TeamXbox writes: "It's not often that the world's largest developer has to go and stick the ol' noggin in the sand after one of its sports games goes gold (especially those coming out of the venerable Vancouver studio), but such was the case for the first couple of years of Live for the Xbox 360. It wasn't expected that sports gaming's juggernaut, not to mention the originators of the modern-day basketball game with Dr. J vs. Larry Bird, would have a tough time getting its feet set for the HD-era charge.
"Rookie jitters" could help to write off NBA Live 06; and Live 07 chalked up to the dreaded "sophomore jinx"; but NBA Live 08 had few excuses to fall back on, as the franchise was, at that point, already a grizzled veteran of the HD league. Live 08 was decent, but surely not up to the standards that the fans or EA Canada demand."
Techtorial: Amazon has updated its warehouse giving away big discounts to used games with prices starting from 22 cents going up.
Publishers insist on devaluing used games at their own peril; a strong secondary market supports a healthy primary market, and packing games with one-time-use codes for certain content erodes that relationship.
I'm not convinced that there's a major problem with this policy. Do you think this will dissuade people from buying games at all? People who buy used still get the core game; new buyers simply get an added bonus. If the used buyers end up loving the game and want to pay for the extra content, they can. If they bought the game used for $40 and end up paying $10 for the extra content, they're still saving money.
And if the policy does in fact drive people to buy more games new, couldn't one argue that including codes in new games is important to new game sales?
Personally, I prefer this option to other measures to curb second-hand sales, like excessive DRM or increased prices.
That's my only real issue with this policy; the fact that they claim it's for "server maintenance" or whatever BS excuse they are coming up with. As it was said in the article, when the first guy trades it in and the second guy picks it up it all balances out. I wouldn't really have any issues with it if they weren't lying to us. Just tell the truth, you are charging because you are tired of getting hosed out of money on used game sales.
The video game market is so huge that it shocks me that some Publishers are complaining about lost profits, and going so far as to try and discourage people from buying a game used.
Stephen King has more used books circulating around than almost any other author, and I have never heard him complain. If people are making games as an art form, then isn't the point for people to play them any way they can?
Amazon.com has bundled "NBA Live 09", "The Bigs" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" Playstation 3 video games into 1 $20 package. That's around $7 per game and approximately $30 discount if you would buy these games separately.
i played all demos (NBA 09, NBA Live 09, 2K9) and the only one which i feel is good is 2K9... i dont know why, but NBA 09 seems to arcadey( i dont like how exactly after you shoot u know if u missed or not), the game play in NBA Live 09 isnt that great...but 2K9 blends the best of both worlds and is the clear winner...
just my opinion =/