Used Games Block (official?)

[GrandMasterson]

This is fucking bullshit.

What about bringing your game over to a friend's house, or simply lending them a game? Are you going to have to lend them your whole console too? Buy a season pass to play a game you own? If this ends up being true, then I say fuck the next console gen. What if DVD/Blu-ray player developers pulled a stunt like this?

The gaming industry really does keep getting worse with this criminal DRM garbage. I really hope this turns out to be nothing.

 

[Gesture Required Ahead]

This is only appealing to the rich man. The poor men will suffer.And remember, we play FGs.WE'RE the poor men.

 

[CptXecution]

Do people understand why companies are doing this? Or are they just talking shit about it because they just want to. Only "retailer" that will be effected is GameStop in a major way, and GameStop is shit anyways. This is good for the gaming industry, lots of hard working people out there.

Sony would be screwing themselves if they screw over a company like Gamestop. GS accumulates OVER 70% of NEW game sales.

For anyone that has a hard time with math, that's more than EVER PLACE combined, with that said, off a new $60 game GS only takes home $5 per game, gaming companies NEED to havegames sold at $60 because they virtually don't make money off of systems, but that's also why you see Sony/M$ making Slim versions of their systems.

All in all, this is the last thing that would happen, worst that happens is everything goes digital, but then you need to invent a fail proof system for that too.

 

[PND OmegaK]

This would probably encourage piracy.

 

[BenGmanUk]

Agree with Rokinlobster

Its not that black and white. Games developers/publishers continually have a squeeze put on them by large retailers which affects their margins hugely, as to not have their games in somewhere like Tescos (Walmart equivalent) is commercial suicide. Its wrong that its the retailers that make profits multiple times from the same game when developers only make it once.

DRM is a pain for users but if developers don't make money then we will see less games available in the market as well as less people making them, which is only bad for us.

 

[Two-One]

Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but seems like every time this is posted some where, people always leave out the part that this is the same tech that will be able to see if you need to buy an online pass since more and more publishers are using 1 time use codes for online play.

There is no way a console maker will make it where you can't play used games. Only way that could possibly happen if they went completely digital.

 

[STB Sgt Reed]

Agree. It's not like they're locking it because they don't want you to play it, for purposes of streamlining delivery to the player, content is locked, because it's DLC.

No, I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's content that's pulled directly out of the main game. It was content that was developed to be with the game at launch. ALL it is a why to get them an extra dollar if you want the "full" game. If you buy a game, everything on the disc should be accessible. Downloadable Content, should be just that, downloadable AFTER the fact.

 

[Euphoric]

No, I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's content that's pulled directly out of the main game. It was content that was developed to be with the game at launch. ALL it is a why to get them an extra dollar if you want the "full" game. If you buy a game, everything on the disc should be accessible. Downloadable Content, should be just that, downloadable AFTER the fact.

At least read the link, FFS. -.-

 

[aj1701]

No, I'll tell you exactly what it is. It's content that's pulled directly out of the main game. It was content that was developed to be with the game at launch. ALL it is a why to get them an extra dollar if you want the "full" game. If you buy a game, everything on the disc should be accessible. Downloadable Content, should be just that, downloadable AFTER the fact.

No, dlc on disc is not content meant to be available at launch. Thats why you have to wait and pay separately for it. If course the norm is to build it at the same time, its cheaper to do that way. If devs followed the restrictions you place in them either thered be no dlc or extra content, the game would include everything butbe more expensive, or the dlc would be more expensive.

Anyway this thread isn't about dlc its about the right to resell your game, two different things.

 

[Euphoric]

Not to beat a dead horse, but, I asked the Epic Dev I talked to, that I was having a discussion on this, and he showed me two things.

First,

"The U.S. Copyright Office took the position that the doctrine should not apply to digital copies by stating that "[t]he tangible nature of a copy is a defining element of the first-sale doctrine and critical to its rationale"

and second, he linked me this, to read,

http://www.t3.com/news/sony-pre-owned-games-block-patent-sees-gamestop-stock-drop

I will stand by my statement, and trust my sources.

Anyway,you guys can continue debating.

 

[aj1701]

"The U.S. Copyright Office took the position that the doctrine should not apply to digital copies by stating that "[t]he tangible nature of a copy is a defining element of the first-sale doctrine and critical to its rationale"

The key part to that is digital copies; that means if you buy from PSN and download the game. Which makes perfect sense; if you download, how is it possible to ensure that you lose access to your copy of the game when you resell it. Based on that statement (and rational thinking), disc based copies of the game would fall under the First Sale doctrine; and they do, and the DMCA specifically covers this IIRC.

As to the stock price, yes, this patent, if implemented, would threaten GameStop as their primary income is the used game market. Buy a game from a game for $9 and then resell it for $55 while the new copy is $60 nets a lot of profit; there's no real money in pure retail and so they milk the used market. So anyway it makes perfect sense that such a patent would make investors nervous about GameStop. Even the article you linked states that this is an overreaction to the patent.

 

[Euphoric]

You can keep arguing, I'll believe him tho. Veteran in the industry, giving me a direct response on their official Epic Games Forums.

And I think he means digital as in the code on the disc, but, keep trying. .

I'll ask him tho.

And if you're so gungho on defending that GameStop is not in the wrong as I've been told, then what's exactly is the Game Industries issue with them and second hand retailers? You think the industry just wants to pick fights, Lol.

 

[aj1701]

You can keep arguing, I'll believe him tho. Veteran in the industry, giving me a direct response on their official Epic Games Forums.

And I think he means digital as in the code on the disc, but, keep trying. .

I'm not arguing, you just don't understand what you're reading or the technology involved. FYI, music CDs contain digital data. Those also clearly fall under first doctrine. You do know what tangible means right?

And if you're so gungho on defending that GameStop is not in the wrong as I've been told, then what's exactly is the Game Industries issue with them and second hand retailers? You think the industry just wants to pick fights, Lol.

LMAO, of course the game industry doesn't like second hand. It's been that way since copyright has existed. Publishers have been trying to get the second hand market outlawed forever too, for the same reason. Despite its name, there's no such inherit "copyright," it exists only in law to encourage content creators to create content for the public good. You can't literally own ideas, but if we don't allow ideas to be monetized, people won't create works of art, novels, or video games. So we created copyright... but at the core of copyright is the notion of the exclusive copying rights serving a public good, which is why copyrights are supposed to expire.

Please go educate yourself, especially about the First Sale doctrine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine

This battle the game industry is waging is not even new, its the same battle that's been going on since the printing press was invented. The idea is that we balance the desire of copyright holders with the public good, which is what the FSD does.