Score one for consumer rights.

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Thursday, June 20, 2013, 09:58 (4172 days ago) @ kapowaz

First-sale Doctrine respected! Don't have to ask "permission" on a regular basis to be "allowed" to use your own property!

This attitude is infuriating. It's shallow, shortsighted and inaccurate. I think Jason Chen hit the nail on the head here: The Internet Just Made Microsoft Kill a Car for a Faster Horse.

.... but, but, but horses are way cooler than cars...

Also, all we've done here is kicked the can further down the road. Eventually the concept of buying games on physical media is going to seem terribly archaic; with Steam and the App Store, the future of buying games is through account-bound licenses. The physical media they might come on are irrelevant. One day, consoles won't use physical media, and we'll have to deal with (i.e. accept) the realities of a future, but take that hand in hand with the benefits (no disc swapping! day one releases without pre-orders or having to wait for a home delivery! play any game you own anywhere!)

... Heh, as long as you have internet, a Live subscription, and the permission of Microsoft, who hopefully still has their servers running for the device, at least in this particular situation. :)

With a disc I can play the game anywhere too, and to me, MORE anywhere, as I can do it without internet restrictions or account subscriptions, as long as I bring a little disc with me. And without discs, you also don't get a neat manual you can read in the bathroom. You also lose artwork and packaging that you can put up on the shelf and build a pretty library with. With a disc, I don't have to worry about internet going down, company's servers going offline, or anything. I can just plop a disc in to any system I can and play it, alone or at a friends. And if I want to lend it to my friend, I can just leave it there. That sounds more convenient, flexible, and moral to me than tying my property directly to a corporation and their permission with digital downloads and DRM.

(Also, waiting for Halo 2 to be delivered is still a lovely memory - I was so excited! So home deliveries or going to a store is an exciting, fun experience - not something I'm interested in streamlining.)

Just because it's newer or 'higher tech' doesn't mean it's more convenient for everyone, and just because we can do it doesn't mean we should do it. And even if it IS more convenient - it was already ridiculously convenient in the first place, hah. We're making lazy things lazier and eliminating the need for actual in-person human interaction. I think the future of gaming should focus on making the actual games better instead.

They should just offer both models for different prices or something. Higher Live fee with cheaper, instantly-downloadable games with all those benefits you want; and a cheaper Live (or no Live), with more expensive physical copies with all the benefits I want.