NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

General and high profile video game topics.
bluemonkey1
Posts: 2444
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby bluemonkey1 » January 24th, 2012, 5:01 pm

[QUOTE=PSX]I just finally bought my first VC game a couple weeks ago, and I immediately had this same thought once I realized that there was no way to transfer the games between systems.  It really bothers me too.  But some people might prefer it.  Here's the good part and the bad part:

 
GOOD
If you sell your Wii console on eBay, Craigslist, etc., having the VC games will increase its value.  Let's say I own a Xbox 360 and I want to sell it.  And let's say I don't care about all my Xbox Live Arcade games anymore... well, I can't get rid of them unless I give the buyer my Xbox Live account too.  So if you never plan to use those XLA games again, they either basically "disappear" when you sell your console (stuck to an unused account) or you give up your XLA account to the buyer (which might contain personal info).  But with the Wii, you can get some value back for those VC games if you sell the console.  So if you spent $300 on some really good VC games, maybe someone would give you like an extra $150 for your Wii.  Can't really do that if you sell your PS3.

BAD
Exactly what happened to Paul.  Basically, you can't buy $300 in VC games today, and tomorrow you're Wii could smash to the ground.. and all your VC games are gone.  On the Xbox 360 and PS3, your games are preserved when your console stops working.  Also, as a counter to the above point, you could sell your console without losing your XLA and PSN games, if you wanted to keep them.


I personally prefer the Microsoft and Sony model, but there is at least some merit for certain people in the Nintendo model.

[/QUOTE]

Actually I'm afraid this is wrong, you can sell your PS3 or 360 and the downloadable games with them without handing over your account at all. 

 

360:

When you buy a game on XBLA it's locked to the console you buy it on.  You can still play the game on another console if you are online however with the profile that bought it.  You can also, once per year, transfer licenses to your new machine to play them offline if you want.  So if you bought Sonic 4 on XBLA and sold your machine on, as long as you didn't migrate the license the person who bought your machine can happily play Sonic 4.

 

PS3:

This is actually handled the same way as the Wii.  When you buy a game you acquire a certain number of licenses, for some games like Wipeout and Warhawk it's one, for others 3 or 5.  Each new machine you download the game to uses up another license.  They may have a way for you to migrate now but if so it's a new thing that they didn't use to have.  This system actually led to widespread piracy where one person would buy a game then loan their tag round so their friends could get it.

 

So on both systems you can sell them with the games still on without handing over your tag.


PacMan000

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby PacMan000 » January 24th, 2012, 6:22 pm

[QUOTE]it's really stupid for them not to do something like the PSN, where everything is tied to an account instead of a console.[/QUOTE]

Considering that Sony's network was hacked, I'm glad that Nintendo does not tie everything to an account.  A removable hard drive/flash drive would be my preferred option.

David

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby David » January 24th, 2012, 8:12 pm

[QUOTE=PacMan000][QUOTE]it's really stupid for them not to do something like the PSN, where everything is tied to an account instead of a console.[/QUOTE]

Considering that Sony's network was hacked, I'm glad that Nintendo does not tie everything to an account.  A removable hard drive/flash drive would be my preferred option.
[/QUOTE]
Who says you have to enter your credit card information?

nesfan1
Posts: 995
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby nesfan1 » January 24th, 2012, 11:33 pm

[QUOTE=PacMan000][QUOTE]it's really stupid for them not to do something like the PSN, where everything is tied to an account instead of a console.[/QUOTE]

Considering that Sony's network was hacked, I'm glad that Nintendo does not tie everything to an account.  A removable hard drive/flash drive would be my preferred option.
[/QUOTE]
I think that all of this crap could be avoided if they had just kept memory cards. 

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby Leo1 » January 25th, 2012, 3:49 am

How does a memory card solve anything? I fail to see the significance when it comes to things like compromised accounts if content is stored on a memory card instead of a hard drive.

Someone with a Xbox 360 memory card and no hard drive is just as likely to be a victim as the individual that has a 250 gig HD attached to their system. The storage medium and account fraud have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

Paul C

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby Paul C » January 25th, 2012, 2:25 pm

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]

PS3:

This is actually handled the same way as the Wii.  When you buy a game you acquire a certain number of licenses, for some games like Wipeout and Warhawk it's one, for others 3 or 5.  Each new machine you download the game to uses up another license.  They may have a way for you to migrate now but if so it's a new thing that they didn't use to have.  This system actually led to widespread piracy where one person would buy a game then loan their tag round so their friends could get it.

 

So on both systems you can sell them with the games still on without handing over your tag.

[/QUOTE]

Wait, are you saying I can re-download my games to my new console until I run out of "licenses"?  I was kindof assuming they had a system like that, where I would be able to immediately see which games were already paid for, and just re-download them.  I haven't seen any evidence of that being the case, but it would be great if it was...

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby Leo1 » January 26th, 2012, 2:30 am

Sony always had a system where you could deactivate licenses to open up one of them for another system. It was never like the situation on the Wii where you're granted a single license at the time of purchase with no ability to transfer it to another system (Sorry, Paul).

And now, it has been made even easier on Sony platforms. You don't need access to the system that has the license you want to deactivate (Which was how the old system worked, which could be a problem if you had a hardware failure or accidently forgot to deactivate the system before selling it, which used to mean one of your 5 activations was permanently lost). Now, you simply log on to the PSN website and can deactivate it there and don't need access to the actual system. And it's now two activations per DLC now that Sony has decided they don't care for gamesharing after all (Although you can still share that extra copy if you wish)

And it wasn't piracy. Gamesharing was actually officially encouraged during the early years of the PS3. Someone that partook in it wasn't doing anything wrong. Heck, Sony used to even have a video up on PSN describing the process...

"Sony announced that players who download games from PlayStation's online shop can share them on up to five other PS3 machines.

If a player logs into his PlayStation 3 account on a friend's system, he can download any game he has already purchased. "You can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment," said Tretton. "We want to get the game in as many hands as possible." "It's not about generating profits at each and every interaction with the consumer," he said. "I think that really offsets the argument that says, 'Wow, that's a really pricey system.'

-Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America"

PSX1
Posts: 388
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby PSX1 » January 26th, 2012, 4:13 am

[QUOTE=Paul C]
I see what you are trying to say, but in this case the bad outweighs the good by such an extreme margin that I don't even think the "good" counts. 
[/QUOTE]

I completely agree with you that the bad outweighs the good.  But I think there is a minority of people who would see it differently than us.  So I don't think it's an "extreme margin".

For example, sometimes people say that in the future all games will be sold by download only rather than physical media.  And what's the biggest criticism of that system (and downloadable games in general)??  Usually, it's that people say, "I want the physical disc.  I want to feel like I own it.  I want to be able to sell it when I'm done with it. etc."  So clearly people care about getting value back when they're done playing a game.  I probably have like $400 in XLA games that I'm stuck with forever.  I don't play them, but I can never sell them.  I have $400 in SNES games that I can sell whenever I want.  Likewise, not everyone cares about keeping their games like you and me do.  I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who spent $400 on VC games, don't play them anymore, and would love to make some money back on them when they sell their Wiis.  But yeah, overall I'm with you on this issue.

Julio III

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby Julio III » January 27th, 2012, 4:53 am

[QUOTE=Leo]"Sony announced that players who download games from PlayStation's online shop can share them on up to five other PS3 machines.

If a player logs into his PlayStation 3 account on a friend's system, he can download any game he has already purchased. "You can send that content to four other friends for that initial investment," said Tretton. "We want to get the game in as many hands as possible." "It's not about generating profits at each and every interaction with the consumer," he said. "I think that really offsets the argument that says, 'Wow, that's a really pricey system.'

-Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America" [/QUOTE]

Wow. Didn't know this. Can you still do this? It would be nice to be able to gift/share a couple of games to friends who I know won't buy them themselves - or I can imagine its useful it you want to play multiplayer with a specific friend.

Leo1
Posts: 2325
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

NO WAY to transfer my VC games to new console? REALLY?

Postby Leo1 » January 27th, 2012, 6:08 am

[QUOTE=Julio III]
Wow. Didn't know this. Can you still do this? [/QUOTE]

You still can do it.

The catch is that purchases made as of a couple of months ago now only have two activations. So you can only share with a single friend. Games purchased before that time still have the usual 5 activations (At least for arcade games, someone else said some PSN releases have 3, which I assume would be for more expensive downloads like Warhawk or a downloadable version of a retail game).

I believe a handful of releases like Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 require the purchasing PSN account to be logged in to play (which was implimented to kill gamesharing). But 99% of them can be shared just fine.


Return to “Video Games General”