There goes my incentive for working out

What is the point of having a debt limit if you continuously raise it? I'm glad to see that the United States approaches their problems like I do with my New Year resolutions. I'll start going to the gym tomorrow.

Note that the customary non-Thai prices are in effect. If you do not look Thai and are found to be using such services pre-election, you will be fined 100,000 baht.

(Note that this joke will make zero sense if you haven't travelled to Thailand)

Better than the lottery? Park every iDomain you can think of!

This is false.

When I develop a game, I don't think about how I can't wait for someone to buy the printed disc, I think about how I can't wait for someone to enjoy the content. Likewise, when you buy the game, you are not buying it to look at the disc, but to enjoy its content. The reason that this content is on a disc coincides with the currently available technology to distribute the content.

Like I said before (in other posts) I don't blame people for selling their games. They are now just pieces of plastic instead of a colourful box of goodies.

When I was young I remember going to KMart and looking at all the games, deciding what to buy. I only had 20 dollars and this was actually my first game purchase. I ended up getting a 5 in 1 collection with some top games (but they were probably already a few years old, I didn't know any better). I read through all the manuals and the physical contents of the packages were, to me, just as valuable to the games itself. I still have all of it.

Most of the games that I own are in giant cereal box sized packaging, have manuals that describe the game moreso than describe controls. Publishers got cheap and kept shrinking packaging so that most of value now lies in the digital content. I like physical copies as well, but to be honest they are nothing compared to what I have from when I was a teenager. The value was in the manual, box, and artwork, not the floppy or CD or DVD. Publishers put themselves in this position and the publishers either need to put value back into owning the packaging, or making used games less desirable. Seems like option 2 is where it is at, which makes me sad.

I don't blame people for not recognizing the value of holding onto a pieces of plastic in a flimsy plastic case...the value just isn't there. That being said, I still don't think it is fair to the DEVELOPERS.

If you don't like this then stop being so cheap and spend the extra 5 dollars to get the new copy. You support the developers. (note that whey I say YOU I am not singling our yourself but speaking to used game buyers in general).

This analogy doesn't really fit.

Assume your car came with free Sirius for a year, or if you don't like that maybe is had 3G access for some spiffy new feature. This free service costs the car manufacturer money, which they factor into the cost of the car. When you activate it, you tend to have to supply your identification etc. The service is granted to you and was a perk of buying the car new. When you sell the car, the service is still in your name and is non-transferable.

Another analogy. You buy a car new and it has free financing for a year. If you sell this car to someone else, they don't get your free financing for a year deal.

SONY has taken a similar approach. When you buy the game the perks are activated for you and are non transferable.

On top of all of this you need a car for what, most of your life? Used cars immediately drop in value, and when you buy a car you need to pay special fees so that it is registered in your name. The market itself will discourage you from buying a new car every month using the money from selling your old car. Cars also deteriorate, whereas games remain the same. Last time I checked, used games are 5 dollars cheaper than new ones right? People say, hey I save 5 dollars and it is basically the same. OR even worse gamestop says we have no new ones, but we have these nice used ones. I would never choose a used car over a new car when I only save 8%...and I doubt you would too.

SOCOM is basically an online game to most buyers. Online costs SONY money and is factored into the purchase price. Also factored into that price is how long/often they expect the buyer to use the online service. If the disc changes hands then that original calculation is now longer accurate. I never use special weapons etc in these games anyways. I tend to stick with defaults and I still have lots of fun.

In my opinion, I think the current approach in the sale of used games is bad. If money changes hands, or a service fee is charged, the publisher should be paid. Yes, you own the game and you are not buying a licence. The sale of used games is perfectly legal. However, I find it immoral when companies position themselves so that the majority of their business is focused on the second hand market. I'd like to know what you guys think about this. Does it make sense to require a special licence to sell used video games? Afterall you need a licence for liquor and cigarettes, and I'm guessing that is really just so taxes can be collected. I think it should be legal for consumers to sell their used games, but not for companies unless a cut is given to publishers...just like taxes. This would allow people to still sell and buy their used games, but would discourage companies from taking advantage of the 'quick fix'/'easily transferable' state of video games. I guess then ebay/goozex would be getting most of the business...hmmm

Anyways, back on topic. I think what SONY has done is much more fair to the consumer than having to pay for multi-player access in general. My ideal scenario would be the "newness" of games doesn't matter at all, but the sale of used games is restricted to the consumee level and/or commercial sale is taxed for the publishing company.

Thoughts?

My finance (chinese) read the original report and this is what she has to say about it

Yes, I just read it, it was a short report of current china TV drama. In one
section it mentioned that some ghost TV shows with or without time travel is
absurd and low quality , and warns investor to think carefully before
investing in these tvs. That is all.

I will be pissed if Nintendo releases anything but a console with power equivalent to the current generation. The last thing I want to do is worry about how I'm going to convert my AC supplied power into whatever new fandangled, "innovative" power Nintendo comes up with.

I agree with the above two posts. If you bought the game, and it has DRM then feel free to download a version with it stripped out. I don't see what is wrong with that from a moral point of view. I guess technically it would still be illegal but at least the money went to the publisher (or better yet directly to the developer)

Facebook is the result of one guy seeing some potential in anothers idea. Then being too gutless to develop it yourself (which I don't understand since you are in school) and request money upfront so that if it fails it isn't a total loss. Then after realizing the potential revenue, desperately attempting to get the other guy to cancel the contract. I'm surprised that Ceglia didn't cry foul when Zuckerberg requests a 50/50 split down from 80/20 and the next day the site is live and working. WTF?

Will facebook still be around in 4 years? I half expected something else to have majority share by then

The real problem is that people think it is OK to pirate stuff. Here are the most popular reasons:

1. They put DRM in there, thus the pirated version is better and I am entitled to steal it.
2. The game is too expensive, thus I am entitled to steal it.
3. I wouldn't have bought it anyways, thus I am entitled to steal it.

All of these are bull. No one has any right to steal anything that doesn't belong to them. There is a deep moral issue here with a good chunk of people on the net. This extends to torrenting movies and other entertainment. I don't see why people are so cheap. Even at 60 dollars a video game is about what it costs me for gas in a month or groceries in a week. It isn't exactly expensive. Anyways, maybe the only solution is to get rid of internet annonominity and allow publishers and developers to report pirating offenses to the police. And yes I am a game developer.