What do you call it when a video game is full of items or services that you can buy with real money? Is it "games as a service"? "Recurrent consumer spending opportunities"? Or maybe PRI (Player Recurring Investment)?

There was once a time when video game developers would make a game, release it, and then move onto the next big thing. That time has long since passed. These days, you're more likely to see a new Metroid than you are to buy an AAA game that's never updated, patched or enhanced in some way. Today's big video games aren't products -- they're services.

This week in Japan, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata made some lofty promises about the company's plan to make mobile games.