Say Goodbye To Pre-Owned Games?

not sure how this could work in the 1st place, i mean sure a system could record that you have this game and load some special to that specific disk id or sompthing but that wouldnt stop another system thats not online to load that same disc anyways, i just dont get how they could make it to where you couldnt buy a pre used game......the only other thing i could think of is for the system to make a mark on the disc that would make it unplayable on any other system.....but even with that i wouldnt want my system to make "MARKS" on my disc's...either way i dont see this happening....it was all everyone worried about when ps3 was coming out and we see where that went...i dont think this will happen

I usually share games with friends and they share with me, if they do this there will a lot more people coming to piracy so I think if they do have it as a digital form they should at least have multiple console activations

I agree waht about game fly. Hommany people rent the same game.

thats the most stupidest idea microsoft has, that means i will not be able to play old games

yes it was my idea being an evil sum bitch is a gift

next generation all consoles will do this, guaranteed. third party developers want every dollar they can get their grubby hands on and they think anyone buying used games in no better than a common thief. last generation they coaxed microsoft & sony into raising the cost of new games from 50 to 60 by threatening not to support their system if they did not, now they're putting pressure on them to officially kill used games. microsoft was just the first to voice their concerns about it, hoping to bring the issue to light before it's too late and avoid name dropping. yet all the faggots out there actually think this brainfart was microsoft's doing. idiots.

Let's hypothetically say M$ decides to get rid of the optical drive and go the route of digital downloads.  In all honesty it's the way of the future for all media anyway, but entering the future doesn't mean you get rid of the past all together.  DVD sales are still bringing in the bucks even with on demand, but for sake of argument let's assume they do indeed pull a vanishing act on the optical drive.

Benefits:

1. Cheaper costs per game title.  They won't have the overhead associated with distributing games worldwide.

2. Game developers would have an enormous ceiling to size their games.  No disc means infinite space.

3. From M$ perspecitve they can now control gamers the way they've controlled computer users for decades.

4. From M$ perspective they can make a very big attempt, key word attempt, to counter and defeat piracy. 

5. From M$ perspective they can eliminate the middle man like Gamestop, BBY, Walmart and exclusively distribute their games.

6. From M$ perspective they can require membership fees from each console owner to use their servers to download titles thus sucking more money out of each consumer.

7. Less moving parts should mean more reliability and longevity out of the console.

8. More space inside the console means they can shrink the overall size of the console and keep it cool.

9. Downloadable content and Multiplaying are preludes to the idea of making console games a restricted access type of gameplay.  Not only can they make a video game cost upwards of a $100 with all the DLC and the original cost, but M$ can control gamers by forcing them into playing the games exlcusively on their servers, sort of like massive role playing games on the pc.

Negatives:

1. Game prices will almost stay the same.  If the costs are minimized from lack of distribution but design and developmental costs increase due to the lifted ceiling they will almost cancel each other out.  It's possible that the difference might warrant a few bucks saved, but we're not going back to the days when games were $25-40 bucks.

2. Not everyone has an internet connection, not eveyone has or wants to buy a wireless router (assuming the new console will have wireless capabilities), not everyone has a highspeed connection, which is what it will take to download a game in a reasoable amount of time (it still takes pirates a couple hours to download from irc, and even more from a public tracker), and not everyone wants to share the dedicated bandwidth needed to not only download games but keep the console playing them for hours upon hours. 

3. If the Internet connection is out then we're in the stone age.  No web surfing, no tv, and now no consoles.  Internet connection is not stable enough to support constant gaming, especially in certain parts of the country.

4. I have 4 consoles, 2 desktops and 2 laptops.  Unless M$ is giving each consumer a free T1 server i don't know how it's possible for everyday consumers to have multiple consoles in home.

5. No optical drive means the games have to run off a Hard drive.  Odds are they would want to employ an SSD in place of the HDD as SSD's are the wave of the future.  Problem is SSD's are expensive.  It's almost a buck a gig.  If the games are at least 8gb in size, if not more due to no ceiling restricitions the SSD's used with the new consoles will price M$ out of the video game market.  You'd only be able to purchase, download, and store 30 or less games on a 256GB SSD.  The SSD alone will cost almost the exact same price as the current slim models.

6. If the SSD fails, which they still can, what happens to all your games?  do you have to rebuy them?  Obviously you'd lose everything and would have to dl, but what if there's a charge?

7. Consumers can't always afford brand new titles.

8. Jobs would be lost in an already struggling economy.  Gamestop themselve's employ over 17,000.  Struggling Best Buy will lose millions in revenue, which would probably force them over the edge.  Millions of shareholders lose from Gamestop and BBY's ultimate demise.  Even Walmart would take a hit in the electronic's department.

9. Piracy will never die by the conventional means.  You'll only anger the pirates to find new ways to combat M$'s efforts and the cat and mouse game will continue.  The record and movie industry has realized that there isn't a way to hault piracy, but there is a way to make money by diversifying the way you distribute.  ITunes, on demand, and live streaming are not only revenue streams for said industry's, but also give consumers a new option.  Piracy is designed for one reason and that's conveinance.  Conveinance in terms of cost and accessiblity, but the original options are still available (in-store).  When Napster arrised back in the mid 90's the movie and music industries were in an uproar.  They tried to fight in the courtrooms and nothing worked.  the idea's were leaked and the technology blossomed.  Today everyone has pirated something at some point.  It took the music and movie industries over a decade to finally realize that the only way to combat piracy is not to throw your lwayers at them, but to challenge them in the market place with new and fresh ideas.  The birth of ipods, ipads, and iphones with itunes, live streaming, and on-demand movies for affordable costs have helped said industries gain sales.  Today the same technology used in Napster's dominance has now shifted in favor of the big industries because they treated piracy as competition not as a hostile takeover.  M$ should follow suit.  Give people the option of downloading and playing off a hard drive, but don't demand it or M$ can very well become the Sega of the 21st century.  Guess this negative can also be a positive depending on the perspective.