Sony reportedly patents anti-used game tech

[PalZer0]

Could this be used in the PS4?

http://au.ign.com/articles/2013/01/03/r ... hand-games

[Mythor]

It could just be Sony wanting confirmed ownership of the idea so if some other company tries to do it they'll either have to pay Sony for the rights or face legal action.

I think the biggest stumbling block is that mentioned by the article - if the console breaks, what happens to your game library? Even assuming a hardware failure rate of 0%, accidents happen. That'll be a hard sell for Sony, if it's in PS4. Especially if XBOX 3 doesn't have something similar.

[revengous]

user account, not an individual play station.

once you get a new ps3 - bam! all your old games are ready to be played!

[Fireslide]

You can't patent an idea, only the specific implementation of that idea.

I suspect it might work by tagging gameid, hardwareid and a userid onto the disc. So long as gameID and userID or gameID and hardwareID match, you can still play.

[Matty]

Can't lend games to friends anymore. Or give them away if you don't play them.

[Mearehear]

The "Online Pass" methods already seem a fair thing to me, anyone considering taking it this far is just below the belt. Since when did the producer of any normal physical product have the right to effectively ban its second hand sale. They should do a better job of their online store if they want that kind of control over their games.

EDIT : For example, allowing background downloads of all games purchased online. File download pausing and resuming etc. If they got their **** together people would use the store like they do Steam and then they would have little to worry about.

[Mekon]

Can't lend games to friends anymore. Or give them away if you don't play them.

So, much like many PC games have been for the last 10 years or so? Or any Steam/Origin purchase.

It's hardly a novel concept from Sony - they are just patenting a new way of doing it.

Since when did the producer of any normal physical product have the right to effectively ban its second hand sale.

Well, the argument is that you're getting a license for the game for your money - the disk is just the distribution method (when was the last PC game that required you to keep the disk after installing it?). That said, a recent court ruling in Europe decided that the resale of software licenses must also follow first sale doctrine... which has not been thoroughly tested as yet, but should prove interesting when applied to Steam, Origin, MMOs and other online-only licenses.

[Matty]

Can't lend games to friends anymore. Or give them away if you don't play them.

So, much like many PC games have been for the last 10 years or so? Or any Steam/Origin purchase.

It's hardly a novel concept from Sony - they are just patenting a new way of doing it.

You talk as if I don't have a problem with that either.

[Mekon]

Nah, was just pointing out that ship sailed a long time ago. Complaining about it achieved nothing. *shrug*

They should do a better job of their online store if they want that kind of control over their games.

EDIT : For example, allowing background downloads of all games purchased online. File download pausing and resuming etc. If they got their **** together people would use the store like they do Steam and then they would have little to worry about.

I'm assuming you're talking about Sony?

If so, I'm not understanding what you are referring to... all PSN purchases download in the background (while playing other games/watching videos/whatever), with some exceptions (license keys, dynamic backgrounds, etc - all of which are in the 100-500kb range). All downloads are individually pausable and resumable (I do it all the time when reaching my end of month bandwidth cap). Applies equally to the PS3 and the PS Vita.

My only real argument for not using the PSN more than I do is because of bandwidth caps and pricing (seriously, Sony Australia are the worst instigators of the Australia Tax; hint: if I can buy it $10-30 cheaper at EB/JB, it's priced wrong). Well, that and the fact that I can currently trade-in old games...

[PalZer0]

My only real argument for not using the PSN more than I do is because of bandwidth caps and pricing (seriously, Sony Australia are the worst instigators of the Australia Tax; hint: if I can buy it $10-30 cheaper at EB/JB, it's priced wrong). Well, that and the fact that I can currently trade-in old games...

Obviously you haven't seen the prices of games on demand on XBL.

EDIT: Also, I hate online passes too. It smells of being two faced. On one hand, you have publishers trying to appease retailers by gouging us on Steam (and even GMG in the case of Borderlands 2 and XCOM) but on the other hand you seem them adding online passes and tossing around these sorts of ideas that would cut into those same retailers' bottom lines.

They can't have it both ways.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk HD

[Mearehear]

Maybe I am doing something wrong I can't recall the last time it let me download in the background.

I am referring to updates as well though, like Steam does. The amount of times I have picked up a cheap game, put it in the PS3 and it has needed near on a gig of updates is crazy (Looking at you particularly Little Big Planet 2 Platinum! and damn BF3), and not once have I seen the option of background downloads then. In fact that's probably more important than the initial game downloads, as I have spent more time updating games than downloading full games via PSN and each time I am left stuck in the process and if they get interrupted there is no resume there at all. (particularly sucky when I was stuck on 3G)

If they tided up all those aspects to the store and download process I would likely get my games more often that way.

EDIT - I generally disconnect my PS3 these days to avoid updates, meaning I avoid their store too.

[Mekon]

You're quite right, patches aren't downloadable in the background (for no apparent reason). That said, if you are a PS+ subscriber, it does all that at a pre-determined time as a job lot (assuming the PS3 is not in use), makes it a little more palatable. Also uploads saves to the cloud... although I have yet to see what real benefit I get from that.

re: new purchases, unless you intend to take your new game online, you can just skip the patch can't you?

[Mearehear]

re: new purchases, unless you intend to take your new game online, you can just skip the patch can't you?

Most seem to force the update from what I can recall, unless you disconnect the PS3 from the net. I basically leave the PS3 offline to avoid them all now anyway.

I've always wonder if PS+ was worth it, seems to be some good deals on games and such, but never been tempted to try it out. The auto updating would be rather handy though!

[Mekon]

I've always wonder if PS+ was worth it, seems to be some good deals on games and such, but never been tempted to try it out. The auto updating would be rather handy though!

Well worth it, IMO - I've picked up many hundreds of dollars of free games over the last year or two (let alone the token savings on paid for titles). I recouped my yearly sub in the first month, iirc.

It's even worth it for titles I already own, as I can go trade them in for cash in hand.

[nanorazor]

Wii U already has this technology and most PC online platforms (referring to steam, origin, GoG etc)