Used video games play an integral part in the lives of the gamer: instead of spending $60 for a new title, they can save some cash and get the same game used at a discounted price. But from a developer’s perspective, each used game that’s sold yields no revenue, and that has created a divide between publishers and gamers over whether or not used video games should be sold at all

Two Atari executives–CEO David Gardner and President Phil Harrison–shared some gripes about used video game sales earlier this week at an Atari event. And as far as they’re concerned, used games are hurting us all.

“Second-hand game sales represent consumer choice and desire,” Gardner stated at the event. “Obviously, it has economically been extremely painful for the industry (and) the publishers don’t benefit.”

Harrison echoed the CEO’s sentiment saying, “there’s no doubt that second-hand game sales have a macro-economic impact on the industry and a lot of people get miserable about it.”

Harrison went on to state that his company is focused on developing more games with incentives like post-release content built-in that discourage used game sales and coax more owners into keeping their games.

I’m all for incentives that increase a game’s viability, but simply adding more post-release content to a title doesn’t strike me as something that’ll kill used game sales. In fact, I don’t even comprehend why the video game industry would want to kill the sale of used video games.

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source The Digital Home

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After reading through the comments on yesterday’s column discussing why Sony and Microsoft should view Nintendo as a competitor, I came across an interesting post by one reader who told us to “get rid” of our gaming consoles and go outside.

The person contends that kids are playing too many video games and watch too much TV when they should be playing outside. The reader makes an interesting point, but I think that it fails to address one issue facing this generation’s parents: in order to prepare children for their adult lives, they need to ensure that their children are well-versed in the technological realities of our world.

“Get rid of your gaming consoles, and send your children outside to play “actual reality” games,” Choclatpup wrote. “When, exactly, did video games replace balls and bats, or bicycles? With everything in the news about the obesity of our young today, the answer is to create ‘active video games’ such as the Wii Fit? Asinine!”

It got me thinking: are our kids replacing the bat and ball with the Web and gaming?

It’s possible.

Just last week, my cousin’s kids came to visit and I asked them if they wanted to throw a football around. The children, a 7-year old and a 5-year old, both gave the same response: “let’s play video games instead.” Once they had enough with video games, they wanted to show me a “cool” Web site they came across at school.

It might sound strange for a technology journalist to state this, but I was a tiny disheartened that the children wouldn’t go outside and engage in some physical activity. Sure, it was cold, and it’s possible that they just don’t like football, but it makes me wonder if today’s children are too engrossed with the Web and video games to like anything else.

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source The Digital Home

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In an early stage of development, designers for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix were worried that the title could be canned. David Sirlin, lead designer of the remade and optimized downloadable title, told VideoGamer that the amount of art assets tossed aside from the begin was enough to make the project feel doomed. He called it an “unspoken” sentiment among artists, but stated that external pressure on Capcom may have given the title more time.

From the interview:

It [cancellation] felt the most possible during that first phase during the art that we’d to throw away. It was unspoken but everyone just knew it that if that art wasn’t going to work out then maybe they [Capcom] were going to cancel the whole thing. And turns out they didn’t. I wonder if there was just so much pressure from the outside that kept them going, I mean from the world of gaming.

Silva also stated that UDON, the studio responsible for looking over all the art, were “worried,” but had “a lot of foresight …” in regards to the project’s success. Silva didn’t mention if the artists at UDON had ESP or any telekinetic capabilities. It’s a shame too, because I’m dying to know these things.

Via Destructoid

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Info update link: http://pinurl.com/db2 – Review the Samsung SGH-F480 – a high-end model with 2.8″ touch display and the first to run the TouchWiz interface – the successor of Croix …. CATEGORY: Science & Technology TAGS: Phone Preview Video Samsung SGH F480 TouchWiz Croix vs iPhone cell cellphone sgh-f480 tocco unboxing smartphone technology gadgets mobile phone p…

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I’m all for supporting indie developers, but there is a reason that hardly anybody in the media is speaking about the Xbox 360 Community Games channel, Microsoft’s XNA-led indie game portal. That reason, in case you didn’t notice, is that almost everything on there is pure, unfettered, stinking trash.

I’ve really tried to keep on top of the Community Games thing, but every title I’ve tried so far has either confused, alienated, or outright disgusted me. The day I drop 200 MS Points for Kitchen Wars is the day I concur to look after some money from a deposed Nigerian prince. Nevertheless, some people actually have paid for these games, and Microsoft has revealed its first Community Games sales chart.

400 point wordsearch game Word Soup tops the list, but the real shocker is the fact that Colosseum made the list at number four. Sure, it’s one of the few titles that actually looks like a videogame, but it’s still total crap. Oh well, he’s the top ten:

01. Word Soup
02. Golden Royal Blackjack
03. Weapon of Choice
04. Colosseum
05. ZSX4 Guitarpocalypse
06. Sin(Surfing)
07. In the Pit
08. Head Banger
09. Snake360
10. Swords and Monsters

Wow … Swords and Monsters is on there. If you’ve not played that particular gem, do download the trial at any rate. It’s worth it. Oh boy, is it worth it.

Via Destructoid

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While hacking’s chief domain is the Personal computer, not even console users are safe from griefers who feel that modding a game purely to piss other people off will somehow stop them from being virgins. Reports indicate that griefers are hacking the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead, as if the recent uprising of typical Xbox Live douchebags wasn’t enough to ruin the gameplay.

“Recently, I joined a [Versus] game and found myself in a safe home at the beginning of a chapter,” claims one witness. “Suddenly, about 30 witches spawned in the safe house with me, followed by two tanks.”

This seems to point to a more massive problem with Valve’s Source engine in particular. While this anecdote might not hold water on its own, it becomes more feasible, and points to a larger problem, when we take into account the fact that hackers have been ruining the 360 version of Team Fortress 2 for the past month.

Hopefully, a patch is coming, because it looks like someone is exploiting Source to ruin the experiences of Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead on the 360. I do so hate to see such pathetic little wankers get away with that rubbish for too long.

Via Destructoid

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