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Sony to prohibit sale of used PS3 games?

OK, time to come clean a bit first. Perhaps you remember, if not click here for link, but I wrote a piece in November about the Sony BMG rootkit debacle where I proclaimed that I would not buy Sony products as long as they continued to do business that way.

Sometimes life just has a way of kicking you in the butt with such proclamations. For past few months I had been looking at HD TV sets in the 50 to 55" range. I did my research and everything kept pointing to the Sony 50" SXRD. Everything except for my principles. So I went and kept looking and was hoping for Toshiba to push out sets based on their upcoming SED technology, but that got pushed back until 2008. Basically, the decision boiled down to getting the Sony. Sorry principles, but I wanted an HDTV now (my 35" is almost 10 years old and as such due for replacement) and quality as well as true 1080 resolution were definitely the main features I looked at. The SXRD just flat out beats up just about everything else out there right now. Doesn't hurt that I got a good discount from Sony Only in Portland (nice salespeople there by the way) along with 24-same-as-cash financing.

Anyhow, while I like my TV, so much so that I apparently persuaded my brother to get the 60" SXRD, it apparently is made by one of the few sane branches of Sony.

At least if you take this new story about Sony's plans to quash sales of used PS3 games at face value.

I don't know if it's true, but I can certainly see Sony's execs taking a serious look at this option. To which all I can say is pretty much wow, what large huevos these guys have. Yeah sure Sony, you've sold hundreds of millions of PlayStation and PS2s, but that doesn't mean that you can't lose that marketshare in the blink of an eye (can you say Sega?).

I seriously hope this story isn't true as it could put a big damper on sales of the PS3 for Sony. While I will probably just get the Xbox 360, the level of competition we currently have in the console market is very good for consumers.

Such a scheme could effectively stop Gamefly or Blockbuster, for instance, from renting out PS3 games, which would have a huge chilling effect on sales of games and hardware. Kind of ironic that this rears its ugly head now after I had just written about how great Gamefly is for the industry.

Just gotta hope that a lot of sentiment against this idea is posted on blogs, forums and elsewhere to the point where Sony gets the message.

Otherwise, there's a very real and palpable chance that Sony will be the also ran in the battle of the new generation consoles.

What People Are Saying

A comment on the problems of

A comment on the problems of the PS series. All of the problems can be prevented by using preventative care. Clean the optical drives, keep the airflow ducts clear of dust, and don't drop the controllers! I've had my ps2 vertical and still have the original controllers from when i bought it. If you respect the machine , it will respect you!

yeah you are right. ps3 is

yeah you are right. ps3 is axactly like the ps2. except for the components, hardware, oh and just about everything. the processor was built from the ground up just for the ps3. but its exactly the same. nice.

content does help win the

content does help win the battle and so does hardware. if hardware didnt matter then the systems would never upgrade and we would still be playing sega. and as for games out. xbox 360 had a year on ps3. they better have some titles out. look at the last race. ps2 beat out xbox by a year and owned it overall. but xbox still did quite well. the main reason that ps2 killed them was the fact that it had more titles than xbox and gamecube combined. wait till xmas 2007 and then look at where they stand. most people will have made their choice by then. a lot of ppl want to complain about the price, but 400 or 500 isnt that big of a difference, especially since the cheapest blu-ray dvd player on the market is still around $1000. ps2 did the best in 2006 because of price and availibility. and as for which system had the better graphics, id say they are the same right now. time will tell when companies start to really get into what the console can do and develop games that push the systems to their max performance. i really cant wait to see that. peace

I dont care if when i look

I dont care if when i look at some first person shooter game if i can see the other guys eyelashes or not. Im not saying graphics dont mean anything but i would rather have a fun system with with good games that doesnt cost a fortune. Im not going to spend $600 dollars plus tax for a system i would rather just get a new computer. Blu ray is overrated most games dont need 25 gigabytes to fit everything. The regular double layered dvd can hold near 7 gigabytes which i think is plenty for a game. Also these blu-ray discs may hold a lot but have you ever thought about what the price might be. If you ask me i dont agree with xbox 360 games being 59.99 but what if the blu-ray ones are more maybe 69.99 or even more.

Funny how everyone always

Funny how everyone always talks about the hardware, when the hardware almost NEVER is what wins the game.

Content beats all.

Also Sony has uphill battle at their price point as well, particularly with Nintendo announcing the Wii (ugh, another subpar name) at $250.

Don't focus so much on the specs of the hardware, it matters little if any.

Content is the reason why I wait at least a year to buy any new system. It takes at least that long to see if the hardware manufacturer's promises of developer nirvana were accurate or pure bull shiitake.

Right now, there are 55 or so games out for the Xbox 360. None for PS3 and none for Wii...

Enough said.

get a grip , Sony defined

get a grip , Sony defined console gaming and thier HD tvs and cameras are sweet too the PS3 will be the the best next gen console for numerous reasons , here are some of them BLU ray holds 25 to 50 GB .no one can boast that without a HD dvd add on that proberly wont support games cause it makes the xbrick 720 degrees own dvd drive redundent . it has wifi & blootooth from the box it has awesome graphics and processing power it has all the smae and new games that made PS2 the daddy last rime round, its built by an electronics company not a software company, (even then the xbox was really a low end PC so wasnt eb=ven atrue console and actullay a way for bill gates to show he can lose money , when everyone says he corners the market) and finally the psp wil run side by side with it and thats a top notch media device that sells well too. so to cap that off give them a break, think about it would you buy a car from Microsoft ? no? so why by electronics from them ?

So when your 3rd PS3 comes

So when your 3rd PS3 comes up with Disc Read Errors, and youve already sold your car to buy a fourth one, you can have the joy of also rebuying all your games. Nice.

Hey John, I would take a

Hey John,

I would take a look at the Cingular branded smart phone as well as some of Samsung's newer models.

My girlfriend and a coworker both have the Samsung t809 and it's a good phone, plus you can get it for $50 or less after rebates from Amazon. Have to switch to T-Mobile to get it though, which isn't that big of a deal.

Oh yeah..... I wonder if

Oh yeah.....
I wonder if they are just branding it that way for marketing or if they have actual hand in design or manufacture.

Anyway, I'm thinking Treo next time...

Calling it "false

Calling it "false speculation" is a bit off the mark. As the Sony rep could not confirm nor deny the rumours, it is speculation, neither true nor false.

In absence of validity either way, it's important that Sony's customers or would be customers speak up and be heard that such a move would be unacceptable.

Better to quash an idea in its infancy than to wait to find out it was indeed true before telling Sony it's not a good idea.

Oh and John, Sony does make phones under the Sony Ericcson brand.