830°

Would Microsoft Spring a Trap Card on Sony by Blocking Used Game Sales?

New leaks have lead to another round of rampant speculation about whether or not Microsoft will indeed end up restricting or outright eliminating used games on their console. The new evidence suggests that the “Durango,” as it’s currently called, will require an installation of a game to the hard disk and won’t even have optical drive support. Also worrying is an “always connected” descriptor that some are interpreting as evidence for some sort of always on DRM. With Microsoft giving everyone a firm “no comment,” we’re left to speculate that this could be the first console to actually do away with used games, as Sony has stated the PS4 will continue to play them.-Forbes

4049d ago Replies(14)
NYC_Gamer4049d ago

That tactic makes sense profit wise but its very anti consumer

TopDudeMan4049d ago

Agreed. They certainly wouldn't win any fans over with a move like that.

zeee4049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

No, I believe SONY is on the right track. The article assumes a lot of things that they should not. M$ will have to deal with a huge mess if they block out the used games and in this game, it seems that they are going that route.

What does worry me is if that they do go down, and Sony completely dominates like it did back in PS2 days, we'll have less of a competition. We NEED all big three companies pushing each other for competition. Today's economy is not what we had back in 2002. It's completely different so we need competition more than ever.

What also worries me more is PIRACY. I can't believe that at least I haven't read a single article that debates over this topic. If PS4 and 720 are based on PC architecture, you can bet your horses that they WILL be hacked. Look at PS3 and then look at 360. Sony PS3 was much more "closed" than 360 and thus, it hasn't been hacked as much as 360. Developing nations love this as they can't always afford to buy new games let alone used one so they end up pirating games. So IMHO, piracy could play a major role come next-gen. It'd mean more console sales but what good are console sales if there are no software profits? I do believe however that every pirate ends up buying legitimate copy but it takes them a lot of time to reach that point.

Sony is bleeding money left and right and Windows 8 along with Surface sales are well below expectations. Wii U sales are below par as well.

Like I said, today's economy and tech world is completely different than 10 years ago. We need all these companies making profit so there is a healthy competition. Consumers only benefit from a healthy competition.

ThanatosDMC4049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

I hope you know what MS wants to do with Win 8 to mess up PC gaming. They basically want to smear their crap on all future games that will use Windows. Devs have to pay them for licensing. They're trying to be make an Apple Store without the competition. Win 8 wants to take Steam, Origin, and all those other online distributors place so they can rake in the money.

I hope they fail hard.

zeee4049d ago

To all the people who are disagreeing:

It's 100% OK if anyone disagrees with me but I'd like to know why? Really, I'd love to know your views on this too. Would love to have a nice and productive discussion.

nosferatuzodd4048d ago (Edited 4048d ago )

this is what I've bin telling people about Microsoft.
They were never a costumer friendly company they try to get in every industry a f@ck it up- excuse my language with their greed, i cant see how people fallow this company like a said i have no problem with Xbox its Microsoft i dont like

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4048d ago
Ezz20134049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

just one thing i want to know ...
how's that "makes sense profit wise" ...when it's "very anti consumer" ?!

isn't that mean no one will buy their console which mean no profit for them ?!

monkeyfox4049d ago

@ZEEE

The reason people are disagreeing with you as far as i can see is for comments like "the market is very different from 10 years ago.... we need them to make profit.." Yes you are right its a different market, Its 10 times the size and companies now make more money now than they ever have in the history of gaming! Even with piracy and used games this is still the case!! You are maybe thinking about the way publishers screw developers??!

And also microsoft wont "go down" as you put it.. thats extremely unlikely - Always online would be unpopular with some but it would surely circumvent hacked systems quite easily.. even if microsoft did go down through some crazy sequence of events the market is so big now that another company will just step up to take a piece of the pie in their place.

delboy4049d ago

M$ doesn't care about consumers, see live subscription.
And still they managed to sell 70+millions consoles.
That means that the majority doesn't care about dlc, online fee or online/season passes.
M$ is smart when it comes to making money, and there is no reason to change the formula.

HiddenMission4049d ago

@delboy

The issue is XBLG set a standard that could not be matched for several years and now it is and for free. With more and more gamers/consumers opting for PSN for it's free nature or even PSN + for all the free titles the playing field had been leveled.

That was all in the past with PS3 being the lead console for media streaming it showed that gamers do not prefer to pay a fee just to gain access to pay another fee to access their streaming services. If PS4 continues this business model with all the new features the landscape of fees versus services will be in Sony's favor.

Now add in the social connections that PS4 adds and unless XBLG becomes free MS's business model will be in a very bad situation.

Couple that with rumor that MS's intentions is to get you to cancel your cable services and opt for XBLG as an alternative raises a ton of other questions...like what will be the major incentive to make you switch...smaller fees, yearly price...some sort of contract. These are things we don't know but have already pushed a large portion of core gamers away from the idea of signing up for the next XBOX.

StrawHatPatriot4049d ago

XBL used to be worth it ENTIRELY, but now, considering that many other boxes - PS3, Roku, Apple TV, Wii U, etc. all do the SAME THING for FREE, it's not worth it anymore.

delboy4049d ago

You're delusional if you think Ms can't match Sony's PS+ offer.
I think Ms will come with far far better service then PS+, and will offer more bang for your buck.
They will pack more features and inovation in next box, and that's not a tuff challange when you see what ps4 has to offer.
A nonfunctional touch pad... meh, share button is a joke at best, and streaming games, well we all know how good that works.
Ms is more into software then Sony, just look at xbox os vs ps3 os.
And never ever forget the reason why Ms entered the console buisness in the first place. ;-)

CEOSteveBallmer4049d ago

Delboy, He is not saying that xbox services features are useless or PS+ is better. he is pointing out that why would you pay a fee and then you cn go online then when you want netflix youll pay it again?? unlike in PSN you just need to pay the netflix app and not go through online fee like microsoft does. It seems you are bashing the ps4? share button a joke? nonfunctional pad?? social features should be shared? and nonfunctional?? they have not yet even said the functions and your assuming its useless its just for design?? Go ahead defend microsoft and xbox, always on drm and banned used games are one of the best features.... I dont know if your just a troll or looking for a fan fight

monkeyfox4049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

@delboy
NO company cares about consumers deep down... Its all about who can give off the appearance that they arent trying to screw you while they.. erm... screw you. And thats fine.. IF we get perceived value for money and great products.

negative4048d ago

I'm an XBL Gold subscriber for 10 years now and I will continue to pay for a top of the line service.

I have never had a better online gaming experience than I do now with XBL. I have a PS3 and NEVER play online games on it. Just isn't as community friendly.

Maybe the PS4 will change this. I'm completely open to Sony's console. But for now I stay primarily MS because I am overly satisfied with their products and service.

Thank you for reading!

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4048d ago
Mike134nl4049d ago

besides the speculation, in some way it makes sense profit wise. However assuming that gamers who play used games do not result in a direct or indirect (net)profit for the platform-holder seems far fetched.

Drekken4049d ago

Everything MS does is very anti-consumer. I am not just talking about gaming consoles here.

ThanatosDMC4049d ago

Pennywise, is that you?

On topic: Agreed.

BDSE4049d ago

If you read the article you'd see that actually it makes no sense profit wise whilst being at the same time very anti-consumer.

wastedcells4048d ago

Microsoft will always do what's best for the bottom line. Just like live subscriptions.

blind-reaper4048d ago

If you fuck the consumer you will not see many profits, so it doesn't make sense profit wise.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 4048d ago
jerethdagryphon4049d ago

It would only work if people bought the 720 I for one wouldn't I share games between my ps3 here and my ps3 stateside when im on holiday. If people knew out of the box no used games. That means no trade ins either so you finish a game your stuck with it. They wouldn't buy it except after price drops for the exclusive s sony would sell more consoles and more titles at full price

EbeneezerGoode4049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

Exactly, they also think blocking used games would only block people who BUY used games. Have said this before - i NEVER buy used games but i sell games I've bought new when i've finished with them! I BUY them for those stupid high prices purely because I have that safety net of selling it on if I think it's crap or selling it on when fully done - getting maybe half my money back? and buying MORE *NEW* games with the money!! IT keeps the market fluid

A dick move like this would block a percentage of people from ever buying their console (and games) in the first place, people who would/could only afford used games, and people like me who buy lots of NEW games and can recoup costs a little. Those used buyers are doing no harm, as they would just not buy at all if no used games - and people like me will buy far less games if I can't sell them on when done! I hate the idea of 100s of plastic discs gathering dust in a room not being able to be 'recycled' for fear of the 1000s of pounds invested in them!

I can't wait until MS fuck up AGAIN with yet another ill thought out scheme (like Windows 8, and Surface RT) and realise what I could have told them even without being an expert in the industry.

Bloody idiots. They'll learn eventually. The only way to keep sales high while blocking used is to HALVE THE PRICE of new games! They can't have their cake and eat it! THere will be NO piracy (we can assume for many years) on the new consoles, blocked used games too, so HOW do you now justify your stupid high $60 prices for games? THey always blamed piracy and used games but if they can't anymore then they had better lower the price.

madpuppy4049d ago

lowering the price of games will never happen, it's like when the music industry stated way back that with the advent of cd's production costs would drop drastically, because cd's only cost pennies to press, the retail price of cd's would be half of any other format before them, and that never happened. cd's were as much, if not more than records and tapes.

EbeneezerGoode4049d ago

Didn't say it 'would happen', am all too aware it won't. Instead there'll be a crash when people can no longer justify paying so much for games they can't recoup some cash back from.

stuntman_mike4049d ago

How about a percentage of used sales goes to the developer, maybe they could make a law for it or something then at least the developers would see some money back off used games. then again doing that they would probably raise the price of used games?

Alcohog4049d ago

Good point. Could you even rent games??

Tapani4049d ago

How about guidelines to regulate the used-games market without being anti-customer:

Rule: Customer can buy used games only as many new games he bought in that particular store.

This way the market would be extremely easy to navigate and analyze, while encouraging the customers to buy new games. They could even sell unlimited amount of used-games on that particular shop to buy new games. That would increase competition between retailers and that's a good thing for the customer.

It would keep the market super fluid and everybody wins.

rainslacker4049d ago (Edited 4049d ago )

I actually find that particular rule to be very anti-consumer. It pretty much locks in a person to a particular store if they want the benefit of being able to buy used. It decreases competition, and forces the consumer to buy new at multiple places should they wish to buy used at multiple places. In addition a consumer may be locked out of a used game sale unless they were willing to purchase a new game at the same time.

It would also mean that the consumer would be forced to register with a particular store in some way...such as the Best Buy RZ card, or Power Up rewards card from GameStop. Now that may not be that big a deal to many, but some people are very weary of signing up for this kind of stuff, because that information can be sold, and it's used as a way to track customer buying habits. That percentage is small of course, but it's still anti-consumer to have to force someone to use such a service to get that benefit.

It also gives little incentive for a store to advertise it's used deals(such as GameStop b2g1 free promotions). It also means stores that track their customers buying habits for how many used vs. new games are brought can statistically sit down and see how little they have to discount titles to get them to sell.

And it doesn't make the market fluid...it makes it more complex. Retailers, despite how silly they seem, do not want to make things complex. They really have no interest in cutting out the used game market. If it is done, it will be on the part of the console manufacturers and publishers. They may be willing to work with publishers on a compromise, but publishers can't really regulate the retail market to that degree. Doing so is pretty much price fixing...and I'm sure there is a proper legal term for this exact scenario.

I know you probably made that up off the top of your head and didn't mean it as the way it had to be done, I just thought I'd point it out.

@jakens below

That is probably how it would be done. It's just an extension of the online pass. Sony's patent from last year was speculated to be for just such a thing(if not for complete removal of used games). There are downsides of course. What it comes down to is that the consumer right now just isn't ready to let go of the used market. Retail also isn't at a place where it can survive without it. Those issues have to be resolved before any real headway is made in limiting the resale of games. It's a clear scenario where the consumer has most of the power, and it is up to us to keep it by not accepting anti-consumer practices.

Jakens4049d ago

It might turn out that every game has an Unlock User code on the disk (itself) and if used once, the next guy will be paying an unlock fee to play it after inputing that code to the menu screen.

Sure hope internet is not required to play my games.

No one that I have talked to wants to pay twice for something they own. No one that I have talked to like paying for a service that could be down at any time and for any reason. No one likes being screwed out of their freedom to enjoy something less than you did during a past generation.

If this current generation has not been good to you, the next one will also not be so good to you.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4049d ago
dumahim4049d ago

The person quoted seems to think there's two types of people in the world. People who only buy used games and people who only buy new games. He doesn't seem to factor in the rest.

I've maybe bought 2 used games in the last decade, and I know for sure that if they blocked used games beyond, say, a 2 year window after release of the game, I won't be buying the next Xbox.

Show all comments (180)
230°

Tomb Raider Remastered just quietly censored one in-game detail

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered players are ticked off by the game’s most recent patch, which censors in-game pin-up posters of Lara Croft.

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gamingbible.com
rlow16h ago

This is why gaming is screwed. When people change things to fit someone’s agenda, it’s a slippery slope downhill.

Christopher5h ago(Edited 5h ago)

Even if that agenda is of the developer? Way to remove developer rights.

***One player called it a “huge problem with modern games,” saying they can now be “ruined AFTER people buy them”.***

The level of drama. Yes, I recall sitting there for more hours than I did anything else in the game. These two pinups are the core of the game, after all!

coolbeans4h ago(Edited 4h ago)

rlow1's cringe catastrophizing aside, I do think developers *ought* to strive to maintain an original work to the best of their ability. The language of a "remaster" tacitly implies that - for good or ill - what's being resold is what fans remember but better.

Profchaos4h ago

Games can be ruined after purchasing them yeah we know this not from this but from GTA IV which had half it's radio content patched out due to licensing expirations and to me that was a huge deal.

This pin up poster is a bit of nonsense but the whole argument of modern games can be ruined post launch is Absol true.

DedicatedDark3h ago(Edited 3h ago)

It's not their work to censor. They are incharge of restoration & remastering the work, not overwriting it.

Barlos2h ago

It's not the agenda of the developer though, they're pandering and trying to increase their ESG score.

Way to support censorship...

victorMaje2h ago

It’s not the end of the world for sure, but I understand the hate towards this kind of change. I believe it’s also a matter of principle.

Imagine a Picasso painting being restored & the restorer deciding there aren’t enough strokes, or some lines aren’t straight enough or curved enough…not sure it would/should sit well with people.

Have all original devs signed off on this change? Even if it’s the case, are we saying older gamers are better mentally equipped to process what was there than current gamers, hence the change?

Enough time ago the case was made that games are an art form. We’re supposed to have won that case.
So which is it? Are games art or not?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2h ago
Eidolon2h ago

Hasn't this been happened for over a decade since remasters? I can't see that it's any worse now. Maybe if Sweet Baby starts getting their hands on remasters we will definitely have a problem.

Rebel_Scum5h ago

tbh I dont see something like this as censorship. Does anyone else not find it strange for someone to stick pin ups of themsleves in a locker room?

Now of it was a pin up of some half naked firefighters it might make sense as Lara might like that, and if they removed that I would cry censorship. But removing pin ups of the main character, yeah I get it.

Barlos2h ago(Edited 2h ago)

It's a game, and they were placed there for the audience. It's not real life. If it was, she wouldn't have fought a T-Rex now would she?

Yes, it's censorship but it's a bit less in your face. If they were in the original game, then they should have been in the remasters. It's bad enough that they have that ridiculous unnecessary warning at the start, but then they start removing things post launch. I don't care how small the change, they shouldn't be doing it. It's nothing but ESG pandering but in a subtle way.

Rebel_Scum45m ago

Look bro, if you have pictures of yourself naked on a bear skin rug up in your house let me tell you, its not normal.

SimpleDad1h ago

By the year 2030, this remaster collection will totally be changed and censored. Probably will remove Lara as a playable character. It's ridiculous. Glad that my family didn't buy this.
I still have Tomb Raider 2 PS1 as a memory.

CobraKai1h ago

It’s mentioned in the article, and it’s a point i 100% agree with, it’s the fact that they can censor a game after you buy it. That’s total bullshit.

Killer2020UK50m ago

Whilst it's an overreaction to say this has "ruined" the game, it's still problematic that this has happened post launch and for many, post-purchase.

I don't want someone to change a product for the worse after I've bought it. The same goes for implementing micro transactions after reviews.

I wonder why they did this? Nobody was kicking up a fuss as far as I'm aware.

maykhausonninh43m ago

Nobody was kicking up a fuss as far as I'm aware.

100°

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster Review – You Are Your Job, Apparently

Gary Green said: In a time where an enhanced, 3D remake of Final Fantasy III already exists, it’s hard to argue that Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster is the definitive version we were expecting. With Final Fantasy III already being the last in the series to be translated and make its way west, this is something of a slap in the face for the fans. Still, let’s not be disheartened. There may be many shortfalls in this edition of Final Fantasy III, however there’s no denying that this classic JRPG still holds some nostalgic value, even if it struggles to break away from its original hardware limitations.

Read Full Story >>
pslegends.com
FACTUAL evidence6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

It’s funny I’m seeing these articles about pixel remaster, and I just platinumed 1-4 within 8 days lol. I’ve been on FF5 for about a week now. Let’s just say 5 was the start of FF having content like crazy. I should have the plat within 2-3 days.

70°

Warframe's Protea Prime Access launches on all platforms on May 1st, 2024

"Digital Extremes are today very happy and proud to announce that Warframe’s next highlightly anticipated Prime form launches soon with Protea Prime Access arriving on all platforms on May 1st, 2024." - Digital Extremes.