Quote Originally Posted by Psyren View Post
It means the Day 1 DLC stuff is content you wouldn't have gotten anyway if they couldn't have made it as DLC. This is because they have to lock down the game disc (or discs) for certification by Microsoft/Sony, who play through the entire game making sure, say, it doesn't contain code that will wipe all your savegames off your hard drive.

During that time the game studios (programmers, writers, artists, designers etc.) are sitting on their asses doing nothing. Some can move on to the next project, but often that next game will be in too early a stage for the animators, voice actors and other meaty folks to have much to do. Some will take vacation but there will always be some who can't, or whose vacation is scheduled for another time etc., So rather than lay off the entire studio between games, they are instead put to work on Day 1 DLC - the groundwork for which has been laid and placed on the disk prior to certification because they knew they'd have that lull in their schedule. In addition, you can blame consumer behavior, because we tend to buy DLC more right after launch than months down the road, so the more they can put out on launch day (or close to it) the more likely it'll be bought.
Yeah, nothing in this description really requires the stuff like Shale and whatnot to be behind certifications. Especially since they're already given for free. But you just aren't allowed them without a code that unlocks them on the disk. All it does is screw over guys like me who buy them used.