Any provider of games doesn't like people to trade in their used product as they view it as losing a sale. So it's likely they will do everything they can to discourage people buying and selling used games.
Used game trading can only be done, of course, with a 'hard' product, the disk, manual and case, but even that can be discouraged by users having to activate online then log in each time they want to play a game, as with Games For Windows & Origin.
The easiest way for game publishers to (almost) stop used game trading - and for that matter, piracy - is to abandon hard product altogether and only sell games through digital download. Digital downloads, as far as I know, can't be ripped, transferred or duplicated. Though it would not surprise me if that was not the case.
I've read several articles about the rumours surrounding the Xbox 720 and all hint at the machines not allowing used games to be played on it. I've also read no optical drive will be built into the machine thus discouraging hard copy games being played but it's likely external optical drives will be available to play old Xbox 360 games.
Myself, I think Steam have got it about right, full price new releases and lots of regular bargains on older games. Games for Windows sucks a large one and Origin/EA really need putting down like a rabid dog. In my opinion
On the whole I don't mind gaming via digital download if all suppliers extolled the same virtues and sense of fair play that Steam does but what does annoy me is that when all games were on disk and didn't have to be activated online or come with a five times installation limit or whatever, if you bought a game that was a real turkey you could trade it in or sell it. That's almost a thing of the past now.
Which is what the game companies want really.
The only way to avoid buying a pile of poo in the future will be not to snap the game up on day of release but rather wait, read reviews, follow forum chat on Gaming sites and watch online footage of grabbed gameplay before making a decision to purchase.
If Microsoft do actually introduce some of the rumoured restrictions on their new console then do not be surprised, Microsoft have never played fair ever since their inception and are guilty of some of the foulest business practices in recent history. So what's the alternative? Sony. Hah! Snookered
I've recently upgraded my Xbox 360 to the latest model, 250Gb with built in Wifi and I'm very happy with it, get a lot of enjoyment from it and I think that as far as value for money entertainment goes, gaming, in whatever format, still offers a good deal.
