Gears of War 3 has day-one downloadable content. It won't make you better at the game, but it'll make your guns in multiplayer better-looking. Would you spend $3 or $4 to paint your Lancer, shotgun and the rest of your arsenal with flowers? You can.
Yeah, these kinds of silly additions would have been free in the old days. At least some weapon skins in the new game are earned by playing the game, not by paying the game publisher. Just remember, gamers: publishers and game developers would like to charge you for extras here and there. Micro-payments are in vogue. They work for so many shooters already. And for Facebook games, iPhone games and more. They are why some game creators can afford to make their games "free" to play (you pay for extra, cool stuff.)
At least with Gears of War 3 you can't pay for advantages. You just pay for paint jobs. Would you pay?
Take a look at the video I captured to see your options.
You can contact Stephen Totilo, the author of this post, at stephentotilo@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.