9. Downloadable Content
Now this is kind of a big deal. Some people love it, others hate it. One way or another, the concept is here to stay, and it really left its impact on this generation. Downloadable contend has become such a huge part of the way we game. Some games offer us cheats, new skins, weapons, maps... the list can go on. Many of the bigger games even offer us full-size expansion packs that add on hours of game play. The drawback of this of course is that it costs money, and it can cost a lot of money for completists and collectors. Consider this: Rock Band has how many songs? I don't even know how many maps I downloaded between Halo, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. The real revolution of the DLC came towards the end of the generation with the introduction of "season-passes". A one-time fee for several planned and upcoming DLC releases for a given video game. The other big thing this generation knocked out of the park was downloadable games; I'm not talking about Xbox Originals, or whatever, I'm talking about the games developed solely to be downloaded onto your PC or Console. This brought several great games to our machines didn't it? It's not new for PC, but for consoles? When I found out that I could play Minecraft on my 360, I was beside myself with joy. Likewise, the Telltale games took up a lot of space on my hard-drive (Sam & Max's 3rd game was the reason I buckled and bought the PS3). Downloadable gaming is here to stay ladies and gentlemen, so get used to it.