New Xbox basically kills off used games

[Maniacal]

GOG.com has low prices, sales, and no DRM. As for game collections, my entire collection fits in two boxes (one box is full of the boxes they came in, the other is full of discs in cases) so that isn't really that difficult to move around, especially since i could just ditch the physical boxes since I don't actually need them. Although most of my games are digital now too, and I agree it is so much easier!

Its the super cheap costs and all the really useful extras that make Steam's DRM tolerable (it also doesn't actually work to stop pirates, at all, pretty sure Civ5 was cracked Day 1 if not before release). Hell, some games sold on Steam can be launched from their .exe without starting Steam (CK2) although they are the exception.

 

[Arakhor]

My parents are several thousand km away.

And mine probably wouldn't know what a PS4 was if it came up and shook hands with them, but that is rather irrelevant.

 

[warpus]

Yeah, I know a lot of people who say the same thing. It always baffles me because I've never had a problem with a scratched CD.

One thing I agree with Zelig on this point though is that having to take your CD, games etc collection with you when you move is kind of a pain. I often leave games at my parents' house after I move; then, when I want to play them, I have to fetch them from my folks and bring them back with me. Kind of a pain, that.

I live in a 3 story house all by myself, which can easily lead to a lot of clutter. That has nothing to do with gaming CDs on the surface, but I've been trying to declutter my life for a couple years now. I've thrown out a lot of crap. Having all my games "in the cloud" means I dont need to worry about organizing and maintaining a physical collection, so that kind of goes hand in hand with what I'm trying to do with my life in general.

As for CDs getting scratched and lost.. I just never put enough effort into maintaining my collection, I guess. But this way I don't have to, making it awesome for me.

 

[Zelig]

Thanks to this thread I've acquired an xbox 360, which will be my first console ever.

 

[Zelig]

MS engineer (unofficially) on XB1: (warning: some language)

http://pastebin.com/uCmdh9jB

 

[tonberry]

Two posts from your link:

"The thing is, the DRM is really really similar to steam... You can login anywhere and play your games, anyone in your house can play with the family xbox. The only diff is steam you have to sign in before playing, and Xbox does it automatically at night for you (once per 24 hours)"

If I want to play my games at my friends house, I can already do that by bringing my games with me. The family thing is nice... for those who have family members that play games, that want to play the same game as you at the same time and if you happen to have more than one console in your house... yeah, that's... wonderful.

"Think about it, on steam you get a game for the true cost of the game, 5$-30$. On a console you have to pay for that PLUS any additional licenses for when you sell / trade / borrow / etc. If the developer / publisher can't get it on additional licenses (like steam), then they charge the first person more. [...] If we say "Hey publishers, you limit game to 39.99, we ensure every license transfer you get 10$, gamestop gets 20$" that is a decent model... Microsoft gets a license fee on first and subsequent game purchases, compared to just first now? That's a revenue increase."

This is the one card that Microsoft can play against Sony. If games are cheaper on the Xbox One, it'll make a big difference but I'll beleive it when I see it.

 

[Zelig]

Yeah, but you can still play games at your friend's house, and you don't need to bring your games with you now. (Though you still can if you want.)

New games won't be cheaper, publishers won't go for that. Even on Steam the best new games get is 10% off for pre-orders.

In the longer run, publishers would have even more bone-headed than I give them credit for in order to fail to look at sales data and seeing that discounting older games gives them more profit.

 

[Arakhor]

Downloading everything still doesn't help people with data caps, even if they have regular, stable broadband. For instance, I have 60 Gb a month and that's one of the largest I can get for that price.

 

[kramerfan86]

That is something widely ignored, most people's internet does in fact have a data cap. Used to it was so high its existence was irrelevant, but if we are reaching a point where they expect everything to be downloaded that cap is quickly becoming relevant.

 

[Zelig]

Downloading everything still doesn't help people with data caps, even if they have regular, stable broadband. For instance, I have 60 Gb a month and that's one of the largest I can get for that price.

You can still buy discs.

 

[Arakhor]

You can still buy discs.

That engineer of dubious authenticity said that they wished to move towards a Steam-like download system and buying hard copies of Steam-only games means that you are only buying a case and manual for your download code.

 

[Zelig]

That engineer of dubious authenticity said that they wished to move towards a Steam-like download system and buying hard copies of Steam-only games means that you are only buying a case and manual for your download code.

No, you can still install from the disc, it works like civ5.

 

[bhsup]

Zelig, sometimes when steam updates a game, it reinstalls the entire game to do the update. I have no idea why, but I've noticed it downloading stuff before, checked, and there's a 5GB download going up for a "patch"

 

[KMRblue1027]

Zelig, sometimes when steam updates a game, it reinstalls the entire game to do the update. I have no idea why, but I've noticed it downloading stuff before, checked, and there's a 5GB download going up for a "patch"

Xbox nor PS3 has never done this so I have no idea why they would start now.

 

[bhsup]

Sorry, I had no idea. That MS guy just kept saying steam steam steam...

 

[Mise]

New games won't be cheaper, publishers won't go for that. Even on Steam the best new games get is 10% off for pre-orders.

PC games are usually between £5 and £10 cheaper than PS3 and Xbox 360 games here. It's fairly consistently cheaper on PC than on console.

 

[Zelig]

Same here, but that's from when the 360/PS3 came out and they raised prices by $10 vs the xbox/PS2/PC versions.

 

[innonimatu]

Wouldn't reselling a download be sort of like reselling a hot dog that you already ate?

Nah, you ate it but you still have it. Want to resell it, just transfer your copy to another person. That person will download it from you, by whatever means you care to provide.

On in the case of steam-alike services you should be technically able to transfer the download rights to another person. Someone should challenge their bundling of all purchases with a single account in court, they would probably win.

 

[Zelig]

On in the case of steam-alike services you should be technically able to transfer the download rights to another person.

This would be great, but needs DRM.

 

[GinandTonic]

Someone should challenge their bundling of all purchases with a single account in court, they would probably win.

That's basically the case for all american EULA stuff. Not worth the paper its printed on in Europe. Online activation takes the scene of dispute to the us where eulas have legal merit. It's no longer ms wanting to stop some guy in Europe but some guy in Europe waiting for a server in california's OK.

Given previous EU rulings on the transferability of windows licences when someone does take this to court ms is on the line for a fine in the billions.