New Testingstan

So has anyone been following the rumors about the next-gen consoles? Specifically that they're going to block used games?

I'm not sure how i'll be able to afford to do any gaming if I can't buy used or trade stuff in.

Those rumors are likely true. But one saving grace of the EU is that Valve/Steam is in deap water over having button labeled "Buy" in what is marketed as a 'store' with 'sales' without actually permitting customers to sell or transfer what they own.

I'm hoping this brings actual changes:
European Court of Justice Ruling: Digital Games Can Be Resold

"An author of software cannot oppose the resale of his 'used' licences allowing the use of his programs downloaded from the internet," the ruling read. The Court said the exclusive right of distribution covered by a license is "exhausted on its first sale".

This certainly puts a fly in the ointment for companies like Steam. Now gamers in European Union member states are basically free to sell their downloaded games no matter where they are from: Steam, Origin or another digital platform - no matter what End User License Agreement has been signed.

Same for this one:
Valve could face charges in Europe over Steam's user agreement

But seriously, if they pull-off that shit, they'll be killing the only reason why there's still videogames stores which haven't closed yet.

Crazedwraith wrote:2? I've only just started playing 1 these last few months on my now oldish laptop.

And letting the computer resolve all my battles and getting my ass kicked at it lol.

It's supposed to be WOW ZOMG AMAZING but we'll see.

Packaged with Steam though, of course. So yeah I think I've expressed my views on that before.

I did get into a bit of an argument on SB over the whole 'historical accuracy' thing that always crops up with TW games. Was wondering about NT's opinions on that.

Personally I don't give two shits and would rather play classic legionaries than a shitload of auxilia. Also I like "Hollywood Egypt" rather than "Greeks in the Deserts" and Roman ninjas are cool so yeah, I'm down with some psuedo-history/semi-fantasy type stuff that makes the history nerds rage.

And I think we all know the modding community will probably make Rome 2 Total Realism and EB2/3 (apparently EB2 is for M2TW) to get the historical stuff in anyway, if nothing else by changing the unit colors away from faction colors.

So I lean towards wanting CA to go loosely based on history because the accuracy crowd will get their mods anyway. What do you all think?

(PS: I tried playing EB and I was annoyed by it, so I definately would not want base games to copy that style)

Oxymoron wrote:


But seriously, if they pull-off that shit, they'll be killing the only reason why there's still videogames stores which haven't closed yet.

I think that might actually be the point. Gamestop has been leeching a decent portion of game companies' profit margin for years now. This seems like a calculated effort to destroy them.

I don't think the EU courts care about that.

Anyway kinda wish they'd do the same over here but the chances of that are pretty nil. I also like them going after the "no class action suits" clause.

Kinda hope one day the US will catch up and knock that crap down.

the USA will only get justice after the Amish take control
their reign will be brutal, but fair

No beard will be safe

Oxymoron wrote:

By the way, I say we need an "Eurosmug" smiley of some sort.

yes

Oxymoron wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:

By the way, I say we need an "Eurosmug" smiley of some sort.

But you'd have to use it so often

Could the server handle it?

Actually you could do it, just change the face to the EU flag blue and put those stars around it, I guess.

The problem is the face is kinda small so it might not look so good. The smiley would probably need to be bigger than it is now.

Darksi4190 wrote:So has anyone been following the rumors about the next-gen consoles? Specifically that they're going to block used games?

I'm not sure how i'll be able to afford to do any gaming if I can't buy used or trade stuff in.

It's weird because I can't really see how they're going to implement it practically. Everything I've seen about the new Xbox, for example, indicates some sort of always-online validation, but a notable percentage of consoles never even go online - something around 30% I think. I can honestly see needing to fuck around getting a network cable into the living room being a put off for some people from getting the Xbox, unless they integrate wireless connectivity into it instead of it being a price-gouging add-on like with the 360.

wait the xbox 360 doesn't have wifi by default?

The newer version does but the older ones were wired by default; wireless was with a kludgey and expensive addon.

You didn't actually need that one, I got by with the adapter for the original Xbox for a while until I got a router it couldn't handle the encryption of.

how weird
anyways I can't imagine the next gen consoles not having wifi, since they're probably going to go full-on with the digital distribution shit
I'd quite like it if they'd support ad-hoc wifi too

(that said I probably won't go for the next generation of consoles anyway so)

Manus Dei wrote:Everything I've seen about the new Xbox, for example, indicates some sort of always-online validation

For like...every game?

Manus Dei wrote:unless they integrate wireless connectivity into it instead of it being a price-gouging add-on like with the 360.

You'd think they'd have to if they're going with the always-online thing.

Dunno how many people would be pissed anyway, though. I mean wireless is pretty common, but what if you don't have it? Fuck around with a network cable or just "lol no Xbox for you"?

Oxymoron wrote:

Oxymoron wrote:

By the way, I say we need an "Eurosmug" smiley of some sort.

The always online validation thing is pretty much the dumbest possible move and unless the entire industry just does it simultaneously it just opens Microsoft up to being walked over. Like can you imagine Sony's marketing department the moment it was confirmed?

the whole industry probably is moving in that direction, though

In a way, I don't really miss the ability to sell my games on Steam, since most of the time I only paid 5-25e for each. That's in the same ballpark, if not better, than what I would've paid for that stuff in a brick and mortar store anyway (factoring in trade-ins and buying used). Except of course that I don't think any game stores around here even take PC games as trade-ins anymore, but you get the idea. If the next-gen consoles had a system like Steam on them, with the nice sales and everything immediately available digitally, I probably wouldn't much care about the ability to sell old games. Of course, Valve doesn't have complete control of the PC environment, whereas Microsoft and Sony would for their respective consoles, so it wouldn't surprise me if their systems weren't half as friendly in the pricing department.

Still, it'd be nice to have the ability sell old stuff, both on Steam and with the new consoles. I wonder though: if Steam is forced to allow re-selling, how would that affect their current business model? I imagine they'd recover some of the lost revenue by taking a cut of each transaction between users, but what else? Fewer sales and lower discounts?

F.J. Prefect, Esq wrote:The always online validation thing is pretty much the dumbest possible move and unless the entire industry just does it simultaneously it just opens Microsoft up to being walked over. Like can you imagine Sony's marketing department the moment it was confirmed?

That's the argument i've seen in every article that claims the "no used games" thing is unlikely. If Microsoft jumps the gun and uses online validation, and Sony doesn't, Sony has just won the next round of console wars right there. If there is a move towards it, it would have to be some sort of industry wide agreement to enact it together.

This is the Sony we're talking about that is so in love with draconian DRM schemes they released PC games that literally couldn't be played on PC's, or borked systems on install? Right? THAT sony?

don't forget music CDs that installed spyware on people's computers