ECG said:
One more reversal from Microsoft: Region-locking will be removed from the Xbox One as well - a change I doubt Microsoft will publicize on its own site, but reported by Giant Bomb.com.
Yeah, they announced that officially too on the MS website.
I think it's great that MS have done this, seen the **** storm and reversed the decisions - it shows that they're not quite so arrogant. However, you have to ask why they did it in the first place? How thought it was a good idea?
And Sony have still got away with bloody murder. They still have their own "Network Pass" system in place which is as bad as the MS DRM AND they haven't announced their downloaded product system sharing yet (the original PS3 was with five PS3 systems, now it's two). 3rd parties can still have their own DRM and locking on both systems too.
I think the worst issue for MS is that without the "always on", one of their major selling points down the line is in jeopardy - cloud processing on games.
If MS had enforced the always on thing, then they could say to third party developers "look, we have xx million consoles connected, you can use their processing power for you games". Now, they don't have such definitive figures.
I don't know how much cloud computing could have helped games, but with the specs on both consoles being so tight, ANY boost in performance could have helped distinguish XBOne games from the PS4's. It has to be coded in though, and that will require resources and increase development cost. EA, Activision et al aren't going to spend money on it if they can't guarantee the numbers required to make it work. So that's actually quite a sad change.
tomahawKSU said:
I don't understand the obsession with buying used, they charge maybe $5 less then the cost of new, and give you $5 for a BRAND NEW game. The game developers are going to make the no resale policy happen anyways, so may as well get used to it.
I don't know what it's like over in the US, but used games depreciate quite rapidly over here. I picked up my PS3 about 8 months after release and with it nabbed two release titles. One cost me £5, the other £10. Essentially, for my "new" console, I could have picked up four games for the cost of one brand new on.
Similarly, when I picked up my 360, I bought it with a handful of second hand games, none were more than £7 (the £7 one was the limited edition Forza 3 pack, with all the DLC and goodies intact).
THAT is why the obsession with buying used games. It's not about saving $5 a week after release, it's about being able to hoover up a mass of great games at ridiculously low prices several months down the line. Didn't want to risk $60 on Halo 4? Wait 12 months and grab it for $20. Even better, trade in an old game you no longer play for $10 and Halo 4 is suddenly only $10. What isn't there to love about it?
EA have said they won't stop used game sales - their model is shifting to in game purchases instead. Sony already do this with their PS+ service. They release a game under PS+ for free, but then put loads of DLC on sale, or release a load of new DLC - if you're getting a game for free/cheap, then you're more likely to spend a bit here and there on a virtual hat or something.
Nemesis Inferno said:
A difference of £5 is something people will take though... Especially in the current economic climate... Given the choice between paying £40 or £35 for a game someone has already played, it's kind of a non-brainer really...
Yeah, but games are always £5 cheaper in Asda anyway, so I only bother with Game and the like if they're selling stuff really cheap, or I have games kicking around doing nothing.