Actually the concept of expansion packs and DLC available for purchase as future enhancements and expanding game play is just one of the things that current gaming consoles adds to their depth from previous generation consoles.
Computer gaming has been doing such additions for decades and that was one of the big advantages they held over the previous consoles was that once a game was released on the console that was it, there were no future additions or upgrades available to extend the life of said game.
Now we have the ability through such downloadable content to add much to the game, whether it be through new tracks, racing series or even a-spec career modes that focus on different series or racing classes.
Personally I welcome that a console now has the capability to be able to add expansion packs with new venues and so forth. Can greatly expand the lifespan where a game stays fresh and fun to play.
I have several computer games where I have bought expansion packs that the content of such was well worth the price of admission and greatly extended the fun and life of a game that I already enjoyed playing.
So if the GT5 series were to make available expansion packs that added reasonable amounts of new content such as tracks, racing series or events and were priced reasonably I for one would not have a problem purchasing such content to extend my enjoyment of the game.
Expansion packs or DLC you have to purchase shouldn't be about fixing broken aspects of the game, that is what the patches are for but rather to add more to have to play in the game.
Personally I think that that the ability to be able to enhance gameplay on a console with downloads increases the consoles validity as a true gaming machine on a much closer level to the PC than in the past.
Bring on some nice expansion packs and I for one will open my wallet if the price versus the content is good!
While DLC certainly does offere the ability to add onto a game with reasonably priced extras, it also offers the ability to short change the initial sale and make more profit off the game down the road essentially making the "real" price of the game more than the original $60.
Now given how businesses work and how they are legally obligated to their share holders to make as much money as possible, which do you think will happen more often?
Sure we get things like BFBC2 which has given us plenty of great maps for free and their $15 Vietnam pack (while not necessarily liked by all) represents a good deal of content for $15.
Then we have CoD which has been milking the expansions hard with blops just recieving it's first map pack already.
The important thing to do is realize that just because DLC CAN be good extra value doesn't mean it IS.
I will be interested to see what happens to all the old GT4 tracks that even made it into GTPSP but somehow didn't get converted into GT5... I can think of no logical reason to not port them in other than to sell them at a later date for more $$$.
Reasonably priced additions can make a great $60 game a greater $75 game. However DLC milking can also effectively make you pay $100 in the end before you get what you should have gotten for $60.
The rule I always go by is this: If I had walked into the store and the game had the additional DLC content added but the price was also higher respectively, would I still find it a good value?
BFBC2 with all it's maps and Vietnam expansion sounds like a lot of value even for $75.
Conversly MW2 with it's 2 map packs for $90 doesn't.
See where I am going with that?
And at the end of the day even BFBC2 has a questionable charge: if you want to use it on more than one PSN account, it's an extra $10 VIP charge.
