Sony cackles, forbids reselling of PS3 games (Actual article title)

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

Article on SciFi's Tech Blog

Sony, apparently not satisfied with the one foot it shot off itself with the Playstation 3 price announcement, is looking to shoot itself in the other foot by not allowing customers to resell games to other players in stores like GameStop and Electronics Boutique. By having users purchase a license to play a game rather than the game itself, Sony would retain ownership of the game therefore making it illegal to sell it secondhand...

Ooh..that'll go over well. No more lending games to friends or bringing it over to their house to play. I can see trying to curb piracy, but this is an...interesting...approach.

[Atmashine]

1. Maybe we'll get to renew the licence every 90 days

and pay more! Go Sony! ::glares::

[ContraBass Black]

2. Ha ha ha.

No.

Fools.

[TroubleMan]

3. I guess they didn't learn from the DRM debacle.

If Sony does this, neither I nor any of my kids will have a PS3. We'll get an Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii, if we get anything.

[semillama]

9. Nintendo Wii is going to kick the PS3's ass in Japan

It's the most highly anticipated game platform, from what I've heard. And it's the most affordable. I think Nintendo is really going to pull this one off.

that being said, I have a 360 and no plans to buy any other console (although I really hope they make a 360 version of Assassin's Creed, that game looks killer).

[Mojambo]

4. I didn't think the Playstation would ever be taken down

But this will do it.

Why would you want to make it HARDER for people to be exposed to your product?

Fucking morons.

[YOY]

6. Pure unmitigated greed to the point of stupidity

n/t

[Orsino]

5. Let 'em try to tell us we can't resell software we buy.

That won't be enforceable. Doesn't matter if they try to pretend that they're selling only the license. The client-side software can be resold.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

7. UPDATE: PS3: Sony Denies PlayStation 3 License-Based Copy Protection

PS3: Sony Denies PlayStation 3 License-Based Copy Protection

Europe post-E3 is rife with rumors surrounding the PlayStation 3 and its pricing, availability and capabilities. One particularly attention-grabbing bit of gossip deals with an alleged change in business model for Sony Computer Entertainment dealing with the right to sell, trade, or give your games to others.

Word on the street says that Sony will eschew the traditional you-bought-it-you-got-it model of ownership and will switch to a method which ties a PS3 disc to the first PS3 on which it is run. Citing sources in the UK retail world, rumors and outrage spread around the internet fairly quickly, bringing forceful response from all sides. Retailers claimed that Sony had contacted them and allegedly warned them of the illegality of selling used PS3 games. This seemed to echo speculation from months past which was denied at the time.

I guess there's going to be a definite "wait and see" but I honestly do see Sony doing this, considering the price of the PS3 and the entire debacle with Sony Music and the spyware. I think they're bold (or is it arrogant?) enough to do this, consdering the stupidly high price of the PS3.

[ContraBass Black]

8. If the PS3 is a complete disaster, could Sony fold?

Or can they afford to do something stupid?

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

10. My guess is it won't be a complete disaster.

There will be die-hard fan-people who absolutely must have a PS3 because they can play Final Fantasy 23 (or whatever version they're on)
But with the 360 and the Nintendo Wii being much cheaper than the PS3, (You could buy both of them and still have money left over for a game)
the PS3 is going to be the "rich-man's toy". I'm certainly not going to get one. (Probably get a Wii, if the controller is as cool as they're
implying it is.)

$600 for the system. Ugh. Personally I think it's obscene to double the price that you sold your last system for, even with the Blu-ray drive installed.

Sony makes enough other electronics that they won't fold, but depending on how the HD DVD wars go, if Blu-ray doesn't come out on top, Sony could be hurting just a bit.
Not enough to fold, though. This is Sony we're talking about. But expect the next-next generation of consoles to be $600-$1,000, based on this new plateau that Sony's established.

[Occulus]

13. What what WHAT????

"a method which ties a PS3 disc to the first PS3 on which it is run"

They won't let a friend bring a game to my house?

Who the fuck do they think they are?

Now I'm even more determined to get a different system- likely, the Wii- just to deny Sony the sale.

Fuckers.

[benEzra]

11. Good reason to get an Xbox 360, then...

Sony's leadership seems to be completely out of touch with reality.

Their product development people are geniuses, but their marketing and legal departments are staffed by jackbooted idiots.

[Occulus]

12. well that does it for me

Price + this stupid, stupid move = Wii.

Don't want or need a 360, because I already have a great gaming PC and I want something... different.

[The Revolution]

14. Fuck Sony

Seriously. If this is true, they can just go to hell. The CDs with rootkits was bad enough. Sony represents corporate greed at its worst.

[The Revolution]

15. And what about renting games?

Wouldn't this make it impossible to rent games as well?

[lazarus]

16. Yup

Which is why it probably won't happen.

What probably generated this rumour is that they're likely to be experimenting with some way to block burning of the discs. That's really bad on the XBox from what I hear; a friend of my daughter's has an older brother who just rents and burns all his XBox games.

[The Revolution]

17. That's true

I remember being in a store once and some kid working there was explaining to the customer how to swap out the xbox hard drive for a larger one and play downloaded games from the hard drive.

But of course the problem with copy protection is there will always be a way around it, which seems to be found about a hour after any new type of protection shows up. In fact, its gotten to the point where its almost always easier to pirate something than it is to try to go through the copy protection.