Let’s just dive straight into this.
1) Pre-order DLC: I’m glad that Marcus is actually a bit rational about this. Retailers determining what goes in a game and stuff like that has been around for a long time and I agree that it’s really stupid, but it works. When I bought SoulCalibur V, Best Buy gave away a character and a T-shirt, GameStop gave away a bobblehead. Despite Best Buy being considerably farther away from me than GameStop, guess where I went? (Incidentally, I ended up with the bobblehead anyways). So I don’t think any of that will ever go away.
2) On-Disc DLC: Is this against the law? Doubtful, but I’m only basing that on Capcom being a company interested in making money actually making sure that it was before doing it. Parts of Marcus’ argument sounded whinny (“I want it!” ), but the issue remains very clear. Capcom has stated that on-dic DLC make it easier for transactions and easier for players to play with people who have the DLC.
I actually think the issue is pretty frivolous. On-disc DLC is planned DLC. If it turned out that this is actually illegal, then Capcom will just release it as fully downloaded instead of just unlocking the content. For all intensive purposes, it’s the same thing but I guess a victory for the gamer is a victory right?
3) Exclusive DLC: This was the weakest argument. As someone who has the PC and PS3 version of Skyrim, it did not “make me suffer” or anything like that because I didn’t have Dawnguard. Hell if you have the PC version you really can’t talk because you have access to a ton of mods that are impossible to get on the other versions (tough break PS3 Skyrim players). Avoiding spoilers wasn’t hard and playing Skyrim was still just as fun.
As for straight up exclusive DLC that won’t ever come to the other consoles. I think of it like SoulCalibur II, where each game had a unique fighter. That stuff is actually kind of cool and no one seemed to have a problem with it before. And in the age of easy DLC, unless it relates to a property owned by the company owning the console, will it ever never be available on the other consoles? Yeah it sucks, but there is not need to cry about it.
