Not according to BioWare.

"Success in multi-player will have a direct impact on the outcome of the single player campaign, giving players an alternative method of achieving ultimate victory against the greatest threat mankind – and the entire galaxy – has ever faced." ~Bioware

I don't think you - Or anyone, this isn't a personal attack - Can talk about what was removed from D2 or not. Diablo 2 didn't have a six month long public beta period, and therefore it stands to reason any mechanics that were cut or changed probably weren't all that discussed anyway.

alternative method is the relevant part.

Keep reading. In the paragraph below that it states:

It is important to note that the system is entirely optional and just another way players can have control over your game experience – it is still possible to achieve the optimal, complete ending of the game in Mass Effect 3 through single-player alone.

Where the hell did you hear that crap? Bioware has said it's A method of getting the better endings not THE way, you can get the best ending playing SP only don't spread bullshit.

What used game market? There is none anymore? Have you ever seen an offer for used GOG games? With going all digital, this is over. There is only piracy left to fight.

Anyway used cars or used books also did not kill the car or book industry, respectively. All complaints are greatly exagerrated.

It's just a matter of what they can do and they have the power so they do. The complaint is just a shallow justification, something they need in order get better publicity. They will not base their arguments on deep thinking and wisdom, some more or less half-way sound arguments will do.

Notice something ;-).

And yes I will remain here preaching that "fighting piracy" if like the "war on terror". Utterly useless and waste of time, money and important military ressources.

I burrowed a game of my friend for two weeks and lent him two of mine to burrow for two weeks.

The game i burrowed was Battlefield 3, A game which specifically has an online pass.

Now i have to pay $10 to atleast trial that game for two weeks.

No doubt, if i had enjoyed the game i would have payed for it and bought it after i gave it back to my friend, but now it is simply a no-purchase from me, no matter how good it is i dont want to pay more than the $10 i will be paying for the online pass. And it's not because i dont want to pay for it, It's because i was punished for burrowing a game, and i realised even if i bought used, the same punishment would apply.

Hardly. You ought to know that the PC retail market here in Germany is still much stronger than the digital market. The US and Australia are really the only two markets where PC digital distribution has a dominant hold - in the US because PC is now pretty much a minority compared to the consoles (Xbox very much rules the roost there) and Australia because digital is much cheaper than retail. I've heard the UK quoted often as well with the lack of games available in Game, Gamestation et al., but everyone I know there buys their games from Amazon and Play.com.

Obviously they've been trying to strangle the used PC games market with account binding, but evidence suggests that all this has achieved is a sharp reduction in sales.

I personally still buy plenty of older used games, for PC, PS1, PS2 and PS3.

To head off the inevitable argument- publishers don't care all that much about the general concept of used games (they do, but not as much as you think).

What they care about is a major retailer like GameStop promoting used games at the expense of new ones, and keeping all the proceeds for themselves. Anyone who just wants to swap games with a friend is an innocent casualty in this conflict, where neither side has the moral high ground.

Here's the thing: You, as the seller, are not entitled to any money from $current+1 hand sales.

Not entitled does not mean you can't get any!

Here's a simple idea: work together and form a store that buys/sells uses games that directs a portion of the sales to the appropriate company.

Yes, you will have to actually do some work to get that extra money but you know.. I'm pretty sure that's how it is supposed to work :P

I agree with you in this respect, but as far as I know, GameStop is the last place anyone would buy a recent used game from. I don't know how it is in the UK, but here in Germany, a very recent used game from GameStop will generally cost around five euros less than the full price version, Most people will just bite the bullet, spend the extra five euros and get the game shrink-wrapped without the risk of it not working. Not only that, but that five-euro marked down game has usually been brought in by some poor schmuck who gladly handed over their new €70 game to GameStop for €20. Games newer than three months are a rarity in the used games section here.

As a PC gamer who has switched to a fully digital library, I can't really say that used games are much of a factor in my buying decisions. I am sure that I fit a particular demographic with similar sentiments.

That being said, I do not believe that the used game industry is harmful, I just think that companies like Gamestop have gotten out of hand and brought it to publisher attention. EA does not care if you sell your game on eBay. They do care that a national chain is out there influencing its customers to buy used copies of games for $5 less in the hopes that they will experience a 100% profit margin as opposed to the 30 or so they get from selling new.

If Gamestop never existed it would probably never come to this point for EA and other publishers. I can understand their sentiments. I just think it's unfortunate that consumers are the ones who lose out here. So yeah, I blame the retail chains. I think they have taken significant sales away from publishers while those who sell games on eBay or craigslist have not, and that is why we get all this serial key nonsense at the console level.

used games are as harmful to the industry as it is harmful that you dont surrender all your money to activision without getting anything in return

at the contrary: what the industry does is harmful to the industry, they are looking what they can get away with and doing it as much as they can, in the short run they make their money, but in the long run they piss off customers more and more - they DONT piss off pirates, well 1+1=2 so

also they are basically killing of the species of game collectors, you know those lovely creatures that have shrines of old consoles and games at home, which they bought used (because old games are old) and well ... used games are something that the industry wants to murder, so you know those people that collect mega drive (genesis) games right now and play them? because customers accept basically everything publishers do, in the future maybe there wont be people collection old xbox 720 games or something

good job gaming undustry: getting as corrupt and hypocritical as you can, whining about piracy and at the same time being like "well every gamer is a pirate unless they prove otherwise" and all the stuff

well i cant change it anway, so i just hope the big crash comes fast, i cant stand looking at what gaming became anymore, sure i will still buy games (i just have to choose carefully), but be also sure that i have a big smile in my face everytime a game like "Kingdoms of Amalur" bombs at the market, and i am praying right now it does