Game Boyz writes: "With only days to go before the start of the NBA season, EA Sports delivers b-ball gamers their annual NBA fix with NBA Live 09. This year EA Canada set out to make a significantly improved basketball game as NBA Live 08 did not exactly set the world on fire. 08 made some significant leaps over the abysmal NBA Live 07; however the franchise has not produced a slam dunk basketball game in quite some time. This year EA promised an improved game with new features, improved animations and more depth than any other NBA game on the market. Needless to say, I was skeptical yet curious to see if the new additions would bring the series back to prominence. You just know the pressure was on for the development team to finally deliver a next-generation basketball game which would make fans, the media and EA jump for joy. Did they succeed? You will just have to continue reading to find out."
Techtorial: Amazon has updated its warehouse giving away big discounts to used games with prices starting from 22 cents going up.
Publishers insist on devaluing used games at their own peril; a strong secondary market supports a healthy primary market, and packing games with one-time-use codes for certain content erodes that relationship.
I'm not convinced that there's a major problem with this policy. Do you think this will dissuade people from buying games at all? People who buy used still get the core game; new buyers simply get an added bonus. If the used buyers end up loving the game and want to pay for the extra content, they can. If they bought the game used for $40 and end up paying $10 for the extra content, they're still saving money.
And if the policy does in fact drive people to buy more games new, couldn't one argue that including codes in new games is important to new game sales?
Personally, I prefer this option to other measures to curb second-hand sales, like excessive DRM or increased prices.
That's my only real issue with this policy; the fact that they claim it's for "server maintenance" or whatever BS excuse they are coming up with. As it was said in the article, when the first guy trades it in and the second guy picks it up it all balances out. I wouldn't really have any issues with it if they weren't lying to us. Just tell the truth, you are charging because you are tired of getting hosed out of money on used game sales.
The video game market is so huge that it shocks me that some Publishers are complaining about lost profits, and going so far as to try and discourage people from buying a game used.
Stephen King has more used books circulating around than almost any other author, and I have never heard him complain. If people are making games as an art form, then isn't the point for people to play them any way they can?
Amazon.com has bundled "NBA Live 09", "The Bigs" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" Playstation 3 video games into 1 $20 package. That's around $7 per game and approximately $30 discount if you would buy these games separately.
