Capcom Does It Again

[ECM]

This time they're disallowing the ability to erase save data in RE Mercenaries on 3DS.

What does this mean?

It means that once you start a game you can never restart it from scratch. Ever. A year from now, if you want to reset and re-unlock everything you cannot. The game will not let you.

Why are they doing this? To kill used game sales. That's right: they don't want you selling your property, that you own outright, so they're throwing a wrench in the works which hurts people who can't afford new games and people who actually *LIKE* to start from scratch every now and again (I've done it in the past).

It's also yet another "fuck you" from an industry that can't reign in its own excesses (insane dev budets, ridiculous schedules, etc.), so they're taking it out on the property owner. If shit like this isn't nipped in the bud, it will become the norm, not some weird, one-off, exception[footnote:1]It already is becoming normal, and nobody will do a damn thing about it except...keep buying their games.[/footnote].

So I have two thoughts on this:

1. FUCK YOU CAPCOM. You just lost a sale. In fact, though they won't even notice it, I'm not buying ANY Capcom games from this point forward unless they are explicitly used.

2. Anyone that's into speculation should buy as many of these as they can and hold onto them until they're out of print, since they've just made the after-market value of one of these skyrocket.

Source: all over the Internet.

[elchevalier]

No pesos from me either to that game. First the Final Fight Double Impact thing for the ps3 (which btw meant you couldn't play it when the psn went down) and now this? The scary thing is, buyers might just swallow this pill too.

[ECM]

Yeah, that Final Fight thing was also complete bullshit, but I figured that after some outcry they'd stop doing stuff like this--my mistake!

[feilong80]

Ugh, but yeah, tempted to buy a copy, and hold onto it.....

[CHI]

I wasn't planning on buying any Capcom games anyhow so I'm totally on board with you guys.

[Justin]

Bah, just go old school and rip the cart out while the power is on. That always does the trick.

[ECM]

CHI: always a team player when nothing at all is personally on the line.

[elchevalier]

BTW, what would happen if the save file got corrupted in some way? You will have to buy another copy of the game amirite?

[Borsalio]

The corrupted save thing is the million dollar (well, $40 dollar) question right now. If you can intentionally corrupt your save (by pulling the cart out when it's saving or whatnot), and then the game just clears it in response, you'd have a way to reset the save, silly and dangerous though it would be. If a corrupted save means a dead cart, well, that's something even worse.

Probably going to buy this anyway, I'm weak...I mean, I played and beat RE Gaiden, I can't stop now. Maybe I'll preorder EDF at the same time to balance out my karma.

[feilong80]

Borsalio, I love where your heads at!

[feilong80]

I was never really that into the idea of this game anyway; so this kinda cemented it as far as me not buying it. Classic example of getting too protective. We live in a fallen world people,* you cannot expect to limit things you don't want entirely.** As Rush Limbaugh would say,*** content is king. Make stuff awesome and you'll do fine.




*MILD theological insertion
**Obviously not even talking about evil here, just used game sales for heaven's sake! Ridiculous!
***Booyah, I take a mild theological shot AND work in Rush! Someone get in here and do a combo breaker!

[ECM]

LMFAO:

"In Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, all mission progress is saved directly to the Nintendo 3DS cartridge, where it cannot be reset," a spokesman told Kotaku. "The nature of the game invites high levels of replayability in order to improve mission scores. In addition, this feature does not remove any content available for users. Second-hand game sales were not a factor in this development decision, so we hope that all our consumers will be able to enjoy the entirety of the survival-action experiences that the game does offer."

No, I didn't go to Kotaku, I found this on another site, but it is *absolutely* hilarious/ridiculous that they think we're really this stupid. I mean, Christ, at least try when you spin.

As for the comment by fei about "if you want something, just buy it regardless of the precedent it sets" (paraphrased), uh, no? (You, of all people, fei, should know that if you SUBSIDIZE something, you get MORE of it.)

So, yeah, if you want more of the things you buy being beyond your control[footnote:1]Like actually being able to play your games offline, re: Final Fight PSN and being able to actually re-sell your games for something less than five bucks--something I know you do, fei!--then you *cannot* support this, period (and don't get me started on Rush 'Self Serving' Limbaugh who wants to, uh, sell you something!).[/footnote] then, by all means, shop away. Otherwise...don't.

Oh, and re: pulling the cart? No, sorry, Capcom isn't that stupid. They made sure that there is a back-up save so that it reverts to that should you decide to go and get any ideas about re-selling, err, I mean wiping your hard-earned progress which, as any sane person that accepts PR bilge with a completely credulous demeanor knows, is the only reason for this move. Remember: Capcom knows best! Not you!

And one last thing about the 'it's no big deal, it's just used games' line of reasoning: do those that advocate such a stance realize that there are *A LOT* of people that can barely afford to buy one game every several months (if that) and that by burning down the bridge to Usedville, Capcom is actually *hurting* the industry more than helping it because most people turn around and--wait for it!--buy another game w/ that store credit?[footnote:2]Heck, I know people that make *plenty* of money and still trade-in lots of games because, fuck, games are *expensive*, period. (Right, right, I know: they're expensive because used games are killing them and I'm sure prices will *plummet* just as soon as the secondhand market is dead and buried...)[/footnote] Now they'll just buy...less games so, yeah, not only have you made a giant, unforced, PR error, but you've actually--and wholly intentionally--cut off your nose to spite your face. Assholes. (This 'used games are evil' shit is a variation on a theme of 'game rentals are killing us'[footnote:3]Which just occurred to me: you can't actual RENT this game! Ever! Unless you're the very first person to get your hands on it! Does anyone know if GameFly is actually offering this for rent??[/footnote], a little ditty that was super-popular in the early-to-mid '90s.)

And let me reiterate: I love(d) Capcom but I am, quite literally, done buying their games *new*. Full stop. Unless they come up w/ a patch or some way of making this right--which they will not--they'll never see another dime from me for as long as I live, my convictions not being malleable based on the desirability of a game/book/movie.

[feilong80]

Hey, I don't think I said that! I'm trying to parse my own comments now...

I said that bit about buying it and holding on to it, but that was said in jest regarding its potential value going up, if I held onto a sealed copy.

And my other comment was actually *agreeing* with you, by referencing Rush I was talking about Capcom trying way too hard to prevent used sales. I definitely was not trying to say, "hey, just buy the game if you want it, because companies will act stupid no matter what." I was trying to say Capcom should just worry about CONTENT and not lame security measures and tricks.

So yeah, that thing you said I said... I didn't say, and it isn't my opinion. Yep, words mean things and the fact that my words led you to the opposite opinion that I actually had probably means I wasn't careful enough with them. But in my defense, that post was written relatively late last night, when I was trying to be a good guy and contribute to the board!

One last thing: since I know you well enough to know that you DETEST people "walking things back" when called out, let me by crystal clear: My opinion is that Capcom screwed up here, and I do not support buying the game because of it. This was my opinion in those last few posts (the first one being in jest).

[ECM]

The comment "Borsalio, I love where your heads at!" kinda skewed your subsequent post, since if you're stating that Borsalio has a good idea (which it sounds like based on that comment!), then you're agreeing with his "I know I shouldn't buy it, but I have the willpower of a 400 lb. woman offered access to an all-you-can-eat buffet so I'm going to buy it anyway and w/ extra gravy!" (mildly paraphrasing...cough).

So, read in that light...

Anyway, I apologize, sans caveats (except the one above!) if I misconstrued your comment. (I'll go fire myself in a few minutes to make amends.)

[feilong80]

Oh come on, I thought you knew me better than that! I was obviously referring to his pre-order of EDFIA!

*But yeah, I see what happened.