Connors is also keen to note that the development of different pricing strata within the industry is, he believes, "critical."

"I think everyone would agree that the AAA retail model does not allow for a lot of creative risk-taking," notes Connors. "If we want a wider audience of gamers in this world, there has to be a variety of content available, some of which works better in smaller chunks."

We trust Telltale on this. Its games come in smaller chunks which add up roughly to the length (and price) of a full retail game when stuck together and sold as a "season." For its model to work, though, the games have to be designed with "episodes" in mind. Sure, it works for Sam & Max -- but what about Darksiders? You can't just take the story in that game and chop it into chunks because players will feel frustrated that their story just "stops" at the end of each chunk. At the same time, developers planning an episodic game have to think like television writers more than game developers; they can't drag out stories indefinitely and they have to pay close attention to pacing and spoilers in case a player wants to download episodes 1 and 4 but not 2 and 3.

The proposed business model for MX vs. ATV Alive will be an interesting experiment. Whether or not it succeeds will inform THQ's future decisions on how to market and distribute content in the future -- particularly in genres such as sports or driving games, which are easily extended through DLC.

Interesting as it is, though, isn't it sometimes nice to pick up a game, safe in the knowledge that you will never be expected to spend any additional money on it beyond your initial outlay? That used to be the norm, rather than the exception.