UK Videogame Retailers Respond To Resident Evil Perma-Save Information

Yesterday, Mini Gamers brought you the devastating news that Capcom's new Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D [3DS] game has a "ONE SAVE ONLY"feature, which means essentially that game data cannot ever be reset to its original state once the game has been completed.

The perma-save feature means that any used copies of the game are essentially unplayable as there is no way to reset the game back to its original unplayed state at all.

This means that anyone who purchases the game second-hand is essentially buying a permanently used game, as there is no way to restore the game to its original default settings and start the game over from scratch.

Today UK videogame retailers have begun announcing their plans on whether to accept used copies of the game or not.

According to gaming website VG247, retail giant HMV has now refused to take any used copies of the game in the UK. A representative said that the discision to not accept used copies of the game is to:"avoid any potential customer disappointment for those purchasing a pre-owned version". [sourced from: http://www.vg247.com/2011/06/29/hmv-to-refuse-resident-evil-mercenaries-trade-ins-in-uk/]

It is not all bad news for those UK gamers who still wish to purchase the game though. Both GAME and Gamestation has confirmed to Eurogamer that they do intend to accept and trade-in all used versions of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D and sell the game as 'pre-owned' just as with other games.

In the USA, retail giant GameStop has controversially reversed its decision to not accept trade-ins. The store originally planned to refuse trade-ins of the game but have now said that they would resume trade-ins from today.

According to IGN, a representative of the store explained: "GameStop did ask the U.S. store base to stop accepting trades on Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D as we evaluated the save system for the game...Upon further review of the process with our publisher partner, Capcom, GameStop will resume taking trades on the game effective Wednesday, June 29th."

Meanwhile, in Australia, there has been no such turnaround from the Electronics Boutique (EB) stores, who have called for all stocks of the game to be recalled from their outlets.

The gaming community has so far reacted with shock and anger over Capcom's decision to include a permanent save feature into the game. It is unclear how this decision will effect the overall sales figures of the game, but we can guess that the figures are not going to be that great.

The game is set to debut in the UK on Friday.

HAVE YOUR SAY...

What do you think? Is a game that you can only play once in its full state really worth owning even if trade-ins of the game are not affected? Please leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts.