SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Sony has a new plan to shutdown used games.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 02:51 pm

From HardOCP:

Sony Blocks Online Play On Used Games

The trend lately for most game publishers has been to add incentives (DLC, weapons, armor, map packs) to get people to buy retail games instead of used copies. Well, it looks like Sony is approaching things from a different direction, a tactic that is sure to piss off the people that buy used games.

IGN reports that retail copies of SOCOM U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo 3 come with a code gamers need to input to unlock online play. If you don't have the code, you can buy online access for $20. And those who download the game illegally are out of luck if they want to take the battle online.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

...Well looks like Gamestop (which unfortunatly is the only game store in my town other than wal-mart) is going to be fucked with sony

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Good Gamestop deserves to get fucked with how shitty their policies and prices are.

How much more nonsense are gamers going to put up with before they say fuck it to the whole thing?

Seriously, I just want a game I can buy anywhere and have everything available without having to preorder, buy at a certain place or some other stupid shit that only caters to a small group of people.

Get this Sony, most people can't afford a lot of $50 games, which is why used game stores work so well, in fact it gives more gamers a variety of stuff to choose from which actually helps you in the long run, you idiots. If you run used game stores out of commission, I guarentee sales will drop dramatically for all console parties.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 05:06 pm

Dick move. Microsoft better not do anything like that.

Joined: Dec 20 2009 Location: CA Posts: 152

Mass Effect 2 already did this with its Cerberus Network. New copies come with a one time use code that allows access to free DLC characters, missions and items. If you buy the game used, you have to pay $15 in MS points for a code.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 05:17 pm

Microsoft already charges to use LIVE, Sony doesn't charge for their network. So, I imagine that Microsoft doesn't care as much if a game is used or not, because either way, you still have to give MS money to play it online.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 06:10 pm

Games are probably going to be download-only by the next generation of systems anyway. This is just helping to speed up that process.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

I hate that games are going to be download-only. I want the actual copy in my hands and not some file on my computer or console. That's why I cherish the SNES games I have.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 07:46 pm

I can understand the DLC incentive but making people buy new to play online just seems wrong.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 07:47 pm

I thought the same thing too Pineapple until I started using Steam and Direct2Download, and it's kind of nice not having a bunch of boxes and CDs laying around. If you buy a lot of games and are OCD about saving boxes like I am, storing them starts to become a problem. It's nice to just click a few times, and bam, you have your game. No muss, no fuss.

Speaking of PC games, this has been the norm in that area since CD-keys were invented, so it's no surprise that same philosophy is being adopted by consoles. You wouldn't buy a used PC game, so why buy a used Playstation game?

At the very least, it'll limit the amount of dumb people willing to get ripped off by companies who buy used games and resell them.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Ha, as I was writing my post above, I was thinking of how much I hate Steam. We have Steam on my dads computer and I don't enjoy the scheme at all.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 08:00 pm

Sony has a new plan to suck my fucking dick.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 08:14 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

Sony has a new plan to suck my fucking dick.

QFT. If I buy a game, new or used I should have access to all of the features and not be left with half a game if I buy it used.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 08:36 pm

In all honesty, I believe someday handhelds will completely overtake home consoles. Just compare the DS sales to the Wii's, it's staggering. I'm still surprised there's been no announcement of one from Microsoft.

Posted: Feb 18 2010 10:05 pm

Meh, I'm indifferent to this either way...

Posted: Feb 18 2010 10:09 pm

im with slayer. if a game has a good online community by the time i care to play it, the price for a new copy is usually rather cheap. and if its a super old game, then the servers are usually done for.

and panda is right in terms of the PC community already used to this. i remember buying a copy of WCIII used @ gamestop and i couldnt play online cause the CD key was banned from battle.net. and the battle chest is now only worth $20US

Joined: Oct 12 2007 Posts: 821

It is a cute idea to stop pirated games, and probably well deserved. However, it really is a dick move to try to shut down the used market. Personally, I don't buy a lot of used games cause I am impatient and near the release date, I find most new games are only slightly more than the used versions. However, I still don't like having people pay to use online multiplayer. I mean, that was basically the deciding factor in my choice of a PS3 over an Xbox360. I hope the games fail and Sony sees this is a bad idea.

Posted: Feb 19 2010 01:23 am

Ba'al wrote:

In all honesty, I believe someday handhelds will completely overtake home consoles. Just compare the DS sales to the Wii's, it's staggering. I'm still surprised there's been no announcement of one from Microsoft.

My guess is because there isn't nearly as much shovelware on the DS as there is on the Wii.

2010 SLF Tag Champ Joined: Jun 07 2006 Posts: 12294

Doddsino wrote:

Good Gamestop deserves to get fucked with how shitty their policies and prices are.

How much more nonsense are gamers going to put up with before they say fuck it to the whole thing?

Seriously, I just want a game I can buy anywhere and have everything available without having to preorder, buy at a certain place or some other stupid shit that only caters to a small group of people.

Get this Sony, most people can't afford a lot of $50 games, which is why used game stores work so well, in fact it gives more gamers a variety of stuff to choose from which actually helps you in the long run, you idiots. If you run used game stores out of commission, I guarentee sales will drop dramatically for all console parties.

Posted: Feb 19 2010 07:58 am

It's not GameStop who's getting fucking over, it's you, the consumer. You know that game you bought and didn't quite like enough to want to keep? Well, now there's absolutely no secondary market for it. You know that game you kinda wanted to try, but were hesitant buy? Well, now it's either buy it as MSRP or don't buy it at all.

This doesn't hurt GameStop, this hurts everyone. It will hurt GameFly, too. Hell, it hurts everyone.

Nintendo recently said that have no plans to abolish physical game discs in the near future, and I respect them for that. As an archivist and collector, I would much rather have physical games that can be displayed. When I buy my first house, there's going to be a Video Game Room. People are going to walk in and say, "Holy shit, you have a lot of video games."

Actually, people already say that. Well, it's more like, "I don't think you have enough Wii games." or "Do you have ever Wii game ever made?"

Posted: Feb 19 2010 02:36 pm

Pandajuice wrote:

I thought the same thing too Pineapple until I started using Steam and Direct2Download, and it's kind of nice not having a bunch of boxes and CDs laying around. If you buy a lot of games and are OCD about saving boxes like I am, storing them starts to become a problem. It's nice to just click a few times, and bam, you have your game. No muss, no fuss.

Speaking of PC games, this has been the norm in that area since CD-keys were invented, so it's no surprise that same philosophy is being adopted by consoles. You wouldn't buy a used PC game, so why buy a used Playstation game?

At the very least, it'll limit the amount of dumb people willing to get ripped off by companies who buy used games and resell them.

I'm personally ok with having games be DL only, except for the fact that I don't want to be fucked if my hard drive crashes. I'd be all for it if they institute some sort of program where after you've downloaded the game, you are entitled to re-download it again for life. I know there would be issues with preventing people from downloading to multiple systems and such, but there's got to be a way to work around that.

Also, the next Xbox better let us use whatever hard drive we want, instead of making us pay exhorbitant prices for the Microsoft one. I'm not going to keep buying 120GB hard drives for $100 just because MS won't make a larger one.

Joined: Dec 20 2009 Location: CA Posts: 152

Everytime I've considered buying a used game from gamestop, the new copy was only $3-5 more. I'll gladly pay that small premium to ensure I get a sealed copy with all the pack in content the game was meant to come with. It's almost insulting when they ask me if I want a used copy for literally a couple dollars less. Their discrepancy between buy back and used game prices is absurd. I know they have to make a profit, but seriously anybody who trades in games there is either lazy, desperate or just plain retarded. It's also bullshit when they try passing the opened store display copy as a "new" game. I refuse to pay full price for an opened copy that's probably been rented out by every other employee in the store. So yea, in short, fuck gamestop.

Posted: Feb 19 2010 03:05 pm

V.B.D. wrote:

Everytime I've considered buying a used game from gamestop, the new copy was only $3-5 more. I'll gladly pay that small premium to ensure I get a sealed copy with all the pack in content the game was meant to come with. It's almost insulting when they ask me if I want a used copy for literally a couple dollars less. Their discrepancy between buy back and used game prices is absurd. I know they have to make a profit, but seriously anybody who trades in games there is either lazy, desperate or just plain retarded. It's also bullshit when they try passing the opened store display copy as a "new" game. I refuse to pay full price for an opened copy that's probably been rented out by every other employee in the store. So yea, in short, fuck gamestop.

To be honest, I don't really agree with people who get upset about the low trade-in values of games. The store exists to make a profit, not pay out money for used games.

That said, I do think it's a scam to have the used price be only $5 less than a new copy. I think having someone else previously owning a game should decrease its value by at least 25% or so.

Posted: Feb 19 2010 04:38 pm

Do some analysis on the trade in market and you might agree. If Gamestop is going to offer .75 for a game and turn around and sell it for $5-7 there is an extreme issue in pricing. There is a difference between making profit and being greedy. Gamestop knows this yet they still refuse to do anything about it because competition in the gaming market is to small to make them "have" to change. If a game comes out new and is $50 it should never be sold for anything more than $39.99 ever, typically it was $44.99-47.99 when I used to work there but I digress.

Personally I only see this as a Sony initiative so everyone can just relax. You can blame the internet and the whole DLC phase that gaming companies have gone to. Matter of fact you might as well blame the internet too, and then the government for looking into an "internet".
If you can't find a Demo of the game to download chances are the game is crap. Why? Because companies who make crappy games don't want you to see it's crap for free.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Ice2SeeYou wrote:

V.B.D. wrote:

Everytime I've considered buying a used game from gamestop, the new copy was only $3-5 more. I'll gladly pay that small premium to ensure I get a sealed copy with all the pack in content the game was meant to come with. It's almost insulting when they ask me if I want a used copy for literally a couple dollars less. Their discrepancy between buy back and used game prices is absurd. I know they have to make a profit, but seriously anybody who trades in games there is either lazy, desperate or just plain retarded. It's also bullshit when they try passing the opened store display copy as a "new" game. I refuse to pay full price for an opened copy that's probably been rented out by every other employee in the store. So yea, in short, fuck gamestop.

To be honest, I don't really agree with people who get upset about the low trade-in values of games. The store exists to make a profit, not pay out money for used games.

That said, I do think it's a scam to have the used price be only $5 less than a new copy. I think having someone else previously owning a game should decrease its value by at least 25% or so.

Keep in mind that Gamestop overprices their games to begin with by $10 from what I've seen. I would never buy a game there. The place I go to usually has used games starting around $35 used if the original price is $50 new, which is fine by me.