New Games: Not Over With the Last Mission

The addition of story in games was a turning point in gaming.  But up until recently, you would play a game and once you completed the story, it would go up on a shelf to collect dust. Game developers have been trying for years to come up with ways to keep people playing. They have added  things like achievements and alternate endings but these still were limited. With the dawn of the Next-Gen systems (Xbox 360, PS3) we have seen complete internet access. This allows you to not only have online multiplayer but also another aspect never seen before, downloadable content.

Games like Rock Band have generated millions of dollars in downloaded content alone. For $1.99 each you can download a new song to play. Many games have also added new character skins, weapons, and other elements for download. But some developers have even gone beyond that to create completely new story arcs with new characters and missions while still using the same game environment.

One in particular is GTA4 which has released two story lines to be downloaded; GTA The Lost and the Damned, and GTA The Ballad of Gay Tony. These two are essentially new games but run off the same disk for GTA4. 







This downloadable content has let games stay relevant far beyond their box sales. It has also made developers millions in additional revenue.