Publishers and their used games gripes.

[Hobie-wan]

This gen, developers give you a medal to add to your e-dick...

And the sad thing is that for so many people that feel the need to compensate, that number does add, um size.

[gtmtnbiker]

The problem is that Gamestop heavily encourages all your dollars to flow through their used game system. With the Edge card you get more money for selling them games and get a discount on the used inventory. So rather than trading in an old game to buy a new game many people instead just buy a used game (since it's cheaper). Many of the games on the shelves have been through 3+ owners. It's a fantastic business model for Gamestop, but it does give publishers the shaft.

Of course Gamestop wants to sell their used games. Otherwise, what's the point of them giving you cash/credit for a game if they're not going to sell them and getting stuck with the stock?

I remember the early days of VHS movies. Renting was pretty popular. New movies were $39 & up (1980 timeframe). Renting was $2 per night. Movie studios didn't see any of the profits from video game renting. Fast forward to now, movies are a lot cheaper where many people would rather buy then rent. Pay-Per-View has the latest movies that have not been released to HBO/Showtime or to DVD yet.

The idea of requiring used game owners to buy an online pass for $10 to help publishers recoup some of their costs is intriguing. Has anyone seen the effects of this yet? Is the used game price much cheaper than before?

[Regginmad]

At the end of the day the achievement blocking might entice a few people to buy new, but its not going to effect the people who rationalize more games bought new mean less games bought in general.

I'm still against taking away content that was there before. I'd be more in favor of new content. You don't even have to look to the greater gaming community at large to see that is a bad idea. Just look at the retro enthusiast community, how excited would you be to see that stack of NES carts at the garage sale if some of the content was locked out?

[Retrogamer0001]

More than four years later and we have not seen this type of behavior from developers and hopefully we never do. I was somewhat surprised that Sony and Microsoft didn't end up implementing something along these lines, though god knows Microsoft tried something pretty similar.

[SirGawain]

More than four years later and we have not seen this type of behavior from developers and hopefully we never do. I was somewhat surprised that Sony and Microsoft didn't end up implementing something along these lines, though god knows Microsoft tried something pretty similar.

And I don't think they will. Used games are so ingrained into modern gaming that making a game that works for one system only would probably hurt them in the long run. I know I wouldn't buy it. What if my system died? Would I have to buy another system and game too?