Advertisement

Register for free to remove this ad

I found this very funny actually. I plan to buy NBA Live 09 new anyway, so this isn't a problem.

GS tries so hard to push used copies of sports games (telling them to buy used due to longer warranty, I heard that one before).

I side with EA here.

Originally Posted by VipFREAK Because I don't like being raped in da ass by overpriced crap. (do note... we are talking about EA here, not Gears)

So you'll buy Gears new, but NOTHING from EA, because EA by default is raping you of your money?

Originally Posted by FloodsAreUponUS Don't buy it used then.

I don't, especially after finding yourfree360games.com

Only EA I've ever owned is NHL 08 and 09. The NHL series is probably the only non worthless part of EA too.

EA should advertise this in a prominent place on the front of the box.

To be honest it's hard to come down on them for this one though. WOW charges people $20 a month (I think?) for content and noone complains.

It's not like this gimps the game.

Originally Posted by mogamer That Sonic cart was probably a pack-in game. Sega didn't want retailers taking those games out of the package and selling them individually.

Yeah kind of like the Zelda collectors edition that flooded gamestops for $50 used. Not for resale plastered all over the place, did it matter? No.

Originally Posted by basilofbkrst So you'll buy Gears new, but NOTHING from EA, because EA by default is raping you of your money?

I guess doing the same thing over and over would be more a kin to a long boring marriage than all the thrills of rape.

Originally Posted by basilofbkrst So you'll buy Gears new, but NOTHING from EA, because EA by default is raping you of your money?

Generally, I don't usually buy ANY game new if I can help it... but, uh... yeah pretty much. I mean, at least the Gears guys TRY to improve their game if they come out with another one as well as not putting the same crap out every year for $59.99.

I don't have a problem with this at all. I don't buy used games so it really wouldn't be an issue for me, but anyone who tries to turn this into an issue of buyers/sellers rights is totally off base. The only people this would affect are people who are buying the game used and those people by definition are not EA's customers. If you're not buying it new you're not buying it from EA. So why the should they give a shit about you be able to use 100% of the features in their game that they have to constantly update without paying them for them? They're not stopping anyone from selling the disk they just bought. All they are saying is that it's a disk that comes with a one-time-use code that enables online stats. You want to sell that feature when you sell your disk, then don't use the code and sell it with the disk. Nobody's stopping you from doing that.

You people and your used cars anaologies kill me. Well look at it this way - You buy a brand new car and it come with a full tank of gas. You drive your car around for a week and decide to sell it. You don't get to sell it as a car with a full tank of gas anymore do you? It's not like anyone is preventing that gas tank from being refilled. It's just gonna cost you some money to do it. The code that comes with the game is a consumable just like xbox live memberships, point cards, and any other single use code based items that we're all already forking over money for right now.

If you don't like it, don't buy it. But don't think for a second that anyone is infringing on your rights to sell your game disk or the code that comes with it. You bought your copy used and want that code? Then pay your 20 bucks and buy one. That code doesn't stop you from playing the game just as not having some unlockable bullshit costume you'd get from a pre-order code doesn't stop you from playing a game either.

Professor to the rescue! Well said.

Originally Posted by Kendal I guess doing the same thing over and over would be more a kin to a long boring marriage than all the thrills of rape.

Always in moderation.

Originally Posted by Professor Oreo The code that comes with the game is a consumable just like xbox live memberships, point cards, and any other single use code based items that we're all already forking over money for right now.

I don't pay full price for live/pts either.

... so, how is this any different from the 20 free songs that EA is doing with Rock Band 2 that no one seems to be complaining about? It's the same thing: buy it new, you get the code, you don't pay. Buy it used, you'll likely have to pay for them. It's an issue when it's an NBA game, but it's cool when Rock Band does the exact same thing?

It's a cheap tactic, but EA isn't supported by the used market, they're supported by you buying the game at retail. Period. It's business, and I can't really fault them for it. If you care about the feature, you'll pony up for a new copy, or you'll wait for a price drop. As previously mentioned, as well, neither of these things BREAK THE GAME. You buy it used, the game is still playable... so I don't see the issue. It's not as if they're going 'ok, if you don't have this code you can't use half of the teams in the NBA'. The game is still there, still playable, still complete.

All this is doing is hurting our ability to be a cheapass. I mean, in all fairness, there's going to be some people so turned off by this that they won't buy it... but there's also a ton who'll just pony up the money. It's about how much you care about the game.

Originally Posted by VipFREAK I don't pay full price for live/pts either.

That's great. I'm sure everyone here is very proud of you. I'd like to see you buy a 1600 point card use 400 points and try to sell the card to someone else. Once you activate the card online, the actual printed card itself becomes useless yes? Same with the EA code that comes with the game.

Originally Posted by dafunkk12 This is great for the industry, a strike against GameStop, and only hurtful to some. As stated in many prior discussions, only GameStop makes money on used game sales; the game publisher sees none of that.

This is not great for the industry. Do you honestly think that confusing customers as to what they're actually buying is a smart move? Do you think that customers are going to be happy when they get their game home and find they have to spend another $5-$20 (or more?) so that it has all the advertised features, isn't somehow gimped, or is playable?

Yeah, that will go over great. EA might as well try to sell a USB credit card swiper or coin slot.

The unfortunate reality is that publishers need to get paid, to pay developers, to continue to make games. If you buy used, sure you're getting an experience for cheap, but you're not effectively showing your appreciation to the people who actually matter.

I'm just going to suggest here that the used market wouldn't be so attractive if the MSRP wasn't so high.

I think publishers live under the delusion that if the used market didn't exist, then everyone would pay $50 or $60 for their games. This isn't going to happen. They're just going to buy fewer games. Or none.

The videogame industry, for better or worse, has a model that they use now. It involves pricing games high to begin with, then tending to drop or clearance them later and, if all goes well, put them out as greatest hits. Maybe.

This model currently works because enough people participate in the engine. Some buy high and trade in quickly. A few will buy at whatever price. Some wait for sales or drops. Others wait for used.

It is a complicated, somewhat insane model. It's why we have a lot of games that bomb (which costs publishers money).

Injecting DRM into this and trying to extort charges from customers that may or may not be aware of extra fees, charges, or what-have-yous for something they can physically buy is not a sane solution. I sympathize because the economic model is screwy, but the solution is not adding more insanity.

Originally Posted by smoger Anyone who sides with EA on this one is crazy. It's just the first step in a slippery slope. Today it's one feature that's locked out,.. tomorrow it'll be the whole game. I absolutely LOATHE Gamestop but it's not because of how they treat publishers.. it's because of how they treat consumers. This is a war between giant corporations that is putting us, the consumers, the lifeblood of BOTH of these companies, in the firing line. I just hope that console gamers are smart enough to take issue with this like PC gamers did with Spore. (also, anyone who doubts the right of resale should google the First Sale Doctrine.. "a copyright holder's rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made")

Sorry to quote so much, but this deserves to be seen again.

Great way to hurt the consumer! I know GameStop makes a lot of money from used game sales, but I'd rather give it to them then to EA.

I'm really surprised that CAGs think this is a good idea, at least based purely on what we might conceive as "double dipping" on used games. I.e., now you're paying Gamestop's ridiculous prices on a used game (saving five dollars, wow thanks) AND you're paying some bucks for (correct me if I'm wrong since I don't play sports games) a somewhat useful feature that seems well-integrated into a game.

I think we all know the astounding incompetance that completely infests Gamestop, so we KNOW they aren't going to tell consumers about this sort of thing. And EA certainly knows that. The "target victim" ('cuz it aint a demographic) are the ones who will get kicked in the balls by this. We - the informed gaming elite of CAG and the Internetz Commonwealth - will know to avoid it. But the average EA Sports junkie won't, and NO ONE is going to tell them "Hey, you're actually going to pay 15 bucks MORE to get the full usage out of this game than if you bought it new." And even if they did, will that consumer know wtf they are talking about? Will they disregard or ignore it? Will they think the person saying it is playing a joke or being a dick, and just wants to try and get a commission by selling a new title? And if any of these things are so and they willingly ignore such remarks and get the used title, what happens when they get pissed about the missing feature? Can they return the game for a full refund?

There's just way too many intersections here me to navigate through. Too many what-if scenarios.

Anyone remember that scene in Seinfeld where he wanted to return the jacket "for spite" and they refused because that was his first reason given? I could see that conversational merry-go-round of failure happening here too.

Part of me understands what EA is doing and wants to do - it makes sense from a business exec perspective. But damn, that is some shit if you ask me. Hell of a sneaky tactic to break down used sales, and truly I hate Gamestop so I might enjoy their profits decreasing, but damn that is some shit!

Isn't the better option to give useless-but-fun incentives? Start up a Club EA and give out soundtracks or something for every 10 games you buy? Stuff that is completely separate from the game itself and all the options therein.

I'm sure I could talk about this more but I'm feeling like shit and I'm going to stop, 'cuz I know this'un is going to continue for a while.

This is a tough one. I should disagree with the concept, but since its people buying EA games, its basically a victimless crime

Originally Posted by Hybrid5006 Great way to hurt the consumer! I know GameStop makes a lot of money from used game sales, but I'd rather give it to them then to EA.

So wait, you'd rather give your money to a third party that had nothing to do with the creation of a game, than to the parent company that actually funded the development of that game and had it created in the first place?! That's some crazy logic right there. If you hate EA so much then why buy their games at all? Or better yet, if it's a game you enjoy and actually want to play, why not help fund the people that actually made it to encourage them to make more games in the future?

If that's your stance that you'd rather help Gamestop see a profit than EA, then you're exactly the type of person that EA is trying to throttle with their one time use codes. Hurting you is not hurting their consumer base. You're Gamestop's customer not EA's. So why should they care if they piss you off if they weren't ever going to benefit from you playing their games anyway?

Damn. Professor is hitting this one out of the park. Well done.

So if we buy the game new and don't care about roster updates we can sell our code for $20?