Honest Tim Buckley, of Ctrl+Alt+Del fame pretty much summed up my exact feelings in his latest strip blurb. The whole entry is huge, so I'll just stick to some of the more relevant points I agree with.
"Where were all the games?!
Eh. Sony had a lot more eyecandy at their PS4 presentation, but half
of it was tech demos. It was nice to look at, but at the same time they
didn't show us any hardware. Or any UI/feature functionality. They
promised a lot of really neat stuff, but couldn't show any of
it working. People are acting like because Microsoft didn't show a ton
of game trailers yesterday, the X1 won't have any games. Seriously?
E3 is in what, two weeks? It makes no sense for Microsoft to blow
their load today, when they can get the press for the console reveal
now, and then get all of the press next month when they unveil a ton of
new games.
They promised 15 exclusive titles coming to the console, more than
half of which are brand new IPs. Plus all of the games that developers
are making for any system that can run them. Are people really freaking
out because they didn't see them all today?
Used Games
Ugh. This where things get really messy. And the information about
how exactly this works is even more convoluted. For real, take nothing
about this as fact right now.
All games will be installed to your X1 console. The game you buy will
come with a code that connects that game to your profile. If you
give/sell your disc to someone else, all that gives them is the raw data
to install the game. To play it, they'll need to purchase their own
access code at full MSRP. This is an attempt to curb the used games
industry, and it's a sore spot with a lot of gamers.
This topic is fodder for an entire article of its own (and has been),
and I really don't want to rehash it here. I'm just going to address a
couple of arguments.
"I'm allowed to sell the car I own. I should be able to sell the video game I own. It's my property."
When you sell a car, you get less money for it because its used. Its
overall lifespan and value has decreased. The person buying your car is
getting a less valuable product than you got when you bought the car
brand new. It's got miles on it, maybe some dents and dings. There are
unknown mechanical problems lurking under the hood that the new buyer
may have to address.
There is a tangible value disparity between a brand new car, and a
used car that accompanies the differences in price. However a video game
that is used is exactly the same product as it was when it was
new. The programming does not deteriorate. Bugs and crashes aren't
going to suddenly pop up due to age. No matter how many times the game
is resold, the used product remains identical to the new product.
If you walked into a car dealership and there was a brand new car
sitting there for the same price as a used, beat up model of the same
car, anyone in their right mind is going to take the new car for the
used car price. And it's the same with used video games. Why would
someone pay $60 for a game when they can get the exact same game for
$40?
Except now your money is going to GameStop, not the people that made the game.
Now you can say "But they already got their money from the original
sale! Car companies don't get a cut every time someone sells a used
car!" That's true. But somebody shopping for a used car is not in the
market for a new car. A used car buyer is not "stealing" a potential new
car sale. However a used game buyer is stealing a potential new game
sale. So whereas the developer might have sold two games, they have now
sold one, and GameStop has sold one. It's not about ownership or "its my
property", it's about used games presenting a threat to new game sales.
And you can also say "But people who buy a used game will then go on
to buy other games from that developer." Sure they will. I'm sure it
happens. But mostly it doesn't. That's like the people who justify their
pirating of games by saying "It's only to try it! I totally go and buy
the game afterwards!" Right. Again, I'm certain that happens, but more
often it doesn't.
People who buy used games buy used games. When faced with the same
product for cheaper, they aren't going to buy new just to support a
developer. They're going to buy in favor of their wallet.
Now, you can argue the morality of used games all you want, but the
bottom line is that developers feel it takes money away from their
business, and so they have every right to try and combat it. The most
definitive thing you can do is simply not buy the console if it's a big
deal to you, but let's be honest... you were clearly going to buy the
games used if that's the case, so the developers won't know the
difference. They weren't getting your money either way.
But again, this whole issue needs a lot of clarification from
Microsoft. I don't really care which way they go with it, but the
misinformation floating around is making the situation far worse. When
this came out, people were upset that you apparently couldn't take a
game to a friend's house due to the restrictions. Now it turns out that
you absolutely can play a game at a friend's house, you just have to
sign into your profile. No big deal. But people spent a few hours going
batshit crazy about this.
This needs to be addressed before E3 in my opinion. Tomorrow would be
nice. Letting cloudy facts run rampant is doing Microsoft no favors.
Even if they just come out and say "Yeah, fuck your used games" so that
people can just decide not to buy the console and get on with their
lives."
Honestly though, I think the last little bit summed up everything perfectly.
"Or who knows, maybe Microsoft will cave and backpeddle on the bigger
sticking points. There's still roughly half a year before these consoles
hit store shelves, and a lot can change. I don't think it's worth so
much anger until things are cast in concrete."
I think it is far too early for everyone to get their panties in a twist. There is still so much that has actually been confirmed one way or the other. I reserve judgment on either system until after E3, and I really wish others would do the same.
-Dawn
