I think it's probably inevitable that some form of protection will be introduced with the next generation of consoles.

As long as something innovative and respective to consumers is introduced, I'm all for it.

Splitting both the single-player, and multiplayer into separate components would be a great idea - would allow players to buy one, or the other, instead of being locked out of the equation completely due to financial difficulties.

Throw in a nominal fee to activate used titles and that should please both the gaming stores, and developers - who deserve to be included in used sales, rather than Gamestop completely cannibalizing the burgeoning used game market.

You guys forget the reason why Gamestop don't want to support anti-used game consoles--because the majority of their sales come from used game sales. This needs to end.

Here's how I think it should be done:

You pop the disc in on your main username and that becomes the master console--and from there, all accounts on that specific system are granted access to all the copy's features. HOWEVER, you also have the ability to unlock the game for up to 5 or 10 specific accounts, add or remove those accounts to make room for others, and even pass on your mastership of the copy to another account.

This makes it so that you could could locally share the game, or sell it personally.

This would make it incredibly difficult for Gamestop to redistribute used content, since it would require user coordination, and would most likely destroy Gamestop's used game monopoly as a whole.

It's a little annoying, but it's no where near DRM annoying, or online pass annoying.

Same here. I know that it's just speculation for now, but I won't be buying a console that prevents the use of used games and other such nonsense. I'll stick to my current consoles.

Personally I'm fed up of the games industry always wanting to be a special case. Each year these companies make more and more money and gaming as an entertainment medium has ballooned with how much cash it generates, and still publishers have to be greedy, always wanting more.

Do we see the music/movie industries preventing used sales? Do we see it in any other industry at all? No. Greedy publishers, they already con us with on-disc DLC and other crap to bleed as much money as they can from us. You'd think that they'd be satisfied wouldn't you?

I just hope that others feel the same way and any consoles doing this just simply don't sell and publishers lose out on money. Maybe then if people vote with their wallets they'll stop screwing their customers around.

I can see #2 more likely in some games or all games.

i agree 10,000%

for years i've been dumping thousands of dollars into the gaming industry...consoles, games, peripherals....now they charge us for sh!t thats already on the disk!!!

now that i'm older, i don't even have time to game like i used to....i have Gamefly now and i can't imagine paying $60+ for a game i usually only play once.

they wanna start with the online passes? f*ck em...i'm not big on playing online anyway....the day they try to block used games completely is the day i switch to pc and they loose me forever.

I've never in my life been so irritated about the speculation surrounding new consoles.

People of N4G, honestly if the Overlords at Sony and MS decide to kill used games by requiring input of a one use cd key or constant internet connection...Drop the console like a bad habit and pick up a PC.

Better looking games, Cheaper games, which nullifies the need for used games...Wow I just solved this whole problem in 2 minutes.

Kerb is British English...

I could say you've just spelt, spelt wrong... But I'm not totally ignorant to Americanisms.

Lets be honest raising prices doesn't do that when no one's buying it. I imagine the profit it greater selling 10 times more at a lower price

Whatever you say buddy, let's all wear the tinfoil hats.

LMFAO Your comment alone says a lot more about you than anything else. When has one game not selling 10 million copies made a company raise the prices of their console? Then Xbox would be costing $5000 by now lol. You remind of the crazy drug addicts on the street rambling on about conspiracies. xD You sure you don't need a hug, buddy?

Its not the war. Its the RAM issue.

I think MS were and still are the richer company. They tried to acquire Sega back in the day (and considered doing so again more recently), they obviously bought exclusivity to Halo which was originally shown as a Mac title. I don’t think as a company MS can claim the moral high ground here. It’s a wilful lack of self awareness.

Of course Sony would try exactly the same if they had the resources, but when the PS2 dominated the industry was in a much healthier place with an abundance of great third parties.

This has been a depressing generation as far as first party decisions are concerned. The fact we are debating business plans rather than which game is better is a sad reflection of the state of things.

The world would be better?

MS was definitely a bad influence on gaming.

But first party studios aren't enough. They only make up a small portion of the industry. Without 3rd party there would be no industry for Microsoft or sony.Developing games take time and money and sometimes you gotta make moves to stay competitive.

Then why be so emotional and continue to talk about it. Xbox will never die be ause it stays in so many people's head.

lmao!!!!