Poll: Will you buy the Xbox 720 if the rumors that it blocks used game usage are true?

[LilithSlave]

Used console games are a bloody ripoff at most places.

Then you should be using Amazon.com and Ebay like everyone, instead.

Buying in bulk, I've paid less than $1 a piece for some games.

You are as bad as a pirate then. HAHAHA I love this! The community that hates pirates comes to defend its lovely habit of used games purchases. Bunch of hypocrites.

"Bad"? Used games are not bad. And also, I am not anti-piracy. Neither of these are things I consider to be "bad".

Though if you're just ridiculing the piracy status quo on this site, I would agree. The tendency to attack piracy around here is morally unjustified, and rather sickening.

 

[Valdus]

I buy most of my games used. I do not have the cash to buy new, and quite frankly given how crap and unoriginal most games are recently I don't think they're worth buying new (especially if I have to pay extra to download the full content). So if they eliminate the second-hand market I won't buy the console.

And the only way I could see this happening is if you have to be online and use a key or some such...meaning that anyone who doesn't hook their console up online can't play (which may be less of a factor in future, but currently it can be a problem considering a network adapter for the Xbox 360 averages roughly £50 here in the UK).

The 2nd hand market exists for a reason. Not just for games but many other things as well. If developers don't like it, tough, make a game that's good enough for me to want to keep and 2nd hand sales won't be an issue.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I've been a staunch Xbox supporter since the beginning, but considering half my gaming library is second hand, they'll lose my support if they go this route.

 

[Wayneguard]

I buy most of my games used so no fucking way.

 

[putowtin]

The Deal Breaker for the 720, for me, is exclusives.

Halo doesn't interest me

No sports/racing games interest me

Gears of War has remained a nice distraction but certainly nothing to buy a console over

Mass effect ends in March.

Agreed, the "not playing used" doesn't bother me, I don't buy used games, but as Mass Effect finishes and there are no exclusives that bother me, I'm not that interested in the machine.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Probably not, which is why I voted maybe, but if this is indeed true, they still might be able to persuade me to get one. If for example the hardware is REALLY good, and/or I see a game or two on there I couldn't get on the PC which I REALLY want, plus it would have to be at most (the very most) £250.

But we'll see.

 

[Westaway]

Yes, I only buy new games anyway.

This man took the words right outta my mouth.

 

[Carnagath]

That would definitely be a dealbreaker for me. I very rarely buy used games, but always do rent them first and only buy them if one of the following occurs (just one is enough):
1) They have absolutely mind blowing single player, even though it's short.
2) They are generally good enough but also very long and replayable.
3) They have great and active online play.

I've played about 100 games on my PS3 in 5 years, and 80 of them did not meet my expectations enough to buy them. Locking the console so that I can't test-rent a game for 2 days before I decide whether to buy it means that I have no use for the console. I am never going to blindly buy a game (unless it's made by Blizzard or Valve) and hope it's good, I do not give a fuck about reviews (just look at Skyrim for PS3 and its scores) and 70 euros is way over my "impulse purchase" limit under the current financial circumstances in the world. It also reeks of greedy corporate fuckskullery, which is one more reason to lose me as a customer. If I'm going to buy a console just for 2-3 stellar titles, I'll do it at the end of its cycle when it costs less than 150$.

 

[chuckman1]

I definately wouldn't buy it, I may just skip next console generation and play PS2 games I have a feeling these consoles won't be cheap.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Yeah I don't see an option for 'Oh hell no' so I am not voting. If the other consoles have the ability to play used games and the xbox doesn't, then there is no point in owning an xbox? But if all the consoles are going to do this then I won't get any of them... there just isn't a point to endure that now.

I love gaming, and I am not a strong willed enough individual who can just give it up, but I don't like the new stuff enough to continue. If the gaming industry was still making the products that I wanted I would inevitably hop through any hoop they wanted me to. But I sadly find most games from this generation to be pandering schlock. The whole 'manly men doing masculine things while using their chin stubble of death on planet brown' is just the furthest thing away from what I want to be doing in a video game. Thanks to ebay I am still playing PS1 (and even some PS2) games for the first time and being thoroughly happy and entertained with what I get, but picking a random game off the shelf off the shelf of gamestop is like playing Russian Roulette with only one chamber empty. Almost every 'old' game I have randomly picked up has been at least somewhat entertaining, and at the very least they were all worth the used prices I paid for them. Xbox 360/PS3 games just aren't worth the used prices for me, so I'll be damned if I am only paying new prices to play them. There just isn't any reason. I only see things getting worse form here on out, so I can realistically see myself bailing.

 

[VanityGirl]

Nope, because my boyfriend and I swap games too often between one another.
Sure, for certain games like Gears, Army of Two, ect, we'd buy two copies, but for great single player games like Mass Effect and Skyrim, we just buy one copy.

An anti-used game console would ruin what my boyfriend and my hobby.

 

[godofallu]

First of all, I hope Microsoft hurries up and gives it a name, I am already really tired of "Xbox 720."

Also, there's already a thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.339928-xbox-3-to-not-play-used-games-rumor#13752634] on this only a couple of days old. And because I really don't want to write it out again, here is what I said about it in that thread verbatim:

Exclusives aren't worth a dime if your customer base hates you so much they won't buy the console. Plus it's also disfranchising retailers, so even the stores they'll be counting on to sell the games and consoles will be mad and might even stop carrying their stuff.

And, now that I think about it, why would this need to be done on a console level? All publishers would have to do is a product key like they do with PC downloads and voila. Same results, and no having to bribe a console maker to do it.

So, no. That is just fucking stupid. I mean, on top of all that, all publishers and developers would have to be behind this in order to get it to work. It's just...ridiculous. Totally ridiculous.

I don't think any of those points work.

Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy would love to cut out used sales and competing retailers like Gamestop and Amazon.

Publishers can't just do whatever because Microsoft wouldn't let the game get published. They have to answer to Microsoft.

If the new Xbox has Halo and Gears of War and does COD best then they could absolutely get away with it.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Mass effect ends in March.

That stopped being an Xbox exclusive a year ago when ME2 was polished up from its 360 version and released on the PS3.

Mass Effect stopped being an Xbox exclusive around 6 months after it's release when the PC version launched.

Ill give you that, but the PC version is a shoddy port and has GfWL. So its not worth bringing it up unless you really want to play Mass Effect 1 and you either dont have a 360 or cant find a copy.

Enh... I didn't find it to be that shoddy and as far as I know it doesn't have GFWL. My copy (AU retail) certainly doesn't, just EA's old online authentication bullshit.

 

[Epona]

First of all, I hope Microsoft hurries up and gives it a name, I am already really tired of "Xbox 720."

Also, there's already a thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.339928-xbox-3-to-not-play-used-games-rumor#13752634] on this only a couple of days old. And because I really don't want to write it out again, here is what I said about it in that thread verbatim:

Exclusives aren't worth a dime if your customer base hates you so much they won't buy the console. Plus it's also disfranchising retailers, so even the stores they'll be counting on to sell the games and consoles will be mad and might even stop carrying their stuff.

And, now that I think about it, why would this need to be done on a console level? All publishers would have to do is a product key like they do with PC downloads and voila. Same results, and no having to bribe a console maker to do it.

So, no. That is just fucking stupid. I mean, on top of all that, all publishers and developers would have to be behind this in order to get it to work. It's just...ridiculous. Totally ridiculous.

I don't think any of those points work.

Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy would love to cut out used sales and competing retailers like Gamestop and Amazon.

Publishers can't just do whatever because Microsoft wouldn't let the game get published. They have to answer to Microsoft.

If the new Xbox has Halo and Gears of War and does COD best then they could absolutely get away with it.

Both Wal Mart and Best Buy sell used games too.

 

[darthzew]

I'd still buy it. I very rarely buy used games. The only objection I have is that it's hard to get older games new.

 

[theevilgenius60]

Oh hell yeah. I'd jump ship immediately. And if Sony tried the same I'd just take that money and build a nice gaming PC(really don't want to though, love console convenience). The big problem wouldn't be the used games as much as it would be not being able to let my brother borrow games. And yeah, I like to troll the bargain bin and the used racks like anybody. Some games I wouldn't pay the full price they ask for it, but I will pay for it. This was the situation when I got Bayonetta. I liked the idea of a DMC type game but didn't feel it was worth $60 at the time(I was making a good bit less, so that money meant more at the time than it would now). I found a used copy for ~$40. Bingo. That comes into play, but it's mostly the whole not being able to share games with my bro(thus halving the financial burden when buying)

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Is this is true, lawsuits will crush it for months before anything actually happens.

Pffft. Not a chance of lawsuits stopping it... while MS or Sony or whoever can't legally interfere directly with the resale market they aren't legally obliged to sell products that have resale value.

All they need to do is introduce a form of copy-protection that, as a 'totally unintended consequence', destroys the resale value of console games and it's perfectly legal. In most Western nations when it comes to 'protecting IP' versus your rights as a consumer, your rights get to eat a dick.