Okay, maybe the headline is a bit strong, after all we will have a choice on whether to spend our cash on Microsoft's latest plans for the Xbox live marketplace. But is this just another way to pick our pockets or are Microsoft purely replying to demand and offering a decent service for gamers?

Here's the plan. Microsoft are planning to let gamers buy in-game 'consumables' to enhance our gameplaying experience. These will range from weapons to new costumes for characters, but check this out, they will all have a limited life-cycle. Once their life-cycle has expired you will have the option to re-buy the consumables or bin them. Excuse me for being cynical but if I've paid for something I sure as hell don't want to give it back or pay for it again.

This idea does sound like the expansion packs that we're already seeing on the marketplace, who could forget the Oblivion 'Horse Armour' rip-off. The bad or good news, whichever way you want to look at it, is that these type of consumable offers will become more frequent and will appear in-game. What this does mean is developers will probably choose to hold back from including as much as they could have done in the games. Instead they can choose to release more weapons, useless armour upgrades, and God knows what else, to the gamer whenever they wish.

It's unclear at this point whether developers will be able to offer any old consumable 'tat' in their games, we'd like to think there will be some sort of vetting procedure or we'd like to hope that the idea won't go ahead. We'd rather slash our wrists and sit in a bath of vinegar rather than stump up for content that should be be included in games that already cost us £45 each! Unless there's something really good of course, like a dual rocket launcher for Halo 3.

Source : GameFest