Playstation 3 DRM

>HyperlogiK< · Nov 14, 2005

yes I am aware that their businesses work in quite different (and sometimes bizzare seeming) ways to yours, but at the end of the day all such companies want:

A - to make huge amounts of money, and

B - don't care if what they do is illegal or immoral as long as they don't get caught/punished

Most of the big movers and shakers who are pushing for heavy handed DRM are the large US movie and music distributors, Sony has only become interested in DRM because they now own Universal Pictures, and sell games & consoles. If these were not the case they would probably try doing everything they could to avoid putting expensive HDCP chips in them (because it costs them more). DRM vs Anti-DRM may unfortunately not be the next big battle. It depends on public response, everybody will not just accept this like a herd of sheep, but the deciding factor will be how many people, if not enough then the battle will be DRM (BluRay, Palladium, etc) vs Slightly Less DRM (HD-DVD, iTunes).

Avatar28 · Nov 14, 2005

Honestly, I would be VERY surprised to see this happen as described. If it DID happen, it would likely be internet-based, similar to what's described for HD-DVD/Bluray. However, for those wondering HOW it could be done on a disc only basis, I have an idea how it could be done, though I'm not certain just how possible it would be.

Basically, you would just have a normal disc but with a small writable area at the inner hub or outer edge of the disc. When you put it in the machine, it reads the code and marks the disc as used. A rental disc would simply not be writable here.

An internet based solution would be preferable as if your system was replaced under warranty, they could mark it in their computer system to allow all your old games to be switched to the new hardware. I suppose that there could also be some sort of passkey you could enter to use it on a different system but that would still be a PITA.

I still think it would be a dumb move, though. No loaning/giving your games to friends when your done, no taking your game to your buddy's house, etc either (which I don't think has been mentioned in the thread so far). Considering Sony's recent actions, it wouldn't surprise me to see them implement this in some fashion.

Nexus Realized · Nov 14, 2005

I don't think it will be that cut and dry (Your system crapped out now you need to buy new games) I hope Sony has thought this through and doesn't implement this garbage.

gt24 · Nov 14, 2005

Exactly why do consoles have to use media similar to what consumers know about? What I mean is that they can either use something that for all intents and purposes is a normal CD or DVD or you could use some new technology that nobody has seen or heard of in the past. If something new was used, piracy would be a TON more difficult because first you have to figure out how the media is even read, not to mention you have to copy the materal and then figure out how to make it into a format that the console itself would like.

There comes a point where inventing and creating a new medium for software (such as, a new disk or alike) would actually be LESS than the DRM research that is currently being used. I wouldn't mind sticking in something that is just slightly smaller than a normal CD, that is a different color, and happens to have the strangest disk density that I have ever heard of, if it still plays the game just fine. Give us games without DRM but on the strangest media ever invented. Then you'll have something difficult to copy and you won't tick off the consumer.

In general, there should be one media type for console games that is seperate from the media type for videos and is seperate from consumer writable media. If there was different media floating around, it wouldn't be as easy to make duplicates of the prior two.

>HyperlogiK< · Nov 14, 2005

i see what you are getting at, but it is not a million miles from the Dreamcast GD-ROMs which stored data in a similar way to CDs but were double the density, and the drive spindle motor ran at half the speed.

One of the problems with the idea of making it so the console can ONLY read the game discs is that people like using their consoles as DVD/CD players, it's a big selling point of the PS3 that it will read Bluray movies. Remember that the PS2 isn't meant to read any kind of burned DVD or CD media, but chip it or use a swapdisc tool and it will. If the console has the physical ability to read writiable discs that could store the games data files in the correct file system then it would be possible to modify it in some way to allow the use of pirate games (possible, not easy). Basically to get around this, Sony would either have to ditch movie and music playback, or persuade everybody to switch to a DVD-RAM type format for recording data and home movies that was based upon a technology not compatible with retail movie and data discs. Not even M$ is able to do that.

TheGreySpectre · Nov 14, 2005

First of all its not like sony is a newcomer to the world and american market. While sony may be a japanese company they have been a world wide corporation for quite a while now. They know how the world market works and they know how the american market works.

just as a side note anyone know if nippon or nihon is the standard pronunciation of japan in japan. Both mean japan in japanese, but does anyone know which is more common, I was always taught nihon.

John G · Nov 14, 2005

gt24 said:
Exactly why do consoles have to use media similar to what consumers know about? What I mean is that they can either use something that for all intents and purposes is a normal CD or DVD or you could use some new technology that nobody has seen or heard of in the past. If something new was used, piracy would be a TON more difficult because first you have to figure out how the media is even read, not to mention you have to copy the materal and then figure out how to make it into a format that the console itself would like.

There comes a point where inventing and creating a new medium for software (such as, a new disk or alike) would actually be LESS than the DRM research that is currently being used. I wouldn't mind sticking in something that is just slightly smaller than a normal CD, that is a different color, and happens to have the strangest disk density that I have ever heard of, if it still plays the game just fine. Give us games without DRM but on the strangest media ever invented. Then you'll have something difficult to copy and you won't tick off the consumer.

In general, there should be one media type for console games that is seperate from the media type for videos and is seperate from consumer writable media. If there was different media floating around, it wouldn't be as easy to make duplicates of the prior two.

They can, but... It's a whole lot cheaper to use standard disks. There's tons of disc foundries that you can pay bottom dollar to make standard CD's and DVD's. With special media you pay retooling costs and it's going to be less competitive. The same goes for the hardware to read the media. Then, since people like multi-purpose consoles you're going to be able to read and use the standard stuff anyway.

The importance of the cost of the media itself can hardly be understated, either. Back in the PS1-N64 days, Nintendo went with cartridges because they were superior in every way except cost. We all know how that went. Then, they went with the little discs in the Gamecube...I don't think that helped them get a big library of games either.

Playstation 3 DRM

>HyperlogiK<

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Avatar28

No, I showered

Nexus Realized

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gt24

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>HyperlogiK<

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TheGreySpectre

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John G

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