"The Never Ending Game"

Kotaku on the strong sales figures for Borderlands:

Traditionally, Hellquist said, a game sells really well for the first two months and then those sales tail off, slimming down until it's just a trickle. But Borderlands' tail has been surprisingly thick.

"We have been happy with the tail of the sales," Hellquist said. "They are strong even though the game is four to five months old now."

That's because every time Gearbox unveils and releases a new expansion for Borderlands, people go out and buy the game, sometimes rebuy it after completing and selling it back to a store.

In Borderlands, players take on the role of one of four playable archetypical characters as they strive to survive the harsh planet of Pandora while increasing their skills and discovering new weapons. The game nicely blends the best of a first-person shooter with elements of role-playing games. To date, Gearbox has sold three $10 expansion packs for the $60 game. The expansion packs added a zombie island, new places to fight other players and, in the latest expansion, a new plot and missions that adds as much as ten hours to the game's original 25 hour experience.

I'm usually completely terrible about impulse control and video games. I'll buy a well regarded game even if I know I don't have any time to play it, and I'd be better off waiting for it to end up in the bargain bin. Of course, the one time I'm disciplined and decide to wait for a game to go on sale its some sort of freak of nature game that is still selling great 5 months out and releases DLC every other week... and thus never ever goes on sale. They've at least gotta release a bundle on Steam at some point, right?