Mirror's Edge is impressive.

[greenmedic88]

Facts remain, publishers and developers alike are losing a considerable amount of revenue, due to the booming resale business of used games.

Whenever GS or EB posts record profits, realize that a large portion of that is tied directly to their reliance upon used game sales and the "revolving door" policy of trading one new release used game in for yet another used new release game.

Because of this, it's entirely possible to play indefinitely, without ever buying a single new game (or console), effectively cutting developers out of their return on investment.

While I don't have a problem with this for old or out of production games (used game shops are a great resource for this IMO), when it's company policy to try and push customers to buy used copies of new releases for $5 off, effectively cutting out one more unit sold, that's pretty much where I have to draw the line personally.

Since the PC market has effectively wiped out used game sales (barring older games that did not require registration to simply play the game you just bought), between user registrations and limited installs, it is not entirely improbable to see something similar being implemented in the not too distant future for consoles.

Don't want to raise the red flag of FUD, but if used game sales are seen as becoming too parasitic for the industry, measures will be taken.


Personal anecdote with EA. My bricked copy of Warhead required (2) calls to customer service and a bit of navigating through automated menus, but after speaking to (2) different agents, and validating my legit copy, it was reactivated for an additional (3) installs.

Additional installs beyond that will require an additional call to customer service, but the point is that once your registered copy is on record, unless you have it running on 50 systems, you can call to reactivate.

Is it an inconvenience? Yes. But the games still play, assuming they've been used within user agreement terms.

I really can't think of much better practical solution short of tying all PC games to user accounts (like Steam) in which all your purchases are on database, allowing the user to log in and access his/her purchases from any system.

The whole idea of installing a game on a hard drive and never deleting it doesn't work either since the game installs are actually tied to your system's BIOS, meaning if you ever do a major system upgrade (swapping MoBos) your game may still be installed, but it will still have to be re-validated with your code/CD key.

So... the lesson here would be that console gaming is more convenient once again in yet another way. I've yet to have a console game not play on a console it was supposed to play on, barring defects in disc or console.


They were also pretty quick about replacing my busted RB guitar controller earlier this year, so that means they're still batting 1,000 for me.