Intrepid textfile-wrangler Zemlor of the 2K forum (how’s that for a biz-card title) has discovered something interesting deep within the bowels of BioShock (PC version):

;Downloadable content announcement
ManualTopicName=PlasmidPack1
—–
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;Downloadable content announcement
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
[PlasmidPack1]
TopicType=Gene Tonics Unlocked!
FriendlyName=(Downloaded Content)
bHidden=true
Entry=\nNEW FROM RYAN INDUSTRIES!
Entry=\nHaving concluded clinical trials on four new Genetic Improvements, Ryan Industries is proud to announce the general release of their newest products:
Entry=\nMachine Buster
Entry=Vending Expert
Entry=Sonic Boom
Entry=EVE Saver
Entry=\nLook for them at a Gatherer’s Garden near you!

If your eyes just glazed over like a classic TimBit, here’s the translation: there are other powers not yet seen in BioShock. The various spells cybernetic upgrades mutant powers plasmids mentioned in the code are: Machine Buster, Vending Expert, Sonic Boom, and EVE Saver. The status of these new and wonderful powers is unknown, but they might already be on your game disc.

Publishers have done this before: locking away content in the game, pending a “downloadable content pack”. Which isn’t a download at all since you already have the data; it’s just been fenced off. The downloadable content is actually a downloadable key. This may not be the case with BioShock, but it is certainly the case with many other Xbox 360 games.

This is a growing trend with games on network-connected consoles. And I’m certain the argument from the publishers’ end would go something like this: this content was always planned as an add-on or expansion after the game shipped. What does it matter to you how we deliver it, particularly if this makes it that much faster to “download”? And they have a point. It is their content after all, and they can sell it however they like.

But there is something particularly galling about having the extra content right in your hands, just… unavailable. You bought the disc, right? You own the game, therefore you own that physical iteration of the content – those bytes contained on the media. Xbox 360 games in particular have a real habit of employing this method. A thread at NeoGAF details some of the offenders. Examples:

Chromehounds
Total price of all downloadable parts keys (1800 points)
The keys are 108.00 KB each

DDR Universe
Download Song Mega Pack (800 points)
or you buy each song separately for 1000 points total
The keys are 108.00 KB each

Viva Pinata
All Accessory Packs (1-7) (630 points)
The keys are 108.00 KB each

Samurai Warriors 2
Total price to be able to buy all horses and hire all people (580 points)
The keys are 108.00 KB each

College Hoops 2K7
2K ReelMaker for College Hoops 2K7 (400 points)
108.00 KB

The Godfather
Favor Pack – 3 Favor Missions (250 points)
108.00 KB

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 07
Special “Sunday Tiger” Unlock (240 points)
108.00 KB

LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
LEGO Star Wars Characters (200 points)
108.00 KB

My take on this: if the stuff is on the disc, it’s supposed to be yours. This is a breathtakingly stupid way to deliver “extra content”. It’s not extra at all– it is clear that once the game was done, they’ve simply picked the juicier bits that publishers think they can wring some extra money for, and hid them away for a later date.

It’s one thing to do some extra dev work after the game has gone gold, and sell it for a modest cost to keep interest in the game alive and add some new value after-the-fact. It’s another to take ginsu knives to what is already done, and pick us to death with microtransactions. Don’t support this bullshit in your buying habits.