EU proposal could 'stifle' games

[Arclight]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8044125.stm

Honestly, I don't know what to think of it. It would be possible to return a bug-ridden pos and demand a refund, but as a side-effect developers might stick to "tried and true" methods, putting the brake on inovation.

IMO an interesting development, but obviously it wont work as presently presented. Still, maybe in the future it will be possible to return a game that's still under "waranty" and get a refund; for consumers it would mean they don't have to worry about wasting money on a game they might not like, possibly causing them to purchase a title they're not too sure of. People might discover there are actually more titles than they thought that they like, meaning more money going to devs.

The way it's now, you can only exchange a game within 24hrs in the original packaging. This has kept me from making "rash" or impulse purchases on more than one occasion, only to find out later it's a great game and I've been missing out.

[Dowly]

Dont think this will pass. Why? Piracy will go thru the roof if one can return a game and get refund.

[Arclight]

Don't think it would make a real difference. Even if you return the game, you need a cracked .exe. If you were planning on pirating it anyway, you would just download it in the first place.

Besides, people who pirate weren't going to buy it in the first place. Seems the industry is starting to realize this as well. (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4020/pc_game_piracy_why_bother_with_.php)

[Jimbuna]

I think one of the unwritten/unspoken issues here lies around the fact there are numerous cloning tools around that negate the need to crack the exe....and they are becoming more freely available.

[SteamWake]

This would be a nightmare to litigate on the PC market. What runs fine on one users machine may not run at all on anothers at no fault of the software itself.

[Steel_Tomb]

Mixed reaction here. I remember when SH4 came out, I installed it and found it was barely playable. There were so many features not working I uninstalled it and went back to playing SHIII & GWX. To be honest, I never really got back into it... the initial experiance put me off it completely. I don't see why we should have to spend £30-40 on a game, just to find its not even worthy of release yet. If you were in a resturant and got a meal that wasn't cooked properly, you would be pissed and rightly want either a meal that is up to your expectations or a refund. I don't see why gamers have to be pissed on constantly by the publishers... either with their ****ty DRM or games which should still be BETA's. Whatever way you look at it... its not right.