Game prices go down, but downloadable content prices stay the same. There are currently games that have DLC at half the price of the main game. A used copy of Halo 3 at GameStop is $19.99. The three map packs in total is approximately priced at... $28. That is... ridiculous. I know it's three downloads, but these packs have remained the same price since the day they released. I guess since downloadable content is digital, they really don't have the need to get rid of a stockpile of discs. But in the end, we gamers (you know, usually people who are kinda broke) lose.

A used copy of Assassin's Creed for Xbox 360 is $14.99. The Xbox Live marketplace has the game priced at $29.99, that's double the price! The downloadable version does not seem to have budged in price since it release August 6, 2009. Imagine when everything is digital? All signs point to a future where games will only be available digitally and when that happens, say 'bye bye' to budget priced games.

The Halo 3 situation I mentioned earlier shows how badly we are going to be suckered for every dollar we have. The campaign along with twelve multiplayer maps now costs $19.99. 13 extra multiplayer maps (I'm including the free ones) costs about $28. Does anyone else see what is terribly wrong with this picture? Additionally, online multiplayer is horribly mutilated if you have not purchased any of the maps. I can't imagine how many uninformed buyers have bought Halo 3, only to come home and realize they can't play 2 vs. 2 ranked matches with their friend, unless they shell out another $15 bucks on maps. That's just not fair.

I remember a time when the original Xbox Live had downloadable content for games, and a month or two later the content would be free. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I wonder why they were able to afford to do that then, but not now. It's probably greed... Oh well. I guess I'll continue to avoid downloading content *cough* stimulus package *cough* and also continue buying hard copies of games while I still can.