Dave Perry is obsessed with the issue of used games. His rants on the subject have been numerous, and now he's implicated GameStop and its ilk in the game industry's recent drive to pursue digital distribution. Claiming that his own digital service Gaiki has already made folks at GameStop "hate" him, Perry has basically implied that such services are the company's own fault.
"I've made so much money from their store, so I can't be mean to them about that," says Perry, talking about Gaikai. "I can be mean about their used game policy, because they're pushing the industry to digital distribution perhaps faster than it would have gone."
Perry will likely never shut up about used games until the world has gone fully digital, but I really wish he'd can it. We get it -- publishers love making vast amounts of money and they feel cheated that they can't continue making cash off something they already sold once. Boo hoo, poor publisher.
Once again, I'll reiterate what I've said many times before -- it's a fact of life and a part of business. Capitalism is great for the games industry when it's using the system to make a fat profit, but sadly you can't just cut out the bits of capitalism you don't like. Take the good with the bad, the bad in this case being that GameStop has a right to sell secondhand products, just like car dealerships and charity chops can sell used cars and clothes.
I wish publishers would just sit tight and wait for the digital age. We all know they're going to rape we customers with the fury of a thousand suns once they achieve complete market control, so the least they could do is shut up and take the hit while consumers still have a choice.
Contest:
2:00 PM on 07.15.2009
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Steam has an offline mode that allows you to play any games you've purchased when you don't have an internet connection, unless it's an online only game like TF2.
I also think Earthworm Jim was fucking lame.
The key in my view is co-existence. Physical and DLC.
You want to kill Gamestop's used games etc, then promote services like Goozex instead, yet it seems those in the industry are too greedy, just like Gamestop to do this. It has to be more money their way or else, which is bs. Why should we all get screwed twice?
For this reason, I'll be sticking to ebay and Goozex, because the industry does not have my (or your) best interests at heart.
From the website:
"Please note that you must connect to the Steam Network and test each of the games you would like to use in Offline Mode at least once to set up your account and configure Offline Mode on your machine."
What if you have an unexpected outage, and forgot to set up a few games?
You are right though, that is good enough, and I am rather steam-noobish, but my thoughts on DRM still stands: which tends to go hand in hand with digital purchases.
This also makes collecting games worthless. Why would you collect when there's no resell value for them? Game companies would be killing their own launch desirability with collector's editions and limited editions.
Game devs/pubs want to get paid twice, for a single product, like they are special fuckers or something. You lot will be getting paid twice from me, when hell freezes over. I support this industry with my money and time, so don't start fucking us over, otherwise, worse case scenario, I'll just quit supporting the industry with my money and play my collection.
Also, that stuff about us not owning stuff is cool in legal speak, but if that's the case, they should come build some shelves at mine, to store their games. Sorry, IMO, I OWN WHAT I BUY, regardless of any legal bs, only lawyers and judges ever understand.
Sure it does cost them some money. If 1 person got the game used instead of new, that's a missed sale. But let's let capitalism function, and instead focus on true thefts.
Piracy will cause more and more games to require online connections, online registrations and reg codes, and digital downloading via Steam or PSN/XboxLive. I don't think this is a bad thing at all actually, but I do miss owning a box.
They don't want people to be able to sell or trade their old games?
Movies, books, art and music all have used stores and people trade or borrow things directly with each other...why should video games be any different?
Eliminate used game stores, remove the ability to do used game trades and piracy levels will skyrocket.
Systems like Steam show how with a few kind words and a bit of PR people will happily relinquish their rights in return for nothing. I just love how great Steam is, like how if you own a game and buy a pack that contains it Valve basically just retain the extra serial key to sell to someone else. That's awesome isn't it? That way you don't have to go to the trouble of selling your extra copy on eBay or something - man, physical copies really suck.
Hey, Devs/Pubs of all shit games, I'm going to burn all of mine, if you still own them, come and claim them from me and my bonfire, since apparently I don't own them. Oh yeah, you can't can you, suckers.
There's an old saying, don't bite the hand that feeds you. I can live without the games industry (as I have other hobbies), but can the games industry truly live without me and my money? They should think carefully next time, that they wave that almighty DLC future flag.
Better not buy a used car or antiques then. Or go to Pawn America. Or log on to ebay. In fact, never buy any previously owned items, as they won't give money to the developers/inventors.
I think it's ridiculous that game companies are whining about used games while used items have been a part of our society for a long time. To rehash an old statement: Does marvel deserve a share every time a copy of spiderman trades hands?
Will used copies prevent new, revenue-generating sales? Occasionally, yes. But it's limited to the number of copies bought used and relinquished back to the merchandiser; however, that is turned into store credit, which can again be used for the purchase of new OR used games.
Perhaps if the larger game outlets agreed to only apply store credit to the purchases of new game titles? Might that be a bit more mutually beneficial?
Still vents away a lot of potential buyers by overpricing them or not makin gmuch good titles that seem to deserve your cash.
And the funny thing is they don't even realise they are treading a dangerous path, that could easily end up like the dot com crunch.
Ask yourselves, why did Rome fall? Simple greed can end it all.
I absolutely loathe how high these twats toss their noses in the air at people that dare pay a fair price for a game... as if people will EVER pay 60 dollars for 95% of the drivel the industry floods shelves with year in and year out.
And what about game rentals? They profit off of an initial batch of copies sold, sure, but those copies are in turn lent to people for pennies on the dollar in exchange for the full retail experience, over and over and over again, and then ultimately sold off used at a discounted price. The nerve! Imagine a world where every one of those renters *had* to pay 60 dollars to play the game... I can see their dollar-sign slot-machine eyeballs spinning as I type this.
Bottom Line: You will not inherit my money if you deprive me of the opportunity to wait and pay the price I want at retail or on the secondhand market. I simply won't buy your game at all.
Win?
keep the publishers in check I should hope. I don't think its wrong for
companies like Gamestop to sell used games, but they resell them at inflated
prices: I'd rather buy $60 for a new game then spend $5 less on a used one.
I don't even care for buying recent used games unless they will be at least
25% off.