Do We Own What We Own?

The New Technology That Has Ushered In XMBs And Online Play Has Also Ushered Problems Exclusive To This Generation. Welcome To The Future.

The idea for this article spawned from two minor news bits. Sony and Microsoft have been forced to cut cost to remain relevant in the current competitive nature of this generation of gaming consoles. Sony has decided to cut Linux OS support for the PS3, which is adding to a growing list of features cut to keep the powerful console affordable. Microsoft opted to kill online support for the Xbox original titles, Halo and Halo 2. These examples could all be indicative of what the gaming culture has evolved to be, but it leaves the average person to question: what is off limits? With the assimilation of DRM content and digitally distributed games, how can we be sure that what we are paying for is actually ours to keep? It would appear that this era of gaming has evolved into a sophisticated form of the Wild Wild West.

Capcom's Code Name Viper Was One Of The First Games My Mother Ever Bought Me. It Was Difficult. Aggrevating, But Due To Being Poor And Crazy About Awful Cover Art...I Learned To Love CNV.

I look at my collection of games and, for the most part, that is what they have turned in to ... a collection. I have a group of old games that span from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the recent Sony Playstation 2 and are rarely played. When I do work up the energy and effort to hook up my gaming consoles of yore, the collection shows its worth. When my mom or myself bought "Game X" ten or twenty years ago it was intended for constant play. "I don't have any money to be wasting, so whatever one of these games I buy ... you had better damn well play it!" My mom exclaims about her purchase of Code Name: Viper. So maybe I'm (un)naturally sensitive about topics of user's rights because of a clear and present fear of my mom. Maybe, because of that fear, I know the value of a dollar and what it should stand for.

Somewhere Under This Heap Of Piracy In Business Inventory Clothing Is A Copy Of Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego.

Playing the role of the naive gamer was never my strongest suit. How many times have I had to memorize an obnoxiously long code in order to install and play a game on my elementary schools PC? Now how long did it take someone in my class to bring in their personal floppy disk and copy that game, and scribble the code on the face of their newly pirated piece of software? How long did it take me to mimic the same action? Back then, playing a pirated PC game was as common as having a friend who legally purchased Doom. Playing a pirated PC game today is arguably more widespread than ever and more expensive to the community and industry. Even the stigma is different. Publicly admitting you pirate and play PC games [given the economic state of PC games] is the equivalent of smoking crack at bus stop. Be prepared for add stores and the general public to judge you immediately. I understand why a Stardock and Ubisoft have become less concerned about the consumer and more fixated upon protecting their game properties. There are a lot of fans of games out there that don't own a damn game they so fervently argue in favor of.

The Infamous Image Of PC Gamers 'Boycotting' Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 By Playing Illegal Copies. Next Time Close Steam Before Launching The Game, Brainiacs.

Within the past couple years I started purchasing games via Steam and PSN. Whether I am still capable of playing these games ten years from now remains to be seen. At least Steam offers the consumer to back-up their game on another storage device. The PSN and I presume Virtual Console and XBLA offer limited to no ability to copy game content [aside from game saves] onto a secondary storage device. All services allow a limited number of installs of a game. PSN oddly allows a 'game sharing' feature that grants a user rights to log into a friends machine and download a game the user previous purchased. I am sure this feature will be an interesting topic when downloadible content because more commonplace in the wider scheme of the gaming industry. 

Though Resources Will Likely Go To Microsoft's Future Gaming Titles, The Xbox Has Had A Long Enough History Of Being Given The Shaft By Its Corporate Overlord.

Isn't it strange that, today,  most of what dictates a gamer actually playing a game relies heavily on a server being on? At least PC gamers have a community where dedicated servers and community servers are a social norm. Let us not forget about the dreaded PSN update that temporarily prevented gamers from playing both multiplayer as well as single player games. How about Ubisoft's server management when Assassin's Creed II was released? Imagine playing a game in your collection requires you to log in first. Now imagine yourself digging into your space game chest -- ten years from now -- and pulling out Dragon Age: Origins and not being able to play it because that serve no longer exists. Game companies owe us a promise if it is indeed required of us as well.

We have come so far and improved upon so many aspects of what makes games fun. These issues scream of a generation trying many new ideas and stumbling along the way. What will be interesting to see develop is if the voice of the consumer outweighs the voice of the industry or vice versa. As long as both sides are being heard and are able to coexist the piracy and price gouging should "eventually" be a topic we all see eye to eye on. If not, then its probably best to prepare for digital rights management to become more cumbersome. Prepare for the next console generation to temporarily support what you have purchased in this generation. Finally, prepare yourself for the day you turn on your console and for whatever reason you purchased the device for refuses to do that on thing. I guess nothing lasts forever.