The death of resales?Follow

SO LONG, USED GAMES

Just like the next Xbox/Durango, we've heard from multiple sources that the Orbis will likewise have some kind of anti-used games measures built into the console. Here's how our main source says it's currently shaping up: new games for the system will be available one of two ways, either on a Blu-Ray disc or as a PSN download (yes, even full retail titles). If you buy the disc, it must be locked to a single PSN account, after which you can play the game, save the whole thing to your HDD, or peg it as "downloaded" in your account history and be free to download it at a later date.

Don't think you can simply buy the disc and stay offline, though; like many PC games these days, you'll need to have a PSN account and be online to even get the thing started. UPDATE - Since some people seem to have taken this to mean the console requires an "always on" intenet connection, we've heard nothing about that. All we've heard is that you need to authenticate a new game online via the PSN.

If you then decide to trade that disc in, the pre-owned customer picking it up will be limited in what they can do. While our sources were unclear on how exactly the pre-owned customer side of things would work, it's believed used games will be limited to a trial mode or some other form of content restriction, with consumers having to pay a fee to unlock/register the full game.

This would allow used games to continue to be sold at outlets such as GameStop, while also appeasing major publishers who would no longer have to implement their own haphazard approaches to "online passes".

And they'll buy them for $20 less. So you'll get -$13 per game.

Then I guess I won't be buying them. If everyone would refuse to buy it they would be forced to back off. As long as people mindlessly accept it and buy it up they will do what they want. You would think they were going bankrupt or something. Its nothing but greed.

There's still money to be made - In the past two years, game publishers have finally learned how to make used games work to their advantage. EA's "Project $10" showed that by forcing players to pay a small fee to access content on a previously owned game, they could still make money from used game sales. Most publishers quickly followed suit.

So far, that fee has been largely tied to the multiplayer aspects of a game. As the next generation of consoles ties titles to user accounts, players will likely have to pay to unlock the single player portion as well. As with "Project $10," there will be a brief squawk, then an adjustment period (likely among retailers, which will have to adjust pricing on their end), then it will be an accepted part of the video game landscape.