Sony May Try To Stop PS3 Game Resales

Next Generation reports on Sony's hopes that it will be able to prevent the resale of PS3 games. The article argues that it is unlikely they'll succeed in this goal. From the article: "One expert in retail law told Next-Gen.Biz, 'Sony can theoretically sell a license to play the game, but the user would have to acknowledge acceptance of the license. You've seen this when you install software on a PC. I'm not sure that the license agreement is enforceable if the licensee doesn't agree to it. Also, even if the agreement is enforceable, it's hard to preclude subsequent sale of the disc. The consumer could theoretically agree that he doesn't own the right to transfer his license, but why couldn't he sell the medium that held the license (the disc)? Sony can't enforce the agreement against a third party, as it lacks privity with the third party.'"

Indeed...

[Svartalf]

It's looking like they're trying to out-do Atari's spectacular flameout back in the last downturn in the games industry.

Re:I lost count

[Yahweh Doesn't Exist]

>- Image Constraint Token will keep me from watching HD movies in HD (no evidence this will happen)

hahahhahahahahahahaaaaa yeah right, Sony went to the trouble of implementing DRM and restrictions just so they could NOT use them. seems like YOU need to grow up and get a grip on reality. it has been admitted that the only reason the token will not be used ON LAUNCH TITLES is to help with adoption. once market share has been gained they will go back on their word so fast even we-promise-prices-will-come-down-CD-manufacturers' heads will spin.

Rental Market

[MaverickUW]

This would also seem to wipe out the rental market for PS3 games as well, unless Sony creates special copies of those. But of course pre-rented games are sold used all the time as well, so that wouldn't work.

If Sony wants to cut out the rental market, the try before you buy approach wouldn't work. More people would tend to wait for magazine reviews instead of buying the game on impulse. If you can't try it yourself, and you can't resell it if you get bored with it, who's gonna pay $60 for video games unless they're truly AAA titles with exremely high ratings?

Re:I lost count

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure that Sony representatives have said something similar in New Zealand. I definitely remember last year when they publicly repeated at least three times that people aren't allowed to legally copy music to mp3 players or make copies of tv programs and the like.

Even though New Zealand doesn't yet have these rights explicitly defined as fair use, it still came across as somewhat hypocritical from a company pushing their VCR players, mp3 players, minidisc players and computers in our national market.

So.... is that close enough? Sony trying to tell us we aren't allowed fair use rights, while still trying to sell us products designed explicitly for that purpose?

But it does contribute to their bottom line

[XHIIHIIHX]

"If true, such a move would be a massive boost for publishers and developers which do not profit from the lucrative and damaging retail trade in used games. In fact, many publishers are furious that they have to spend support money on consumers who have not actually contributed a dime to the company's coffers."

This is completely untrue. There are so many people that buy a game because they can play for a while and then sell it on ebay. If you get the game on sale sometimes you can even make money doing this. How many of these people wouldn't buy any but the best games if they couldn't do this? Alot. Where there's a will there's a way. If Sony does this, then it will be the biggest contributor I've seen to online piracy since the RIAA started advertising Napster. Before they got into the act none of the lamers out there were even on napster. It so bizarre. People have been selling used books since the beginning of time, what are you supposed to do throw them out?

A possible implementation

[Runefox]

If it's true, then perhaps Sony will include a "burning" laser in their console, with a limited range, to burn a blank portion of a BluRay disc that includes the serial code, registration information including address and name, and a lock-out code, bypassable only by a service technician and a special reader capable of reading the code (I realize that a pressed disc is non-writable regardless, but the design of the PS3 BluRay doesn't necessarily need to mirror the design of standard BluRay; It could very well incorporate small, burnable tracks).

That physically locks out the media, and if they protect the firmware properly (perhaps by having a second BIOS that starts up on system boot to check the checksum of the first before handing the boot process off to the primary BIOS), it will prevent piracy in such a way that it cannot be circumvented by Joe Sixpack or Script Kiddie Bob. Add in a very specific layout for the free space on the BluRay disc, failing with a non-writable status of that region of a disc never before played on the console, and it would make it extremely difficult for standard burning applications to burn a CD. And impossible for the pressed CD to be passed from console to console.

If the console reads a recognized rental agency as the registration on the burned portion of the disc (read from a list pushed to each unit by Sony upon internet connect and stored when offline), then the console plays anyway, perhaps with the inability to save or go online with it; Perhaps specific per-game instructions.

Each disc would have a pre-burnt portion from the factory with a unique ID code, and if a rental agency loses a copy, they can report it and have the ID code added to a blacklist/no-play list. If the lost game shows up on an internet-connected PS3, the game's locked from the console and the console registration information sent to the rental company. Full name, address, phone number, etc, all verified through international directories and an automated call to verify the phone number. Credit information could also be required to ensure that there is a responsible adult in the household. Such a figure must agree to a EULA that explains the process in thick legalese.

I dunno, if they were to do it that way, it seems like an invasive operation, but hey, it saves Sony, their shareholders, AND the rental companies from the effects of a software-based solution, with only slight manufacture time/cost increase per disc.

It would completely alienate anyone who would want to sell a second-hand copy, or buy one, but it would accomplish exactly what they want to accomplish. It would ensure that sales are final, rental sales are excluded from actual sales, and it would ensure that they get money from ALL sales and a portion of rental profits.

Possible? I think so. At the PS3's price, anything can happen.

Re:I lost count

[HardCorePawn]

Heh, I remember that.

I thought it quite funny as an owner of a NetMD minidisc player that they are quite happy to sell me a product that comes with tools to "formatshift" all my CD music (and any mp3's I happen to have) onto the product and then turn around in the media and say 'nope, you're not allowed to do that'...

If they tried to sting you for it, could you argue something like entrapment? Could you argue that seeing as they gave you the tools then they are given you implicit permission to commit these acts?

Re:I lost count

[Anonymous Coward]

This story first broke from Sony insiders. True or not, the idea is that the first time you play a game, it "marries" to your particular PS3 by calling Sony over the network port.

The game would check again each and every time you wanted to play and Sony would auth the game to play -or not- based on this handshake.

This means three things: 1) if you want to show your buddies your PS3 game, you will need to haul YOUR PS3 over to their place rather than just taking some games and memory cards. 2) If your PS3 ever dies (this is Sony, so the odds are not good) you will probably have a hassle to get your own games relicensed for your replacement machine, assuming Sony will allow it at all. 3) The used market is dead. This is Sony's main goal since they resent the fuck out of EB Games and the other stores making all that cash reselling used games. Sony is hungry for money.

Sony really died at E3 2006. They just don't know it yet.