As a huge fan of 'The Last Of Us', this does interest me. Naughty Dog really aren't giving much away at all and the clip they have of it only shows a few seconds of Ellie right at the end.
I know this sounds dumb, but what exactly does 'DLC' mean? I've heard this terminology used a lot over the last twelve/eighteen months or so. It just appears to have come into existence from thin air – and gone over my head entirely…! All that I know from my understanding is that it's some sort of extension to an existing game rather than a whole new one. I also don't know how you get hold of a 'DLC' either. As someone who doesn't do this 'online' business yet (or really understand it to be honest), can I simply buy it on disc? If it's a 'download' thing only, I'm defeated already and I'll be stuck to watching a walkthrough of it on YouTube…
DLC basically stands for Downloadable Content. Many things fall under the DLC umbrella nowadays
You’re right in the sense that it is an add on to the game, basically like a next chapter. However there have been a number of instances in the past where the DLC to a game is ‘another chapter’ rather than the next chapter.
For example, the DLC for GTA IV – the first was The Lost and The Damned. You didn’t play as Nico in this, you played as a biker from The Lost (his name escapes me but Johnny rings a bell) and Tommy’s story coincided with some of the story from the GTA IV game itself. (In particular the jewellery heist mission, where you met up with Nico and Luis < we’ll come back to Luis in a bit – there are other missions that you would have been familiar with if you’ve played and completed GTA IV)
The second was The Ballad of Gay Tony. So, this is where you play as Luis, and again, missions from GTA IV, mentioned and playable in this second DLC.
Another example of DLC is the Far Cry 3 DLC, Blood Dragon.
Blood Dragon had absolutely nothing to do with the story of Far Cry 3. It was a completely different game. Imagine watching a futuristic cyborg film from the 80’s that was set in the 21st century.
With games that deliver a multiplayer offering (e.g. FPS), this tends to be in the form of map packs, and gun packs. Just something new to keep the player entertained with new content.
DLC is called DLC because it is generally released online first. So you have to download it. Sometimes, publishers will release the DLC in disc form if it’s successful – The GTA IV DLC is a notable example of this.
Sometimes DLC can be offered straight away to a gamer on Day 1 release of a game. You’ll find that these are often promoted by retailers in a bid to get you to purchase the game from them. Examples of this is the MP map Nuketown 2025, offered by a number of retailers if you purchased Black Ops 2 with them.
Also, a blimp was offered to those who purchased GTA V from selected stores in the form of DLC.
When you buy your next game (from new if possible) take a look behind the little leaflet, you may find that there is another leaflet with a code which may contain DLC. It could be a different outfit for your player, an extra playable character and so on.
