Capcom Fights Used Game Sales With Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Saved Games

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Capcom Fights Used Game Sales With Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D Saved Games


Pre-owned buyers beware: saved game data in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D [http://www.amazon.com/Resident-Evil-Mercenaries-Nintendo-3DS/dp/B002I0GKA4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309212305&sr=8-1] cannot be erased, so if you pick up a used copy you're going to be playing someone else's game.

There's an interesting note included with the Nintendo 3DS game Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D cartridge: "Saved data on this software cannot be reset." What's it mean? Given that the game automatically saves information upon completion of the game, it would seem to mean that if you buy a used copy, you're going to end up with someone else's save files, including any balance-whacking extras that unlock when the game is completed.

It's apparently a new and admittedly creative way to discourage gamers from buying the thing used. Unlocking items and achievements is a big part of the gaming experience, after all, but everything will presumably already be accomplished in a used copy, and while buzzsawing through early-game enemies with late-game weapons is fun for a few minutes, it gets old pretty quickly. There's a reason you don't get the BFG on E1M1, after all.

Maybe this gambit will curb used sales of the game, or maybe it will just encourage piracy a little further down the road. It seems to me that a lot of people who are serious enough about the game to insist on having their own go-round with it are also at least semi-likely to just pirate it if they can't find it new - or if they think Capcom is unfairly putting the screws to them.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D comes out in North America on June 28.

Source: Venturebeat [http://venturebeat.com/2011/06/27/capcom-the-mercenaries-resident-evil-save/]


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TimeLord

For the Emperor!
Legacy
Aug 15, 2008
7,508
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Wait.... what? They are serious? That had got to be the most ridiculous DRM-type-thing I have ever seen.

What happens if you want to replay the game from the start after you finish it?
 

MacLeRoy

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Jan 13, 2011
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wow, thats lame. They act like thats gonna stop people from selling and buying the game used.
 

XMark

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Jan 25, 2010
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Stupid. So when I want to play it again from the beginning a year later after not having played it for a while I'll have to buy it again?

I think they're also trying to cut down on the number of new game sales with this tactic :)
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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Gameplay wise, there must be a way to start a fresh game, because people do that all the time. Surely you're just not able to get acheivements and extras because they'be already been done?

*Above, money from used games doesn't reach the people who made them
 
Dec 14, 2009
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That is the stupidest thing I've read all...

*checks watch*

This hour.

[sub]Yes, I have read more ridiculous things today...[/sub]
 

Aerograt

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Jan 7, 2011
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Wait, Capcom honestly thinks I DON'T want to play a game with all the cool stuff unlocked first? I'm not going to get this game at its launch because I don't have a 3DS; I'm not getting one for a while. It's not even like this game has a campaign, what's the point of this?

Anyway, thanks Capcom!!

edit:... This game has Leon, right?
 

Sparrow

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Feb 22, 2009
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Oh, well, that is just the biggest dick move ever. Aren't they meant to stop piracy, not invent new ways for people to justify it?
 

Marudas

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Jul 8, 2010
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And thus we continue the baffling trend of Developers thinking they're owed money for used game sales. And the baffling trend of putting DRM in a game that even saddles your paying customers with ridiculous conditions.

This just makes pirated games better and better, however, I would plead with gamers to take the high road and simply not buy a video game if they opt for stupid crap like this. Let their bad decisions prove more costly than any number of their copies being purchased used.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Jan 22, 2010
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Wow, so if I want to start a new game, I can't because I can't remove my old saves!? The fuck!? This will just clog up memory space if people want to do multiple playthroughs.
 

-Dragmire-

King over my mind
Mar 29, 2011
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interesting idea...... probably not going to last.

It's kind of funny to think of a drm that forces new game+ bonus' on used games.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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LobsterFeng said:
So wait, it's a bad thing to buy games used?
Apparently. few publishers even stated it was just as bad, if not worse, than piracy.

My question to them is if a used market exists for everything else, why the hell should games be considered so special?

The PC market has already been hosed. Can't buy used PC games. Which means it's a bigger risk to buy PC. And since very few devs offer demo's these days, it's a MASSIVE risk. It's not surprising to see people pirate when you look at the state of things. Though I'd prefer it if they just didn't buy the games, to send a message that we want nothing to do with people who put DRM on games and don't offer demo's. Then they'd get the message to offer demo's and not put DRM on games.

But life is rarely so stupidly simple.
 

TheIronRuler

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Mar 18, 2011
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Wow!
Congratulation Capcom!
You've found a way to screw the video game retailers for dealing in second hand games!
I top my head for you and hope that you'll at least break even with this game, no matter how good or bad it is.
 

Ih8pkmn

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Apr 20, 2010
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*facepalm*

I give it 3 days before this particular DRM is cracked, and it will be cracked using nothing more than a refrigerator magnet and a kumquat!
 

drkchmst

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Mar 28, 2010
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3ds cartridges still use flash memory to save games. It should be possible to open the cartridge and remove the battery to do a hard reset.