Not what most gamers want regarding Future consoles.

Edge magazine and online connection

Next-gen Xbox games will require an internet connection in order to function and block second-hand use, according to a new Edge report.

Seems both Sony and Microsoft are hell bent in killing the second hand market when it comes to games,not only will this kill most of the high street game shops as we know them,but i for one will not be buying the same quantity of games i do at present if I'm lumbered with a game that fails to meet my expectations and becomes a useless coaster with no trade in value whatsoever.

I can see the retail industry dying in the next few years and all future distribution will be downloaded from the stores.

We have already had major problems with Game last year and Blockbusters are shutting shops each week and HMV is in financial meltdown.

Seriously can you actually see where we will be buying actual retail hard copies of games in the future given whats happening on the high street and Microsoft and Sony intentions regarding second hand copies of games.

Big problem with this is they are going to have to come up with at least terabyte hard drive and not the meagre amount that we have at the moment and what expected with the new next gen consoles which isn't much.

Edited by time2die (Wed 06-Feb-13 13:28:21)

The high street has been dying for year's, HMV/Waterstones/Game have not adapted fast enough to online retail.
The console companies have wanted a slice of the second hand market for years as its lost revenue to them, if they got a cut then they would be happy to let it continue- why u have game reactivation keys etc.
HDD are not a problem to add to any console, they will just further add to the cost, the main problem with online distrubtion is you need a broadband network that can deliver- for alot of the UK it does not atm but come 2015/2016 when the first phase of the BDUK funding has finished then it will have improved greatley.

It�s one thing having nails put in the coffin another actually supplying the nails and hammering them in.

The market was there for seconds because of how it was. I also won�t be buying as many either. For example; absolute no way I would have purchased BF3, saw it last year in blockbuster for £4.99, ok at that price of Mag I gave it a go, played it for a bit and actually liked it then went on to buy online pass, premium etc. Anyways some months later I did purchase a new BF3 on another format, however that�s another topic. Without that second in the first instance no way would i have purchased it.

Not really made up my mind if its really worth investing in the next batch of consoles they are becoming strange variants of another fruit named product, perhaps we could call them the Exeter Cross & Shinsei.

Im all for next generation consoles and can not be bothered with the hassle of PC gaming and the constant patches and upgrades required.

But personally i prefer a hard copy of my games and not a digital download that I'm lumbered with once i have finished with it.

If they have a trade in value for that game i bought digitally and they offer me x,y,z for it in a similar way that shops do trade in then that would be and ok idea.

But i doubt that will happen because there greedy as it is,there are games out there in the shops second hand and brand new for prices ranging from a few pounds to a full retail price of £39,99,but for some reason Sony in there wisdom thinks it can charge £59.99 for the same game in a digital format.

Beggars belief to be honest and i have seen this on the store on many occasions,if anything the game should be way cheaper and not £20 dearer .

Patches and PC, I read with amusement your other thread on the time it takes the PS3 to do its stuff and the mathematical lesson, its true it�s awfully slow and I was quite glad my obese PS3 had the yellow death in early December, though the 360 dash load is getting near windows load these days and leaves tapping the thumb stick. I have not got anything against consoles I have always purchased consoles ever since flogging my Amiga gear to fund a Playstation.

Greed, yes you�re right, however don�t think they will get anywhere near the market share of seconds as they think they will. I believe the money seconds generated will just disappear as quickly as it started. I quite enjoy, in sadistic way, the agonising of which game/s to trade in for further funding of purchases. There is no way I would spend £59.99 on a game.

No doubt this one purchase one console is led by game developers too. Can�t help feel the golden age has been, time for a new brand console.

Definitely not going to buy the xbox now
I think killing second hand sales will kill console sales as well

I may well stick to my PS3

Yeah suppose your right as we are now patching games on consoles regular as clockwork,even when you have just taken the wrapper of.

Basically a lot of this is done automatic and i don't have to search mirrors for the download like i did many moons ago with PC gaming.

It may well be easier now i don't know,i just like what consoles give me as i have got older and i can not be bothered to be tethered to some desk in some office as you need far more space when PC gaming and its another reason why i packed it up.

If they went purely digital in a few years and i think this is where we are going here then i think game sales will halve .

I'm just curious as to what 20th Feb brings and Microsoft reply.

Edited by time2die (Thu 07-Feb-13 00:09:03)

Indeed the 20th will be interesting; I would hope Microsoft is leading Sony up the path of doom with internet connection only and killing the second hand market off. The one that fails to do this gets my money.

Any one of those Company's that makes that decision to block the second hand market needs to fail and be a Gaming outcast.

And the person/persons responsible for such a shambolic decision sacked on the spot.

Personally i don't think neither would have the balls to make such a drastic,stupid incompetent decision.

Game has a very large chunk of money invested in 2nd hand games, last year it was something like over £100 Million they made with 2nd hand,

Also lets not forget game rentals as well with Lovefilm, Blockbuster etc.

If anybody goes down this route they will have to take on their major distributors including Amazon as they own Lovefilm.

It could be that the new console is released at the Supermarkets as the rest of the industry blacklists them.

Given that GAME and EA have had a long running disagreement it is very easy to see how it could happen.

As for me I think I will drop consoles full stop and go back entirely to PC gaming, the higher cost of console games were offset by them having some 2nd hand value but I might as well get my games off steam if that is what MS is proposing anyways for their console.

Interesting read and Logic

if happens death nail for xbox.

If ps4 follows suit then death nail to the gaming industry.

Agreed and i think its just gossip and malicious rumours,they would be shooting themselves in the foot if either or both done this.

Saying that if one of them did then thats a win for the other.......Hands Down.

In reply to a post by time2die:

Agreed and i think its just gossip and malicious rumours,they would be shooting themselves in the foot if either or both done this.

Saying that if one of them did then that's a win for the other.......Hands Down.

i don't believe it is gossip , the games industry has shown its greed many times before , its all about maximum revenue per customer and the only way to stop this from happening is to hurt their revenue .

This is a license for shoddy production and rubbish games and i don't want rubbish games and games i complete in a day in my ownership for more than a day .

I think if this is the rout there taking , we should have a 14day return policies as the most obvious way of recouping our money and trying before we buy have been removed .

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Feb-13 15:17:53)

The likes of EA and other games publishers played a significant part in the demise of retailers like GAME and HMV. I don't buy the article writers over simple logic at all though I can appreciate we should not see this attack on secondhand markets as a simple issue of greed though it is tempting to say so.

There are financial benefits to secondhand and informal markets in the film, music and games media industries. Publishers also face huge risks in financing games developers just as the movie industry does. Their massive outlay is the biggest problem for them in maintaining operability and growth in their respective 'competitive' markets. It's maybe one of the reasons why smaller Indie developers like Rovio and all the Android/iOS games developers are where the big bucks are at. This Matt Sainsbury guy makes it sound like poor ol' EA and co.'s motivation for micro transactions, season passes and DLC are in an effort to get charity to keep their staff writing and designing original game concepts. What a sop.

Well, anyway. I buy most of my games from STEAM these days and apparently, I don't even own them. If something goes wrong and my account is deleted/whatnot then I'm screwed. For me, Steam is handy. I like the automatic patching and not having to dig out discs and input loads of license keys all the time. Most of the games I've bought are unplayed and will likely remain that way (just like most other Steam subscribers). So there is everything to be said for encouraging gamers to game: make the games cheap, cheap enough to be disposable products. There's no way I'd pay £60 for a console title and if that were the norm, do any of us really believe EA would stop with the micro transaction model and high priced DLC? Not a chance. Most corporations with shareholders chief concern is the bottom line and how to expand PROFITS. How naive do they think we are?

If anything, games publishers and MS and Sony etc have seen that they really don't need the high street retailers what with the internet and places like Amazon, and now's the time to exert a little more control. Do it our way or be damned. Supermarkets will be okay but the death of the high street is something we should all be more than a little afraid of if it means council revenue is decimated as a result of changes in our spending habits. But let's not go there. Nothing's simple that's all you can glean from that article, interesting an asides as it was but it wasn't the whole truth of it and mere numbers cannot tell the whole story either. /rant

Im not saying its the whole truth Spooky but don't you agree that the guy has a point and they will lose sales of brand new copies of games if second hand games are sitting next to them at £10 to £20 cheaper.......apart from COD that is where the majority of them like Blockbusters think its funny to offer you £15 trade in value but the second hand copies are selling for £37.99..........Go Figure.

I tried trading Black Ops in the other day but they actually rejected it saying that they have so many copies they can not take anymore in.

I wont be rushing when the next instalment arrives in November unless it is something really special and i dont see this happening.

I am considering adding a new gfx card to the beast PC I have and just keeping the 360 and PS3 for the casual cheap games, PS3 is now only used for blu-ray really.

I have slowly been building my self a new PC ( and i do mean slowly ) I think taking a step back from these new consoles is a very wise decision and im being attracted to the steam box , as if this is the system for purchasing games , better the devil with a proven track record .

So i wont be buying a console and have always steered clear of the first gen Mk1 version as being once burnt , twice shy .

I already have a nettop on the back of my telly that deals with my digital entertainment much better than the xbox ever will and i guess this is what is going to be getting the upgrade when i finally get some money together to finish my project mini-itx gamer pc .