re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

This exactly.

I also prefer new games but will take a chance on a used game that I might have not tried otherwise buy getting it cheap or thru a trade on Goozex. This has actually caused me to buy a sequel for a game that I might have otherwise never considered.

It would be tough for me to consider buying the Nextbox if it implements this kind of technology. That is hard for me to say since I consider myself a minor Xbox fanboy that has been on board since day 1.

Unless they plan on making all new games 10 bucks or less (if they put this block on used games), I see the market ever more shifting to more casual, cheaper games on smartphones as they have already been going.

This would be a disastrous decision for Microsoft and I can't see it lasting. I also believe it would cause piracy to jump thru the roof. People will disconnect from Live and then play their solo, pirated games offline on their hacked Nextboxes. Only hardcore COD/Halo type people will still buy games new and will only stay connected to play with each other for that one particular game. Most everything available on Live (other than group gaming) I can get elsewhere.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Publishers want them to suffer; they view those people as thieves making money off of their work. They want to try and get as many people as possible to buy new. It's similar to how the music industry got music rental banned, and how the video industry is creating rental windows and rental discs without bonus features.


As MoviePage and Deftones point out, the publishers don't really consider the ancillary benefits of having a used game market. I earlier suggested that they could drop the prices of new releases if they can't be resold, but it's anyone's guess if they would actually do that if an authorization system was implemented.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I would not use a system that implements this. As Deftones said I rarely buy used games, but i want to have the option of selling it if I want to. I should have the option of selling my physical property that I legally paid for if I want.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

MS is also forgetting there's still a large percentage of people that have no internet hooked up on their systems. If all games require to be online for the activation, those people are fucked.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

New prices would need to drop significantly for this to even be possibly accepted by the average consumer.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I'm not buying into any of these rumors. The blu-ray rumor comes up ever year about this time. It's not going to happen. While it does have more space than a DVD the read speeds are much less. This is why the PS3 requires games to be installed to the HD. I'd rather see an SSD in the nexbox. Plus there is no guarantee that the nexbox will be backwards compatible either. Making the used game issue a non factor.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I always get frustrated with talks about used games, because I don't buy used games, but I see the benefit for both consumers AND publishers...

The used game market helps spread games to more people...long after the first few weeks of a game. If a publisher was to sell 3 million copies of Gears of War...and they made it so that not only could you not sell your copy...but you could not even loan your copy out....When Gears 2 comes out guess how many copies they will probably sell? Under 3 million because not everyone will like Gears 1...

The truth is Gears 2 sold more copies than one...and after it came out Gears 1 sold more copies...and then Gears 3 came out and it is on pace to sell more copies...I don't think for ONE second that Gears 2 or 3 would have sold as well if not for people borrowing it from friends and buying it used....

Everything I am reading says that games are selling more copies than EVER before...NEW COPIES! It is bullshit that they want you to believe that used copies are hurting them. I think the used market has helped games thrive WELL beyond their normal initial window of success..

I have 3 solid friends who I play with. When we first discovered Left 4 dead...I talked us all into buying a copy...2 of us bought it new...the others used....They would have sold ZERO fucking copies if there was no used version...

Just a brief google search and I found this..

in 1996 74.1 million units were sold of games...

In 2010 232.5 million units...

From 2005 to 2010, the entertainment software industry's revenue more than doubled. Over the same period, the entire U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) only grew by about 16%.
The entertainment software industry added nearly $5 billion to the U.S. GDP in 2009.

I am not saying used games did this..I am saying they helped...it helped get more people playing games...more people trying new games...and more people then buying part 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 NEW when that came out..

Greed...that is all it comes down to...

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Blu-ray rumors always come up in January? That seems odd to me :lol: I still think Blu-ray is more likely then any other option, as it certainly won't be DVD still. I'm not sure what an SSD has to do with the media format, but while it would awesome for load times (its awesome loading games on my PC) I doubt the price will be that much lower in a year or so to be feasible as a mass storage option.

I don't see what backwards compatibility has to do with the used game issue either.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

The PS3 only has a 2x Blu-ray drive. They have 12x Blu-ray drives now, which have significantly faster read speeds than the PS3 and the Xbox 360's 12x DVD drive:
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/profil...9&user=skektek

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Yeah, plus this thing is clearly going to be marketed as a media center, so of course they will have a blu-ray (probably 3d compatible too I would guess).

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Yep. This is the only way I'd give consideration to this system. Drop the price of games to less than $40 and I'd say I mint not be as pissed off.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

No way this happens. No way -- it's a business model killing idea similar to what Netflix just did to themselves. Microsoft get's NOTHING by doing this other than headaches and backlash. Publishers are the only ones to benefit and consumers will just hold out until prices drop or just not buy at all.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

All of these are good comments on both sides. I worry that if these ideas come to fruitition, that it could potentially lead to a game market crash. As many mentioned, there are a lot of us who buy used games. For some, it is the only way they even play them. I'm about half and half.

But if forced to go to an all-new format, I think the major thing that might occur is that I would not try out anything except AAA titles and possibly some AA titles. Like Skyrim or the Grand Theft Autos of the world. Those would still get played. But the smaller titles, You Don't Know Jack or Splatterhouse to name a couple, I would have never tried them out. It could lead to a scenario where smaller titles or publishers find it even harder to enter the market.

It comes down to greed, video game companies are slowly becoming encompassed with the same greed that music publishers have enjoyed for years. And where is the music industry right now? Basically in the tank. I buy almost all of my cds used, and only buy new cds off a few local & favorite bands that deserve my dollar.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

I don't know how large a percentage have no internet. 73% of Xbox 360 users were connected to the internet in April 2010, and that was almost two years ago:
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/04/13/st...ystems-in-u-s/

By the time the Next Xbox is put on the market, likely another 2 years or so, the percentage of customers who won't have internet is likely going to be small. And if MS and publishers delay implementation of activation until a few years after the system's release, then it could be a near nonexistant portion of the userbase not online.

However, MS could always have a phone activation method as well, like they do with Windows and Office, for those still not connected.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

It would be terrible for your podcast. You would only be able to talk about demos ;)

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

And mojitos.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

This is what many of the publishers fail to understand. The existence of a used market props up the new market. If used games go away, you will see a precipitous drop in the new game market.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Correction: not quite virgin mojitos.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Exactly. So you see my concern. :lol:

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

First, this needs to be "optional". I use quotes because I think at the end everyone will be using it.

Publishers care about the used market. They see that's a big market, we are talking billions. Right now they don't receive anything from that market. Say if they could get $10 from every transaction that could amount for something. And of course they need to be rational. $10 to "activate" a new/recent release used game may be fine. If the game is a year or less older the activation fee should be less or even zero.

Finally, I would love to have something like Steam, where you can load your game several days before it's released, and then it activates at the date when it's released. I would do that for the big games of course, something like 1 or 2 times a year.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

That would be digital distribution which is mutually exclusive from the used market anyway.

If we're talking games that need 25-50gb BD discs, eventually multiple of those, then you're going to need some sizable storage options or a thick and persistent pipe (that's what she said) for "the cloud". SSD won't cut it and until this HDD shortage clears up, it'll be pricey as fuck.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Not to mention that the trend in ISPs is bandwidth caps. Canadian's will be screwed yet again in that scenario.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

Exactly --- and Microsoft does not. They have zero equity in creating a system where you can only play a "new" game on their console. What's in it for them other than sabotaging their own hardware sales? Sony would be idiotic to not capitalize on this.

My guess is that publishers will continue to push the "content" via an activation code thing they do now or go down the Steam route.

re: The official Xbox 360 thread - the console of choice on nuclear submarines
 

And rural american locations. My cable connection goes a decent speed but we are capped pretty bad.