Mass Effect 3, Disc Locked Content, and random nonsense..

The consensuses of the Mass Effect community and the gaming community are angered with companies shady business practices. I think I talked about this earlier with Street X Tekken in respects of the content being locked on the disc but with Mass Effect 3 it seems the "true ending" of the game will be downloadable content in the near future. I don't think its is locked on the disc because if it was it would have been out hacked and issued to the world already. It is comical and sad that my predictions are coming true. I once wrote and said that if we don't stop this practice now by expressing our concerns by not buying the game then one day special moves and real endings are going to be locked away from the game and we have pay a premium for the content experience.  I wish I was wrong but my projections have finally come true with Mass Effect 3. Note, although this is an allegation made by myself and fans of the series, it may be probable due the alluded remakes made by the game's producer, Casey Hudson. Additionally, the fans are demanding an alternative ending and they even have a donation drive going with the petition, so far they have raised over $50,000.

This is utterly ridiculous. I tried my best not to spoil the ending for me but so far it seems that the ending was quite ambiguous without any clear conclusion. In other words, it left many room for DLC than probably room for another sequel, hence this explains why there is a chance we might have to pay extra for the real ending.

Anyway, if this is companies attempt to fight piracy and secondhand market by fucking up the fan base with this DLC nonsense approach then the gaming industry is going down a dark hole. This practice is basically undermining the legitimately paying consumers whilst illegitimate users, users that get the game through illegitimate means, are consuming the complete experience for free minus the payment model hurdles imposed by companies such as Bioware and Capcom.

Personally, I haven't bought Mass Effect 3 and I don't know if I will ever because I don't won't that ill ending taint my enjoyment of the series. However, knowing the existence of such an ending, have me curious so I may play the game out of sheer curiosity.

Just a little off topic, several weeks or months ago I had reached out to a small editorial gaming site for a job, which is nonpaying but submitting content in a medium I am passionate about is better than money. I love gaming. I've been gaming since I was 7 or 8 years old. My father gave me my first gaming console which was a Nintendo Entertainment system. My first game and gaming experience was Super Mario and Duck Hunt for the NES. However, I may be wrong since my first gaming experience was Pac-Man for the Atari console over at my mother's friend house.  Anyway, I always loved gaming and the gaming industry and one of my biggest fantasies was to work for a gaming company. Sadly, all of the big major gaming companies, venues, conventions, and jobs are mostly in the state of California. Trying to get in, especially the concurrent state of the economy and the fact that I don't live there, is not as easy as I thought. I don't want to make games per se as a programmer but I would like to be a Community Manager or a Public Relations Representative; basically I want to be involved with the business side of game/product development.

I saw an opportunity with a small gaming website--sadly I can't remember its name to give my story more weight--and I had email conversations with the founder/CEO/editor-in-chief  and he promised to get back with me once he discusses it with his peers, but he hasn't. Sadly, I guess window, at least for that particular company, has been closed or never open to begin with. He's from New York so I can't blame him...:)

My dreams of being more active in the gaming industry have not been broken. The fighting game community scene is growing rapidly and since Florida is going to be more new home and it is a venue for a major tournament that happens every year. I may go to it for the kicks and the experience and I may partake in local tournaments once I have disposable income. Basically, once disposable income is more common in my life then I would partake in more ventures that cater to my passion.

At least I have an active personal blog of my own where I can write about anything to keep my writing skills sharp and maybe one day I would be commissioned for it.

Anyway before I end this Capcom has finally released the official pricing scheme for their "disc locked content." The prices are as follows: individual alternative costumes cost $1.00 or buy the whole package for either Street Fighter or Tekken for $13.00, and the 12 extra characters DLC will cost $20.00. I had bought the game I would have been only concern with the extra characters so the game would cost me $80.00 plus to get the complete roster, I said "plus" because where I live there is something called tax.

Yeah...um, Capcom can kiss my ass with their nickel-and-dime bullshit because I remembered buying a game called Virtual Fighter 4 and another game called Tekken 5. Those games have tons of content on the disc with  color edit modes, tons of costumes and items to customize your character, and other miscellaneous content for free on a disc for a $50.00 game. Sadly, those days are withering away and shady companies like Capcom are feeding ignorant consumers with disingenuous nonsense to justify their actions.

Elder Scroll's Oblivion IV did it right; they released DLC several months after the game's release with a 30 dollar expansion of the game with tons of content with new narrative, location, armor, weapons, and the works. It wasn't locked on the disc. It wasn't content that was stripped away from the core story of the game and labelled as DLC. It was original content that expanded the experience of the game without undermining legitimate consumers with online passes and other bullshit.

I am hoping one day this will all change but for now this is the shady period of the gaming industry and if we don't vent and rant about it then these shady practices will be the norm.