Follow-Up Sales

I laughed and got sort of scared by this Penny Arcade strip but because it was such extreme parody, I thought it was merely a jokey representation of the greed of those in the video game industry:

Boss: I have invented a new Everquest II peripheral - The Visa Crucible. Seriously, listen up. Okay, kids run mom's credit card through the machine and the amount of money they pay directly equals the damage they deal. Each swipe of the card a slash of the sword! It's so pure I think I'm going to cry

Since getting the Xbox 360 I've been exposed to the sort of tag-along necessary purchases that I'm sure are carefully orchestrated somewhere.

Buy: Xbox 360 Elite. Comes with: 120GB Hard drive, wireless controller, headset, cables galore.
Semi-necessary additions:
Xbox LIVE annual subscription: $60
- needed to play multiplayer games online
Games: $60 (new) $20 and up (secondhand)
- needed to play.

Possible additions:
HD-DVD player: $250
-the 360 comes with a DVD player, but not an HD-DVD one. This is a peripheral.
Wireless adapter: $100
-no wireless internet connection
Second controller: $50
-play with a friend

The Xbox hard drive means you can download game demos, additional game content ($5 and up...or free), casual games ($5 -$15), movies ($2-$5), new little profile pictures ($1 and up), desktop themes ($1 up). All very exciting. And costly.

I recently bought a secondhand copy of 'The Godfather' for the Xbox 360 for $24. The adaptation of the classic film is made and published by industry giant EA Games, and came out in 2006. In 2006 it retailed at $60.

Using its unique cinematic links to follow in the footsteps of where so many 3D sandbox-style gangster games have gone before, The Godfather follows hot on the heels of the Grand Theft Auto series, and like Mafia and Saint's Row before, it struggles desperately to match those games but never quite manages it. But trust me, I'm okay with this as GTA4 warmup. I didn't want to end up writing a review - I have a point to make.

I bought the game on Sunday. I started playing yesterday morning. After a few hours' play my character was driving around a virtual Brooklyn and I spotted a symbol on the map that wasn't in the map key. I went to that location and saw a shifty looking character standing in a corner with a large dollar symbol above his head. Normally in the game this means that the character is a black market tradesman, with some ammunition or weapon upgrades up for sale under his dirty mac.
I initiated a conversation, and to my surprise the Xbox 360 LIVE Marketplace tab popped up.
As a low-level thug in the mafia, my ability to hire muscle to help with missions was low to non-existent.
But!
But!
For some real-world money I could give my character the ability to hire the best hitman in the game to accompany me on missions.
Would I like to purchase this additional game content now?

NO!