How does renting a movie from iTunes which you are only able to watch for 24 hours empower the customer?

How does no selling/trading of games on PC empower the customer? Microsoft is saying they will provide means to do this...

We have to see how it plays out, but if things Microsoft is saying are true, Xbox One has a very generous DRM compared to other mediums.

I was thinking about music in this case with iTumes. About movies, people used to rent them all the time, because it's cheaper you might only want to see the same movie once. Things like netflix doesn't really go against how people behave.

Video games on the other hand are toys, like trading cards or miniatures or Lego or whatever. This perception will not change despite the industry trying to hollywoodize the medium. And that is why people will never be comfortable with DRM and DD. Steam has had a place because computer games are percieved differently from console games. Still, all of PC gaming is not Steam.

"I do not see widespread complaints that they can't sell these digitally purchased titles back to GameStop or on eBay. What makes getting a game via a plastic disk any different? Well, previously you needed a disk present in the system to verify you had the right to play a game purchased as a disk. That model is now completely gone."
If this modal was completely gone, why are we still using discs as the main source of medium for games on consoles?

I would never purchase a full priced game on PSN, if I don't like it, I can't do anything about it. I'm stuck with a £50 waste of digital crap.

"People are up in arms about the reported "fee" that will be required to play a game on someone else's system, but this outrage makes no sense under the new system."
You cannot lend the game to a friend. I discovered a few titles last generation via people lending me those game and I lent games to them too. In this new system, I wouldn't be able to do that, so if that existed before I would have never discovered the greatness that is Fallout 3, and for my mate Mass Effect. I wouldn't be able to take my game to a friends house either.


I can see the point the person in the opening post is making, the idea is that a 'licence' to own a game is no longer required in the medium it is supplied but by the user themselves. The user owns the licence of the copy of the game they are playing. Previous generations the licence was connected by the game media and could be played on any console, this new system would be the licence is the user and can be played on any system that user exists on.

But this whole article reads of elitist PC bullcrap. Not understanding the problems with a system designed to battle piracy. Written by a person who can afford new game after new game.

No. You "own" it so long as you can log into your account somewhere, so long as the server doesn't go down, etc. etc.

If I OWN a phyisical disc, I can pop that motherfucker in and play my game any time I want, RIGHT when I want to, and can take it and play it on anyone else's console, RIGHT when I want to. No obsctruction, no bullshit. It's MY copy for life. Not floating out there somewhere in the digital ether.

And I'm sorry, but trying to play it up as if people like myself who value physcial copies of a game, are somehow "behind the times" or "quaint old schoolers who just aren't with it", is not only insulting, it's also a very immature outlook on the situation. If you personally don't care about physical medium, that doesn't mean that others can't or don't have every right to.

I dont want to insult anyone but your post above is like listening to someone blast digital distribution and its DRM when its absolutely obvious they have no first hand experience in dealing with it. Your points along with 90% of posts around here indicate fear of change and downright lazyness to change more than any valid arguments. Its like iPhone, iPad, iTunes, other app stores, ecosystems, music subscription services, movie subscription services, PC gaming...etc... all dont exist and this is the first time you hear of this digital DRM sacrilege.

Also funny how youre trying to make it sound like im in the minority for not willing to die for physical media... Observe sales trends in mobile and music and movie sales as well as PC game sales and wake up to reality that will soon be embraced by consoles as well. 

This I support fully, the reason so many small devs died this gen is because people either kept pirating their games or just got a used version of their game, this way more devs can survive this gen.

If it was up to EA, they'd enforce a switch on their annual games like Madden and FIFA, so as soon as a new version is released, all previous games will notify the consumer of the new game, before subsequently exiting.

Then again, I agree with this too. Confusing times.

Gamestop already stated that they'll still be able to sell used games for both consoles. Microsoft themselves said outright they'll have a system in place.

Thus his pollyannish notion that "it'll be just like Steam guys, trust me!" falls flat on it's face. Not that I would've bought that argument anyway, but it makes no sense based on what we've heard from executives at both companies.

Whoever wrote that goes out on quite the limb by simply assuming that publishers will slash the prices on games just for the hell of it on consoles. We have years of experience this gen alone that says otherwise.