14 DAY TRIAL // Downloadable content has become an integral part of the gaming industry as in recent years seeing new things appear for games that have already been released is becoming something absolutely normal.
While new content for a game was also released many years ago, this usually meant owners of a title needed to buy expansions that may or may not have been worthy of their time and money.
Now, they can easily download the new content through all sorts of online services, whether it's Steam on the PC or the default networks for consoles, like Xbox Live on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation Network on the PS3, or the eShop on the WIi U.
While some developers have limited post-release support for their games, as they launch new things shortly after the title made its debut, other studios have long-term support and keep working on new content even if quite a lot of time has passed since their games first hit store shelves.
Two examples of such long-time support have appeared in the last week: Mass Effect 3's next big DLC and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Dragonborn expansion.
Quite a lot of Mass Effect 3 fans thought that Omega would be the end of single-player add-ons for BioWare's role-playing shooter series but it seems that the studio isn't done just yet and, just like it's doing with the game's multiplayer mode, it's still planning new content.
We heard that all of the DLC writers are onboard, as is the franchise's composer, and that voice actors are being called in to record new lines. As such, let's hope the next ME3 DLC will arrive sooner rather than later.
Another major expansion that's already been released is the Dragonborn add-on for Skyrim. More than a year has passed since the release of Bethesda's sprawling RPG and it seems that the studio still has ideas in terms of new content.
While as of yet only Xbox 360 owners of Skyrim can enjoy the expansion, PC and PS3 owners will be able to play the add-on in early 2013.
Considering both Bethesda and BioWare have supported their games for some time now, do you want the studios to continue making new content for Skyrim and Mass Effect 3, respectively, or should they start work on completely new games (i.e. Mass Effect 4 or Fallout 4)?