: That's an arbitrary date, isn't it? I mean, that cool content is usually
: advertised for 6 months or more before release, and the cutoff is
: well-known. If you had ANY sort of cutoff date (one year after release, 5
: years after release, whatever), it's really the same, in practice, isn't
: it? It's available (and known about) for a length of time, and then it's
: not.
I picked that date because it's the most egregious example of a cutoff date. It's content that is only available to people that buy the game before the game itself is even available.

: You've just chosen to draw your line of 'reasonable/unreasonable' on the
: close side of Day One Exclusive content.

: How is your view more valid than someone who says "it's lame to have
: cool content that's impossible to get today" when today is a year
: after release, or whatever?
I'm no sure what you mean by "more valid". An arbitrary cutoff is an arbitrary cutoff.

: Taken to its extreme, your view is that all content should be available for
: all time, right?
Ideally, yes. All content should be available for as long as reasonably possible, especially in a digital marketplace where content could be sold for pennies and still make a profit. Granted, there are practical limitations to that (e.g. you're out of luck if you want to get the Halo 2 map packs), but it's a shame to arbitrarily limit how many people will ever see some neat bonus content.

Something I like about how Ubisoft handles the Assassin's Creed pre-order bonuses is that all of those pre-order bonuses, retailer exclusives, and even continent-exclusives eventually made their way bundled in DLC. Assassin's Creed Revelations literally had multiplayer characters that were Europe-exclusive until they were finally bundled with the last DLC. They were neat-looking characters, and I was glad that Ubisoft included them as DLC rather than leave them as exclusives.

For another example, I much prefer 343i just unlocking Halo 3's Recon armor for everyone, rather than have it become impossible to acquire for anyone who didn't complete all of the Vidmaster challenges prior to the Bungie.net cutoff date. It's cool armor, so I'm glad more people got a chance to use it.

Basically, I like the idea that someone would be able to experience everything that a game has to offer, whether they pre-ordered the game as soon as soon as stores allowed it, or fell in love with the game just yesterday.