Next Xbox to prevent you from playing used games?

Next Xbox to prevent you from playing used games?

news.cnet.com

One theory is that a game would be tied to an Xbox Live account so that only the original buyer could play it. But as the gaming site points out, that type of restriction could be beaten by Xbox owners who simply keep their consoles offline.

However it is accomplished, such a move would bring smiles to game publishers losing sales over used games being bought and sold at stores such as GameStop.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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In my opinion, I hope this is just a misunderstanding or a 'what could happen' sort of thing but if it really does go down, I can see a mass refusal of gamers NOT buying the new XBOX, due out in 2013.

What in the world. If this has to do with ACTA/SOPA etc, this is just getting way out of hand. So like my son who has hundreds of used games we bought either on Amazon or other sites to save money, all those would be useless and use-less because of this?

Seriously, if THIS is the start of the future, I can only see commerce growing much worse instead of better. If they are limiting (in a sense, banning) used games from being used, they're going to see a substantial loss in sales all around. Not everyone is able to afford brand new games.

(I'm not an xbox gamer mind you. So I told my son about the upcoming paragraph I wrote and he said "Well when you play a game, XBOX keeps track of the game you have." There was more but I'm unversed to that lingo as I'm a PC gamer all the way. But here's the paragraph for you all to read anyway:

Besides, how could they tell if a game was pre-owned anyway? Are they going to use some kind of scanner when you buy the original game that's tied to both your genetics and your own xbox? If so, that on its own is very very scary.

Found more links - supposedly this is going to affect Blu-Ray, Kinnect 2 and others as well???????????? Even used MOVIES, maybe?

Oh for pete's SAKE.
I don't want to live on this planet any longer. :C

news.cnet.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Not a good idea xbox. There are so many other platforms for gaming. PC being just as satisfying.

Looks like my tail is heading back to books and old school cartridge games. The old games are better, anyway, for the most part.

I loved God of War and Dragon Age: Origins, but Zelda, Mario, and MUDs will always own my gaming heart.

they'll lock games to some sort of account....and there lies the problem

Its almost a certainty as soon as they do this they will put the price of games up even more.

Its much easier to copy games on the PC and look how much cheaper they are ...

Buying used games is the ONLY way I can afford to play games...

I was excited about the possibility of a new console from xbox...

But if you cant play used ones on their new console...

I will keep my HARD earned cash and spend it on some sort of RC helicopter with LASERS! muhwahaha

Call of Duty: Black Ops (12 million)[26]
Halo 3 (8.1 million)[27]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (7.481 million approximately; 6.471 million in US,[28][29][30][31] 87,374 in Japan,[32][verification needed] at least 1 million in UK)[33]
Gears of War (5 million,[34] may include PC version)
Gears of War 2 (5 million)[35]
Halo: Reach (5 million worldwide)[36]
Grand Theft Auto IV (4.356 million approximately: 3.29 million in US,[37] at least 1 million in UK,[33] 59,893 and 6,210 Platinum in Japan)[32]
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (4.226 million approximately: 3.04 million in US,[38] 78,000 in Canada,[39] 54,742 and 53,722 Platinum Collection/The Best in Japan,[32] at least 1 million in UK)[33]
Fable II (3.5 million approx. worldwide)[40]

Best selling games for xbox

Nope, good games are still selling. Not needed.

Simple as that. The bottom game on that list still produced around 250 million in revenue.

Stop making crappy games if you are worried about not selling them.

I can actually see this happening and have heard of it happening already. I have a friend who was just complaining that he was unable to play his games on the new Xbox because of something with his Xbox ID and apparently his old games won't work because they are registered to that old ID and not the new one? That makes no sense to me what-so-ever, but I can see this happening.

A lot of PC games can't be sold used because once you use the Product ID you can't use it again. Mostly this is in on bigger games like WoW, Star Wars etc, but yea I can see it. Horrid idea, but it will more then likely becoime fact since it is such a horrible idea.

i wouldn't put anything past that greedy nerd, bill gates.

they already charge xbox owners 50 bucks a year to be able to use their (the console owner's) internet bandwidth to connect to a games (the developers server) to play online.

once you buy a game it's yours. it is no longer the property of the seller. the manufacturer doesn't give you money back if you sell it.

this is nothing more than extortion. if you want to play a used game, pay up.

Originally posted by sarra1833
Besides, how could they tell if a game was pre-owned anyway? Are they going to use some kind of scanner when you buy the original game that's tied to both your genetics and your own xbox? If so, that on its own is very very scary.

a little over the top, don'tcha think?

It's more likely that console games will start coming with "CD keys" like old PC games (back when they were sold on discs en masse). The game might require you to register your game online before being able to play, therefore a used copy would be useless unless you've already purchased a new copy and registered it.

This will undoubtedly destroy my console gaming experience as I've relied heavily on used games for entertainment, only purchasing brand new games once in a blue moon due to lack of income. I haven't even played Skyrim yet FFS!!!!

If this comes to pass, I will no longer purchase a single Xbox product. I will invest in a gaming PC and get my games through Steam, where good deals can occasionally be found.

This is where the technology of the product out costs the demand for the product.
At least that is how I see it.
(I have had 2 along with ps2,ps,sega etc etc, I swear I could start a video game museum)

An xbox 360 is like a gamer's wet dream. It is great technology! But semi-expensive to buy/make. And when it was brand new technology, it was crazy expensive.The bet was to make money on the games more than the system if I remember correctly from reading gamer mags.

I think it has come to a point where even though it is a huge market for gaming systems,
the system itself is to expensive to make and make a profit.

That would lead to such actions as making you unable to play a used game in the next system. Kind of like how there is a serial number you have to type into a game on a computer before you can play it.
The Sims as an example where if you lose the game manual you are screwed because the registration code is printed on the manual.

Already, my xbox will not play the games I purchased online through the xbox servers unless I am online with the xbox, and they are not online games.

I have said online may times before...

i have worked in IT for a good few years now and im pretty certain i know how to lock down all consoles...

First please understand people will not run there consoles offline as they then wont have access to updates, and online gaming, which is where gaming is at for the most part....


Right for some background i have worked directly with licensing issues with Microsoft and i also work now for a SSD and RAM manufacturer/designer this gives me decent insight into this field...


im pretty certain gaming will work like this....

everything you purchase will be done digitally, much like the article said tying your game purchase to your system, keeping it on a cloud, and just essentially giving you a much larger area of virtual server space as a library and you pull down your most played games onto your consol, hard copy media is dead

this obviously causes issue for those who want to purchase a game but do not have an online account, or do not have internet access... that would be the easy bit, you provide each consol with a USB (we could even use Esata, USB would be easier) device which is locked down to an individuals xbox (or at least profile).. somthing that is encrypted and you specifically desined it to not interface with a PC that is not certified,, this then means you dont kill the game retail market as you can take your USB device to a shop like Game, plug it into a touchscreen consol, make a payment recieve the download, this is where you could also be purchasing your updates and add-ons from using the same method... this would allow everyone to get system updates... alternativley set up a steam type xbox live app for PC's even smart phones where you can purchase and send the encrypted game to the xbox


you would also tie the downloads into a profile this mean i could take my usb device (with my profile info on it) or pull down my profile onto your xbox (from the profile pull down the game from my cloud) or play the game on my save device but only have it available to the relevant profile...


i know there would be ways around it and you could crack some USB devices etc.. but there are ways around paying for your games now if you want to chip your XBOX lots of people still dont do that... this wont eliminate piracy it will however eliminate pre owned sales and thats what they are focusing on.



as i said hard media is dead, this WILL be where gaming goes... i just cant see an alternative

reply to post by GonzoSinister


While I can see gaming going fully digital like that I don't think that is the only option and it has it's own issues as well. Steam for example. I own numerous games through Steam and one of the problems that I frequently run into is that if your internet dies, gets cut off, or you move etc. You are basically SOL on all the game until you get your internet back. Sure yea you can access some of the games in offline mode. That is if you haven't closed steam or shut down your computer since you lost your internet. I recently found out when I moved that if you don't have Steam up then you can't open Steam in offline mode and I for one have had trouble putting Steam into offline mode.

However, I don't think it will be that advanced. My guess is they will embed a serial number in the disk data that will bind to your Microsoft Live account and once its bound you won't be able to use it again. A good example of this iis World of Warcraft and the new Star Wars. Once its been used you can't use the code again.

reply to post by GonzoSinister

Not sure about the masses but I've never had my 360 online, I'm not really interesting in sharing points or downloading updates or add-ons etc etc.

If this story is true, which I entirely expect it is, I simply wont buy an xbox again.

reply to post by Mister_Bit


If you have never hooked your xbox up online, Don't.

I wish I never had, after a year of not having internet I hooked it up one day and it updated and changed my entire look and feel, and I hate the look and feel.

reply to post by sarra1833


It all seems to be CNET's opinion... is there even any admission from Microsoft about a new console as yet? This could work if there is a new console and the reader has write ability and it writes to the disk and renders it unusable at the same time forcing the user to go online where it puts the game on the users account, but this sounds incredibly long winded considering that cloud gaming is taking off.

On the other hand, this is all myth at the moment, the biggest problem with the 360 in my opinion and the biggest rip-off is that there is no browser.

reply to post by scottlpool2003


Yeah, I agree. If the 360 had a browser I would probably keep it online.
Having to pay a premium membership is a bummer too. I already paid for the system, and my internet, why do I have to pay to be able to talk to my friends on it??? That always irritated me.

Originally posted by Phantom28804
reply to post by GonzoSinister

 

While I can see gaming going fully digital like that I don't think that is the only option and it has it's own issues as well. Steam for example. I own numerous games through Steam and one of the problems that I frequently run into is that if your internet dies, gets cut off, or you move etc. You are basically SOL on all the game until you get your internet back. Sure yea you can access some of the games in offline mode. That is if you haven't closed steam or shut down your computer since you lost your internet. I recently found out when I moved that if you don't have Steam up then you can't open Steam in offline mode and I for one have had trouble putting Steam into offline mode.

However, I don't think it will be that advanced. My guess is they will embed a serial number in the disk data that will bind to your Microsoft Live account and once its bound you won't be able to use it again. A good example of this iis World of Warcraft and the new Star Wars. Once its been used you can't use the code again.

see the problem with the code system is if your offline and you use it chances are you can use the code over and over as there is no way for them to check the disk has had its code used... like there no way for the disk to no its been ran before, even if you were imbedding the same code on the disk as on the packet (unlike say windows XP which has like a code genaration scenario) unless the disk then was re written by the consol it could still be used online again..

thats what they used to do with PC games, however if not online the system doesn know, and if they run with a key generator type set up (see windows software) then with time you can create a generator for the code...

i am possitive the expense of creating disks, boxes, sleeeves etc will just be cut out the loop then you cant use the software anywhere because you physically dont have it.

reply to post by Darkblade71


My theory is that it's all about Windows... it's as if Microsoft didn't want competition between Windows and 360, why else wouldn't they have a browser and why else wouldn't you be able to personalise the 360 as much as a PC/Laptop... It's totally unfair and should be against competition regulations. We should be able to plug our own hardware in, buy our own cheaper but bigger HDD, add our own graphics card, download new browsers.

Microsoft is a greedy company, but my god are they good at what they do.