The Anti-Awards 2009

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By published

Celebrating the crappiest games, moments and dumbass dickery of the past year

OK, we complain about this every year, but for the most part, developers have gotten pretty fair with aftermarket additions. Nevertheless, 2009 saw more than its fair share of high profile digital grifts. Prince of Persia kickstarted the gouge with DLC exclusive ending, brazenly entitled Epilogue. Capcom released a $5, less than 2 MB download for Resident Evil 5 about 45 minutes after the game hit store shelves, then proceeded to shake Street Fighter IV fans by the ankles over five character costume packs of questionable worth that could not be purchased individually. Madden 10’s “Elite Status” demanded an extra Abe Lincoln for the privilege of playing online in All-Madden difficulty, even though that’d always been possible offline free of charge.

But one of the biggest offenders for us was a clandestinely underhanded measure that used DLC to lure gamers back to retail. The Force Unleashed rewarded Star Wars fans - admittedly, a small audience - with a handful of timely, reasonably priced DLC… then turned the tables on broadbanders by making the final expansion exclusive to the retail-only TFU: Ultimate Sith Edition. While it’s nice new players could purchase the whole shebang at a reduced cost, DLC users, those who arguably made the investment worthwhile, were left in the cold unless they wanted to re-buy a bunch of content they already owned just to complete the story.

GamesRadar Staff
GamesRadar Staff
The GamesRadar+ Team

GamesRadar+ was first founded in 1999, and since then has been dedicated to delivering video game-related news, reviews, previews, features, and more. Since late 2014, the website has been the online home of Total Film, SFX, Edge, and PLAY magazines, with comics site Newsarama joining the fold in 2020. Our aim as the global GamesRadar Staff team is to take you closer to the games, movies, TV shows, and comics that you love. We want to upgrade your downtime, and help you make the most of your time, money, and skills. We always aim to entertain, inform, and inspire through our mix of content - which includes news, reviews, features, tips, buying guides, and videos.