A non-Mass Effect article! Well, there were bound to be a couple as I keep trying to update things here fairly quickly when an article or information catches my eye, and according to Kotaku and IGN - the new PlayStation 4 is being called "Orbis", will not be backwards compatible and will not play used games. The rumor at this point is the disc will be tied to a PSN account. Which makes me wonder how that will be handled for others on the same machine.
Considering the backlash that came out in regard to the no used games for Xbox 720, I am frankly pretty shocked by this. This makes me believe that game publishers are really putting some pressure on the console makers at this point, because this would be the perfect opportunity for Sony to appeal to a larger segment of gamers by doing the opposite of Microsoft on this front. I suspect both of these may be reality at this point. Microsoft took a ton of bad press over this, so if they were not going to follow-through on it, it stands to reason they would have come out and said so by now.
When the PlayStation 3 had rumors about this kind of technology, Sony came out fairly quickly to quash them. IGN contacted Sony, but the official response was "we don't comment on rumors or speculation." Thing is, they did for the PS3 when it was potentially damaging to their brand's reputation. As you can imagine, the majority of gamers are not responding well to this in forums and blogs I've seen talking about this so far.
It's an oft-discussed topic, and one I fall into the middle on to some degree. In the end, I don't think that companies should limit used content. I can see both sides of the debate, ranging from publishers needing to make back their money to gamers who feel like their rights are being infringed on to some degree. There are some other major players like Gamestop and Amazon that likely wouldn't be pleased by this either.
As an aside, I am really, really disappointed if there is no backwards compatibility to boot, but I'm sure that is going to be less of an issue for most people than this other rumor.
Any thoughts on these rumors? With Nintendo as the only one not being rumored to have this kind of protection in place - are they in a better spot to win customer favor as the Wii-U comes closer to reality? Should Microsoft or Sony step up and say one way or the other, or not in your opinions? Or is it all just too soon to tell and nothing more than pointless speculation?
Considering the backlash that came out in regard to the no used games for Xbox 720, I am frankly pretty shocked by this. This makes me believe that game publishers are really putting some pressure on the console makers at this point, because this would be the perfect opportunity for Sony to appeal to a larger segment of gamers by doing the opposite of Microsoft on this front. I suspect both of these may be reality at this point. Microsoft took a ton of bad press over this, so if they were not going to follow-through on it, it stands to reason they would have come out and said so by now.
When the PlayStation 3 had rumors about this kind of technology, Sony came out fairly quickly to quash them. IGN contacted Sony, but the official response was "we don't comment on rumors or speculation." Thing is, they did for the PS3 when it was potentially damaging to their brand's reputation. As you can imagine, the majority of gamers are not responding well to this in forums and blogs I've seen talking about this so far.
It's an oft-discussed topic, and one I fall into the middle on to some degree. In the end, I don't think that companies should limit used content. I can see both sides of the debate, ranging from publishers needing to make back their money to gamers who feel like their rights are being infringed on to some degree. There are some other major players like Gamestop and Amazon that likely wouldn't be pleased by this either.
As an aside, I am really, really disappointed if there is no backwards compatibility to boot, but I'm sure that is going to be less of an issue for most people than this other rumor.
Any thoughts on these rumors? With Nintendo as the only one not being rumored to have this kind of protection in place - are they in a better spot to win customer favor as the Wii-U comes closer to reality? Should Microsoft or Sony step up and say one way or the other, or not in your opinions? Or is it all just too soon to tell and nothing more than pointless speculation?
