Most facepalming article on Kotaku EVER

[AppleQueso]

Hell if I know

[lisalover1]

Okay, that first article was nothing, THIS article is sensationalism at its crudest: http://kotaku.com/5743755/is-buying-used-video-games-worse-than-stealing-them

[YoshiEgg25]

What the fuck.

[Flake]

Okay, that first article was nothing, THIS article is sensationalism at its crudest: http://kotaku.com/5743755/is-buying-used-video-games-worse-than-stealing-them

I can kinda understand people who try to defend piracy as a victimless crime. I mean, those people are wrong but I understand where they get their delusions from.

But to say that buying USED games is worse than just stealing the damn things? Remind me to write GM a check whenever I sell my car. Or send GE a receipt when I sell my microwave. Better itemize my old paperbacks to make sure Penguin gets their fair share when I sell my books. I hope the author of that article is incapable of breeding.

[YoshiEgg25]

And I'm sick of publishers and developers saying it should be illegal. Nintendo lost a lawsuit to Blockbuster over game rentals in 1987. That's no better than used game sales.

Shut up and lower the cost of games. Maybe then I'll pay to buy Call of Duty 12 new. ⌐_⌐

[flamepanther]

I don't understand buying recent games used. At GameStop, they're barely any cheaper than the brand new copies. At least with old games, used is about all you've got, plus the prices go way down.

[Flake]

I don't understand buying recent games used. At GameStop, they're barely any cheaper than the brand new copies. At least with old games, used is about all you've got, plus the prices go way down.

It is all about the supply and demand curve. At any given price point, there is a specific level of demand. Lower the price even a dollar or two and that demand will raise quite quickly.

Gamestop uses simple rules of economics to do what they do. In terms of recently released games, they would not be that hard to undercut. But publishers are more than happy to let gamestop be their middle man.

Hence...not an ounce of pity for the games industry.

[Breetai]

And I'm sick of publishers and developers saying it should be illegal. Nintendo lost a lawsuit to Blockbuster over game rentals in 1987. That's no better than used game sales.

They were successful in Japan. Nintendo tried the same thing in Japan around that time (to stop the rental of Famicom games), and actually won. Game rentals have been illegal in Japan ever since. Yet, movie rentals and music CD, cassette and LP* rentals are just fine.


*not that you can find cassettes and LPs to rent anymore.

On the plus side, it is very easy to find used games in great condition in Japan. Lots of people buy new games, beat them in a few weeks, and then sell them while they can still get 75% or so of their money back. It's almost like renting...
Some game shops have even advertised that if you return a game console you bought within a certain time period (a week or two), you can get 80% of your money back. Again... it is basically renting! One chain even got sued over doing that, as it was essentially breaking the game rental law.

[jfrost]

^ Renting being illegal does explain the higher price of games over there.

[ZeroAX]

Okay, that first article was nothing, THIS article is sensationalism at its crudest: http://kotaku.com/5743755/is-buying-used-video-games-worse-than-stealing-them

Wow. Talk about being bribed by the industry to post mind numbing articles like that.

I'm not going to comment on the problem of gamestop. There are countless ways to counter them. But the gaming press saying this? FFS get some integrity Kotaku.