Expanding your horizon.

Let me open with this. What you're about to read may not even be coherent, as it was written with me in a fury, so I was simply pounding the keys.

What is the deal with games releasing, and then just a few weeks later, DLC is released? I'm getting severely tired of this, and it's becoming a more and more common practice. Recently, Fallout New Vegas released. Personally, I enjoyed Fallout 3 quite a lot, and therefore, I was looking forward to New Vegas. I did not purchase any of the Fallout 3 expansions as they came out, and after the game of the year edition released, I refused to purchase them purely on principal. Granted, I should have known they would release a game of the year edition with all the expansions on it, as they've done it with other titles, but I still felt that pang of frustration when it was released. This frustration led me to not purchase New Vegas due to the imminent GOTY release later on. Fool me once, I was dumb and the developers were dicks, fool me twice and I'm just dumb.

Probably the worst part of games that release DLC shortly after their retail launch is the fact that, as a gamer, you know in your heart that they could have just put that onto the disc as it was finished content that was ready to go before the game was released anyway. So the developers are just sitting on the content ready to release it, with no additional work or thought put into it. TAKE THAT FANS! People lap this crap up, and will continue to do so, that's why developers will continue to rape your wallet with expansions that are already finished. It's smart business, but if it doesn't piss you off just a bit you either have money to burn (in which case, send to me) or you are just ignoring it and drinking whatever juice they have at the table. In either case, so long as we (gamers) continue to buy the DLC, they will sell it.

Worse yet, are games that are released as full retail versions, and immediately after opening them you realize it's just a glorified expansion in and of itself. (I'm looking at you Halo: ODST) Every person I know that purchased ODST had the same gripe, it should have just been DLC. Not only is releasing a full retail game that's little more than an expansion a slap in the face to the fanbase of the franchise, it's also a little bit sad. It's as though the developer has just given up trying or knows the fanbase will buy it regardless so long as they slap a certain name on it. Sadly the latter is probably the truth.

Now before you start ripping into me with crap like “X game was so good, I like the fact they increased the amount of game time I got out of it via the expansions” or “expansions keep me from buying a whole new sixty dollar retail version of a new game” or “It's cheaper to buy DLC to add on to an existing game than buy a whole new game” I get the expansion thing. I really do, I have purchased expansions in the past, and will continue to do so as long as I feel they are worth it. I understand games such as MMO's need expansions to keep content fresh and the players continuing to pay that monthly fee. None of this escapes me. I am more frustrated about DLC releasing VERY shortly after retail release, as stated above that crap was already done and ready before they released the retail and therefore belonged on the disc to begin with, and also full retail games being released that ARE just DLC.

Do what you want with your money, after all, it's yours to spend, but I've taken on a whole new way of purchasing games that I know there will be an eventual GOTY edition with all the add-on content. I simply can not justify buying them until the GOTY releases.