I knew this day would come the minute Nintendo started to mingle with DLC. That didn't take long. You see, Nintendo's Fire Emblem: Awakening was released in Japan on April 19th, 2012. Between that and the upcoming US launch on February 14th, they released a few DLC missions, again in Japan only. Those missions will be sold as DLC for the American audience, and this raised a lot of eyebrows. Gamers are currently divided on this situation.
On one side, some are saying that Nintendo does not owe anyone anything, that businesses are made to make money, that the Japanese had to pay so it would not be fair to them if we got it all for free, that regardless of whenever the game was released in Japan, it cost resources to create this content and we should pay for this and that the main game itself is well worth the 40$ price tag.
On the other side, some are saying that if the game now includes all of these added missions, they should come with the cartridge (similar to "If it's ready, it should be on the disk" recent DLC controversies with Mass Effect 3 and Street Fighter X Tekken). Also that most GOTY editions of games released in the past always come with the full DLC included, especially on Steam. Then there's also the fact that if the DLC advances the main storyline, the game is incomplete without them. The thought for this camp isn't that Nintendo shouldn't get paid for the additional content, it's that the content should be included with the game, and not sold separate.
What side are you on ?
While people are pissed about "having DLCs day one", I think they're really pissed about just having DLCs period.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think:
People against DLCs have accepted them as a concept that won't go away, and since so many people buy DLCs now it looks retrograde to just attack DLCs as a whole, so now they just attack the small parts they consider the most unethical, like day 1 DLCs, or on-disc DLC or whatever, but really they'd just love if DLC as a whole disappeared because they're scared that gaming doesn't work like before. And here it's the Nintendo game that does it, it's the first portable game that does it (considering Japan) - it's just... scary.
...That's how I act anyway. I'll talk against DLC I think is unethical, but really I hate all DLC. XD
There are a lot of other cases of day 1 DLC in Occidental games in the first day of the American release. If these were accepted then Fire Emblen should be accepted.
Oh, and I played the Japanese version; for like every 2 or 3 DLC things they released one free. They are really cool guys.
DLC and Free DLC are now common. I have come to understand DLC and find it nice to recieve some extra content for games I like.
ReplyDeleteWouldn' any one pay 5$ to add extra features to your original Mario Kart?
But Day 1 DLC (or few weeks after launch) feels somewhat like a rip off, but I realized most of them I crossed were free DLC.
As a whole, DLC is a nice way of getting content and new modes and maps you used to only get buy buying the sequel.
Compared to the PC scene, this seems ridiculous because modders always do great things with current games. Thus making PC DLC much more irrelevent.
Good thing the DLC does not advance the main story at all and it's just a side thing, it includes the typical ''Beach Episode'' even.
ReplyDelete