ryushe
July 23rd, 2006, 10:25 AM
Patent may limit PlayStation fun
Game fans, advocates are furious the technology could spell trouble
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times
July 22, 2006
Sony Corp. has patented technology that would prevent its PlayStation consoles from playing used, rented or borrowed video games -- raising questions about whether the electronics and entertainment giant may attempt to redefine what it means to own something in the digital age.
Speculation over Sony's plans for the technology have sparked a furor online as game fans and consumer advocates fret that the company may incorporate it into the upcoming PlayStation 3 console, due to hit stores this fall.
They worry that it would wipe out the $1 billion annual market for used games and could even prevent someone from playing games at a friend's house.
For its part, Sony has decried the "false speculation" surrounding the technology, patented in Japan before the October 2000 introduction of PlayStation 2. Sony has said little else about the technology or how the company might deploy it.
It is not unusual for technology companies to patent innovations and then never incorporate them into products.
Documents filed in April 2000 with the U.S. Patent Office describe a method of copy protection by which the game system would verify a disc as legitimate, register the disc to that game console, then wipe out verification data so the disc would be rendered unreadable to other PlayStations.
"Since only titles for which legitimate software has actually been purchased and which have been initially registered in the machine table can be used, resale (so-called used software purchase) after purchase by an end user becomes practically impossible," according to the patent documents.
Although Sony has been vague about its plans for the technology, "I actually think they're toying with this idea," said Michael Pachter, a game industry analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Pachter said he doubts Sony will tighten the software locks on PlayStation 3 games, but might employ bolstered copy protection on other forms of entertainment downloaded to the console over the Internet.
"Maybe they'll copy protect movies or music downloads," he said.
Whatever Sony's plans, the tempest illustrates the changing nature of ownership as millions of people accumulate vast collections of digital entertainment. Few people realize that when they buy software or music or movies, they are actually buying a license to use, watch or listen. That's why it violates copyright laws for people to sell copies of their music.
Sony was attacked earlier this year for including software on some of its music CDs that surreptitiously installed itself on computers playing the disc. The software was intended to prevent unauthorized copying. Sony later apologized.
Taking that sort of copy-protection one step further would be, in the words of one analyst, "crazy."
"What does Sony get from that?" said John Taylor of Arcadia Investment Corp. "Sony gets a black eye. It doesn't make sense to me."
Several analysts said the patent appears to principally be aimed at deterring game piracy. Indeed, Sony's patent notes that through the complexity of its copy-protection scheme, "manufacture of counterfeit software becomes extremely difficult."
And it's not unusual for technology companies like Sony to register patents, either in anticipation of one day collecting royalties from someone seeking to license the technology, or to prevent someone else from deploying it.
"These are all things technologically possible to do in any computing device," said one cryptographer. "In the video game business, it would be suicide for someone to do this. It's actually possible Sony filed this because they wanted to keep people from doing that."
This is only speculation but can you actually imagine if Sony actually does this. Not only is the system $599 (come on no one's gonna buy the $499 one) but they might limit us to buy new games that vary from $60-$100. If done I honestly think it will be the final nail in Sony's coffin.
Game fans, advocates are furious the technology could spell trouble
By Dawn C. Chmielewski, Los Angeles Times
July 22, 2006
Sony Corp. has patented technology that would prevent its PlayStation consoles from playing used, rented or borrowed video games -- raising questions about whether the electronics and entertainment giant may attempt to redefine what it means to own something in the digital age.
Speculation over Sony's plans for the technology have sparked a furor online as game fans and consumer advocates fret that the company may incorporate it into the upcoming PlayStation 3 console, due to hit stores this fall.
They worry that it would wipe out the $1 billion annual market for used games and could even prevent someone from playing games at a friend's house.
For its part, Sony has decried the "false speculation" surrounding the technology, patented in Japan before the October 2000 introduction of PlayStation 2. Sony has said little else about the technology or how the company might deploy it.
It is not unusual for technology companies to patent innovations and then never incorporate them into products.
Documents filed in April 2000 with the U.S. Patent Office describe a method of copy protection by which the game system would verify a disc as legitimate, register the disc to that game console, then wipe out verification data so the disc would be rendered unreadable to other PlayStations.
"Since only titles for which legitimate software has actually been purchased and which have been initially registered in the machine table can be used, resale (so-called used software purchase) after purchase by an end user becomes practically impossible," according to the patent documents.
Although Sony has been vague about its plans for the technology, "I actually think they're toying with this idea," said Michael Pachter, a game industry analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities.
Pachter said he doubts Sony will tighten the software locks on PlayStation 3 games, but might employ bolstered copy protection on other forms of entertainment downloaded to the console over the Internet.
"Maybe they'll copy protect movies or music downloads," he said.
Whatever Sony's plans, the tempest illustrates the changing nature of ownership as millions of people accumulate vast collections of digital entertainment. Few people realize that when they buy software or music or movies, they are actually buying a license to use, watch or listen. That's why it violates copyright laws for people to sell copies of their music.
Sony was attacked earlier this year for including software on some of its music CDs that surreptitiously installed itself on computers playing the disc. The software was intended to prevent unauthorized copying. Sony later apologized.
Taking that sort of copy-protection one step further would be, in the words of one analyst, "crazy."
"What does Sony get from that?" said John Taylor of Arcadia Investment Corp. "Sony gets a black eye. It doesn't make sense to me."
Several analysts said the patent appears to principally be aimed at deterring game piracy. Indeed, Sony's patent notes that through the complexity of its copy-protection scheme, "manufacture of counterfeit software becomes extremely difficult."
And it's not unusual for technology companies like Sony to register patents, either in anticipation of one day collecting royalties from someone seeking to license the technology, or to prevent someone else from deploying it.
"These are all things technologically possible to do in any computing device," said one cryptographer. "In the video game business, it would be suicide for someone to do this. It's actually possible Sony filed this because they wanted to keep people from doing that."
This is only speculation but can you actually imagine if Sony actually does this. Not only is the system $599 (come on no one's gonna buy the $499 one) but they might limit us to buy new games that vary from $60-$100. If done I honestly think it will be the final nail in Sony's coffin.