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Retailers have spoken out on recent incentives by Electronic Arts and Sony to deter pre-owned sales by including content vouchers with new games that can only be redeemed once.

In the case of EA, it has begun offering downloadable content to users buying a new copy of a game, which those with a second-hand copy will need to buy separately - a move it has labelled "Project Ten Dollar". Mass Effect 2 was the first game to include a DLC code, and the company has said all of its games released in fiscal 2011 will follow suit.

However, Sony appears to be going one step further with reports stating that online play in the latest SOCOM game for PSP will be locked until users redeem a code online. Players with a second-hand copy will need to purchase a new code at a cost of $20.

According to Chipsworld MD Don McCabe, the only people that will be affected directly by these moves will be consumers, who will find the resale value of their games is suddenly much lower than they're used to.

"The person you're pissing off the most is the consumer," McCabe told GamesIndustry.biz. "This affects [them] directly - they pay the same amount of money and yet the resale value is much reduced. From a retailer's point of view, they'll just readjust [the price] bearing in mind you have to buy the voucher."

Furthermore, he said that EA is one of the publishers most likely to be benefiting at the moment from pre-owned sales, as consumers trade in their older instalments of franchises for the new, most current ones.

"They are effectively what I call a franchise software house in that they upgrade their titles; FIFA, Madden all of these are effectively the same title upgraded each year. And people trade in last year's for this year's. You go anywhere and you'll always find second hand copies of FIFA 07, 08, 09 - it's one of the ones we get the most of."

It's an opinion backed up by Marc Day, CEO of SwapGame, a site which offer new and pre-owned games, as well as rentals.

"EA's Project Ten Dollar move is aiming to stifle pre-owned games sales, but what they don't factor in is the damage this could have for them in relation to new sales," said Day.

"At SwapGame, the majority of customers who trade in for cash or credit do so to acquire new games they could otherwise not afford. Through trading in, we aim to help the customer make gaming more affordable, providing them with a way to buy new games.

"The move to DLC exclusive content is an interesting step, and this obviously provides the publisher with another revenue stream. This move will definitely make the game less valuable on the pre-owned market, so it will be sold cheaper, meaning customers will get less value when trading in."

Another downside is that retailers will become more wary of publishers using these methods and more reticent about stocking their products, said McCabe, since consumers will need to register their details with the publisher after buying a game from their shop.

"You've got to bear in mind that when you sell this product, if they insist on online registration, what they're doing is collecting your customer data.

"On one hand they might be trying to reduce pre-owned sales, on the other hand they might be collecting data so they can email that customer directly.

"From a retailer's point of view, you're always going to have that in mind. Why should you give your customers over to an organisation that's going to compete with you? You're going to be less likely to want to promote that game."

A more positive viewpoint on the move comes from Igor Cipolletta, MD of online retailer ShopTo.net - a site that doesn't offer trade-ins.

He points out that if publishers are unable to make sufficient profit from the current retail model they will, for their survival, look at alternatives.

"We as retailers have to convince the publishers that the retail sector is still a viable marketplace for them," he said.

"I think that us retailers have a duty to ensure that publishers can get back their development costs and a profit that can in part be ploughed into future projects, and obviously the second hand market is not one which directly appears to benefit the IP owners and publishers, who are therefore trialling new ways to secure profit.

"I suspect that many users will be averse to some of the current and future methods," he added. "But at some stage in the not-too-distant future, many publishers may have been forced out of business and with it [goes] the level and quality of releases.

"Gamers would still certainly rather have the physical product to show for their money, so if we are to avoid going down a download only method of software delivery, we all have our part to play to ensure the market flourishes.

"EA's fairly strong message seems to be, stop selling second hand games or soon we will be looking at a download-only selling methodology and therefore the retail sector will have little to no physical product to actually sell.

"Only time will tell how this is received by the gaming ...

Here's an update to the console sale shifts in Japan, listed below as follows:


Playstation Portable: 39,293
Nintendo Wii: 37,501
Nintendo DSi LL: 27,586
Playstation 3: 24,811
Nintendo DSi: 18,082
Nintendo DS Lite: 5,659
Xbox 360: 3,428
Playstation 2: 1,869
Playstation Portable Go: 1,394


The ranks stay the same as last week. Most in the list are down slightly in sales. Figures from Media Create. ...

via Gizmodo


The guys at 9to5Mac have put together a profile you can install on your iPhone using a corporate development kit that gives you an alphanumeric passcode lock—versus the standard 4-digit PIN-style lock.

The settings profile's easily removed if you don't like it, but make sure you don't lock yourself out of your phone by forgetting the passcode. Also, it's entirely at your own risk, you know, in case it does blow up your phone forever. ...

via Eurogamer


Yet more amazing internet detectives have uncovered an alternative camera mode for the recently released Lost in Nightmares DLC for Resident Evil 5.

In order to unlock the new camera mode, which frames the action in a similar fashion to the mansion-based originals, all you need to do is talk to the front door a few times until it says "?" instead of the usual investigation prompt (thanks Kotaku).

Lost in Nightmares is out now for PSN and Xbox Live and puts you in control of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in a puzzly, extended version of events leading up to one of Resident Evil 5's flashback cut-scenes.

We thought it was amazing, handing down a whopping 9/10 in this week's review.

Lost in Nightmares costs £3.99 / €4.99 on PSN or 400 Microsoft Points (£3.40 / €4.80) on Xbox Live. ...

via Eurogamer


Yet more amazing internet detectives have uncovered an alternative camera mode for the recently released Lost in Nightmares DLC for Resident Evil 5.

In order to unlock the new camera mode, which frames the action in a similar fashion to the mansion-based originals, all you need to do is talk to the front door a few times until it says "?" instead of the usual investigation prompt (thanks Kotaku).

Lost in Nightmares is out now for PSN and Xbox Live and puts you in control of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in a puzzly, extended version of events leading up to one of Resident Evil 5's flashback cut-scenes.

We thought it was amazing, handing down a whopping 9/10 in this week's review.

Lost in Nightmares costs £3.99 / €4.99 on PSN or 400 Microsoft Points (£3.40 / €4.80) on Xbox Live. ...

via 1up


Valkyria Chronicles fans have one more downloadable content pack to look forward to before the portable sequel hits in the summer. Today the Sega America blog announced that the fourth pack will be releasing next week. We heard hints of this way back in September, but now we finally know when to expect the pack. It will hit next Thursday with the PlayStation Store update.

The pack is titled "Challenges of the Edy Detachment," and features the colorful cast of characters from the "Enter the Edy Detachment" DLC. Instead of playing as the mixed squad, however, Edy's cadre of soldiers will instruct players on how to become experts at the various classes. This means you can use your own preferred Squad 7 members for the challenges, even as Edy's friends are the ones barking orders. Challenges will include missions for the Scout, Shocktrooper, Lancer, Engineer, Sniper, and Tank. We've heard no mention of a price, but the other packs have all come in at $4.99 when they were first launched, so this one is likely to cost the same. ...

via Joystiq


Square Enix, apparently, is all about the cosplay. Just today, the publisher announced that it'll be rewarding the first 50 people dressed in "Final Fantasy costumes" who arrive at the March 9 launch event for Final Fantasy XIII with a free copy of the game's soundtrack. Oh, and also, Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo will be there, signing whatever you want.

The release further entices attendees with "high-profile DJ and TV presenter Alex Zane," who'll no doubt be spitting hot fire into a mic all evening. The event kicks off at 5:30PM at the Oxford Street HMV in London and runs until the sun comes up -- or 7:30PM, whichever comes first. ...

via Joystiq


Square Enix, apparently, is all about the cosplay. Just today, the publisher announced that it'll be rewarding the first 50 people dressed in "Final Fantasy costumes" who arrive at the March 9 launch event for Final Fantasy XIII with a free copy of the game's soundtrack. Oh, and also, Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo will be there, signing whatever you want.

The release further entices attendees with "high-profile DJ and TV presenter Alex Zane," who'll no doubt be spitting hot fire into a mic all evening. The event kicks off at 5:30PM at the Oxford Street HMV in London and runs until the sun comes up -- or 7:30PM, whichever comes first. ...

via IGN


According to a report from Japanese website LiveDoor.jp, and translated by IGN, game content in Capcom's upcoming alien shooter Lost Planet 2 was cut due to the limited DVD storage space for Xbox 360.

Producer Jun Takeuchi said in an interview the team struggled trying to determine what content to cut from the game.
When asked if there was any content the team didn't want to cut, Takeuchi acknowledge there was, adding the team hopes to offer the content in downloadable form in the future.

Update: Capcom has responded to Takeuchi's comments saying cutting content before the game's final release is common.
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