DLC and Good, Cheap Games

When you sit down and with your check book and start paying your bills where does gaming fit in?  Well if your just a working class individual who lives pay check to pay check sometimes gaming isn’t a priority vs your mortgage, rent, water bill etc…Times are tough and that $60 price tag can leave you standing in the game aisle trying to budget your money to make sure you have enough gas for the week or play your new game. We’ve all been there…

We’re lucky that we’re living in the digitial age.  We can turn on our TVs and computers with a few clicks have the lastest movies (legally and illegally) and new music.  Psst you can do this with games too.  PC gamers have been doing this for years!  I’m talking about DLC dude!  Games you can download from Xbox Live Marketplace!  There’s a ton of stuff on the Marketplace that will help you get through these tough times when you can’t spend as much on game as you use to.  Game add-ons to stuff you already have usually come with additional Achievement points for a little incentive to help you decide if the add on is with worth.  Who doesn’t want to add an extra 200 pts to their gamer score.  Most of the time the DLC’s points are quick fix for any Achievement Whore.  Still have Gears of War 2 but never bothered with the DLC?  There are 3 map pks available(Flashback, Combustible, and Snowblind).  They’ll run you $10 a piece and all have plenty of achievement to keep you busy.  But this isn’t about Achievements.  This about gaming and finding ways to game when money’s tight.  Some of this DLC is even FREE!  Yeah that’s right FREE!  Now free is a price everyone likes.

All the BIG NAME shooters on LIVE currently have DLC available:

Call of Duty 4: Variety Map Pack

Call of Duty – World at War: 2 Map pks @ 800 M$ pts a piece

Gears of War 2: Flashback, Snowblind, Combustible Map pks

Halo 3: Mythic, Cold Storage (1 free map), Legendary(FREE), Heroic (FREE) map pks

And there are plenty of great arcade games that are cheap, in price…

Castle Crashers: is one of the best games on LIVE.  4 player Co Op! 1200 M$ pts

Braid: This game will have you scratching your head!  It’s very challenging 2-D platformer puzzle game. 1200 M$ pts

Geometry Wars: One of the 360 launch titles and definitely worth checking out especially since it’s only 400 M$pts & there’s a sequel

Bomberman LIVE: A classic game that is just fun to play and that’s what it really is about isn’t it?  ISN’T IT?! 800 M$ pts and this game also has some DLC of it’s own.

UNO: Yes UNO!  It’s fun just don’t use the camera option. 400 M$ pts

Castlevania – Symphony of the Night: PLAY THIS GAME IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY!!  800 M$ pts

None of these games are going to blow you away with their graphics but they will keep you entertained.

There’s a ton of good, cheap stuff on the Marketplace if you’re short on cash and the car payment is due.  Lips, Guitar Hero and Rockband update their content almost every week.  And Marvel v Capcom 2 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time will be coming to the Marketplace very soon for 1200 M$ pts!

And you could always look at Xbox 360 Platinum Hits.  Some of these titles start at $19.  Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise are 2 excellent racers that are definitely worth checking out.

And there’s the used game section @ your local game store.  Looking for a cheap FPS?  Try Quake 4!  The campaign was great but I doubt you’d find anyone playing on LIVE.  This was a 360 launch title and even then the multiplayer wasn’t very crowded.  However with a $10 price tag you can’t go wrong.  What about a fighting game?  Well you can get the old school Street Fighters and Mortal Kombat games on the Marketplace too.  And DEAD OR ALIVE 4 was a good fighter and Amazon and Gamestop have it for under $20.   Yeah the INDUSTRY itself isn’t crazy about used game sales but right now we gamers need it to get us through this tough patch.

There’s good stuff out there if you just take the time to look.  Hopefully soon things will be different and we won’t have decide as often if we should pay the rent or buy a game.

Originally post on: GreenLightGamer