I remember hearing a few years back, how downloadable content was supposed to make for a richer game experience and deliver faster developed add-ons or gameplay additions, in a way how episodic content once planned to do. Once the word “microtransactions” fell, I feared for the future of game development, and I personally believe we are witnessing the shift on how far publishers are taking this idea with the introduction of the latest trend, Ending DLC. (Includes Potential Spoilers!)

When thinking of bold ideas for charged additional gameplay, I believe players will instantly have EA coming to mind, furthermore, BioWare. When Dragon Age began to implement side quests which only lead players down an intriguing path to purchase the actual mission, the public was outraged. The Mass Effect series also received a good share of bonus missions for an extra buck, but I believe at this point you know what I’m heading towards.

In Mass Effect 3, the video game saga came to a watered down disappointment of an ending leaving fans outraged and confused by the decisions that lead to the “pick your colour ending”. While BioWare has made multiple responses in an attempt to calm down their fanbase, if you can still call them that, their upcoming April announcement is supposed put all concerns to rest. Because of this, many are accusing the development team of “not sticking to their guns” for what looks like a plan to change the ending.

“We never said we were changing it We have ALWAYS had big plans for ME3. It isn’t a response-It’s been in the works,” the Mass Effect Twitter page responded, to the accusations of them giving in to the public uproars, which would mean we never got to experience the game’s true ending… why? Were they going to charge us? Are they still planning to? Although I honestly believe (and hope) BioWare’s PR team isn’t crass enough to still charge for the “true ending”.

Releasing a paid epilogue isn’t something we have witnessed before. The Prince of Persia reboot by Ubisoft did the same with their release of the “Prince of Persia Epilogue” which was sold for a steep $10 and only offered a little more than an hour of gameplay.

Asura’s Wrath received its first batch of DLC today though Capcom has announced that there is more on the way, amongst which players will be able to get a little more out of the game’s ending.

With “Episode 11.5″ released on the PSN and Xbox LIVE and “Episode 15.5″ on the way for next week, Capcom is trying to fill in some of gaps between the main story’s episodes. On top of that, on April 24 Asura’s Wrath is getting an additional batch of episodes to “continue the story of Asura’s Wrath and reveal an extra twist”. The extra ending bundle will cost $6.99 or 560 MS Points and fans seems to be pretty happy with this news.

How come have players become so content with paying for what should have been included from the beginning? Companies are putting fully developed content locked away on discs and then banning users for unlocking it, minuscule map packs are being sold for outrageous prices and now we are not even receiving an finished product.

I’ll always cherish the days when you could buy a game and you actually bought the entire game, though if gamers continue to throw their money at publishers, it will remain a memory.

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