Report: New Sony Patent Blocks Second Hand Games - IGN

theres rumours something similar might appear on the next XBOX as well, if it wernt for the second hand market or abilty to borrow friends games id never have been able to play Bioshock, Gears of War or Halo 2... and locking games to a single account to cause alot hastle well if it happens looks like im going fully PC next-gen

 

Just because they've patented it, does not necessarily mean they're going to use it... At least that's what I'd like to think.

 

Exactly.

I'll bitch about this if they actually put it in their systems.

 

If they do use it, there will likely be a lawsuit by someone, and they will try to modify their terms of service first. But it's this type of stupidity that has caused many products to fail. The zune failed because initially customers couldn't buy music only rent it for 5 years. This is that kind of stupidity. If it were up to the coporations we could never own any product. They would just keep charging us for the same thing.

 

I have to wonder if this will be true for Sony and Microsoft.

Why you ask?

Gamestop all of a sudden wants to start selling any used games, systems, and accessories from before the PS2/X-Box/Gamecube era (since they already sell anything from Ps2-now). And since many of these older items can fetch big money, all the more for them to justify charging $50+ for a rare NES cart.

GameStop Planning "Vintage Game" Sales - IGN

NES, SNES, Atari, Genesis, GameBoy, N64, Jaguar, Dreamcast. That's a lot of games, systems, and accessories they could now be selling, and they may be doing this to make up for the losses they will experience from this next-gen used game lockout.

I was at a local Sears back in August and they were clearancing out all their video games, even recently released ones (they systems were still full price though). When I asked the men who ran the electronic department why, they told me that word from corporate was that the next systems from Sony and Microsoft would not only lockout used games, they would also be heavily cloud based, with few, if any, games on actual discs.

I'm not believing anything until the new systems hit, so take all this with a grain of salt.

 

Pretty sure the PS3 already does (to conform to Japanese law). It's just never been activated.

 

I love the vintage used market but I hate new "used" market. If you do your homework, there's likely someone out there with a cheaper brand new copy of the game then you can get from these stores (hai amazon). I don't buy newly "used" games for that reason alone, so I don't really care if this goes into effect. I rarely trade anything in besides old systems, unless the game is completely abysmal, and I usually put in enough research to avoid that kind of thing anyway so it doesn't happen.

Vintage used is a great thing for stores like GS to pick up anyway. Before Funcoland got absorbed into the monster, that's what they used to do to. Not just new shit but stuff from every generation. It was great while it lasted.

Now I see smaller chains like Half Price Books and Disc Replay eating into GS's game sales because they specialize in vintage used, while still stocking a bit of the new used as well. They deal in both. GS is missing a lot of sales and cash by not hitting on both those markets, which I think is a bit funny too cause just a couple years back they eliminated ps1, ps2, dc, gc, and regular xbox games from retail stores. I'd probably be shopping at GS a lot more though if they do implement vintage. I love treasure hunts.

 

If this is actually implemented some time in the near future, I doubt it will last long.

 

Some DS games are like this aready.

 

do you know which?

 

If Sony implements something like this, that could prove to be bad for game retailers. It would really just hurt them in the long run.

 

Did you know that this same type of patent was done for the PS2? How did that affect gamers? It didn't.

This is just Sony's way of covering themselves if Nintendo/Microsoft do the same thing. It's also a way for Sony to kill themselves in the Video Game market if they actually go through with this stupid idea.

It's just like how every State in the U.S. has ridiculous laws still on the books. They don't enforce them...but they won't get rid of them either. They are there...just in case.

 

This exact same story has been circulating (in various forms) for over 5 years now. If you own a current PS3 hardware version I'd bet it has this tech in it. Whether it's ever implemented outside Japan is the question. And both publishers and developers alike HATE the used game market. Mostly for how Games stop does it. As they don't see a dime from the used sales.

 

Yeah, I'll worry about it if it ever actually happens. These big companies patent ideas all the time but there's a long winding road full of legal, technical, and financial roadblocks before a simple patent application becomes an end product.

To me it seems like Sony came up with an interesting way to tag and handle individual games on physical media and decided to patent it before anyone else does. Using RF tags embedded in the actual disc for DRM and other uses without connecting to the Internet is a pretty smart way of dealing with the millions of consoles that will never go online, especially with the market expanding to the poorer parts of the world. Sure they can use it to control used game sales, but that's only one way to use a pretty interesting idea and unlikely to happen any time soon.

 

Cloud based gaming will eventually take-over the disk market. The question is, will it happen during the next generation? It seems that everyone is pointing their fingers at the used game market to explain profit shortcomings. Which is probably some of the issue.

However, their are a lot of variables to consider before jumping into cloud based, single license gaming. For example, remember renting games from Blockbuster?

As a child of parents with limited resources, I could have NEVER brought the amount of games I have now. Renting was my only option!

If the used game market is eliminated, you're cutting-out a large market of people with limited resources. Sure, they may not have the cash to buy part 1 of your franchise, but you'll hook them in for 2 and 3.

On the topic of selling used games, again, that is another large demographic. For instance, how many of you had the cash to regularly buy video games during college?

For me, I had to budget so flipping games was vital to the experience.

I dunno, I want the market to survive! Still, eliminating children doesn't seem like a smart, long-term business model.

 

They don't have to kill used games, they could simply force the game to run in demo mode until a key is purchased, giving the publishers a cut of the used sale. Rental games could be a different disc to retail, just like it was with VHS tapes back in the day, and could be played on any console.

 

Hey man, there's something about Steam and Origin you should probably know...

 

break it to him gently, Mcbradders.

 

There are alternatives to them though. Like I was saying, stores like Half Price Books stocks overstocked new PC games as well, most are cheaper then steam prices and around $5. I actually have a stack of brand new games from them that I've yet to install.

Even digitally, sites like humblebundle.com offer you dirt cheap pc gaming and actual game downloads (which you can alternatively choose to get drm steam codes for if you prefer). If consoles do go forward with this tech eventually, I can still see PC as a last bastion.

 

There's also a difference between Steam/Origin and a Console. A downloadable game and a disc based game are very different.