I dunno about your mum, but I guess it'd vary on what they'd do with their circle of friends. I don't expect "EA SPORTS TUPPERWARE PARTY 2007" or "KNITTING CIRCLE2K7" but I think it's a great way to be able to stay in touch with friends, chat, catch up over a reasonably interesting game or two they might be all able to play.
Gin Rummy, Bridge, Hearts, 500 etc. over Live! with a bunch of friends while they played cards and talked about how their son had run off to Canada to work on a ski resort and how he was turning out to be such a hopeless bum.
The potential is huge in Asian markets. Imagine setting your mum up for Mahjong or Go-Stop so she can get off your case about finding a decent job and putting down a downpayment on a house.
Another interesting strategy is to allow users to obtain their media from wherever they like, where it be from the Piratebay, their X-mart, EB or their friends at the LAN. Then offer a secure place to buy keys and registration materials as required.
Many gamers in Australia did this with the highly anticipated release of Battlefield 2. Get the install media 0 day via whatever means, then buy a key from certain overseas retailers who:
a) are MUCH cheaper than Australian outfits and
b) offer to email you the key within a few hours
These guys have established a name for themselves to be honest and aren't just key-farmers, but seem to offer a competitively priced product that's in demand. Australians take advantage of the relatively cheap cost of the "license", while the retailer makes the sale. Everyone is happy. I don't know EA's position on this, but it's been a popular way to get some big games quickly and cheaply, with at least some modicum of legality.
I see it as a simpler version of Steam and it seems to do quite well. I just checked the site to see if they were still oeprating, and they are, which suggests that EA or their distributor seem OK with it. I guess it's no different to buying a legitimate game while you travel and then installing it when you get home to play it, just faster. And considering software nowdays have EULA's worded so that you never actually "own" it, but simply own a "license" to use it on some number of machines, I have no problems with using that to my advantage.
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http://mordots.com/ Yes, it's old, but still brings a smile to my face. Need sound, and not quite safe for work. :D
I dunno about your mum, but I guess it'd vary on what they'd do with their circle of friends. I don't expect "EA SPORTS TUPPERWARE PARTY 2007" or "KNITTING CIRCLE2K7" but I think it's a great way to be able to stay in touch with friends, chat, catch up over a reasonably interesting game or two they might be all able to play.
Gin Rummy, Bridge, Hearts, 500 etc. over Live! with a bunch of friends while they played cards and talked about how their son had run off to Canada to work on a ski resort and how he was turning out to be such a hopeless bum.
The potential is huge in Asian markets. Imagine setting your mum up for Mahjong or Go-Stop so she can get off your case about finding a decent job and putting down a downpayment on a house.
One can only dream.
Another interesting strategy is to allow users to obtain their media from wherever they like, where it be from the Piratebay, their X-mart, EB or their friends at the LAN. Then offer a secure place to buy keys and registration materials as required. Many gamers in Australia did this with the highly anticipated release of Battlefield 2. Get the install media 0 day via whatever means, then buy a key from certain overseas retailers who:
a) are MUCH cheaper than Australian outfits and
b) offer to email you the key within a few hours
These guys have established a name for themselves to be honest and aren't just key-farmers, but seem to offer a competitively priced product that's in demand. Australians take advantage of the relatively cheap cost of the "license", while the retailer makes the sale. Everyone is happy. I don't know EA's position on this, but it's been a popular way to get some big games quickly and cheaply, with at least some modicum of legality.
I see it as a simpler version of Steam and it seems to do quite well. I just checked the site to see if they were still oeprating, and they are, which suggests that EA or their distributor seem OK with it. I guess it's no different to buying a legitimate game while you travel and then installing it when you get home to play it, just faster. And considering software nowdays have EULA's worded so that you never actually "own" it, but simply own a "license" to use it on some number of machines, I have no problems with using that to my advantage.