Normally when I write a new installment for this series I tend to focus on a specific video game that I would like to see come to fruition. For the next two weeks though I’ve decided to change it up a little and discuss more general subjects. This week I’d like to discuss downloadable content with next week shifting focus to collector’s edition. Both are areas of video gaming that have become staples over the last few years and both have given us distinctive examples of what works and what doesn’t work. We’ve seen so many DLC packs and limited edition releases that I think you could create a perfect stencil that every developer and every publisher should follow because it would deliver the best extension of a game every time.

Firstly, when you look at DLC the most common accessory developers add after a game’s release is a map pack. Now I like the idea of map packs. I think it’s awesome that you get new arenas and new environments to play in, but I don’t ever remember a map pack that really blew me away and I think the reason for that is because it doesn’t really add anything new to the game itself. You’re still playing the same game just on a different map so it doesn’t take long for the new content to wear thin and all of a sudden you’re looking for the next download. I think if you want to keep it fresh, developers need to look at actually trying to continue the story itself in some form. Of course this direction brings me to sort the evolution of the map pack and that is episodic content.

Call of Duty is an awesome game and I love that it’s still being supported with new maps, but I would rather see more campaign-oriented releases. The Mile High Club mission following the end of the story of Call of Duty 4 is a perfect example of what developers and publishers should be aiming for. It’s perfectly self-contained, it’s an actual mission with objectives to be completed and it’s so unique that it standouts from the rest of the story in the way that it should. Now with Modern Warfare 2 on the horizon, forget the fact that there are already at least two map packs in the works. Imagine instead if six months after the game’s release, Infinity Ward was to publish a downloadable pack with four or five Mile High Club-style missions. Instead of playing the same old Team Deathmatch or Sabotage but in a new arena, you have a full-on new scenario where you get to continue the adventures of the characters you’ve grown to love and appreciate through the campaign/story mode. Throw in online and offline co-op and I think it becomes ten times better.

Grand Theft Auto IV is another perfect example of the proper way of supporting a game after its initial release. First Rockstar came out with The Lost and the Damned and now were primed to see The Ballad of Gay Tony in just a couple of months. Both of these packs are perfect in what they do to extend the life of the central game which is of course Grand Theft Auto IV. There are just such great production values and a great story that ties in with the main game. It’s awesome to be able to play the role of a different character and see a handful of missions from the original game but from a different perspective. You see things so differently and you get this whole new dimension of understanding just what went down in the first place. When you add on the four or five new online multiplayer modes as well, it makes it almost ridiculous to go back and pay $3.99 for 4 new maps and still be content.

Aside from episodic content, another viable option would be to create new arcade modes or quick-mission modes. Something like challenge rooms are a perfect middle ground because they combine the simplicity of creating new environments without a developer having to go all out in terms of creating a side story and drumming up a whole new cast of characters. Bioshock did a good job of implementing challenge rooms and I really feel that Batman: Arkham Asylum is going to do even better. By having challenges that focus both on the hand-to-hand combat aspects as well as the predatory stealth gameplay, it’s going to double the potential to extend the gameplay of Batman. Just the very nature of playing these arcade-style modes is enough to get people to keep playing long after they’ve finished the story because now it’s all about a gamer’s skill. The focus shifts to surviving as many rounds as possible or chaining together the longest combos or simply getting the highest score. By creating these side missions, developers can extend the life of their game exponentially but in a very simple, easy to produce way.

Now it’s understandable that not every developer can replace map packs with episodic content or challenge rooms. Perhaps the best that they can do to support their game is add several new arenas and maybe the occasional new game mode, but that’s about all. That’s fine when it’s done right. Maybe Unreal Tournament III spoiled me but I have to be honest, paying any price for a downloadable pack that doesn’t even feature have half the amount of content featured in the Titan Pack is ludicrous. Sticking just with the subject of map packs, the Titan Pack featured eleven new maps spread out over I believe four different game modes. Eleven. With an average of about 4 maps at $3.99 (and I’m being very generous with that price) it would take 3 map packs costing a total of about $15.00 after taxes and everything just to match the Titan Pack. At this point there isn’t even a fair comparison anymore.

Of course while map packs, episodic releases, and challenge rooms are combined the most common form of downloadable content they’re far from the only types out there. Having said that though, I think some of the remaining options are a little more cosmetic in nature like extra characters and extra weapons. Ironically while they probably do a lot less to actually extend the gameplay, they have the potential to get people playing for longer than they might have simply because of fan service. Dead Space had close to a dozen downloadable packs, most of which featured some sort of weapon. Sometimes they were new weapons, more often than not though they were simply skins and power-ups to existing weapons. Whether you liked the improvements to the Plasma Cutter, the Ripper, or the new Steam Punk Force Gun, these DLC packs probably interested fans enough to buy one or two of them and play through the game at least one more time.

Personally I’m a bigger fan of having extra characters and skins. I look at something like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and having all those extra character skins was so cool. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and even though you’re always playing as Starkiller regardless of what costume or skin you select, just the illusion of playing as someone else is enough. Being able to walk around and play the game as Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan is enough. Granted I would have probably made some different choices than what the developers had gone with. I mean really, who wants to play as a Training Droid that badly?

I don’t think that there is a game alive that would say downloadable content is a bad thing, but sometimes they way these packages are produced are far bellow what we as consumers should be getting. It’s very easy to produce some quick maps or something cheap and charge an arm and a leg for it, but we deserve better. I admit I don’t know the economical workings of a lot of these developers and publishers, but when I look at the Unreal Tournament III Titan Pack I think to myself, “This is what it’s all about.” I understand that not everything can be free, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be getting a large amount of new content for a reasonable price. I’m not going to go out and spend $14.99 for the Stranglehold Map Pack. I’m not going to buy all three map packs for World at War which will get me 12 new multiplayer maps for roughly half the cost of the game itself. I think our enthusiasm and passion for these games should have developers and publishers being a little more appreciative and giving us better varied content at more reasonable prices.