I followed the Penny Arcade Report to this “article” on Kotaku this morning. It’s the perfect example of why I removed Kotaku from GoogleReader earlier this year: Five reasons a world without used games might not be so bad

It actually annoys me that people such as Jason Schreier get such a well read soapbox to expunge their “thoughts” on subjects. Much like it annoys me that most people are more interested in what Paris Hilton/Justin Bieber/whoever thinks about world events than someone with any real insight into them.

In short, he suggests that it might* a good thing because:

  1. Everything’s going digital anyway.
  2. The future could look a lot like Steam.
  3. Retailers will have to offer better deals.
  4. Games could be significantly more affordable.
  5. Publishers might take more risks.
  1. It’s happening anyway, so it’s a good thing. You just have to admire his Panglossian outlook on the world! Everything is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds?
  2. One decent digital store exists in competition with boxed retail, other digital stores & used games, therefore it’s a good thing that we completely eliminate used game sales? I think I missed the class in economics when it was explained that less competition leads to a better deal for the consumer.
  3. They will HAVE to. Apparently. GAME couldn’t make a profit selling used games at 200-500% markup from the trade-in value, Jason should get in touch with them and tell them their problem was that they just needed to offer better deals.
  4. I want some of those pills he’s on. Publishers have a proven track records of passing on savings to customers, just look at the prices of games on PSN and XBLA.. Oh, I got confused for a minute there. it’s the fucking opposite!
  5. Seriously, get me some of those pills.

Might?

He doesn’t even have to strength of conviction to state these are reasons it will be a good thing! Between opinion pieces like this, endless cosplay galleries (a.k.a. porn for kiddies too embarrassed to look at the real stuff) & the “isn’t Japan so crazy, right?” articles I can’t even remember the last time I read anything interesting on that site, the sad thing is I must have done once though.