PlayStation 4 to lock out used games

[Ragnar]

I think that games are gonna come with commercials in the next 5 to 10 years.

If they force the online point, that's a certainty. Playing around with my Android, many games are supported by Google ads. Hella annoying, you need to leave data offline whenever you play anything to avoid them.

[The Almighty MegaMan]

Welp, I guess I'm better off buying a Virtual Boy or a Wonderswan rather than a PS4 if the rumors are true

But, I mean, that's 10 different kinds of stupid.
It'd be the first console of theirs to not offer backwards compatibility, and they would kill the not-as-rich-or-in-great economical condition part of the fanbase (myself included).

Things like this are why I wanted Onlive to die from day zero.
So, how long until you can use your game only once and have to purchase it again? 5 years?

Nintendo usually starts a trend and Sony and Micro$oft jump on the bandwagon. I can only hope that now that the one starting a trend is Micro$oft (and a damn nasty one at that - congratulations, you filled my expectations, MS), Nintendo doesn't jump in.

[Kool Aid Man]

I can let my friends borrow my car but not my PS4 game? This is so stupid

[Mr. Nemo]

Considering the medium, this is not that surprising. The prevention of used games has been something video game companies wanted for a long time, but couldn't do due to hardware restrictions and potential public outcry. Now that the 'tards have tolerated Steam, Onlive, PSN, and Xbox Live, they think they can get away with pulling it off. You vote with your wallet people, so pretend you have some power with that money of yours and do something about it (like not spend it on crap like this).

[Ragnar]

You vote with your wallet people, so pretend you have some power with that money of yours and do something about it (like not spend it on crap like this).

Hey, I pledged monies towards Class of Heroes 2, I'm doing my part. But seeing how poorly that's doing, it's like people don't want to own games anymore...

[Mr. Nemo]

Hey, I pledged monies towards Class of Heroes 2, I'm doing my part. But seeing how poorly that's doing, it's like people don't want to own games anymore...

Saw the link and it looks interesting. The $60 required for a translated PSP game looks to be the biggest turnoff for the funding itself. Regardless, work that power you have. I hope the translators pull their heads out of their ass and realize that's way too much of an initial investment for people to want to gamble on it (since handheld games aren't given the same credence consoles are given).

[Rockstar1983]

If all this hear-say about used games being worthless is true, I'm totally done with next-gen gaming. I'll stand by my previous statement in another thread that we're headed for another big VG industry "crash", like the one in 1983. A lack of innovation and poor-quality games killed the industry back then. Sound familiar? It's been a good run, tho... a 25+ year cycle.

So glad I still have all my old consoles, with the exception of my original "phat" model Game Boy (I traded it for a Super Game Boy cartridge for my SNES. I think I made a good trade, but Jazz would think I'm a fool... )

by the end of the console life it will be the PSN that has value not the console

If that's true, $ony should abandon consoles altogether, and simply sell their TV sets with gamepad connectivity, and the capability to stream games from the PSN. However, I have no interest. To $ony, I am a vintage NES cart... and they're welcome to "blow me". Hope you'll excuse the pun, here.

[crusher]

Rumor has it that the next Xbox will also implant a used games countermeasure. And that rumor has been floating around for months.

I tend to not buy used games and thus I don't have much problems with online passes and such. But this is bullshit. I don't think it's possible to get much more anti-consumer than this. But it is to be expected, the gaming industry have been frowning upon used games for a long time.

[Andy_Jerk]

Hmm, looks like I'll stop spending money next gen. Maybe I'll be able to retire 10 years early, and play the backlog of games I own

I'm there and I am finding it quite rewarding. I just seem to get a lot more out of the older games from my own time. I mean, people in 80's movies would be happy just to have one Asteroids arcade machine in their garage, and that's all they would play!

[Cookie Monster]

I'm with crusher here, I don't buy used games, so this won't really affect me. But I can understand both points of view. Game companies need to make money and new games can be expensive, that's why people buy used games... perhaps big game stores should renounce to part of the benefits they get selling used games to reach a compromise.

[Mr. Nemo]

perhaps big game stores should renounce to part of the benefits they get selling used games to reach a compromise.

That is a tricky situation. If this banning of used games thing is true, video game stores will have to decide to either play ball in order to keep their sales, or boycott to reach a compromise. Either one sucks, but i feel with the way most industries work, it usually comes down to mass pressure before making a logical negotiation.

[Tassadar]

I can see why they would do it from a business point of view I mean they themselves make no money from second hand games however I play used games and I really don't like this, I hope if enough people get annoyed Sony might back down on this decision or perhaps have a small re-activation charge to use a game on the PSN.

[akeley]

Hmm, looks like I'll stop spending money next gen. Maybe I'll be able to retire 10 years early, and play the backlog of games I own :whistle:

I`ve been preparing for Videogame Apocalypse for last couple of years (with your site being huge help of course ;). Unfortunately, the way things are heading on all gaming fronts is just not acceptable for me - and the fact that I`m an old school gamer has nothing to do with it, I love some of the current gen productions as much as the old ones.

But since business suits started running (ruining?) gaming, and publishers of old consolidated into few huge corporations, the decline has been steady.
-Streamlining and dumbing down of just about any genre - sure, some things could use a facelift/redesign but not everything.
-Slowly switching to digital distribution/always-online mode - sure, it`s "convenient" (for some), but nobody will ever convince me that physical copies suck and have no rights of existence. Also not everybody in this world has connection and/or credit card.
-Fracturing games into chunks with the meteoric rise of DLC content - from stupid-but-harmless "horse armour" to the ridiculous schemes like day-one (ME), on-disc already (Capcom) or the latest: apparently you`ll get to see "real ending" of Asura`s Wrath - if you buy it, separate.
-Now, trying to kill of second-hand market - going against all logic, seeing as you can resell any other goods. But - we`re buying a "license to play" nowadays, not a game itself. Of course these multi-billion companies never had it so good - and yet they`re complaining how second hand market is gonna kill them. Pure greed.

And so on. To add insult to injury there`s hardly a day without some article about how Japanese games need to change - and how fantastic, original and innovative (often niche) titles suck and need to adapt to COD/ME model (Thanks, Mr Fish, amongst others).

I don`t want to subscribe to that model - so, I`m just gonna go backwards from now on. The backlog is immense - especially that I`m equally comfortable in both PC/console, Japan/West camps (there`s +2000 games from DOS era alone). All my budget directed to small, faithful companies like Atlus/Xseed, these few indies that don`t adhere to hipster philosophy, and collecting some PS2 jRpgs.

Also, Wii U might be the last hope of "normal" gaming, though judging by Nintendo`s overall attitude this is also questionable.

[Slacker Magician]

Hmm, looks like I'll stop spending money next gen. Maybe I'll be able to retire 10 years early, and play the backlog of games I own

Sounds like a plan .

Corporations doing everything in their power to increase marginal profit, even if it means fucking over their user-base? No way.

Rumors like this tend to underestimate the amount of used game sales.


As for the supposed resolution the console will render games at... Fat chance. Monitors, Projectors, and TVs capable of the resolution are in the 10,000+ range. The cheaper TVs and monitors are $10,000+, most don't even have a price. You would be better off hacking up a few low cost monitors and combining them in a single custom frame. Then consider the GPU requirements to play with acceptable graphics (IE. around the level of RE5). I can't see any single GPU, currently out, pulling it off .

I'm with crusher here, I don't buy used games, so this won't really affect me. But I can understand both points of view. Game companies need to make money and new games can be expensive, that's why people buy used games... perhaps big game stores should renounce to part of the benefits they get selling used games to reach a compromise.

They are a business all the same, why should they give up their profit because another company doesn't like the current laws?

[luffy4]

Wii-U will be the winner of the up and coming console war