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Sony and Software Sharing, Entitlements, and Cash Cows |
Listed in: PS3 Tags: playstation 3 updates, SCEA, Sony
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Sony and game publishers have identified a new cash cow they hope to, er, milk for added revenue. And SCEA's filed a patent with the US Patent Office that explains how it works. It uses two key ingredients. The first is the Entitlement system of gamer points. The second? The fact that you tend to share your games with your friends. How does it work? Since the last attempt to interpret a patent application (for Apple's display actuator) gave us a migrane, we're fortunate to have Panajev at the NeoGAF forums who's done most of the legwork (also, we have Alex to thank for passing this tip over). His full analysis is over at the source article, but we'll try to talk about the essential points here.
Back to the topic: Sony's idea is to create an incentive for video game buyers to share their titles with their friends (as though the simple rewards of spreading the joy of gaming aren't enough). This is an added bonus for game publishers as well - it generates even greater exposure for their titles, especially if they're the lesser-known, less-publicized ones.
But to "properly" control this sharing - and generate money from it - this Sony system will track the game's ownership, from its original owner to whomever he/she gives the game, and to whomever that new owner gives the game, and so on. It can do so because each gamer, each PS3, and even each game disc will have a unique ID.
For example, if I buy MGS4 and load it up to my PS3 under my profile, the Sony servers will immediately record that. If someone else (another gamer ID) plays the same disc, or if I or someone else tries to play the disc on another PS3 unit, the server will immediately recognize the difference, and will assume that the game has changed hands.
There is a Pandora's box of marketing potential (and privacy concerns) from this kind of tracking and sharing. To promote sharing and increase a game's exposure, the disc's original owners may be awarded Entitlement points for playing the game the first time... call it "first-adpoter points" (our term, not Panajev or Sony's). Sony may even ease copy restrictions and allow you to copy the game onto the HDD, allowing you to give the game disc to your friends.
Those friends, on the other hand, may be expected to pay some sort of "second-hand" fee to gain the right to play that game disc. While some of these points could be given to the original owner as well (the "rewards for sharing"), Sony's take is that the points will also go to the game publisher.
Isn't there a word for this among the Apple community? Oh, yeah: Digital rights management. What do you guys think? Given the costs of making these games, should Sony and game publishers also have a chance to earn money from this second-hand game sharing? Or should sharing be free, like sharing your music CDs with your friends?
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Comments
In other words, if I buy a USED single-player game (a multi would require net connection, thus Sony could track via net) like FFXIII from Gamestop , and I keep this game 'unplugged', I could bypass the 'sharing fee'?
I smell a loophole! \=)
Still, the points won't be worth jack compared to how much Sony would probably charge for 'redistribution'. Companies have completely lost touch with their CONSUMERS through all this 'digital rights' bullcrap. If I buy a movie from the 'pre-viewed' bin in Blockbuster, I don't want to have another charge tacked onto my purchase.
I'm all for supporting the game developers (as everyone should be if they like the game), but this is just the WRONG WAY TO DO IT. I don't want Sony reading the contents of my YPS-3 (get a mirror) so it can find a way to send me a bill.
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How that only works with good games, the crap games what a piece of the action too. You can't force us to buy crap games but I don't think it'll be anytime soon that the game developers grow a brain
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I thought this might happen on the PS3. That each game would have a unique ID and each PS3 would have an ID as well. But I didnt think they would come up with something like this.
If you buy a game for the PS3. It can track the games ID. If sony allows it, you can download the game onto the HDD. Then take the game and pay a small fee to share it with other friends. Then you basically have the ability to play the same game on 2 PS3s and it would cost a fraction of retail for the 2nd PS3.
Then they could offer rewards. You get points for being the first owner of the game. And when you have enough points you can spend them on other stuff.
This could make used game stores alot less appealing.
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And I can't understand how this can be seen as a good thing. This would just be another attempt to strangle consumers with DRM. Tracking of every user, with each copy of the game they are using, seeing who it is shared with. A building of databases of customers with personal information, credit cards, age, address, phone numbers, lists of friends, buying habits, game preference, movie preference, music preference which Sony will have at their fingertips and be able to sell to other companies (your rights will be listed in a non-negotiable EULA). Sony having the ability to eliminate 2nd hand sale of games and rentals too. The possibility of Sony remotely bricking your console if it notices a security breach. And to top it all off, we have to pay extra for it???!!?!? I'd rather stick a f@#king stick in my eye! No thanks Sony, we don't want it.
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In any case, I don't think we have to worry about this particular problem this generation.
But come 2012, when broadband/wireless saturation is expected to be at almost 90%? Oh yes. I could see this happening.
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Same goes for rentals, I dont want to pay 5 bucks to the rental store and then 3 bucks to Sony when I put the disc in my ps3.
Also, this "copy to hdd" thing just doesnt add up. what if you have the 20gb ps3? Resistance is reportedly over 20gb already - how am i going to fit that on my hdd??
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-boo-
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Next they'll put gps in the ps3 so they can tell if you move it from room to room and charge you to use it on another tv set or make you buy a sony brand tv to use it on.
It almost seems they want to lose the console war with crap like this.
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This plan is really just to track the game disk so they can figure out who is illegally copying them. Nothing more. it is also a way to kill off secong hand game shops.
So, what if I am over 30, but still enjoy playing games. I choose to play alone and don't have any friends who own a playstation 3 (say they choose to buy a rolex or a new golf clubs or something or a xbox 360) How do I benifit from this?
If I rent a game from blockbusters, how will that be handled?
If I buy a used game, after I payed or bought the rights to the game, I have to turn around and pay (Sony and publisher) to play the game. this would make the price equivalent to purchasing a new game. (Sony real intentions in the first place) Why not just buy it new? So this scenario would work if used game shops lowered the price of the used games or if Sony made a program where used shops had to register the game that they resell. That way Somy knows it came from a shop and not a friend.
I still feel that this is envading privacy by building a data base of who I let borrow my games.
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(Why? Right now, the world’s most expensive and advanced cell phones are made from Samsung and some other Japanese companies. Samsung recently released one very expensive and world’s most sophisticated cell phone model – that specific cell cost more than thousands of dollars per unit. Because Samsung deliberately produced only about hundreds of this specific model, they have added unique ID number to every single cell. I’m not a crazy guy who would buy a cell for thousands of dollars, even as a gift for my girl, but when I heard the news which said these hundreds of cells were all sold out on the launch day, I thought... wtf... I think it was released only in Korea.)
Again, I have read the official statement from Sony that this news is a total fake. PS3 games will be perfectly same as X360 or PS2 or any other games. There’ll be no such restrictions in sharing or burrowing game discs.
If I can just remember where I read that official statement of Sony, I could post the URL here too.
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