Yup, and that's a problem. No one ever complains until it effects them personally. This means problems are only going to get worse until they effect everybody. We have to do our best to stop it now.

The more I think about this the more it scares me. this business model could spread to other areas . Literally anything that is sold used now could involve a fee to the original developers or manufacturers as long as it is considered an "extra". I understand the online pass code but now it seems like they are taking gaming content they already developed and are charging used purchasers more $$. I'm canceling my preorder for Arkham City. Who should I write to ?

Everyone's trying to stay afloat or protect revenue. I'm not surprised these tactics are being used.

rrwatch wrote:

The more I think about this the more it scares me. this business model could spread to other areas . Literally anything that is sold used now could involve a fee to the original developers or manufacturers as long as it is considered an "extra". I understand the online pass code but now it seems like they are taking gaming content they already developed and are charging used purchasers more $$. I'm canceling my preorder for Arkham City. Who should I write to ?

Well, I'd start with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the game's publisher who is, no doubt, the one behind this.
Send a different letter to Rocksteady as well, letting them know that despite how great their game looks to be, you were put off by this announcement. Even though you planned to buy the game new, you can't support this business model. Rocksteady can't really override this stuff themselves, but knowing that their target audience is upset might give them a bit more backbone in future dealings about this stuff. Anything that makes it harder for the publisher to pull this crap is to the better.

Remember, no one listens to angry ranters. Be polite. Be clear. Check your spelling and grammar. Those are the difference between being brushed off and being heard.

Gameinformer review is up. Given a 10/10

GT loved it as well with a 9.3.

PlayStation magazine gave it 10/10 !! and IGN gave it 9.5 !!

I am annoyed, but I'll still be getting it, however it won't be till December, it got pushed onto the Gift List Backlog. I can undertstand their wanting to gain revenue for the purchasing of a game however here is the thing.

Once it's being bought first hand, they gain the revenue. If it is traded in it is traded in at the cost of the game store, they buy it off the person who bought it the first time round. To sell it on they have to recoup the loss from the trade in and hopefully make a little extra profit. Now once people stop buying second hand cause the price is the same as buying it first hand when you add in the pass to get the content, people are just going to buy it first hand. The business' that once relied on the extra cash from Trade Ins to maintain costs are now losing revenue. They lose investors then they start to shut down location and move stock to another store that sells better losing out on customers in that location who once before would have bought a lot of stuff second hand. Second hand games are then brought further down in price to help in the shifting of extra stock, however more and more is being added to the point that they will have to stop taking trade ins until they move their other stock.

Customers go else where. Returning a game cause your not happy with the product isn't really viable. The game stores won't do it unless it is an actual faulty product ie disc cannot be read and they one give you store credit. If you are unhappy with the product itself you have to go to the developers directly. Game Stop brought out Game protection in the event that a scratch on the disc happens, however that could come back and bite them in the ass unless the game protection only covers the replacement of the same game and not store credit or getting a different game. If that isn't worded in correctly I can see some one getting their kid to play with the disc and bringing it back for credit or a different game.

Now all the while game shops are losing locations, losing costumers which in turn starts to close off markets to developers and publishers who then pass on the loss of the money to the remaining customers. People will only go to get games from a different town that has a game retailer only on occasions such as birthdays & Christmas or a major release that they are a fan of. They need to lose the pass system and stop doing the day one release. Instead keep doing the Paid DLC a month after release. This generates more income than codes. If a person see's he needs to buy a code to unlock content that is on the disc he won't go for it as much as he would content that has to be added to the disc via download cause its something "New". Even Second Hand Purchasers will do this.

I don't really see all this happening until maybe 6 years down the road if they continue along this path.

But I will say this. I will be ensuring that any copy I get of Batman Arkham City will be second hand to support the local Business and I will not be purchasing any pass.

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Apparently GameStop at least doesn't intend to take this lying down. I'd like to say 'woo hoo! yay you guys' but it doesn't really fix the problem. Comes across more at another "exclusives" deal. Though not nearly as bad of one, I suppose.

Weird.

CobaltMonkey wrote:

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Apparently GameStop at least doesn't intend to take this lying down. I'd like to say 'woo hoo! yay you guys' but it doesn't really fix the problem. Comes across more at another "exclusives" deal. Though not nearly as bad of one, I suppose.

This kind of stuff had to happen for the used games market to stay alive. I've noticed a big uptick the last couple of years in big players getting into the used game marketplace. Best Buy,Walmart, Amazon,Hastings Gamestop (of course) are all in. These retailers have more pull than the average consumer and are the best hope of
turning this "code" business model around. I've said as much on some thread here but I can't find it.

Hasn't this type of thing being tried before? I could be confusing it with something else though...

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when i bought homefront a while back (iknow i know, i was young >< ) used, i was not told of the online pass by the gamestop guy. BUT the neat thing was that you could play online all you wanted but wouldnt rank up past level 5. i thought that was a good compromise.

if anything i will see this dropping prices online for used games. i buy quite a few games from amazon and ebay because they can be rediculously low if you put the time in to find them, and i cant see the sellers being competitive with the used product if the consumer has to pay an additional fee on top of their asking price. apologies for the long run-on sentence.

im torn though because the majority of the games i do play are used because i do not have the money to buy new. $60 u.s. is a mighty high price when so many games decide to come out in the last quarter of the year. plus i have sales tax in my state so it comes out to 64 and some change.

Picked it up.......

matt wrote:

Picked it up.......

Hmm don't know if you will have time for your planned review now that you made the team,but I would at least like to hear your impressions if possible. Your reviews are better than some I read in gaming mags and sites.

rrwatch wrote:

matt wrote:

Picked it up.......

Hmm don't know if you will have time for your planned review now that you made the team,but I would at least like to hear your impressions if possible. Your reviews are better than some I read in gaming mags and sites.

Thanks, man. I definitely will review, if Monkey doesn't steal that first...

Cobalt convinced me to not pre-order the game so I would guess the field is wide open. That would be up to him of course. This might be a Christmas present for me.... uhh... I mean my son. LOL

rrwatch wrote:

Cobalt convinced me to not pre-order the game so I would guess the field is wide open. That would be up to him of course. This might be a Christmas present for me.... uhh... I mean my son. LOL

Really shouldn't let anyone sway your decision like that, just saying. I thought NHL 12 was also your son's christmas present!

here my review
buy the fucking game
the end

LOL I listen to what people have to say. If someone makes a valid point I AGREE with than I'll take action. When I had my own business guys who worked for me came up with a lot of good ideas. Allowing them to "sway" me made me money! I'll buy my kiddo more than one video game for Christmas probably getting him so far NHL 12, MW3, maybe Infamous 2 and Batman Arkham City and a few he asks for... usually DS games. Canceling my preorder for batman and following it up by letting the publisher know is my CHOICE.

rrwatch wrote:

LOL I listen to what people have to say. If someone makes a valid point I AGREE with than I'll take action. When I had my own business guys who worked for me came up with a lot of good ideas. Allowing them to "sway" me made me money! I'll buy my kiddo more than one video game for Christmas probably getting him so far NHL 12, MW3, maybe Infamous 2 and Batman Arkham City and a few he asks for... usually DS games. Canceling my preorder for batman and following it up by letting the publisher know is my CHOICE.

In no way was I trying to start anything there, bud. All good games. I personally liked Infamous a lot better than InFamous 2.

No problems Matt therefore the LOL. Emoticons don't work here with my browser too well. I hope you enjoy Arkham City and I'm looking forward to your impressions.

rrwatch wrote:

No problems Matt therefore the LOL. Emoticons don't work here with my browser too well. I hope you enjoy Arkham City and I'm looking forward to your impressions.

Might take a while, on medium, the game is supposed to be arround 20 hours. But with side missions and stuff it could take up to 60 to get 100%. Although I will only finish the main campaign before I write my review.

u play the 1st one buy this one
its way better