this, and for those that don't and haven't played that DLC, you are missing out, which is why it should have been added into the full game.

The second that comes into mind is with the worst Resident Evil game I've ever played. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City has this free DLC that includes a campaign of the other Spec Ops team that entered Raccoon City when all hell broke loose. What's the problem? Well it felt like they made it DLC just because the content wasn't ready. It's hard for me to think Capcom would allow DLC like that to go free, and I was right because additional missions had a price tag on them. if only the Echo Six campaign was included int the original game, maybe it would have been a better game...nah who am I kidding.

Some pre-order DLC incentives are useless

True story, and this is actually based on my latest purchase, which was Tomb Raider. Let's have a look at my free DLC shall we?

- Additional "Agility" upgrade for Lara Croft - Additional multiplayer map "Shanty Town" - Tomb Raider Combat Strike Pack, which includes "Animal Instinct" and "Headshot Reticle"  skill upgrades and the "Pistol Burst" and "Pistol Silencer" weapon upgrades.

Granted, the added map is pretty cool, but the rest is literally obtainable if you actually play the damn game. Why call it DLC?  Additional "Aglility" upgrade? It's an actual upgrade in the game and the DLC just unlocks it for you for free? Awesome. Can't you give me a golden pistol at least? That would be pretty cool...I think. I'm also not that interesting in skins, especially for my first playthrough since I'd like to see the game in its original state, that's just me I guess.

As much as they are called "DLC incentives",  most of them are usually cosmetic and I'd rather have a free mug or something at least. Some pre-order DLC are exclusive, but usually they become available for purchase anyway in a few months. So it comes out a lie, but you won't care really since you have already forgotten.

In the future, Downloadable Content will get better eventually. It's inevitable, thanks to the world slowly evolving in a digital format. Some are actually good like Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare DLC, now that's "added content". Or How Gearbox Software does their DLC for Borderlands 1 and 2. But there are some that are just really bad and question some studio's if they even know the meaning of DLC.  Right now, it feels like another way to get a quick buck, and the sad part is we occasionally take the bite. So hopefully in the future, majority of the added content released will actually be worth it.

Thief Announcement Trailer

Thief, or once called Thief 4, has it's planned announcement trailer leaked a day earlier. You really can't keep anything under wraps for too long with the internet on the case, so we get to see the first cinematic trailer for Thief a bit earlier than expected. Have a look quick! Before Square Enix does anything to the video.

Thief is an official reboot of the Thief franchise, it's a next-gen title and is being developed over at Eidos Montreal(Deus Ex: Human Revolution). Garret and his bow returns in 2014 on PC, PlayStation 4, and "other next-gen consoles", which pretty means the Xbox 360 successor that Microsoft hasn't revealed yet.

HOLY WEEK! What are you playing!?

Happy long weekend! Well, for those in the Philippines at least, thanks to this week's holy week. It's a bit late to create a post like this since holy week did start last Wednesday, but yesterday is really when everybody is in relax mode for the whole week, I'm sure some of you have plans to go out with family, but I'm positive there are some, like myself, are all set to get some gaming done. What are you planning to play during this long weekend??

Carlos: I honestly have a lot planned. Since I started my new job last month, I've had a couple of games neglected since I just didn't have the time to play them. I still want to play a few games of Smite, the Free-To-Play Third Person MOBA, to get a better feel of the game. and I've yet to finish Final Fantasy XIII-2 (I'm literally in the end, just need to cross that finish line). But thanks to me getting BioShock Infinite, I'm putting that as my top priority because the game is just too darn good.

I literally got glued to the controller once I started up my Xbox 360 with BioShock inside. I'm on my second night with the game and its a pretty lengthy game, which I appreciate. Because at this point, I really don't want  it to end anytime soon. I'm playing on hard on my first playthrough and I just realized that the Handy Man is the worst enemy to face if you don't know which Vigor to use. Keep a look out for them, they are no joke.

Arlie: For this long weekend I was just planning to play my backlog games like Dishonored (haven't touched the game yet). I knew Bioshock Infinite will be released this week but I really have no plan buying it. But when I watched and read some of the reviews, I knew I have to get the game at the last minute before the malls close for the Holy Week. I got a copy for my PS3 (shown above) and it includes the Original Bioshock in the disc that you have to install first before playing. Since it is a long weekend most of my Steam friends are online, we play casual private game of DOTA 2.

Migoy: Started playing Asura's Wrath last week and I think I'm almost done with the games. The last episode I played was episode 15 and most of the bad guys are already dead so yeah. After that the PS3 copies of Bioshock Infinite come with the first Bioshock on disc, I was so tempted to buy a copy though with holy week happening, I won't be able to buy a copy at least until Saturday (given that the shops still have it in stock). Aside from that, I downloaded a bunch of free-to-play games on Steam so I might try some of them out. That and I also downloaded Surgeon Simulator 2013.

Grand Theft Auto V New Screenshots

Rockstar Games just uploaded some new screenshots of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto V on their Facebook page and they are looking beast.

When I opened the Facebook album, I actually thought that I clicked the wrong link because at first glance, I thought it was a tourism album. They weren't lying when they said that there'd be scuba diving in this game. Totally geeking out right now.

Pick 5: Captivating Video Game Worlds

A video game world is a key ingredient in any video game. It sets the stage for the story and the characters, and is essentially the playground for the player. Sometimes the world takes the spotlight more than any part of the game. Some developers take that extra mile to create a very captivating world that would tap your curiosity, making every bit of detail and information ever so sweet as you explore the game. With BioShock Infinite released this week, it was only fitting to make this week’s Pick 5 about those game worlds that really suck you in. There’s quite a lot that achieve this, some are quite iconic, but these five for me are game worlds that really got me invested in the game, taking it slow, taking in everything it has to offer.

Bioshock's Rapture

BioShock was a real shocker when it was first released. Rapture was a world not really seen before in video games, and Irrational Games really made this fantastic world a place worth exploring. From the outside, it looks like a busy city that doesn't sleep, but once you enter the city’s corridors, you find out the city has gone out of control, and its corridors now have crazed citizens and the iconic Big Daddy roaming its corridors. As you explore, you get a glimpse of Rapture’s good ol’ days, getting a good idea of Rapture in its prime. There’s a lot of mystery going on in Rapture - How the city fell in ruin, the Big Daddy’s and the little sister, the power giving plasmids, it’s a world worth investing and to this day, its considered one of the best game worlds to come out of this generation.

Fallout 3's post apocalyptic world

Bethesda did good in this one. The term post-apocalyptic was well imagined in the world of Fallout 3 making it an interesting world to get lost in. Not that I want to be in a world where the nukes have fallen, and now living in the aftermath. It’s just the way the game started. You, born and raised on an underground vault, now emerging from the ground, adjusting your eyes to the bright sunlight, and seeing the brutal wasteland for the first time spikes your curiosity since you yourself is very unfamiliar with this land. A land now filled with bandits and scavengers looking for any kind of food to stay alive, with many groups and organizations attempting to take power and some sort of order. Fallout 3 had a lot of interesting side stories, some are quite disturbing at times but it gave the sense of how bad the world is. With a game mostly focused about finding your daddy, going off course from the main path is the best way to play this game, and the open wasteland made it easy to do just that.

Elder Scroll's Tamriel

This is the mother of all high fantasy worlds when video games are concerned. Tamriel is one world you will most definitely get yourself lost for hours if your into RPG’s. With each game set in a different part, or continent in Tamriel, there’s always something different about each one. While each one is quite similar, the conflicts and issues are different. Tamriel is literally filled with lore if you bother to read a book every now and then. If you like, you can learn the history of a certain city or group. Stories of past wars, or the rule of past kings and queens that once ruled the land. You can actually spend hours on hours reading about this fantasy world. Its crazy how much content and effort was put by the developers making it easy for every player to spend more than 50+ hours just roaming around exploring. be it Skyrim or Morrowind, you’ll definitely not regret your time in Tamriel.

Welcome to Silent Hill

I had to include this. The first time I entered Silent Hill, of course I was terrified. The first game was scary as a kid, but I was really hell bent on figuring out what happened to this town. Why is it so foggy? Where did these creatures come from? What happened to the people in this town? Those questions are really what kept me going and it was great uncovering the mystery little by little as you move on. Silent Hill had those little details that make it memorable and iconic. The dense fog, the creepy static whenever a creature is nearby, and the oh so scary pyramid creature with the huge sword that gets introduced in the third game. The story of Silent Hill in general is a bit crazy, but I don’t think we’ll ever forget our first visit in Silent Hill, walking through abandoned schools and hospitals with a pipe and a flashlight, getting lost half the time.

Metal Gear Solid, and all its conspiracies combined

This is one world that just gets crazier and crazier each time a new game gets released. Ill have to admit that it can be a bit absurd at times thanks to the mind of Hideo Kojima, but I can’t help but absorb every little detail each game provides. A game that at first, was all about stopping the Metal Gear weapon, has become so much more. From Snake’s background, Foxhound, the conspiracies created by real events, all the way to the patriots manipulating the world, this world is madness. It was a wild joyride so far and as much as it has gone overboard in story, it’s definitely entertaining that you will be glued to the screen until the last bit of cutscene. Then, when the credits start rolling, you don’t quite understand some of it, thus the research via the internet starts.