It's a pretty severe thing to say, I know, and while it essentially is just a catchy blog title I can't help but feel that it's true. Allow me to explain...For at least a couple years now, I've been hoarding my money. I am not ashamed to say that I still receive an allowance at 17 years of age, and pretty much the only thing I ever used it for was video game related costs. I had quite a chunk of money saved over time, and I was getting ready to blow through most of it on games such as Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and a few more less expensive titles. But lately, I've been having some gaming issues. To put it simply...I'm done with most of the games that I own. I've played through Batman: Arkham Asylum no less than four times, getting 100% in each save file. I've played through Battlefield: Bad Company 2 enough to almost get to Major I believe, and now it takes insane amounts of play-time and points to rank up, so it's pretty much not worth the effort (especially with glitches and disconnects still rampant in that game). I'me done with Portal 2 (aside from co-op, until I'm mentally psyched up for that again, lol), done with inFamous 2, done with NBA Jam...what the heck do I do now?!

I'll tell you what I do, and it's not pretty. DLC my friend. It started off with the First Strike Map Pack for Cod: Black Ops. I have been getting a lot of enjoyment out of playing that game recently, and it's been my main game to tell the truth. Whether it's playing online multiplayer, messing around in zombies, messing around offline with bots or playing split-screen, Black Ops hasn't gotten old yet. The maps however, started to. So I decided that, considering the amount of time I already spent playing the game, $15 for four new maps and a new zombie experience wasn't too bad of a deal. So I splurged for it despite my predisposition that giving $15 to Activision for DLC was gaming treason. And while I still believe that to be somewhat true, my stance on the matter has changed. If you truly do enjoy what you paid for, then the price doesn't seem as bad as you might initially think.

But...this ordeal doesn't stop there. Four new multiplayer maps, especially maps that are so similar size, doesn't magically give the game an infinite amount of fresh replay value. And alas, sitting there in the PSN Store and mocking me and my wallet, was the Escalation Map Pack, for yet another $15. The temptation of the alluring Hotel map and Stockpile map was too much to bear. So yet again, I dished out another $15 to Activision for DLC. At this point, I had now spent $30 on DLC in addition to the $60 I spent on the normal game itself. That brings the total to $90, which it far more than I ever normally spend on only one game. Is it still worth it? Well considering that I generally play the game at least once every day, and sometimes more, I think it somehow is.

So now, I assumed that I was done spending on Black Ops. I had two new zombie maps (which were admittedly disappointing and frustrating), and eight new multiplayer maps. I did my best to ignore the news reports of the new Annihilation Map Pack, and also tried not to drool over Hazard or Drive-In. I kept merrily playing Black Ops on my fancy new maps, and was still enjoying it. I even took a break to play Bad Company 2 again for the first few times in a long, long while, and had a good laugh at all the disconnects and glitches in the game, none of which are present in BO. But jumping back into BC2 came with a price as well. After browsing the store again, I came across the Onslaught DLC for BC2, priced at a mere $5 now. The idea of some co-op Battlefield action enticed me, and considering that it was only 1/3 of the price of the recent DLCs that I had purchased, I bought it. For the most part it was fun, but the lack of available maps for the mode and of course the infamous glitches hindered the experience from having any substantial replay value, or ability to pull me away from other, more interesting gaming pastimes.

And now, this is where my final moment of weakness now erupts. You probably guessed it already...Annihilation released today. I couldn't resist checking out the description for it in the PSN Store, and I also watched the previewtrailer. Before I hardly even knew what happened, my purchase had been confirmed, and as I type this my PS3 system is busying itself by downloading the map pack. That's yet another $15 down the drain, which makes the total price I have paid for my Black Ops experience to be a whopping $105, with the DLC alone being a combined $45 of that total. Add that to the $5 I spent for Onslaught in BC2, and the amount I have paid for DLC in the past couple months or so has been $50. Fifty...friggin'...dollars. If I spend $50 on game-related expenses, I expect a shiny new case to be in the little cabinet where I keep my PS3 games, and yet I don't see it. What happened to me? Where and when did I suddenly get the idea that spending $50 on mostly-overpriced DLC was acceptable?

You know, I really do sort of miss the old days, when I didn't have my PS2 or my PS3 hooked up to the internet. Downloadable games, online gaming, DLC...it was all just something that I wasn't concerned with because I was content to play my offline games over and over again. I didn't need costly DLC packs or pre-order bonuses, I didn't have to worry about connection errors or PSN outages, and I couldn't care less about checking out a digital store every Tuesday for updates. But now...I DO care. About all of those things. And while it has broadened my gaming horizons, it has also seemed to corrupt my concept of what it means to be responsible with my available funds.

As of this moment, I would like to declare that I'mon DLC lockdown. That's it...no more DLC, not until I have at least been able to get my hands on Batman: Arkham City, which is about three months away. New map pack for BO come out? Haha, tough luck, I'm not buying it, Activision! No more DLC, baby! Unless...well, unless the Kessler Skin for inFamous 2 becomes available. Because, you know...I really want that one. >_>

Thanks for reading, and please comment.