Xbox Live Deal of the Week - 20/07/09

Ive played this level and have the six 'new' playable characters already available for free. The difference? I have the game on Wii.

I half understand charging people through the nose for something that's actually exclusive, but this sort of business conduct simply equates to extortion in my opinion.

Who would pay $6.60 for one level and a few reskins (that's right.. they're not remodelled characters and instead are draped over the Secret Apprentice's model and appear awkwardly hunched over due to his pose) which add no difference to gameplay whatsoever?

The only one getting anything feasible out of this 'Deal' is Microsoft.

It's not pissing and moaning over $5 dlc, it's pissing and moaning over paying money for something that you can play straight out of the box already on another console, regardless of the graphics looking better or not.

DLC done right in my opinion is actually offering gamers content that is freshly developed and not something that you are paying to technically 'unlock'. Developers deserve to get paid for extra work they put into their games but in many cases, they are getting paid for doing nothing.

Charging for content that already exists on the disc is pretty low in my opinion.

You've worked full time for 8.5 years? Congratulations. If that's your excuse to throw money at developers who are keen to get you to pay for content that's already available for free elsewhere, then be my guest. They'll love you all the more for it and mark my words, it will get worse. In a few years you'll be paying to 'unlock' the last level in a game.

Why? Because as long as people keep forking out, companies will tighten their grip on your wallet harder and harder until you're paying just to get past the title screen. An exaggeration? Yes but the way things are going, I see gamers getting more and more exploited. It's a far cry from days when a developer would release massive amounts of content for free.

Call me old fashioned, but when Epic released the Editor's Choice Bonus Pack for Unreal Tournament 2004, they did it *shock - horror* out of the kindness of their hearts to reward owners of the game for their loyalty. Today, you're only as 'loyal' as your bottom dollar goes for DLC and in most cases, you arent paying for extra work - the devs are most likely working on another game.

On another note, this isn't an attack on the 360 or it's owners. It's an awesome console that I would love to own one day - it's an attack on the people that let this sort of crap happen. Look at Team Fortress 2 on the 360 for example. Will 360 gamers get the bonus content that Valve has been releasing for free to PC owners for two years?

Of course not! Microsoft has forced Valve to charge for it. Why? Because they seem to know that there are people like Benc82 out there who have worked full time for 8.5 years and will gladly part with their money to pay for something that is already free on another platform.

If I pay full price for a game and a dev actually takes the time, effort and resources to work on new content that is released, i'll buy it if it warrants the purchase. If they turn around and want to charge me for something that already exists on the disc or takes 4 minutes to add into the game by minor code tweaking however, then they can kiss my ass.