@Ghostdog201 @megakick But why does the original developer deserve anything else? In what other industry does this happen? What other item or product do I resell and owe the *original manufacturer* of the product any profit from the sale?
Those guys made their loot of the initial sale. You don't see Toyota trying to shut down used car lots; you don't see Levi's trying to shut down flea markets and thrift shops. Why do game developers think they deserve special consideration here?
@raydawg2000 @landfill_dump Actually, if you buy a cleaned and lightly-worn garment, it's not difficult to pass it off as new. I give away a lot of clothes that are in pristine condition because I didn't wear them out and I got them thoroughly cleaned before giving them away.
But that's not the point. Online passes are a terrible idea. My family members and I can share music, movies, and books. But we can't share the online experience in a game that we bought. I'm supposed to pay for another "online pass" for each family member that wants to play?
@blackace @DESTROYRS_F8 I'll tell you where the difference is stark -- Hulu Plus. On the XBOX 360, the shows in your queue are presented in chronological order, not grouped by show like they are on the PS3 and Wii. And to make matters worse, the queue only shows the first 200 items. So if you have a huge queue (like I do) then the only way to get to the newer shows is to search for them, a laborious, time-wasting process without a keyboard. So I never use the 360 for Hulu Plus, always the PS3.
I actually like the PS3's Netflix interface, but the XBOX 360's is just about as good. One has rows and the other has a 3D array, but the navigation is still the same on both.
@blackace This also led to crazy inconsistencies in the gaming experience for PS3 games. Not only were the response times for certain games unacceptable, but the matchmaking interfaces were all over the place. That has improved somewhat since then, but it didn't help things at launch, and some of the people turned off by that initial experience may have never returned to try again.
The other thing that is being missed in this article and the comments is that the XBOX 360's community is bigger and more engaged than on other systems, PS3 included. This is the same reason why one nightclub charges a $10 cover charge and another can charge $100. They're both playing loud music and serving drinks in a dark room, but the second one is where all the hot girls are (probably getting in for free, subsidized by the men no less).
When I look at particular games, most of the time my friends are playing on the XBOX 360, so that's where I want to play too. The forums are usually full and the matchmaking tends to be easy regardless of the time of day. When I look at the charts, the XBOX 360 versions of games tends to sell more than the PlayStation 3 versions, which means that there will probably be more people to play online with.
Most of this stems from Microsoft's first-mover advantage in the online arena. They built up a good community before their competitors had even started and they've kept them there since. Now many people are already there with large buddy lists, lots of achievement points, and some of the best competition on any service. The other offerings may be free, but they may not have as many "hot girls" as XBOX Live does.
@TerDav78 @thedrknite My point was that if you ever STOP being a PS+ member that you'll lose access to the discounted / free games you got. My comment only applies if you subscribed to PlayStation Plus at some point and then stopped.
@Aletunda Every gaming company (and most other industries too) are focused on North America. It's the world's largest consumer market, and too big to ignore. That huge size relative to other places means that we get a "volume discount" of sorts. No, it's not at all fair, but that's the way the economics work out.
@thedrknite I agree with you, but the part that sucks about PS+ is that if you ever let your subscription lapse, then you lose access to all the goodies you got during your membership, even the ones you paid for. That seems really shady to me...where else do you buy something on a discount but then lose access to it later? But again, I'm sure Sony wants to get people in the paying column and keep them there.
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