My interest is to see how all of these bald-faced plays against the used game market work out … because they are also strongly anti-consumer. I mean, do what you need to stop piracy, but second hand sales … that is pushing it too far, in my opinion.

I definitely plan on waiting now. Even if this wasn’t intended as first-day DLC, the fact that they included one of the expansions but not the other (and frankly, the more useful one) in the retail version still comes across as a bit of money-grubbing skulduggery.

Incidentally, I agree with you on the Fallout 3 DLC. I actually didn’t mind ponying up the cash for the downloads, because they in general added enough content to make it worth the cost. My meterstick is that if I get an hour’s worth of enjoyment out of a game for every dollar I spend on it, it was a worthwhile purchase, and the DLC got me playing Fallout 3 again after I’d already finished the game.

That’s probably the biggest reason I don’t like first-day DLC. I tend to view DLC/expansions as a way to extend my interest in a game after I’ve already finished it, and to have stuff released along with the game which isn’t included in it is somewhat offensive. It’s like they’re saying that it’s not enough that people buy their games, they have to pay extra for stuff that feels like it should have been included with the game (even if it was done by a separate team, if it’s released at the same time, it’s going to feel that way to most gamers).

That doesn’t include pre-order items, by the way. Those have always been nice little bonuses that people can get if they’re willing to pay a bit more, and in any case they’re always available with the game (at most, you have to download them with a code). It also doesn’t include extraneous content that doesn’t actually affect the game (such as skins or gamerpictures or the like).

And that is why as a PC gamer I *won’t* be getting Modern Warfare 2 …

From interviews I understand that the add-on areas (Stone Prisoner and Warden’s Keep) were done by the post-dev team, and wouldn’t have been release-day stuff except for the delays. That doesn’t invalidate what you said, but it changes some perspective – it is sort of splitting hairs about what ‘held back’ means. In this case it was never part of the game design, so it can’t be held back. I know, I know Like I said, splitting hairs (break out the lawyers )

Stone prisoner is free for anyone getting a retail copy. That says ‘screw you, used game market’. And as someone who uses Goozex heavily for getting and sending used games, I *hate* that idea … it is only second to stuff like Empire: Total War and Modern Warfare 2 that force you to lock your retail disc game to Steam.

As for Warden’s Keep, that one I have a harder time with as you get it with the ‘high price version’ in some cases on PC, but have to buy it separately on consoles. It is absolutely unnecessary, yet it is game-related content that was available on day-of-release. How could anyone who likes these sorts of things not feel compelled to buy this?

I like physical releases, and I generally eschew ‘collector’s editions’, but all of this extra stuff helped sway me to grab the ‘deluxe digital’ version. And I *still* agonize after the stuff in other packs …

As for pricing, I’ve written about it before – I remember paying ~$60 or so more than 20 years ago for a hockey game for my brother in law on the Sega Genesis. I’ve seen first hand how salary and benefits and other real overhead costs have gone up, and also read about the upward spiral of art generation costs … so how can we still be paying only $50 – 60 a game? The market simply won’t bear more – there was a big stink when console games went back to $60 for this generation.

So in order to profit these guys need to figure out a way to generate more cash. I have no problem with that – but there is a line somewhere that was crossed with Tiger Woods tutorials and Horse Armor in Oblivion, where it became some sort of gambit of how well they could bilk consumers out of cash rather than offering reasonable DLC for reasonable money – sort of like the Fallout 3 DLC or more recently the Red Faction Guerrilla console add-on (which we PC gamers got for free in exchange for waiting a month)

I don’t know where it all goes, but like you I’m concerned. And I realize that because I bought this game with all the trimmings I help contribute to the arrogance of producers …

So that means a console owner is going to have to pony up a minimum of $81.75 if they want the digital expansion content and buy the game new (which of course does not include taxes, which can easily add 10% or more to the retail value). It’s even more than that if they buy the collector’s edition, which does not include the digital content. And yes, while you can buy it used for %5-10 less using the normal used pricing scheme, it’s very unlikely that GameStop or other used resellers are going to drop their prices by an additional $10.

They don’t care about digital content, they care about how well the game sells – and given the fact that this is likely to be a very popular game, that means it will stay at the standard used price of $55 for months to come, if not longer. That means even with the membership discount, you’re still going to be spending upwards of $70, pre-tax, if you decide to get the expansion content.

But what bothers me the most about this is that apparently you get a little “bonus” with the main game – a NPC who’s sole purpose is to tell you about a questline that you can’t access without buying the expansion content (I assume it would be the Stone Prisoner, since they already have something that you “need” out of Warden’s Keep). In other words, an in-game advertiser who guilt-trips you pretty bad if you haven’t bought the content so you can do his quests. If that isn’t “held-back content”, then I’m not understanding the concept.

So while that and the inventory thing aren’t as bad as I thought they might be when I first heard about this from a friend, they’re still plenty bad enough. Camel’s nose in the tent time, as you said yourself. And unfortunately there’s enough gamers with stars in their eyes about this game that they’ll probably get away with it. Which of course means that other companies will likely follow suit. How long do you think it’ll be before we get a game (released at full retail price, of course), which has Day 1 DLC expansion content which actually totals more than the game itself costs?

That’s why I’m not buying this game anytime soon. I may not be able to stop the camel’s nose from getting in the tent, but I can at least keep it out of my wallet as much as possible. And maybe if enough people wise up to this and do the same thing, it’ll get the message across. Not likely, but even so it keeps me from getting shafted by Day 1 DLC which I would likely feel I “had” to buy.

I certainly understand and support your decision – I *still* am not clear on what you get where and how retail and digital download versions vary.
I wrote more about Dragon Age here (http://www.geardiary.com/2009/11/08/the-dragon-has-landed-dragon-age-origins-pc-x360-ps3-that-is/)

But these are mostly just little trinkets … the rings will be useful but not necessarily something that stays the whole game.

The other areas – Warden’s Keep in particular – are more of an issue. With limited inventory and the backpack expansions too expensive early on, you will likely be fighting inventory, but with the Keep, well, it stops being an issue. Some have called it a $7 solution for a game design problem.

But just to be clear – your $50 ($60 for consoles) gets you a full *massive* game with loads of replayability built in. You are not missing out on anything, in my opinion.

Then again, you are also right on one thing – the huge success of the pre-order campaign for Dragon Age signals that floodgates will open soon for day-of-release DLC. And much of it *will* be held back content.

I found out from a friend that while you could get some of the DLC (specifically, the two quests) straight with the game, you couldn’t do this unless you bought the PC version. And I strongly doubt that GameStop and other game resellers are going to discount their copy of the game that much merely because of the DLC.

In fact, I would bet real money that their used price will hang at $55 for months, because people will constantly be snapping up used copies. So that means, even at best, to get the “full game experience”, people will have to pay upwards of $70, certainly till after Christmas and more likely for most of next year.

If I play this at all, it will certainly not be until after it’s come way down in price, and that may not be for years. I don’t care if it’s a good game (and I’ve enjoyed Bioware’s other games). I refuse to reward a company for making pricing decisions which are designed solely to make them more money, at the cost of the consumer. Because you can be sure that other companies will follow suit, which means that the “real” cost of buying a new game is going to increase again. And if you don’t happen to have an internet connection, well, tough cookies.