Dead
The war video game publishers are having against used games is not a new one, but time has not made the idea any less stupid. And now Sony has patented the next step in the fight for publishers getting all the monies.
NeoGAF user gofreak spotted something interesting on FPO; A patent application from Sony for an “Electronic Content Processing System.” This processing system would see that game discs come with an RFID tag on them that would tie the game to a certain PSN account or even a specific console. If you tried playing the game on a system or account that wasn’t tied to the tag, the console would block you from playing the game.
Speaking as someone who, at one point in his life, went over to a friend’s house and brought along some video games, this is a really stupid idea. Sure, it could eradicate used game sales, but it would also mean that anybody who borrows games from friends would be totally fucked. Plus, if your console breaks you may be totally fucked as well since the game would be tied to your old console.
Sony has only applied for the patent so we don’t know for sure that they will be implementing it in the PS4. They have patents on a bunch of other anti used game technology that they haven’t used (yet) so they may not use this one. But still, it’s there… Watching us, waiting for its moment.
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