Examining Sony's Internet-free method for blocking used game sales

[joebloggs]

i'm surprised they can try and get away with this, what rights do they think they have to stop you selling a product that you've legally bought, why not put them in everything and i dont think this would take long b4 it was hacked

the only loser will be Sony, people will just not buy their products like the Vita

New patent filing describes using RFID chips to tie games to a single user.

A newly published patent application filed by Sony outlines a content protection system that would use small RFID chips embedded on game discs to prevent used games from being played on its systems, all without requiring an online connection. Filed in September and still awaiting approval from the US Patent Office, the patent application for an "electronic content processing system, electronic content processing method, package of electronic content, and use permission apparatus" describes a system "that reliably restricts the use of electronic content dealt in the second-hand markets."

Used game sales continue to be a major concern for many big-name publishers and developers, who see the practice as a drain on the revenue they earn from selling new software. Sony's patent explicitly points out that suppressing the used game market will "[support] the redistribution of part of proceeds from sales of the electronic content to the developers."

read more here ... http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/0...ed-game-sales/

[les_taxi]

I hope people Boycott the brand

[grahamw48]

Greedy bar stewards !

Glad I've got an Xbox. Sodem.

[Iani]

This will be a very unpopular post, but I can see their side to this - I will explain.

Forget it's Sony for a moment taking a cut of the profits, forget Microsoft in the case of the Xbox or even Nintendo with their underpowered piles of antique crud.
In fact, it's debatable just how much if anything Sony earn through the software (games) sales anyway.

For this, maybe don't blame the manufacturer - blame GAME store.

The store GAME as it's trading model, sells used and new games, they also trade in games, at a truly rubbish price.
However for their turnover, they rely greatly on selling mainly used games, at a price often of just a couple of pound below the price of a brand new game.

Even anyone going into GAME an attempting to buy a brand new game, if they had it in stock second hand, the assistants are trained to try sell this game, with the line "you can get it cheaper this way".
Now picture - a brand new release, it gets traded in pretty quickly - this will always happen. The new one will be there for £45, they will try to sell the second hand one at £42, which they accepted as a trade for probably £30 at the very most, most likely less.
Makes business sense for them.

HOWEVER, then we have the flip side. The game developer gets mediocre sales, that new game on paper has hardly sold any. Their profit is cut drastically, the people working for them don't get their bonus's - and these are just normal people doing their job.
There is less incentive to produce new innovative games (Many gamers have been complaining for years that all games seem the same now, this is no accident, the set up costs of producing a new game are huge, and it just isn't worth the risk of not recovering this cost -hence yawn again Call of Duty 132 or whatever).

The only places at the moment which dare to produce risk taking games, are online places catering to facebook.

Now, if this second hand trade could be cut right down - well it's going to hit GAME's profit, but they nearly went to the wall anyway, hmmm.
What it will do, is increase the takings greatly of the video game manufacturers, and they will be able once again to produce more quality games..................at least that is the idea.

The down side, is of course - will they make them affordable more? At the moment they release them at a high price initially hoping they can get most of their costs back before the second hand market kicks in. They might decide to keep it high and stick at that, or might still reduce the costs for an older game to keep the sales happening.

Will people be prepared to take the risk of buying a game, knowing they won't be able to sell it on? A big drawback and one that concerns many.

Very difficult one to call. It should result in many more quality and different games, it should result in a price fall in games, but may upset many as if they buy a duff game, they are stuck with it.

What is sure, is that the other manufacturers will be doing the same. The next Xbox will also have this protection. Of course, it will likely be hacked, just as Xbox hacks aren't exactly hard to come by.

[Iani]

And then again - hardly surprising with Sony. This is a company who wanted to release "play once only" cds which can't be played a second time, because just like many in the music industry, they think people should pay through the nose for music, be royally ripped off, and along with their cronies in the BPI, who famously sued online music retailers for daring to import cd's from abroad then sell them a bit cheaper to the British public, I mean - how dare people in Britain dare to buy music cheaper - pay up you 's

Then they bleat because people download it illegally for free. Talk about dinosaurs

[joebloggs]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20802043

so i wonder what right sony think they have to stop you giving or selling a product you have bought to someone else ?

the good old EU, yes was it tesco's who bought a load of 'designer' jeans from asia and were going to sell them at a fraction of the price, and the 'brand' took them to court in the EU and won. i think their excuse was you were paying for the name and they were cheapening their product. you would have thought the EU courts would be on the side of its citizens and being in a open market tesco could sell what they liked for what ever price they wanted, another reason why the EU is

[Iani]

Must remember, when we buy a cd, we do not "own" that music, we own a licence to play it for personal use.

They can off, I consider that I own it and I will do whatever the hell I want with it

The music industry - and Sony are well in the lead in this way of thinking - would like us to pay every time we listen to a track. They can stick it right where the sun doesn't shine. Music should be freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[Iani]

Oh you know what these large companies call the UK......................"Treasure Island"!

They know they can sell at a premium here. From different pricing to even that stupid dvd region coding. The first thing I learnt how to do when I got a dvd player was how to hack it to make it multi region, and I've been doing this ever since, and I refuse to buy a player which can not be hacked (It is hard to find a player which can not be hacked really)

I used to import loads of Hong Kong and Korean movies, which were often locked to region 3. I would never have been able to watch these movies otherwise, as they just didn't get released to a western market. Idiots!