Luls!

The "share" button is ripped straight from Apple. I doubt it's legit, but it's probably fairly accurate regardless. Honestly can't think of anything a little touchpad like that could be useful for.

Probably fake? I dunno.

If it is that, the touchpad is stupid.

Edit: Concave analogue sticks would be an improvement, unless you happen to have concave thumbs. The positioning of the sticks on the Xbox pad is better too.

Microsoft’s next console will require an Internet connection in order to function, ruling out a second-hand game market for the platform.

...

It is believed that games purchased on disc will ship with activation codes, and will have no value beyond the initial user.

It's a positive move IMO.

Not really. At all.

I like buying second hand games and live on a yacht, so an always on connection is tricky.

If games still dropped in price at a decent rate after initial release it might not have much practical effect (assuming you don't want to loan your games to a mate or play them anywhere but your own fucking home of course) but I'd worry that Xbox games would now artificially retain their value when shops no longer had to compete with a second hand market. We'll see...

Yeha, KC said the same.

What about in 10 or 15 years time when new games aren't available? It's totally wiping out the retro market.

http://www.gog.com/catalogue

Retro alive and well.

Actually, isn't there some kind of EU 'first sale' ruling the means you have to be able to resell something? We were talking about how that ruling was applied to digital goods in a thread here a while back but that was because there was noises of changes to force allowing resale of digital goods, so does that mean physical goods are already covered and need to be resell-able? Or am I confusing 14 different things here and just generally being an idiot?

Now of course it remains to be seen if Microsoft use the new console system to rob people blind or create a fairer game pricing structure, the jury is out on that one.

Actually, isn't there some kind of EU 'first sale' ruling the means you have to be able to resell something? We were talking about how that ruling was applied to digital goods in a thread here a while back but that was because there was noises of changes to force allowing resale of digital goods, so does that mean physical goods are already covered and need to be resell-able? Or am I confusing 14 different things here and just generally being an idiot?

If games still dropped in price at a decent rate after initial release it might not have much practical effect (assuming you don't want to loan your games to a mate or play them anywhere but your own fucking home of course) but I'd worry that Xbox games would now artificially retain their value when shops no longer had to compete with a second hand market. We'll see...

Conclusion

By accepting the doctrine of exhaustion for digital copies of games, the CJEU decision does change some important parameters regarding the sale of digital games. However, at present it does not mean that publishers cannot take steps to limit or exclude second-hand sales of games any more. Things may just get a little more complicated.

If it means that I don't have to put the disk in to play every time, then I'm happy with that one.

Just look at Steam and the PC game market, where second hand sales were eliminated years ago.

Also isn't Sony going to install a NFC chip into every CD with the aim of doing the same thing?

Also I wouldn't like to have to design a drive that could handle a far from equally weighted plastic disc at massive speeds without things going to shit.

You wouldn't, you'd design a ring-shaped chip.

You wouldn't, you'd design a ring-shaped chip.

Instead of a ring chip could you not use an onion ring?

How is it wrong. When games come out they are over priced? The developers have already been paid for the game as it must have bee bought new once?
So you are saying that we should not buy second hand cars as not a penny is going to the manufacturers?

Well for starters I don't think games are overpriced, as someone who well remembers paying £30 for Amiga games that came on a single floppy disc, or £60+ for SNES games that turned out to be shit and could be completed in a day, I don't think that £40 for blockbuster 360 titles that can deliver weeks if not months of entertainment is at all overpriced.

(Even going back to the Speccy and C64 eras, there were games that cost over a tenner, and if you wanted the game on a couple of floppy discs for C64 instead of tape, you'd be looking at £14.99, and this is in the mid to late 80s!)

Moreover, second hand cars (and second hand lots of things) are intrinsically different to second hand console games.

A new car is better than a used car, you get to own it brand new, you get a warranty, you get to feel smug 'cause you've got this year's brand new model, you don't have to worry about previous owners having picked their noses and stuck the boogers to the underside of the driver's seat - you pay a premium for a better product, and there will always be people willing to pay that premium 'cause they like having new cars.

However, when you start talking about console games you're just talking about a load of 1s and 0s, yes you may need a physical disc to deliver those 1s and 0s to your console, but fundamentally there's no difference whatsoever between a brand new console game and a used console game, except the used one is cheaper and the developer/publisher sees no revenue from it whatsoever. The 'owner experience' is identical.

When you have stores like GAME selling pre-owned copies of brand new AAA games for a fiver less than a new copy, and give them equal if not more prominence on the shelves, it's easy to understand why the publishers want to cut that shit out.

Games are cheap, in real terms games have never delivered more bangs for bucks than they do now.

There is absolutely nothing to moan about if pre-owned gets killed for the next-gen, mercenary retailers and cheapskate players have hammered the nails into the pre-owned coffin themselves.

The thing is that software has a licence attached to it so it's different to anything physical (stealing one is a cream, the other is a civil matter)

Malc

Hmm, I am more than happy with the PS3 pad. In fact, I'm pretty much happy with any pad (except for the Nintendo 64 pad, actually). I prefered the big Xbox pad, and everyone hated that.

So probably best that normal people don't listen to me.

The thing is that software has a licence attached to it so it's different to anything physical (stealing one is a cream, the other is a civil matter)

Malc