More Hints Next Xbox Will Require 'Always On' Connection > The digital divide is coming to a game console near you

The digital divide is coming to a game console near you

I don't disagree but how many sales will that cost them? If the loss of those sales is less than the advantages they hope to gain, they aren't going to care.

Does Genie have WiFi? If not, what if a customer has cut the cord and just uses cell for both voice and data? Even with WiFi, the customer would have to pay for cellular hot-spot. Unlikely? Perhaps but like Microsoft, the percentages aren't big enough for DirecTV to care.

reply to IowaCowboy
why should developers receive compensation for a used game?

that would be like a book publisher getting a cut every time I sell a book. Makes no sense. They already made their money on the initial sale, they have no right to make more on that individual item.

Once something is sold it's sold.
If I sell my car I don't expect to get anything when it gets sold again.

reply to rradina
The Genie has Wi-Fi through the Cinema Connection Kit. Most people prefer a wired Internet connection due to the fact the caps are more generous. As for rural areas, most people have a landline phone as cell reception is non-existent or they'll get kicked off for overuse of roaming.

reply to IowaCowboy
Used games were previously new games, where the developer/publisher previously received their compensation for the sale of that copy of the content. Digital content is not like land, where each time your particular piece of land is transferred a tax is levied and due. Besides, you really think Green Day or Mumford & Sons is getting any large portion of that money? It's most likely that Sony BMG, Universal, Warner, or EMI would be getting that money.

So, it's Big Retailer versus the RIAA? Boo hoo, cry me a river. I find it unethical to keep charging a royalty for the same thing over and over.

The requirements for this console are becoming more and more draconian. They shouldn't require ANY connection to work on single player games. I can understand the requirement if one wants to play like an MMO though, as that's the whole point of a MMO.

Actually, DirecTV doesn't require a connection either.

reply to FBGuy
The car is physical property you own. With games, music, software, movies, and other copyrighted material, you don't actually own it, you are granted a license in exchange for a one-time or recurring fee to use the material. And the days of first sale are probably numbered as the companies are starting to lease licenses as opposed to selling them so you have to pay recurring fees to use the content.

There is a difference between physical property and intellectual property.
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I've experienced ImOn (when they were McLeod USA), Mediacom, Comcast, and Time Warner and I currently have DirecTV. They are much better than broadcast TV.

I have not and will not cut the cord.

what?!? give me a break. If I buy a physical product, I bought the physical product. If I sell physical product, I get the money. If the company that made that product wants to put restrictions on it that make it impossible to sell it a second time, good luck selling it a first time. I won't buy that shit.

reply to buzz_4_20
IowaCowboy doesn't really understand the law but always seems to come up with interesting legal theories about how things work.

reply to FBGuy
What I am stating is a fact and not an opinion. The laws regarding intellectual property are different from physical property. Like I said, more and more software companies are leasing instead of selling licenses.

reply to IowaCowboy
When you say "Wi-Fi", are you in fact referring to cell phone services versus a wired Internet connection with wireless "wifi" access. If you're speaking of the latter, then the cap would be the same. If you're referring to the former then you're correct, the caps would be different; thanks in advance for clarifying your statement and what you meant.

reply to FBGuy
I agree with this. If used game sales need to provide revenue to the original developer then why not have the same thing with used car sales, used tire sales (retreads) and used firearm sales?

The list would be endless if this is something that "should" occur due to ethical reasons and the used sales market would disappear.

reply to IowaCowboy
Obviously you cannot, under normal conditions, resell a license. That is not what I am talking about. What you are talking about it something totally different than what I was talking about.

reply to faughro
I stop doing business altogether with companies that try to pull this stuff. I don't even own an xbox, but I do use Windows. If Microsoft does this with the 720, that's it for me. I won't buy a new version of Windows or Office.

reply to IowaCowboy
First sale doctrine has already been established by the courts. What you are talking about is how companies are now trying to get around that and still get a cut for the 2nd, 3rd, and forever future sales out of sheer greed.

I am sorta on the fence. If the product has value and someone is willing to purchase from someone else and then pay to have it "activated" that is their choice. However, I do not believe game, book, nor software publishers are entitled to additional revenues from the same product simply because technology allows for it.

A vast majority of the people buy their games new and the companies that produces those games should price it according to their expected sales to recoup their cost and make a profit. Any additional revenue from micro transactions or DLC is just that; additional revenue.

Above I mentioned their attempt here is sheer greed and that is exactly what it is. Good games make plenty of money and thus the resales mean nothing. Bad games wont sell well even in the 2nd hand market so they will still be a lose. The company and asshat stockholders both need to pull their pants up, recognize their loss, learn from it and move on.

Where would this end? Every single physical product out there can come with a "license" dictating to the consumer that it is what grants them the right to use the product and that physically having the item in the possession does not make it theirs. Sounds retarded, but it is true if we are stupid enough to allow it to go that far.

reply to faughro
My next garage sale is going to be a real bitch.
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reply to IowaCowboy

reply to IowaCowboy
As usual, your posts continue to baffle me. How exactly is it unethical to buy used merchandise? Who cares if the original creators or whoever doesn’t get a cut of the resale? They aren’t entitled to it and they shouldn’t be entitled to it. They already made their buck off of the first sale, it’s called double dipping. And honestly, bringing musicians and the music industry in the mix is laughable. You do realize bands and artists don’t make jack off of music sales, right? It all goes to the record companies and the asshats at the RIAA. The majority of the income comes from touring and merchandise. And really, have you ever watched MTV Cribs? Commie Joe Armstrong from Green Day isn’t hurting financially because someone bought Nookie from The Good Will as opposed to brand new from Amazon. Going to a concert and buying a $50 commemorative tour t-shirt will do more for the band then going to the local WalMart and buying out their entire stock of CDs.

If it wasn’t for the [sometimes] shitty and overall inconsistent quality, I’d still be downloading all of my music from pirate sites. With Google Play, 320K MP3s that have consistent quality and loudness across the board, it’s worth the 99 cents or $1.29 per song. The only reason I bother to pay is for the quality and nothing more.

Back to video games, so are you saying after I beat Call of Duty:Black Ops 2, and the video game serves me no purpose other than to collect dust, I shouldn’t have the opportunity to resell it and get a few bucks of my money back? Honestly I think $60 bucks for a video game is a complete ripoff. And what I think is even worse is charging twice for the same game on different platforms from the same vendor. I would love to buy a PS Vita, but no way in hell am I going to spend $60 on Assassins Creed 3 for PS3 and then spend another $40 to play it on the Vita.

And a few other things, no DirecTV does not require you to have a phone line or broadband connection to use the service. Dish used to charge a $5 fee for not connecting certain receivers to a phone line, and DirecTiVos used to prompt you after a few months of not being able to phone home, but a phone line or network connection isn’t required for satellite TV, beyond ordering PPV via remote and using On Demand.

And as for your ‘digital divide’ nonsense, what would putting a phone jack on the console do. You would either have to dial in every time to confirm the ‘authenticity’ of the game or stay connected while playing it which would tie up the phone line. Being able to use a video game system is a privilege, not a right. If you don’t have broadband access you can’t use services that most people use daily like Pandora, Slacker, Netflix, Hulu or YouTube, why is it a big deal they can’t use the Xbox either. And FYI, it’s not the caps that kill gaming over satellite or LTE connections, it’s the latency.
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Dale Jr, Riding Daddys Coattails Since February 18, 2001!

I got my first gaming console 20 years ago (Super Nintendo) and it still works. I've beaten Super Mario World many times and I like to play the various levels now and then. I lost my original copy and I had to download it on the virtual console on the Wii, I now have to transfer it and all my other data to the Wii U as I am going to decommission the original Wii since the Wii U is backwards compatible with Wii. If Nintendo does not allow data transfer, then I'll repurchase my VC games as I comply with licensing agreements.

Many consoles are backwards compatible with older games. Not like the days where your NES broke and you had a bunch of games.

And I like the old Donkey Kong Country (especially DKC II, Diddy Kong's Quest) games. Those were the good days.
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I've experienced ImOn (when they were McLeod USA), Mediacom, Comcast, and Time Warner and I currently have DirecTV. They are much better than broadcast TV.

I have not and will not cut the cord.

I really have no idea what you’re saying or how it’s relevant. I don’t even consider Nintendo a real gaming company, and I forgot they even existed so all your Nintendo lingo went over my head. Again, you think just because you do or think something it’s universal and is the perfect solution for everyone. FYI, it’s not. Just because you hang onto a 20 year old video game console, and play a 20 year old game that you’ve beaten, doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Quite a few people will resell games and that is well within their rights so others won’t be raped and the original buyer is not stuck with some $60 door stop.

I’m not the holier than thou type you appear to be. I cashed out 10 years ago by selling my complete Sega Genesis system, extra controllers and about 50 games, including the entire Mortal Kombat series for $100 bucks to my neighbor. I suppose it’s also ’unethical’ that I’m not an idiot and fork over $60 at Game Stop or Best Buy for Xbox Live cards and instead get them off of eBay for $35-38 dollars.
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Dale Jr, Riding Daddys Coattails Since February 18, 2001!