So I finally bought a PS2

[Righ]

So, 28 posts later, I should pick up RE4.

Yes, so long as you buy it at full price, not used or at a discount store. And if you could see you way to sending a spare $50 to an impoverished games developer, good on you, mate.

[HaemishM]

If I had my way, I'd just give it to the devs directly. 

So would I, if they'd just do it, and not charge me the cost of producing a CD/DVD and a box I never get because I downloaded the game.

Let's put it this way. If I wouldn't have bought the game for $50, but someone else did and then got $2 in credit for it, then I buy the same game for $3 and give the extra $1 to EB, who gets hurt? The game developers wouldn't have gotten my money anyway and EB makes more money for it to offset the losses of stocking PC games that hardly anyone buys anymore.

Now if developers want to tell the EA's of the world to go fuck themselves with a rusty garden tool, and sell me their product for less than $50 (say $30) that downloads directly to my X-Box or PC or (future) Wii, I'm all for that. I don't really need the box or the CD so long as I can retrieve a copy of the game if my computer/console takes a nosedive. They must also sell it to me without Starherpes or any of that other shit too.

I'd do that. But I feel not even a micro-ounce of guilt at buying used games instead of paying the 50% premium of an ineffecient distribution chain predicated on showcasing the latest hotness and ignoring everything else.

[Yegolev]

Let's put it this way. If I wouldn't have bought the game for $50, but someone else did and then got $2 in credit for it, then I buy the same game for $3 and give the extra $1 to EB, who gets hurt? The game developers wouldn't have gotten my money anyway and EB makes more money for it to offset the losses of stocking PC games that hardly anyone buys anymore.

I don't have a problem with this logic.  To be honest, I just recently I bought Castlevania: Curse of Darkness and Rez used.  In this case, the new CoD was something like $45 while the used was more like $25 or $20, and most importantly the disc was like-new.  The Rez disc didn't even have fingerprints on it.  I settled for a used and scratchy Silent Hill because it was only $7.99, so what the hell, right?  So, yeah, it's an ideal rather than some draconian rule I live by.  I am mostly motivated by the desire to get a disc that doesn't look like it has been rubbed on sandpaper.  "Well, it worked before we sold it to you, durka durka."

I'd also like to see the EB corporate management and several register-monkeys fall into a deep hole with lava at the bottom, but I guess that's not really "logic", is it?

[HaemishM]

I'd also like to see the EB corporate management and several register-monkeys fall into a deep hole with lava at the bottom, but I guess that's not really "logic", is it?

No, but it really should happen.

[WindupAtheist]

I think Signe's new avatar means she doesn't like being Feet.

She'd rather be Finger, I guess.

[Soukyan]

So, 28 posts later, I should pick up RE4.

God of War
RE4
Katamari

You've got those listed methinks... what else...

Shadow of the Colossus - if I ever buy a PS2, it will be to buy and own this. Thank goodness for friends who own PS2.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem - I enjoyed this and thought it was a neat concept. Decent game.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly - Never could figure out why, but I really dig the Fatal Frame games. This one was quite enjoyable.

I can't speak for many as I don't own a PS2 myself, but I have played those on a friend's PS2.

[Yegolev]

Eternal Darkness is a Cube game.  You could always play it on the Wii.

[Soukyan]

Eternal Darkness is a Cube game.  You could always play it on the Wii.

Oh, that's right. My bad. Still a hell of a fun game. I'd suggest buying a cube just for it as well. But then again, that's just me. PN03 for the Cube was pretty fun, too.

[Xanthippe]

Renting games does not prevent devs from seeing my money.  I often rent a game to try it before I buy it.  If I or my kids like a game, I buy it.  If I hate a game after renting it, so what.  If I hate a game after buying it, I'm highly unlikely to buy another game from that developer ever again.

So, in my case, renting leads to more buying, not less.

Edited to add: my favorite PS2 games are Destroy All Humans (for the humor more than the gameplay) and the Simpsons Hit & Run (same reason).

[Yegolev]

Your rental anecdote mirrors my wife's sentiments on mp3 sharing.  She buys many more CDs when she is able to try a song or two from some unknown group.  Me, instead of renting games I just research them before purchase.

I don't really see rentals as being worse than buying a used disc for $5 less than a new one, but it isn't something I want to participate in.  Blockbuster is basically a gang of lying thieves, for one thing.  Plus, I'll spend far more on a rental than if I just buy the damn thing... unless the rental disc is fucked up and it is returned ASAP.  Buying new discs really mitigates far too many issues for me to do otherwise.

[stray]

Blockbuster is basically a gang of lying thieves, for one thing.

What exactly did Blockbuster lie about?

[Yegolev]

Blockbuster is basically a gang of lying thieves, for one thing.

What exactly did Blockbuster lie about?

Let's just say we disagreed on when my rentals were being returned.

[Xanthippe]

I don't really see rentals as being worse than buying a used disc for $5 less than a new one, but it isn't something I want to participate in.  Blockbuster is basically a gang of lying thieves, for one thing.  Plus, I'll spend far more on a rental than if I just buy the damn thing... unless the rental disc is fucked up and it is returned ASAP.  Buying new discs really mitigates far too many issues for me to do otherwise.

I rent from Game Crazy, not Blockbuster.  I can rent a game long enough to figure out if I want to buy it - 5 days, I think?  Certainly not long enough to actually play much of it.  (It's mostly my kids who are renting/choosing what to buy).

It's not a renting vs. buying thing.  It's a renting and a buying thing. 

I don't see a difference frankly, between someone renting a game, renting a movie, or borrowing a book or cd.  I think those are all legitimate things to do.  If I'm merely purchasing the right to listen to music when I buy a cd, then why do I have to purchase another form of the media in order to enjoy it if it changes  (i.e., vinyl to tape to cd)?  Which I have done too many times already.

If I stop playing a game, and sell the game on ebay (discounting mmos - not talking about selling characters), then what's wrong with that?  I no longer enjoy playing the game, don't have it around any longer, someone else does, what's the problem?  It's like selling a couch.

[HaemishM]

It's like selling a couch.

You only bought sitting rights.

[Yegolev]

It's not a renting vs. buying thing.  It's a renting and a buying thing. 

I am actually agreeing with you.  My wife would also agree, in the context of music at the very least.  I just have trouble constructing sentences properly.  For me, though, five days isn't going to cut it.  Add in the scratched-disc thing and my dislike of middlemen, and I have just decided it isn't for me.

I would probably not buy or rent a used couch, either.

[Xanthippe]

Back when Borland started, the EULA they used for Sidekick read something like this:  Treat this software like a book.  You can install it on any number of computers but only one user/computer may use it at the same time.

This, to me, is a sensible approach.  There is no logical reason why music or software is treated differently than a book.

[Lantyssa]

Back when Borland started, the EULA they used for Sidekick read something like this:

I remember using Sidekick on my XT. oO

The policy is a good one though.

[Righ]

Phillipe Khan is a visionary. Fullpower is probably going to be yet more good stuff.