Analog Gamers Gaming From a Slightly Different Perspective
Verbal Components – Episode 3 – DLC but no TLC
The Verbal Components are gathered again for this third episode. This outing Ron and Shawn are joined by a guest and future contributor – Chris O’Brien. Chris is a former FileFront News Manager and Chief Technology Officer who has since moved on but agreed to come back for Verbal Components guest spots in his own segment – The O’Brien Factor.
The guys spend the first twenty minutes of the podcast discussing the impact of downloadable content (DLC) on our buying habits and the impact it has on our purchase decisions after a game is released.
Shawn and Ron talk about Ron’s new 4th Edition D&D campaign very briefly before we introduce a new segment to the show – the OCRemix of the week.
This week Shawn selected a classic OCRemix track: ‘CastleMania‘
Here is the information from the OCRemix site:
Game: Castlevania (Konami, 1986, NES)- ReMixer(s): AmIEviL
- Composer(s): Club Kukeiha
- Song(s): Stalker, Vampire Killer
- Posted: 2002-05-18, evaluated by djpretzel
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:36 — 25.8MB)
I play The Sims 2 from time to time and downloadable content makes that game last so much longer than it would otherwise. Maxis also makes it easy for players to make and share their own content which leads to a lot of creativity.
Jen: The Sims is one of those games that feels like a huge money suck.. but there is plenty of community DLC that makes the commercial stuff less necessary I guess. I have my share of expansions and Stuff Packs for Sims 1 & 2.. but you’re right the community shared resources are encouraged by EA/Maxis for that.. unlike many other publishers.
I’ve always been supportive of companies that encourage community content creation. It makes the experience better for the players, and those companies get to realize the true benefit of that community, which is better longevity for their games.
As far as the Sims goes, it’s not a game I’ve spent a ton of time on, but I do know that there is a ton of content out there for it. However, it’s one of those that reminds of the Oblivion horse armor – all cosmetic, and you can bet EA is charging for the official stuff.
I actually love the PC Half-Life Mod Community! Some of the best expansions or variations of my all-time favorite game have been expanded and enhanced by this dedicated and talented community.
I have not, nor will I ever, buy a game based on the fact that they will have DLC. Games are expensive enough, even from resellers like GameStop, so my retail dollar matters very much to me and I take my time to make researched and well thought out purchases.
However, I will say there are several games where I could not wait to get their DLC! Mostly FPS games such as Halo 3, COD4, GOW2, COD:W@W, and even Guitar Hero. I hate getting financial nickled & dimed (literally) by game devleopers too, but the new map-packs specifically help keep fresh an already outstanding game that did not suffer from having DLC. Even if the DLC would have never been released, I still would have loved those games.
That being said, I actually am anxiously waiting the next GOW2 DLC which includes 7 maps as well as a whole other chapter that was taken out of the regular game.
Game On!