In the never ending battle between game publishers, who love to sell their games new, and game retailers, who love to buy your games (then sell them back to you at an 800% profit), many publishers have taken to somewhat unorthodox methods to assure gamers grab their software new. EA Sports, in particular, has taken up the practice of hiding major features of their online aspects behind 16-digit keys, reminding everyone that it’s important to spend the extra $5 to buy new.

Forza Motorsport 3 developer Turn 10 is the most recent developer to offer a batch of exclusive content for those who actually buy their software. New copies of the race-sim will come with a code to unlock two new tracks; "Benchmark High Speed Ring" and "Sidewinder Proving Grounds."  The code will also grant access to 10 exclusive classic cars, listed below.

  • '65 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
  • '64 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage
  • '81 BMW M1
  • '60 Chevrolet Corvette
  • '69 Dodge Charger
  • '57 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
  • '80 Fiat 131 Abarth
  • '67 Lamborghini Miura P400
  • '71 Nissan Skyline 2000 GT-R
  • '65 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe

I didn’t need any more reason to buy Forza 3 on day one, but it’s always nice to get a little something extra.  No word yet on whether or not the exclusive content will eventually be available on Xbox Live or not, but as more and more publishers start to offer incentives like this, I believe we’ll start to see less and less of them available as timed exclusives, and more of them as real exclusives.  Publishers have to do something to encourage gamers to buy games new, and this method seems to be the most fair to consumers, and effective for companies.  Making the content available later would make the program somewhat useless, as many gamers would wait a few months to buy a used copy anyway.