With a slow shift to digital-only content, and the inability to share such content like you would lend a book or a disc, and publishers deliberately devaluing their game content through the use of activation codes and central server authenticaion, will there ever come a time when used games become a thing of the past? Sean and Vinnk explore why console games cost so much, why iOS games cost so little, and the ruin that would be visited upon the gaming industry if no one could lend out their games or buy used ones ever again.

[Listen to the episode after the jump…!]

Should Nintendo be scared? Since the launch of the iPhone — which encouraged the rise of the Android platform — smartphone gaming is set to become a majority of the handheld market, eclipsing Nintendo for the first time since the release of the Game Boy in 1989. Sean and Vinnk explain their misgivings with GameStop, why they’re sure Nintendo expects Xenoblade to fail (or at least doesn’t care if it succeeds), and actual precedents that should exonerate Nintendo for being so cautious.

[Listen to the episode after the jump…!]

Powet.tv staff have confirmed that EB Games stores in Canada are selling new and used video games side by side, though the yellow labels remain on used games. This news report on Kotaku mentioned that EB Games stores, the Canadian version of Gamestop, would start a policy of eliminating used game sections and instead storing new and used games together, both with white labels. While many questioned the validity of this news and referred to reports by employees to speculate… why didn’t anyone get off their ass and go to the damned store?

I did just that. I visited one of the many EB Games stores in Ottawa, Ontario (1719 Merivale Road to be specific) and I can confirm that, as these photos indicate, new and used games are indeed located side by side. New and used games sections still exist, while some sections with both exist as well. An employee mentioned they were renovating, so the current state of the store was very likely temporary.

They're doing it for shitty games too

Looks like Square-Enix and Gamestop have a hard time communicating with each other.

Square-Enix, the developer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, had originally offered a third-party coupon in the boxed PC edition of the game for the On Live cloud-computing gam streaminge service. However, they neglected to inform major game retailer Gamestop of the coupon’s inclusion, spurring Gamestop to remove the coupon for customer redemption completely.

From Gaintbomb’s original coverage:

GameStop dominated the conversation today, based on reports the retailer was opening copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution on PC, removing the coupon for a copy of the game through OnLive, sealing the games back up and selling them as “new.”

Gamestop reported that they removed the coupon, as they have been developing their own streaming game service and they did not want to promote the competition. As of the backlash Gamestop received for the action of removing the coupon, Gamestop has since pulled all copies of Deus Ex for the PC and stored them for recall. Square-Enix has publicly apologized to Gamestop for the lack of prior knowledge of the coupons.

No coupons for you.