Modern Warfare 3 DLC system announced, sure to give you a headache

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 also introduced the Call of Duty Elite system, which is essentially a subscription deal for players who are...very into the game, let's put it that way. This Elite system will also be used for DLC distribution, which combined with existing platform differences make the whole distribution model rather confusing.

Basically, there will be four different types of players. Xbox Elite, PS3 (and I assume PC) Elite, Xbox normal and PS3/PC normal. Elite subscribers will get the DLC first, and in smaller, more rapid packages with a map or two in each. Normal players will have to wait for DLC collections, which is likely the same type of deal that has been used for DLC in earlier years. Microsoft is still trying to compensate for the Xbox' inferior hardware by bribing game developers to give them DLC first, so Elite subscribers on Xbox will see small DLC releases first, then Elite subscribers of the other platforms, and then when that adds up to bigger releases it will be released to non-Elite players with Xbox again being first.

This seems to be a ploy to get more people to subscribe to the Elite service, but I'm wondering if the result won't be that friends simply can't play together instead because one has Elite and the other doesn't. At least the memberships are available in stores as well, making it easier for all the kids who aren't actually old enough to play the game to get past the fact that they don't have credit cards.

Anyways, the first DLC should hit Elite box subscribers on January 24th, and from there on come at least once a month.