The Gears of War maps we’ve been hearing about for months are up for a surprise release this week, and the news on price is what’s been hinted at for a while now: immediately upon release, the Hidden Fronts map pack will release for 800 points, which is 10 dollars in non-MS money (and which works out to about 2.50 a map), and 5 months later, in September, the maps will be made free. I will probably buy these; I don’t think 10 bucks for half an expansion pack is unreasonable, and while yes, I understand that Epic “wanted them to be free”, Microsoft published the game and funneled an enormous amount of money into the project. Combined with their role as publisher, and as platform holder, and as retailer for the content essentially, their desire to sell the content is just as valid as Epic’s desire to give it away free, even if you wish Epic had won out. What’s more, Microsoft has committed to the content releasing for free in the Fall.

And yet, the bitching has already started. There continues to be a sense of entitlement amongst certain areas of the internet that claim everything should be free, although I never heard any complaints that fLow, a title which existed as a flash game for free, cost money. I can understand that mentality, but in this case I don’t agree with it. Not only in this case can you apply the “don’t like it, don’t buy it mentality” here, you can later apply the “don’t want to pay, so get it free in a few months” mentality. So why are people upset? I want opinions, people.

-Aegies