Topic: Sonys solution to PSP piracy

[idolminds]

Oh great.

Long story short: the new SOCOM game for PSP will come with what is basically a CD key. If you want to play online you have to register this key to your PSN account. On the surface this seems like a good plan but its missing a few facts.

Custom firmware is already blocked from PSN and online play. There is apparently a program that can trick it into working but it only supports a few games. For the most part you already can't play pirated PSP games online.

Now heres the fun bit, what happens if you buy the game used? No problem! Sony will be happy to charge you $20 for online access!

[Pugnate]

Aren't the PSP3000s unmoddable anyway?

[iPPi]

Meh.  I don't see it as a big deal.  If you end up buying the game used you're kinda SOL, but otherwise, I don't think it's a major impact.

[W7RE]

People really do NOT want you to buy their game used. I mean I guess I can understand, but I never thought the used game market was big enough to hurt sales. Well, I guess we have Gamestop now. I don't understand how people can constantly trade in games at Gamestop when it's such a ripoff, but I know people who do it. Fore xample I know this one guy who has a 360 and has bought 8-10 games in the last year or so. He trades something in every time he gets a new game, to the point that now he owns ONE game for the system (Modern Warfare 2)

I refuse to sell or trade my games unless I know it's something I'll never play again, which doesn't happen often. Also I won't buy a used game unless it's significantly cheaper. Gamestop has a game for $17 used? Gimme the new copy for $20.

[scottws]

People really do NOT want you to buy their game used. I mean I guess I can understand, but I never thought the used game market was big enough to hurt sales. Well, I guess we have Gamestop now. I don't understand how people can constantly trade in games at Gamestop when it's such a ripoff, but I know people who do it. Fore xample I know this one guy who has a 360 and has bought 8-10 games in the last year or so. He trades something in every time he gets a new game, to the point that now he owns ONE game for the system (Modern Warfare 2)

I refuse to sell or trade my games unless I know it's something I'll never play again, which doesn't happen often. Also I won't buy a used game unless it's significantly cheaper. Gamestop has a game for $17 used? Gimme the new copy for $20.

I know exactly what you mean.  I refuse to do business with Gamestop at all, and if I or my stepson get a Gamestop gift card, we make sure to use it towards a new game or re-gift it.

I have a fun story about the Gamestop closest to my house.  So my stepson has a Gamestop card and we go there.  He wants The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS.  So we go up to the counter and they give us their "buy used we have a warranty" schpeil.  "No, we want a new copy"  So we get the new game.  Basically it's an opened DS case and they put the game in there.

As we are getting in the car, Jennie says "This is bullshit!  How do you know if the game they gave you is even really new?"  I remark that is a good point but what can we do about it.  So my stepson pops it in his DS and says "It is used."  Now he's a storyteller and tends to always find openings in what people say to cause drama, so immediately we're skeptical:  "How do know it is used?"  "Because it has someone else's name.  Look."  Sure enough, the game already had a save file with some other kid's name on it.

I was pissed, but I also immediately felt bad for the store clerk and/or manager.  See Jennie is of Cuban decent and is from New Jersey.  Hispanic + New Jersey assertiveness combined?  I'm engaged to her; believe me I know all about it and it's not fun.  She goes running back in there with a huge scowl on her face and came back out with the game and a $25 gift card.  They gave her some BS excuse about the copy coming from another store and being marked as new by them.  We were kinda pissed about the gift card because we hate that place but hey at least it is some condolences.  They also gave us another (supposedly) new copy.

This is new lows for Gamestop.  I mean they already make huge profits off of used games by buying them cheap and selling them back not far off the cost of a new copy.  But selling used games at the full new game price?  What assholes.

[MysterD]

That's pretty messed-up, Scott.

Thank God that there is no used-games business for PC games at GameStop. If you're a PC gamer and buy at GameStop, I guess you just have to worry that some bastard didn't already scratch the disc up and/or activate your game key to lessen an install (if it's one of those Install limit DRM's) - and then say put it back in the box, I guess.

Or you'd have to worry you got a CD key in the box and all - which I've had happen before. See my Diablo 2 thread.

[iPPi]

If the game is not factory sealed I refuse to purchase it unless it's a rare or hard to find game.  I've only purchased one game that was not factory sealed: Ikaruga for the GC.  It was a rare game that I couldn't find locally and I ran into an EB games in Vancouver that had a copy.  The disc looked new (not scratched, no fingerprints), so I bought it.  I was torn about it not being factory sealed though but I couldn't do anything about it.  

[W7RE]

Yea, they take all their new games out of the cases and put them in cardboard sleeves in drawers. I guess the excuse is that having an empty case on the display shelf keeps the game from being shoplifted.

I only buy new games from Gamestop, ones that I have preordered (I'm a sucker for preorder bonuses ) I guess I've been buying enough games and making enough preorders that the guys at my local Gamestop have gotten to know me. They don't bother offering me anything, they know I'm gonna preorder stuff and buy games, and that I know which ones I want already.

[Cobra951]

I know exactly what you mean.  I refuse to do business with Gamestop at all, and if I or my stepson get a Gamestop gift card, we make sure to use it towards a new game or re-gift it.

I have a fun story about the Gamestop closest to my house.  So my stepson has a Gamestop card and we go there.  He wants The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS.  So we go up to the counter and they give us their "buy used we have a warranty" schpeil.  "No, we want a new copy"  So we get the new game.  Basically it's an opened DS case and they put the game in there.

As we are getting in the car, Jennie says "This is bullshit!  How do you know if the game they gave you is even really new?"  I remark that is a good point but what can we do about it.  So my stepson pops it in his DS and says "It is used."  Now he's a storyteller and tends to always find openings in what people say to cause drama, so immediately we're skeptical:  "How do know it is used?"  "Because it has someone else's name.  Look."  Sure enough, the game already had a save file with some other kid's name on it.

I was pissed, but I also immediately felt bad for the store clerk and/or manager.  See Jennie is of Cuban decent and is from New Jersey.  Hispanic + New Jersey assertiveness combined?  I'm engaged to her; believe me I know all about it and it's not fun.  She goes running back in there with a huge scowl on her face and came back out with the game and a $25 gift card.  They gave her some BS excuse about the copy coming from another store and being marked as new by them.  We were kinda pissed about the gift card because we hate that place but hey at least it is some condolences.  They also gave us another (supposedly) new copy.

This is new lows for Gamestop.  I mean they already make huge profits off of used games by buying them cheap and selling them back not far off the cost of a new copy.  But selling used games at the full new game price?  What assholes.

It's hardly new.  I had the same experience years ago with a cartridge game.  (I know I posted about it somewhere.)  I don't think they were even called Gamestop then.  I gave the clerk 3 choices: my money back, a really new game, or the used game at a hefty discount.  I got a new copy of the game, or at least one without someone else's save data on it.

I hate Gamestop since they started to charge 90% of retail for used games, and I refuse to buy anything there unless I can't get it anywhere else.

[MysterD]

I'm just gonna say this right now - any attempted solution to try and stop piracy is just a major waste of a time and money.

[Xessive]

And any attempt to stop second-hand sales is just a dick move. Which is what the PSPgo is all about: no UMDs = no second-hand sales.

[Xessive]

I don't think this necessarily deserved its own thread so I revived this old relic:
PSP Going, Going, Gone: Sony Officially Axes PSPgo

My opinion? About time. I think the PSPgo would have stood a chance if it wasn't so expensive. Starting at $250 it was notably more expensive than the PSP-3000 minus a UMD drive.