I have a strategy for dealing with DLC. I simply wait for the "Game of the Year" or "Complete" edition in a sale and get the whole lot cheaper than the original game was. It also means I get all the patches and the most complete and stable gaming experience.

The only thing you miss out on is "exclusive content" - but it is generally trivial stuff of little value after a few minutes play time.

And before anyone says I'm not supporting the Games Industry by not buying on day one - bah, I spent about 20+ years buying games at full price - its payback time. Indies are different, I don't mind buying them at full price now and then - since their starting price is more reasonable anyway.

At the moment I am more concerned with content only available to online players and single player games being trimmed down to almost nothing because "everyone plays online now, you know".

P.S. I just realised that there is a potential market for my buying strategy with like minded individuals. I think I'll start a web site for it - maybe called "Fine Aged Games" or some such.

the sad thing is not every game is going to ship with GOTY, Ultimate, or complete editions

(looking at mass effect and dragon age 2 as an example)

I can wait, I have the patience of a cat ... oh look, shiny ...

Prince of Persia (the Cel shaded one)
Asura's Wrath

Off the top of my head :). It depends on how liberal you are though. Those are 2 that actually had the proper endings tacked on. You get ones with withheld content too which are far more common (Capcom loves doing that especially.)

As for the topic... I don't mind downloadable expansions with new missions, items etc but anything less and I hate it.

That's what I do unless a game I REALLY want gets released. Bought Skyrim the first opportunity I got and have pre-ordered Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion. What I can remember it's been years before that since I bought a new full price game though. Not counting various indie and cheap games from small developers using big publishers.

stuff I already bought, but needs extra money to unlock... demands, BEGS hacking, cracking. Absolutely must access every ounce of content I literally already purchased.

I also can't stand "buy this retail package and then pay for an ongoing subscription to continue playing the game you already bought" garbage.

That's being extremely liberal with the word complete. Dragon Age I grant because it had a dude in the game who said "hey buy DLC" but the ending of PoP originally was fine, the DLC just adds more.

Honestly when I see stuff like today's Skyrim expansion announcement I think "FUCK YEAH MORE SKYRIM!" rather than "OMG SKYRIM IS INCOMPLETE!"

That's me though.

I support the idea of DLC's, but that means I don't support base games that cost $50 to $60.

DLC's allow developers to concentrate on the base game, get things smoothed out and work on the mechanics and framework. Then over time, focus on content.

In my opinion, games like Mass Effect 3, Skyrim and Fallout 3 should be priced at $30 to $40 for a Digital Download or $40 to $50 for a hard copy, then each big content DLC should be priced at $8 to $15. Small additional content like guns and gear should be packaged and sold at $3 to $5 each pack. All version upgrades should be free.

However, I do not agree with DLC's that unlock already implemented items in the game. That's just lame, like in WH40k Space Marine. Love that game. Got it for super cheap at GG for $10 and even bought the Dreadnaught DLC for $5 and the Power Sword DLC for $0.75, but I didn't realize it was a locked implemented item until a few days after I purchased that sword.

IMO, all games and their bits and pieces are luxuries. If you don't agree to their business model, then don't support them, but this also means you shouldn't pirate them. If you do, then you're also saying that if you don't agree to the business model of Dell, you will break into a computer store and steal their laptops. Either way, I think it's a very bad way of thinking.

Also, I like kalirion's way of thinking. I agree that games that have DLC's upon release should be complete games. Base games should already have a main developed plot along with a working nearly-bug free (no such thing as a bug free game if it's a big game) application. DLC's should be complementary, like Skyrim is a big complete game. The upcoming DLC is an addition and doesn't complete the base game.