Sony patents anti-second hand game tech
It’s the first big news of the year and it’s already bad. 2013 definitely didn’t start all too great.
IGN is reporting that Sony has filed a patent for technology that would block the possibility of using second hand games on your console. A user from NeoGAF found that Sony filed the patent December 9th and that the technology would put a contactless RF tag on each disc that can “remember” if a game has been previously tied to a different console or game account.
In case you’re hoping that Sony would be using this technology for other things than games, you can forget it. The patent itself specifically talks about games:
Consider, for example, a case where used is a game package 200 distributed in the second-hand market. Then the ID of reproduction device for the game disk 210 differs from the legitimate use device ID stored in the use permission tag 220, so that the game disk can be reproduced in a mode which is predetermined for those bought and sold in the second-hand market. Also, for example, a content key may be supplied to the reproduction device 130 and the encrypted game AP may be decrypted using the content key only if the reproduction device ID matches a legitimate use device ID. Hence, use of game APs bought and sold in the second-hand market can be eliminated.
The technology wouldn’t need any online connection so even when offline you wouldn’t be able to play second hand bought games. What would happen if & when your console breaks down wasn’t disclosed and Sony up to now has been clear in their answer: they don’t comment on rumour and speculation. To be honest: a patent filing as explicit as this isn’t what I would call “rumour & speculation”.
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I would be more interested in asking them about the EU ruling last year, you know where the EU courts ruled that second-hand game sales were legal. This means if they block the use of second-hand games in Europe, they will be breaking the law there.
Not sure about that. It’s not because it’s legal to sell games second hand, they’re not allowed to use technology that makes it impossible to use such second hand games