Disclaimer: This is not directed at anyone in particularly, since it is a systemic problem in the gaming community.

I'm getting really sick of the argument that we're being "robbed" by DLC. It's even worse when the claim is made that it's a game disc unlock. Yes, Horse Armor in Oblivion was a ripoff, and the colors in SSFIV and BlazBlue are too, but you don't have to buy it.

Even when it is something more crucial like a character in a fighting game, it's still not wrong.

There seems to be a fundamental disconnect with gamers and knowing how the dev cycle works. At some point, major development needs to stop. Then it shifts to QA and Testing before working its way out the door to go Gold (pressing discs). What exactly are the artists, modelers, and other creative parts of the team supposed to do, sit around for a few months and tweak an asset once or twice when a tester identifies a problem?

No, they start working on new stuff! But maybe this won't make it into the game in time, maybe their animation is only half done at this point, perhaps Jill and Shuma-Gorath aren't going to have time to be balanced. The last one is vitally important to a fighting game, and takes a lot of time to properly tweak. MvC2 was notorious for having a few unbeatable individuals, not just teams.

Jill and Shuma-Gorath being available 4 weeks after launch leads me to believe they're not anywhere near close to being done. Accounting for testing, the final coding, pressing the discs and distribution, that means that everything else has to be done and ready two full months before Jill and Shuma-Gorath are coming out.

DLC is great because we get more content without paying full expansion pack prices or having to wait for sequel.

/rant

Sorry Psyke, you set me off, but Joystiq commenters have been pissing me off for months about this stuff.