Ditching Used Games: 3 Reasons to Not Worry About a Future Without Used Games

With rumors circulating about Sony’s new patent that could potentially stop users from playing used games there has been much outcry from companies but also consumers as well. Whether you purchase used games or prefer to buy new, an idea such as this has the potential to change the entire gaming scene as we know it.

As someone that has purchased used games before and that has seen the gaming scene change quite a bit, my concern for not being able to play used games anymore isn’t quite worrisome. It really does appear as though we are seeing the end of the used games era but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing and here are three reasons why:

We’re Going Digital
The gaming scene has changed dramatically over the last couple of years and no change has been as dramatic as the change from physical to digital. Digital stores such as Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store have changed the way in which we purchase games. No longer are our hands tied if we ever feel like purchasing a game from the comfort of our own home. If you’re ever in the mood for purchasing a new gaming title you can simply load up your console system, visit the online store, and browse through thousands of titles in a matter of minutes. Used games on the other hand mainly require you to visit a gaming retailer and purchase through them adding an extra step in the process. Online retailers also offer the chance to purchase used games from your home as well but the entire delivery process and the wait sometimes proves as an unnecessary step as well. Just the same as you can get great deals on used games you can get great deals from their digital counterparts. When buying digital as opposed to buying used appears more convenient, the used gaming market won’t be missed as much.

Quality Is Important
I’ve been lucky enough to have purchased used games before that have been in great condition. Just the same, I’ve also been unlucky and I have purchased used games that have been in bad shape. As someone that values his game collection I make the effort to make my games remain in the best condition as long as possible. This would mean taking good care of the gaming box, booklet, and disc. Unfortunately for me not everyone feels the same way and this is evident in the purchase of used games. When purchasing used sometimes the quality of the items in your purchase just aren’t that great. Sure the game disc might be scratch free but what if the game box is ripped? What if the game box and booklet are in outstanding condition but the game disc is littered with fingerprint marks? Every time that a used game purchase is made the buyer runs the risk of the product not being in the condition that is desired. This problem has plagued used games for an eternity and again it’s an extra step that isn’t a required when buying new. If used games are no longer available to purchase there should be no reason to worry about the quality of your purchase anymore.

Game Companies Will Be More Aware of Your Support
One of the main arguments for not purchasing used games is that it steals money from the companies that work incredibly hard on the games they produce. When purchasing a used game you are paying the previous owner rather than the company that produced the game. In the case of gaming retailers, when purchasing a used game you are paying the retailer instead of the gaming company as well. Producing a quality game takes time and effort and if we as consumers still want to continue receiving quality titles the new game purchases allow game companies to know that they did an outstanding job. When buying new you are supporting teams that dedicate themselves in providing great visuals, story-lines, and gameplay all while making your voice heard by letting these companies know that you support their efforts. When buying used your voice is limited but when buying new your voice is heard. In a no used games scenario your voice will now definitely be heard.

As I have stated before it really does appear as though the used games era is coming to an end. Whether that era ends in the next-generation of consoles remains to be seen. The good news is that if used games do come to an end the gaming scene will still be fine if not better than before.

Dividing Social Media: Why I Only Focus on One

Yesterday I created my new MySpace page after I had received an invite from the site. The new MySpace is really nice focusing strongly on gorgeous imagery and music and it definitely looks like it can be a legitimate competitor to Spotify. You can read about my initial impressions of the site here.

When I first received the invite I have to admit that I was a little ecstatic and my first plan was to give as many people as I could an invite. Immediately, I called a good friend of mine and asked him if he wanted an invite to this new service. Without hesitation he agreed but, what he said next left me at odds. He jokingly said, “Wow, I’m not sure how many more of these social networking sites I can take.” I paused for a bit and I said to myself, neither can I.

MySpace represents to me an old site being reborn in hopes of making a comeback and it really is an underdog story. I’ve been on MySpace for only a day but already I’m hoping to experiment with it periodically. Google+, according to my RescueTime tracker, has taken much more of my time in recent months so I believe it’s safe to say that I’m pretty much a Google+ power user. My Facebook also has been steadily receiving activity due to some added leisure time. The point is, among the three sites my time, attention, and energy, are being spent in all three. That is simply unacceptable.

Social Media is great because it allows us to connect with the people, topics, and ideas, that we all care about most. So why is it so difficult to have one site dominate all the others? The answer is simple really, since each Social Media service is appealing for different reasons. Facebook has the people, MySpace has the music, Instagram has the photos, and Google+ has the ideas. Each service is great because they each provide something unique. However, is it beneficial to actually use all three together?

As I’ve said before plenty of our energy is being invested into these sites and I can’t help but think that being involved extensively in all three is really unhealthy. This thought hit me as soon as I decided to update my profile pic on my new MySpace page. As soon as I uploaded the photo I asked myself, am I really going to do this for all three sites? What about for a status update?  Let’s say I get married, graduate, get a job promotion etc. am I going to update every single website that I am on with the same status update? Talk about counterproductive!

There’s absolutely no way that I am going to update every status, post, or photo, on all three sites. It really is extra work that is highly unnecessary (excluding business purposes). Plus, I only really enjoy one out of the three. So, my solution to this dilemma is simply to focus on one site rather than the three.

I’m already a Google+ power user and I’m on the site more often of the three. There is where I’ll be updating my page more frequently than the rest. MySpace is nice and I’ll experiment with it to see if it develops into something better, but only occasionally will I visit the site. Everyone is already on Facebook and just as I’ve done for months past, I will be on the site but my updates will be minimal.

This however is only my solution and might not fit everyone’s needs. Here are a couple of ways to decide upon a solution. Do you enjoy Facebook the most? Focus on Facebook. Do you enjoy Instagram more? Focus on Instagram. What if you still want to use all three? Try setting up days/times/weeks focusing on one site over the other. In reality, there are plenty of solutions out there. Try experimenting and try to discover which one fits your own needs.

With so many Social Media websites out there it definitely becomes difficult to manage a combination of them. There are benefits to each site accordingly and my suggestion would be to focus on the service you enjoy the most so that your time is being well spent.

How do you manage your combination of Social Media sites? Do you focus on one? Or do you divide your attention amongst your combination?

Buying Digital vs. Buying Physical: A Method to End the Dilemma

With the most recent Sony Network (PlayStation Network) update on the PS3 one of the games that I have been waiting to buy is available at a significant price drop. The game is Persona 3 Portable and I have to say that at a mere ten dollars it is definitely a steal. There is a catch however, the game is only available at that price in “Digital” form.

This isn’t the first time that I’ve encountered this specific scenario and if you’ve been following my posts I’ve probably mentioned this once or twice before. There’s been numerous times where I’ve seen a game become available at a much more convenient price only to discover that it’s in digital form.

It makes sense that digital copies are not equally priced as physical copies too. For one, you are not getting the actual disc or booklet that you would normally get in the physical copy. Second, you won’t ever be able to hold the game or feel it in it’s physical state. Still, I can’t help but ask is this really such a major tradeoff?

It’s important to take a look at the benefits of owning digital games as well. If you were to buy digital the game box would never be a problem again in terms of physical clutter. The disc also won’t ever pose a problem if it were to get scratches. As for portability, you would now have the freedom of having multiple games inside your devices without taking along each individual disc or cartridge with you.

Basically, the choice for buying digital over physical copies is all a matter of choice, however, I believe that I have found a good solution to get the best of both worlds. Simply, don’t be afraid to buy digital over physical, buy a balance of both, and don’t pass up on great deals.

The first part of this solution is meant for the people that are worried that their digital copy won’t always be there for them. I’m not one to assure you that they will be there “forever” but from what we’ve seen before chances are your media isn’t going anywhere. Let alone, digital distribution is probably the safest bet when thinking of the future. Every major company from Nintendo to Amazon has found a new appreciation for digital distribution and they have shown no signs of letting this idea go.

Second, I would suggest buying a balance of both digital copies and physical copies. This is pretty self-explanatory, try buying both so that you are not left out of the benefits of either side. Personally I buy games that I am really fond off in physical form while other games of franchises that I’ve never played I buy in digital form. Try buying both so that you don’t miss out on the benefits of each.

Third, don’t pass up on a great deal regardless the form of the game. Persona 3 Portable is only ten dollars in digital form while its physical counterpart via Amazon is a full twenty dollars. In other words I can get this game at a great 50% discount. Imagine if the latest Call of Duty was available digitally at a full 50% discount, I would not think twice of passing up this deal. Don’t be afraid to buy digitally specially when it means that you can save some money in the process.

As I have mentioned before I tend to buy a combination of both digital and physical copies and this is the best method that I have discovered when buying games. However, this method doesn’t just apply to games since it can also apply to any other form of media as well such as books, movies, music, etc. Deciding whether to buy digital or physical copies shouldn’t be an issue and this method may help ensure that it never is an issue ever again.

Do you buy digital over physical? Physical over digital? Or both?

Why Is It So Wrong to Unfriend?

I had a discussion with a friend not too long ago and I mentioned to her how I had unfriended someone on Facebook. She gave me a surprise response by saying, “Oh no, you shouldn't have done that.” She told me that if I unfriend someone on Facebook it is basically saying that I don't consider them a “real friend” anymore.

This isn't the first time that I've encountered a viewpoint such as this. I've heard numerous cases from both friends and family about someone becoming upset over being deleted online. Most recently, I had a case where one friend told me that I am no longer their real friend because I'm never on Facebook.

At first I thought that this entire concept was a bit silly. For one, the reason that I would delete someone on Facebook is a good reason. I don't want to see any of their content. If I delete someone online it does not mean that if I ever see them down the street that I won't stop by to say hello or jump-start a conversation.

My friend got me thinking though, was it really a bad idea to delete someone? Did I really just end a friendship when I hit that “Delete” button?

In a way, this notion seems to hold plenty of truth. When someone creates an online profile they are creating what I believe to be an “Identity of the Self.” Their own existential being becomes manifested into this online persona and in many cases this persona becomes a “true” representation of themselves. In other words, it is possible that many users online see their “true” self's on an online profile.

So if a person's true being exists in their online profile it is only natural that they will become upset once they have realized that they have been removed from some else's Friends list.

It very well seems that the idea of a real friendship is no longer limited to physical interaction either. An online friendship can be just as real as one offline, or so it appears.

At the moment, this whole idea troubles me. If I delete someone from Facebook or my Google+, I don't want them to think that I no longer want to be their “real” friend, but rather it means that I don't enjoy the content that they produce.

But it is becoming more and more apparent that clicking this “Delete” button might actually do more harm than good.

Honestly though, even though I accept this idea as a possibility I will continue to delete people that produce content that doesn't interest me. The way I see it, the profile is solely mine and if I choose not to see content from certain individuals, others should respect my decision to do so and there should be no reason why anyone should be upset.

Yet even though my mind is made up, I can't shake the feeling of “what if?” whenever I click that Delete button.

Whipping My MP3 Library Into Shape

A weird diversion that I have is that of organizing my music. If it's missing a genre, needs album art, or has an incorrect tag, I will most definitely find the correct information and fix it. I will do all this manually, without the help of any software or program.

Ever since I had my very first MP3 player I never liked having the music in it unorganized. I think that if someone ever asks to look at my iPod , MP3, etc. it'll make me feel good in showing them a well organized library. I'm not a perfectionist by any means, but certainly I like having my music in order.

Beyond Good & Evil, and Changing the Term HD to RM

After just having completed Beyond Good & Evil HD, I couldn't help but be reminded of this topic. Why does the game have HD (High-Definition) in the title when it is actually a remastering of the graphics from the original?

The game is in HD (to some extent) since the graphics are smoothed out, but even in this state they are not up to standards with current-gen games. If it were up to me, instead of placing HD in the title they should have replaced that term with "Remastering" or "RM" for short. By doing so it would have done a better and clearer job of addressing the graphics of the game.

Aside from that though, Beyond Good & Evil was a very good game. Characters are certainly unique and the game does a great job of not treating itself too seriously, even when the plot is surrounded by unfortunate events. All in all, it was fun and I'd certainly recommend it. Still though, I would have preferred RM to be in the title.

Trusting Your Thoughts

After just finishing the short book "Diary of a Madman" by Lu Xun. I couldn't help but be reminded of a topic that surrounds each of us every single day. Your own personal thoughts can always alter your reality.

Basically, this madman becomes obsessed by his own thoughts and deems everyone around him a possible threat. He is enclosed in his own world, but ultimately only because his mind tells him as so.

The point that I am making is that your thoughts play a huge role in either progressing you forward or setting you back. Make sure that your mind is playing along with the life that you want to live and not playing against it.
If you have trust with your inner self, use it to your advantage to progress forward. If your thoughts are setting you back, develop the confidence slowly by congratulating yourself constantly through small actions.

Develop yourself in a way that your inner self and thoughts will always be working in your favor. The sky is the limit when you know you can trust your own thoughts and yourself.

Selected Stories of Lu Hsun by Lu, Hsun/ Lu, Xun/ Hsun, Lu [Paperback] (Google Affiliate Ad)