It used to be that only those who play PC games had the opportunity to change their games after they purchased them. Well, download the update. That’s no longer the case.
With the new generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii) taking off, gamers are learning that the disc they buy isn’t the end of the transaction. More and more, game companies are releasing additional content that people can purchase over their game systems and install onto the hard drive of their favorite consoles.
Now when you beat a game, you don’t have to play the same adventure over again or move on. Download new adventures, characters or other content to make the experience new and continue to enjoy your titles.
One title, Rockville-based Bethesda’s “Oblivion,” has used the Xbox LIVE Marketplace to its full advantage and has given players who’ve completed the award-winning title a task that can take weeks’ worth of gaming to accomplish — another 30 hours of content with its expansion, “Shivering Isles.”
Players can take existing characters to the new lands — which are one-third as large as the main map from “Oblivion” — or make a new character specifically to try out the new area. New items and equipment can be found in this new realm, and they can be brought back into the main game to change the game experience.
New playable characters, such as those in the heroes-and-villains pack soon to be available for the 360 version of “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance,” also can revive a beaten game.
“The new content really makes the game even more of an ‘ultimate alliance,’ ” Chris Palmisano, producer for “Marvel: Ultimate Alliance,” told The Examiner. “There are an even larger number of customization options, and the additional achievements and gamer points really give fans an incentive [to] play the game again until they complete everything.”
The 360 Marketplace is the best platform to get downloadable content, but as the consoles hammer out their online marketplaces, this evolving gameplay will hit all three systems, and games may take on a whole new face.
