Will the PLAYSTATION 4 “Project Orbis” Kill Used Games,
Backwards Compatibility?
Rumors rumors rumors.
We all love ‘em, but this
one is kind of scary. Today,
insiders at Kotaku say that Sony’s new console, which is now codenamed Orbis,
will have some sort of “content restriction” on Used Games. Yes, this is a rumor, but this is the
same rumor we heard about the new XBOX back in January. That can’t be coincidence. Game companies believe they are losing
millions due to the used game market and are finding ways to profit.
Here at The Game Capsule, we talk about how games and gaming
culture affect our lives in some way or the other. What happens to the video game industry if used games are
limited upon purchase?
Let’s give an example outside the video game realm. You go to a used car lot and buy a used
Honda Civic. It looks good. Good mileage. Not bad. You pay $8,000. Drive it home.
The next day, you get your car, ready to drive to work when uh oh, the
car doesn’t start. You get out the
forms from your glove compartment from yesterday that you signed and realize
that by purchasing this used car, you get a trial run, but after the trial runs
expires, you have to pay a used car fee to Honda, and must to send Honda $4,000
so they can send you a new key to start your car.
So, you buy a game used from a used game store for $20, go
home, and a icon pops on the screen that says, to play this game, please pay in
the amount of $$$$ made up number we decided to charge you. Wouldn’t you be pissed that you just
spent money to play the game, a price that you thought was reasonable, and now
you have to spend more money to play the game?
This wouldn’t just apply to used game stores. You bring a game you have to a friends
house so he can try it out, but because it’s a part of your Playstation Network
account, he can’t play this game unless he pays Sony to do so, because the
console is reading it as a game that is not registered to his console / PSN
account.
I personally buy most of my games used because of
price. We somewhat talked about
this in the video, small games, BIG PRICES. I bought Metroid: Other M for $50 brand new, and it only took me
6-7 hours to beat. Last black
Friday, they were selling it at Best Buy for $5. Let’s say I bought it for $5 new and Nintendo was doing this
“no used games” policy too. I sell
it on ebay for $10, someone buys it, and then they have to pay Nintendo an
extra 20 dollars to actually play the game. I spent $5 on it new, while someone just spent $30 on it
USED. The question: is that fair?
 |
| That's less change than a combo meal at any fast food joint. |
Now, we knew the backwards compatibility thing was
coming. Don’t deny that. The Wii had already started it with the
Virtual Console, claiming that the console was full backwards compatible since
it could play games from all of Nintendo’s past consoles, yet you had to pay
for them. This shouldn’t be a
surprise to people. This is why I
say not to get rid of old games.
You could have a vast video game collection and this wouldn’t matter,
unless you really have a problem having all of your consoles hooked up.
The big question to ask yourselves is that if next gen
consoles truly go this route, and it turns out to be more than just a rumor,
how will this affect your decision in buying the newest Sony console? The newest Microsoft console? Will it not matter to you because you
always buy new games? Will it make
you hold on to your current generation console a little longer to see where
things go?
Will this decision ruin gaming on consoles forever?
- Anthony J. Gomez
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