DOWNLOADABLE CRAP: MY TOP 5 DLC PICKS

My ass has a combover.

Downloadable content has had an interesting journey over the past couple of years.  It's taken for granted now; games are expected to have DLC.  Just a game alone isn't good enough for today's consumer!   But while add-ons and expansion packs have been around on PC for a long time, the ability to download and add on new material for a console game is actually fairly new.  It has been pretty much exclusive to the 7th generation of gaming.   Some companies have tried everything they could think of to get those couple extra dollars out of your wallet, while others genuinely added to and refined the experience.

HOLY CRAP WE HAVE A HEADER!

Hey look!  Instead of just text saying "The Cranky Old Gamer" and a profile icon of Fallout's Brotherhood Of Steel, I actually have a real header with a cranky cartoon of me!  

Major thanks go to Josh Vilchis and his awesome designs!  Dude's never met me in person or even seen a picture of me, and yet he perfectly captured my "annoyed" look with that little cartoon. 

So seriously, if you need some design work done, shoot him an email and check him out!   Fantastic work, Josh.  Thank you so much!

DAWNGUARD

Released this past tuesday, I have spent the past five days deeply entrenched in Dawnguard, the first expansion pack for one of my favorite games, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.   I'm not quite finished with it yet, but I already have a lot to say.  (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!)

It's no secret that I am an enormous fan of the Elder Scrolls series.   I could go on about what a phenomenon Skyrim has become, but if you're a gamer, you already know.  You're sick of "Arrow to the knee" jokes, and have Fus Ro Dah burned into your geeky lexicon.  So if you're anything like me, you have been anxiously waiting to see what kind of amazing DLC Skyrim was going to get, especially after watching the string of incredible expansion packs we got for Bethesda's last huge open-world game, Fallout 3.  And then the trailer came out, and it probably gave you a giant gamer boner, like I got.  So now that I've had my hands on Dawnguard for a few days and spent about 20+ hours with it, does it live up to the hype?