10:37 PM on 11.12.2008
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Nintendo is packaging a unique code with each WiiSpeak peripheral that will allow users to download the WiiSpeak Channel for use, but also screws anyone who wishes to purchase it secondhand. The code is only good for one use and will be the only way to download the service that works with the peripheral.
This is the latest incidence of publishers striking back at used game sales, which is an epidemic crushing profits and putting the entire industry at a near standstill. The situation is reminiscent of the film industry and its dreadful collapse after rental stores opened their collective doors and killed consumer motivation to purchase or travel to the theatre to watch movies.
It is unknown at this point in time if users will be able to purchase new Wii Speak codes to get access to the channel in the event they purchase it used. But, Nintendo makes it clear in the accompanying booklet that codes “cannot be replaced by Nintendo or your retailer if it is lost or stolen.”
We send our condolences to GameStop and the shrieking woman who works for them.
[via MTV Multiplayer] |
|
| |
-icon.gif){kind=icon}
21 comments + 95764 views
Wow, biggest pile of horseshit I've heard all year. Holy shit tieing a perepheral to one system!? Fuck you Nintendo. Fuck your greedy asses with a 10 foot pole.
My grandma is gonna be pissed about this. She takes her casual gaming very seriously.
Next think you know they'll be tying Wii Remotes to invidivual consoles as well, because every console owner should buy four different remotes for each console, instead of just "bringing your own" when you visit a friend.
This sort of anti-consumer restriction is getting out of hand.
I'm typically in the minority defending Nintendo against bitchy complaints that flood these comment sections but they can straight up suck my cock on this. What the fuck are they thinking?
Hey, Nintendo.
Die in a fire. Thanks.
See you 'round.
Two things.
1: Why are they doing it with a peripheral? I didn't think gaming peripherals were big in the pre-owned market.
2: Why the hell am I seeing a banner add for the Book of Mormon? Didn't think we had a huge Mormon community here at Destructoid.
Honestly, this is not that retarded. Sheepherding consumers into one separate channel to not play games with one another is the equivalent of a fuckin' phone call with speakerphone on.
BUT!!
It is the trend/slippery slope I am most worried about.
No more crappy code stuff.
Case Closed.
ill be happy not buying this POS.. Skype is free and I'm pretty sure its going to work better... Glad we could make nintendo rich only to have them give us a nice bucket of shit
There will probably be one of Nintendo's "one game per peripheral" strategies. WiiFit had the balance board, Crossbow Training had the Zapper, and It's likely that the only game compatible with the WiiSpeak will be Animal Crossing.
Fuck you Nintendo, you used to be my favourite company, now I just feel abused and neglected.
I think second hand is the least of what they want to block - they want their money if someone gets a third party microphone instead of their overpriced one.
lol wut
"The situation is reminiscent of the film industry and its dreadful collapse after rental stores opened their collective doors and killed consumer motivation to purchase or travel to the theatre to watch movies."
I can't tell if this is sarcastic. Last I checked, plenty of people are still going to the theaters.
Wait I got the solution it's Google new voice chat and video. It was released just yesterday. http://www.google.com/mail/help/videochat/learnmore.html
@Excel
Ya, it's sarcasm.
This shit is getting out of hand. It's not just Nintendo, but this is a continuing stream of dick moves companies are pulling.
I dont like where the gaming industry is going, I really dont. I'm moving over to indie.
@ gamadaya
If it gives me multiple wives who go work all day while I sit and do shit I'll believe anything you want.
Who really cares? It will end up rotting away in a dusty closet after you play the one game for it like every other device Nintendo ever made.
Assuming second hand ones would still work with individual games that support the WiiSpeak microphone, this is 10% less egregious. If the channel is necessary, however, then I have yet another reason to not pick up Animal Crossing, personally.
If they make the channel available separately for say 500 Wii points, however, then I have little problem with this.
Dick move Nintendo.
...are you takin' a piss?
Fucking hell. Well, here is your DRM console gamers.
F you Nintendo
Nintendo: The hunger!!! More, more, MOOOOOORRRRREEEEE MONEY!!!!!!! FEEEED USSSSS!!! ALL OF YOUR MONEEEEEEEYYYY.....
I'm sure the hardware will still work fine without the channel, because they're certainly going to be a huge number of 3rd party games that will support the mic! Speaking of, who needs more than 512 megs of storage space on a console anyway?
Hmm, apparently it won't be available for download at all sans code. So you get a microphone that only works with a few specific products. Then again, that's really nothing new (Odama, Hey You! Pikachu, etc.)
So... no one's excited for Animal Crossing?
Gah, why can't companies realise that if they make a good game they won't have to worry about pre-owned sales.
I have only seen We ♥ Katamari once in game crazy.
(although the nice thing about Game Crazy, they also sell games that are out of circulation in Hollywood video, I managed to get a cheap copy of REZ)
Well played, Nintendo. Why don't you render all Wiis inoperable and email daily activation codes out to every wii owner's email address? Y'know, so folks can't purchase secondhand Wiis. :V
This is non issue for me, the wii speak was never a concideration.
So nintendo giving me even less incentive to bother with it is actauly helpful.
but it's still dickish though.
After 20 or so years, the NES is still pretty popular. People are still hunting down ROBs and Zappers and the like because, the console never really died. NES is still popular.
In 20 years, when someone wants to play that "retro" console the Wii, they won't be able to use this, and probably future, accessories.
In short, Nintendo seem to be taking steps to ensure the Wii doesn't last
I don't get it. It doesn't make the least sense to do it.
Wouldn't it be better marketing to release the channel for free, so people want to buy the WiiSpeak for that?
Also I have a brilliant idea for Nintendo: Next time include a one time only code with the WiiMotionPlus, that needs to be activated online to make the thing work on a specific Wii. Go Nintendo!
Nintendo. I don't even remember why I liked them anymore.
Wow, this is not even a game, it is a god damn peripheral.. This is TOO weak. There's a thing called consumer rights, I should be allowed to sell if I bought it, heck, I might not like it and give it away.. It is not like you can clone the hardware. This is WAY TOO WEAK. CONSUMERS UNITE, DON'T BUY THE GOD DAMNED THING. Sorry for shouting.
Ah I have a odd question here to all those complaining about this? Do any of you even give a fuck about the WiiSpeak Channel in the first place? Most people here seem like the type of people who don't even own a Wii. So you're all upset that if one day you happened to buy a Wii, and then if you buy a second hand WiiSpeak you won't get a code to download the WiiSpeak Channel. Which is just a Voice Chat Channel on the Wii you know?
Why do you even give a shit about this? The fact that something you don't want is possibly being taken away from you if you happen to buy it used upsets you? WiiSpeak only cost $30 new so its not like its all that expensive if you want the stupid Voice Chat Channel that bad. Which you'll probably never use even if you had it. This doesn't effect using it in games in the least its just for the WiiSpeak Channel. My god talk about people over-reacting over nothing here!
Hell yea Nintendo,stick it to the man! You're taking out Gamestop and Gamefly with a 1-2 combo!
NExt console cycle all controlers awill be locked to the system. preventing any hope of using the machine once all the hardware brakes for it in the future.
@PEICanada7: The reason people give a shit is because if nobody complained about it, Nintendo would think it's fnie to do it with more popular titles. Then other developers/publishers would see that the practice has become commonplace on the Wii with little resistance and start implementing shit like this in their games too.
Try not being so short sighted.
Laaaaaaaaaaame.
MOAR FUCKING CODES, HELL YAS!
I just have to ask this. What if your system breaks? Nintendo said that the code is only good for one system and they don't replace codes? I can sort of see lawsuits revolving around that.
Also do these companies realize that people trade in their stuff to pay for new stuff? If people cannot trade in items to go towards new stuff, that's about half their sales right there. Not only that, every game store company will be forced to either stop selling their items or charge $10-$20 above MSRP to actually make profits. I know game stores pay only about 1-2$ less then what the game costs, so they can't make profits off of new items. I know that GameStop (One of, if not the largest retailer of video games) cannot stay in business doing that. ALL of their profits come from used sales, not new.
In the long run all these game companies are screwing themselves over. I know Gamestops ideology lately in stuff like this is if they can't make a profit off of it, they won't sell it. Nintendo will basically need to sell this off of their site and their site only cause Gamestop wont touch it.
@Timmeh
No they wont, they'd all go out of business. NO game company can afford to sell their games.
the remotest possibility of me purchasing this game has just left the building.
Well, I wasn't going to buy this anyway. But now I'm not going to buy it even if they release a game worth using it with. Why? If this continues and games start to implement this then no games will become classics! You won't be able to go back and play them in 10-20 years, that is assuming your console breaks within that time. I don't like the fact that Gears of War 2 is doing something similar. With the red ring of death theres no way those maps are going to survive time.
@ Timmeh
Yeah I'm so sure the people at Nintendo come to destructoid to read you're complaints. Being short sighted is you acting like this matters on the Wii. People like you are worried over this happening on games like Gears 2, RockBand 2, and NBA Live where you get a code to get certain features, and can't get said features if you buy the games used. This is nothing like that its a freaking Voice Chat Channel on the Wii's Menu it has nothing to do with the games themselves. Animal Crossing is working just fine right now, and this WiiSpeak Channel doesn't come out till December so obviously it works without it.
Games on the Wii are never going to be like the 360 with code based incentives of getting map-packs because the Wii doesn't have any place to store them as it has no hard drive. So yet again this is just displace anger because of something that's happening on the 360. People freaked out when Pay To Play on the Wii was announced just the same, and now its fine. People know it only means DLC in the games, and not pay to play them online like you have to on the 360. So I would rather be short sighted than over-exaggerate on something with no facts (just wide BS speculation) to back it up.
I don't buy anything that has a restrictive form of DRM or does not provide me with the ability to resell if I so choose. If I bought it, I own it and, therefore, should be able to resell it. I typically buy brand new, but I want the option as a consumer to resell the item if I decide that I don't like the game or for some other reason.
So Nintendo, EA, and others can sit there and think they are making more money by preventing resell. What they are really doing is pissing off their core consumer, preventing sales that would have otherwise transpired, and in no way hindering the pirates out there that are the real ones stealing everything.
@PEICanada7:
We give a damn because if people don't voice their concerns, they'll do it with other products that we might care about.
Sounds to me like they know the thing will suck so they are making sure that the second market does not flood with them. Way to have confidence in your product Nintendo.
What the fuck, I'm not buying this.
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
As a person who almost always buy used games, I think that Nintendo can just burn to death. I wasn't planning to buy a used WiiSpeak, but when this start happening to games, i'm fucked.
Also, Skype for the win. I f Nintendo really want's my money, it really should start acting like a decent company again.
Returning Dtoiders: login now to post a comment
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just Create an avatar now - it's fast and free: PLUS you also get your own gaming blog and begin posting stories and uploading videos in our open community area that may also appear on our home page. Sign up and we'll guide you through it, it's easy and 100% anonymous.