According to a UK news source, citing retail contacts, Sony is preparing to make it illegal for consumers to sell used PS3 games. The plan would involve Sony adopting a licensing system whereby gamers would agree that they are purchasing a license to play a game, rather than the game itself.The hell? I guess we can expect Random House to crack down on used bookstores next. Tools.
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.
In turn, it would be a catastrophe for retailers, which make a significant proportion of margin from used games. Consumers would likely be less than overjoyed.With my big move-in with Vicki, we've recently purchased a new TV and DVD player. They're real, and they're fantastic. But when we tell people this, the next question is always "So, PS3 or XBox 360?" And my response is always the same: "I hate Sony and everything they make. This hatred is actually greater than my hatred for Microsoft, because Sony used to make really good gear. Now all they do is make crap that breaks on you, or is designed to screw you." To my knowledge, Microsoft hasn't designed the Xbox in such a retarded way, but if someone wants to correct me, I'll gladly reconsider.
Sony, which is refusing to comment on the story, does have a patent on technology which would tie a piece of software to an individual piece of hardware.
In any case, I'm just as likely to buy a used PS2.
1 comment:
Didn't music distributors want to do the same thing with used CDs?
It's interesting to note that when I bought Adobe's Creative Suite package earlier this year (what!? buying software??), the cost was broken down as ~$10 for the "media", i.e. the CDs that the software came on, and ~$200 for the student license.
Since the debate on selling used media of any kind usually comes down to whether you've bought a disc, or the right to use what's on it, it would seem that I have the right to charge someone up to $10 for the discs if I ever wanted to sell. (And since like many expensive software packages, it registers my serial number with central servers, that very well be all I could charge for it, since it could be [legally] unusable for anyone else.)
Post a Comment