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Thread: PSN - $1 Sale

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    I have hated Sony since 2001 and I still do. I would explain in detail why, but there are so many reasons it would take too long to type up. So let's just summarize that point by saying 1) If you want to know more, search Slashdot for some of the many bad things Sony has done over the years, and 2) I think SEGA would still be rocking the gaming sphere in both hardware and software as it and Nintendo continued to be the sole rival giants in the field if Sony hadn't entered the fray, and as a result, Microsoft wouldn't have entered the console business either. But then, if not for Nintendo dealing with Sony, Sony wouldn't have entered the gaming industry as well. In that way, Big N created its own nightmare scenario, albeit indirectly. (Ah, gaming industry history.)

    Anyway, the point is that I've been "boycotting" Sony for about 14 years now. How so? Mainly I've been playing games on non-Sony hardware during this time (from Dreamcast to GameCube to Wii, from GBA to DS Lite to 3DS, and naturally, PC with Windows & Linux), so avoiding software and hardware purchases with the Sony mark has been easy. And with a huge backlog of games spanning tons of consoles, I'm in no rush to tread anywhere in particular. Of course I still have many official PlayStaton games and hardware from before this period, yet I even have some from during my boycott years. But when I do purchase PlayStation hardware or games, I buy them used or, if they are in new condition, I usually purchase them years after their initial commercial availability. This ensures that, even though Sony got money from someone somewhere up the line, I at least didn't give them any money directly through one of their retail partners. If you will, the machine isn't getting fed by the purchase. After all, I want to be moral about this and collect officially licensed products instead of going without or being a pirate, but I don't want to empower what I see as a destructive, lumbering hulk of the gaming industry.

    So you can imagine that voluntarily breaking this streak was monumental for me. I still feel a twinge of guilt about it, but I couldn't resist this "dollar sale." I mean, after all, we are talking about 80-94% discounts in this sale, and so each of these was a tremendous deal. I've had my PSP since January 2013 and I've gone since then without buying anything through PSN, and the only thing I bought at or near launch was Sweet Fuse: At Your Side on UMD. So perhaps I should be "ashamed" of this purchase, but I did go 2 years without sending money directly to Sony. Besides, it might be another 2, 3, 5, or 10 years until I purchase another PSN item or buy a physical game release at or near launch on a PS console! So I try to think of it as earning an indulgence after years of abstinence. Besides, look at what I got:

    Extreme Pinball - $0.96
    Katamari Damacy - $0.90
    Klonoa: Door to Phantomile - $0.96
    Mega Man X4 - $0.96
    Mega Man X5 - $0.96
    NOBY NOBY BOY - $0.95
    STREETKIX: FREESTYLE - $0.84
    Tekken 2 - $0.96
    WILD ARMS 2 - $0.96
    Wild Arms - $0.96

    That's a total of 10 games for only a sum of $9.41. That's a pretty frickin' good deal! Just buying a physical copy of the cheapest one on this list and getting it shipped to my home would have cost almost as much as getting this whole score of games. (Funnily enough, 7 of these were PSN re-releases of PSX games instead of newer releases. )

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Hell of a sale, shame they're thumbing the nose at the PS4 again so there's nothing of value there to me but would for the PS3 if I still bought for it.

    You and I seem to think exactly the same. When I can't stand a company I either don't buy from them, or I buy entirely used unless there's a sale just so stupid ridiculously cheap I know they're taking a loss anyway and get it. The only hardware maker outright I do that with is microsoft as all their xbox systems to date (can't say for One yet, too early) have been shit for multiple reasons, and my ire goes back to the DOS/Windows days on them stealing others work for their own, screwing with stuff so you have to buy more stuff, and so on, the usual laundry list of complaints. Yet because I want nothing to do with OS2 warp in the day or MacOS now or some Linux junk I'm stuck using their junk, so if I buy it, it came with a PC or I get a corporate discount for like $10 on Office 2010. Game companies, I don't buy from EA or Activision anymore, Ubisoft pretty much the same, but if I saw a game on GoG or Steam and it's like 75-90% off where they make nothing I might, if I really want it that badly, but it's rare. You just can't financially support something you can't stand for whatever evil reasons.

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    Oh, I know what you mean. Microsoft is on my "bad guy" list too. I don't own any of its consoles (XBOX, XBOX 360, XBOX One), and I own only two Xbox/360 games: Psychonauts and the Sega Superstars Tennis / Xbox Live Arcade compilation disc. I even go so far as to not purchase games published by Microsoft for Windows.

    EA is on my list too. But then, EA doesn't really publish anything I care about to begin with. I did like what EA published on DOS/Windows back in the early days, though, back when it was known only as "Electronic Arts" and its logo was the cube, pyramid, and sphere.

    Activision is the same as EA. The exception is for buying classic, "real Activision" cartridges from the old days of course.

    Ubisoft might be tolerable on consoles as it uses whatever hardware+software DRM the console maker provides, but I hate Ubisoft on PC/Windows. There, Ubisoft makes people use its UPlay client to play its games, requires players to always be online to play even single-player games, and installs insidious DRM which latches in in a bad way. Other than the Prince of Persia series, it doesn't usually publish anything I care about... and in PoP's case, I buy its games about 50/50 between consoles and PC. But in the PC games' case, the DRM has usually been removed by the time I buy Ubi's games as it is so many years after initial publication. The sole exception to this in recent years has been Valiant Hearts: The Great War - I bought that through Steam for $3.74 this month, and the game was released only last year.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Tanooki's Avatar
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    Even though my name is in the manual/credits for 2 Midway XBox games, I wanted nothing to do with them beyond the project ending, not even a copy to keep around as a shelf trophy. One (NHL Hitz) I just grabbed the PS2 I worked on, then the GC one I didn't get credited for, and Slugfest I just didn't care. EA used to publish things I like, the last final one was the original Dead Space, 2 blows. The problem is they've terrorized, devoured and wasted many companies who made games I like they now control so that's an issue. I waited for the GoG.Com 60% off sale on Wing Commander 1-4+Prophecy/Spec Ops packages to slice it low enough they wouldn't get crap for it after their fees, etc. I refuse to buy anything from Ubisoft on PC, UbiShat on by stupid DRM always on garbage and spying I want nothing to do with. The last two games out of them I like was WiiU Rayman and then that artsy Prince of Persia like 5 years ago where I think you couldn't die in, it was more of an art as a game thing.

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    I don't think I have a "bad guy" list per se, but I'm also in the veil of only doing digital when the economy of it is too good to pass up. Thus, when this $1 sale came around, about $20 left my account for a ton of the PSX, PS2, and even some of the PSN releases. Between these, Steam Sales, XBox sales (back before they've been recycled a hundred times over and the price gets no better), I'm probably at the point of being more digital than physical, but at a fraction of the cost.

    At some point, it may get to being a lot more digital, but regardless, it'll always be at the uber-discount rate, never full price.

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