There's an interesting point being brought up on Ars Technica regarding the unlockables in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07. It was earlier reported that the new golf game has a couple of unlockables you could earn through dedicated play, from getting new characters to owning everything in the pro shop.

Electronic Arts has made it a lot simpler for the gamer without a lot of time on his hands, as you can now pay through Xbox Live to unlock the special items in the game (even before the game is released, no less). This little tidbit brings up the issue of how we play certain games.

Unlockable content has been a staple of many different sorts of games. From gaining hidden powers or secret vehicles to acquiring the rare materials to make super-weapons for RPG games, it's the extras that often get you hooked. Not everyone likes this idea of paying for the cheat though, and you could safely say that QJ is on the fence on that matter.

Being able to see some nifty new content is great and all, even if there's a small price to get it, though maybe not at the cost of destroying gameplay mechanics (as in MMOs). In the same vein, there's that feeling of accomplishment you get from working your way to catching all 150 seven bajillion pokemon, but if the game starts to feel like work because of it then you've lost the reason for playing in the first place.

EA might be out to grab more cash from us (instead of offering actual cheat codes, sigh...), but you can be sure someone's going to be willing to plunk down some cash to get those last few extras. Under what circumstances does it feel alright for you to cheat past something, and would you ever be willing to actually pay for that chance? Do you think EA is showing good business sense, or just trying to grab extra cash from perfectionist players?