Major Nelson just announced some new content for Crackdown. This game is already a prime example of just how great the XBox 360 and Xbox Live are. Over the last year, Microsoft has been trying to create a space where additional game content has value. They went though some bumpy times, releasing some basically worthless stuff at outrageous prices, but they seem to be reaching a place where they know what is reasonable to charge for and what is not. What they’re doing with Crackdown is giving out some real, valuable new content and some general game enhancements for free. At the same time, they’re releasing a some premium content that includes new weapons, vehicles, and, more importantly, game play modes and multi-player friendly mini-games.

What better, if you play with someone who has payed for the premium content, it’s enabled for you while you’re in the game. This is a great idea for everyone. It’s a great way to sell the content, since players are more likely to purchase the content if they’ve enjoyed playing it with a friend. At the same time, as the user, if (when) I purchase this content, I’ll be able to enjoy it with my friends who are less likely to shell out for it. This is of great importance to me because the content has little to no value otherwise, since I only play this game in multi-player mode, and only with people who don’t tend to purchase additional content.