Think some of us are just overreacting to all this DLC stuff?
I've been ranting a lot about all the crap that the video game industry is pulling lately. Well, here is yet another, though it's a bit of a blast from the past. Feel free to ignore as you see fit.
Anyway, I had some small interest in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 at one point. The first game came with my 360 and I like it well enough (though it's one of the large number of games I have yet to actually finish). When the second game came out, I figured I'd probably get around to buying it eventually, some day, though I haven't gotten it yet. Now, however, I will never buy this game.
I only just learned about this situation today. This is a game of the current generation whose DLC has been arbitrarily pulled from Xbox Live and Playstation Network, apparently never to return. I checked XBL and PSN* myself, and all I found were free DLC for "Teaser" on the 360 and "Compatibility Pack" on the PS3. Both seem to be the same thing, as they're both described as "required to play online with players who have downloaded the Character and Sim Mission Pack". The DLC for the actual Character and Sim Mission Pack, however, was not there at all, just as they said.
So, to recap, if you happen to buy Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 now, or you had already bought it previously but just never got around to playing it until now (or anytime after December 31, 2010), then your version will be forever incomplete. You simply cannot buy the DLC now, even if you wanted to do so, because it is just straight-up gone.
Oh, but this was just for MUA2, apparently a generally mediocre game by many accounts, therefore it doesn't really matter, right? Surely nothing like this will ever happen again, right? All other DLC for every other game will assuredly be around forever, right? Right?!
Seriously though... ...time-limited DLC... ...before today, I would have just told you that this was probably one of those nightmares scenarios of the future yet to come. You know, one of those "slippery slope" things that hadn't actually happened yet. Well, no, as we can see here, it turns out that this sort of thing has already happened.
And from here on it's only going to keep getting worse, people.
I sorely miss the days of yore, when you bought a game and could then rest assured that you were actually getting the full game. Those days are no more and shall never return.
(EDIT) See also the discontinuation of Xbox Live for the original Xbox for a similar, but even more egregious situation. Yeah. But that was last gen, so nobody cares about that anymore, right? *eyeroll* And I'm sure when the Xbox 720 (or whatever they end up calling it) and the PS4 come out, nobody will care when they inevitably shut down the online services for the current consoles either, will they. (/EDIT)
* - Which in the case of the PS3 is unfortunate, because in the process of mindlessly accepting the new EULA in order to check PSN, I completely forgot about this issue until after the fact. *ugh*
Anyway, I had some small interest in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 at one point. The first game came with my 360 and I like it well enough (though it's one of the large number of games I have yet to actually finish). When the second game came out, I figured I'd probably get around to buying it eventually, some day, though I haven't gotten it yet. Now, however, I will never buy this game.
I only just learned about this situation today. This is a game of the current generation whose DLC has been arbitrarily pulled from Xbox Live and Playstation Network, apparently never to return. I checked XBL and PSN* myself, and all I found were free DLC for "Teaser" on the 360 and "Compatibility Pack" on the PS3. Both seem to be the same thing, as they're both described as "required to play online with players who have downloaded the Character and Sim Mission Pack". The DLC for the actual Character and Sim Mission Pack, however, was not there at all, just as they said.
So, to recap, if you happen to buy Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 now, or you had already bought it previously but just never got around to playing it until now (or anytime after December 31, 2010), then your version will be forever incomplete. You simply cannot buy the DLC now, even if you wanted to do so, because it is just straight-up gone.
Oh, but this was just for MUA2, apparently a generally mediocre game by many accounts, therefore it doesn't really matter, right? Surely nothing like this will ever happen again, right? All other DLC for every other game will assuredly be around forever, right? Right?!
Seriously though... ...time-limited DLC... ...before today, I would have just told you that this was probably one of those nightmares scenarios of the future yet to come. You know, one of those "slippery slope" things that hadn't actually happened yet. Well, no, as we can see here, it turns out that this sort of thing has already happened.
And from here on it's only going to keep getting worse, people.
I sorely miss the days of yore, when you bought a game and could then rest assured that you were actually getting the full game. Those days are no more and shall never return.
(EDIT) See also the discontinuation of Xbox Live for the original Xbox for a similar, but even more egregious situation. Yeah. But that was last gen, so nobody cares about that anymore, right? *eyeroll* And I'm sure when the Xbox 720 (or whatever they end up calling it) and the PS4 come out, nobody will care when they inevitably shut down the online services for the current consoles either, will they. (/EDIT)
* - Which in the case of the PS3 is unfortunate, because in the process of mindlessly accepting the new EULA in order to check PSN, I completely forgot about this issue until after the fact. *ugh*