Rumor: Sony Fighting PS3 Piracy With Install Keys

[Isaac The Grape]

Oh dear. Here we again.

Someone wake me up when games are cloud-based services. For that is where console (and to some extent, PC) gaming is going.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

...And just like that, my PS3 and the thought of ever using it as anything other than a blu-ray player are gone. People buy a consoles like the PS3 to pop a disc in, sit down and, play. The PS3 has always kind of missed that with the mandatory installs of all games but adding the protection code is another misstep.

 

[Haz88]

Well... If this proves to be true, my ps3 will probably wither in front of my TV while I go back to upgrading my PC more often.
Sony: "Hey! Let's make a console with the capabilities of a PC, but not let people use the functions that a PC has, while at the same time make it really inconvenient for our legit costumers with a system that has already pretty much failed on the PC! Profit!"

 

[TheTygerfire]

I don't know why they didn't do this already seeing as you had to install discs onto the PS3 already.

What I'm concerned about is how older games will manage this... I can see a huge glitch in the coding not letting me play my games because I didn't have a code that didn't exist when I bought the game should I' ever need to reinstall something in the future.

Also, Sony's DRM has always been stupid. Why can't I transfer my Sly Collection save data from one PS3 to my own at home? *shrugs* No reason I can see other than DUR HUR TROPHIES ARE IMPURTANT

 

[tehbeard]

So now a pirate has to hack the key system out, way to go sony, bravo, oh they'll never defeat key systems!

/sarcasm

 

[Unrulyhandbag]

Why don't we just go back to the good 'ole days of code wheels [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_wheel]?

I remember them, they totally worked!
(digs out monkey island 2 disc box from garage and finds a butterly pinned photocopied code wheel in with the pulped fragments of original one. Then makes a quick java app to replace both)
Yup they were awesome and totally couldn't be pirated.

Oh yeah! How about picking random letters from the manual? At least we would have to have proper manuals with games again.
(Finds Elite2 manual on the bookshelf with a grid stuck to the back listing all the letters the police would ask you for.)
Yup that was totally foolproof.

oh, oh....how about (lists the last 25 years of PC game security efforts)

 

[Outright Villainy]

I don't have an internet connection for my ps3. A massive reason I use it at home over my pc is because of that convenience.

If they go for this they'll lose any potential business I'd have had with them, and I'll just stick to the Wii instead.

 

[Something Amyss]

If this is true - and I stress that if, as this is an unsubstantiated rumor in all senses of the word - I can't see how this could possibly be a good idea. As widespread PC piracy has shown, install keys are hardly foolproof copy protection, and including install limits and unnecessary DRM would hurt consumers and cripple the PS3 used game trade.

It's also an unsubstantiated rumour which has been bandied about before, since before the PS3 hit shelves. It's hard to tell if it's a rehash or a real "solution" they're offering.

If true, I'm done buying PS3 games, though.

 

[Defense]

This is clearly Sony's fault only, they would've done this regardless of whether their games and consoles were being pirated or not.

[HEADING=1]*repeated face desks*[/HEADING]

SONY, JUST LET IT GO!

That's like telling a bank to stop using more protective methods because their safe was broken.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

Hmmm...looks like it´s bogus to me. If it´s not...Sony , get your s**t together.

 

[Viivrabe]

I believe this as well. Piracy oftentimes is used as a handy scapegoat when the real thing gaming companies are trying to stop is secondhand sales. Take the PC market for instance, ask yourself does DRM more effectively combat secondhand sales or piracy. Well piracy is as thriving as ever, secondhand sales, not so much. However, it's bad PR to say your putting all this bullshit DRM on there to screw over secondhand sales, and more importantly, your customers. It looks much better to hide behind piracy and simply lie about your real motives.

Actualy the moment some one buys a game second hand they are not "your" cusromers

I don't know why they didn't do this already seeing as you had to install discs onto the PS3 already.

lol what? no you dont.
its optional

 

[tahrey]

Chalk up one more in the tally of "hilariously poor, inevitably backfiring attempts at copyprotection by Sony". Obviously no-one in their R&D department is familiar with this sort of thing --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keygen

On the plus side, it may mean PS3 owners get introduced to the chipmusic scene by the classic route rather than ironic facsimilies in *insert pixelart style downloadable title here*

 

[Weaver]

Haha I'm sure Sony WANTED this to happen. They were going to implement this at console launch, but fans were too against it so they axed the idea.

So now on the PS3 I get all the no-trade in value of a PC game except the game's aren't 50-90% cheaper. Sounds pretty terrible.

 

[v3n0mat3]

Rumors are rumors people. They aren't going to do it, I bet.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Wow, that's retarded. I'm a frequent Gamefly renter, and gods alone know how many times those get installed. Holy crap.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Hmm, well I never really used the sony systems after the PS2 and PSP updates so I'm only mildly affected by this...

Sony, just get over yourselves, this is exactly the kind of stuff that makes game users NOT want to play your system...

EDIT: next thing you know they'll start demanding codes to watch movies on your PS3... This is getting ridiculous and only shows the bad side of gaming companies...

 

[VanityGirl]

If this does happen, I believe I won't be buying new games for the PS3. I can't buy cheap used games for my PS3 anymore if this happens.

Totally lame Sony.

 

[Flatfrog]

What fucking idiots.

Seriously? limited installs?

Does this mean you need to be connected to PSN to play anything? It must mean that since it has to be "registered"

So now not only do you have to be connected, and enter a serial, but you also can't install more than 5 times?

Speaking as someone that has implemented this kind of system on PC software, I don't think it's that bad.

Firstly, to use most key-registered software you don't need to be connected every time you run it, just the first time, at which point a key file is generated that is locked to the machine, and the install-count is decremented. Neither is there any reason to insist the disk be present (although isn't that what most games do anyway?)

It's fairly simple too to make a system that allows the installation to be removed and the install count incremented again to allow you to move the licence from one machine to another This is a big security hole though, as the key file can be copied before this process and recreated afterwards. So once you're allowing uninstalls, you do need to make sure the software at least periodically checks in with the database to ensure it isn't being used after installing.

Keygens are *not* a way round this kind of security - keys don't work until they've been created and registered as a sale on the database, so unless you get very lucky and hit on a key that belongs to someone else but hasn't reached its install count, you're not going to get anywhere.

In my opinion, this kind of defence against casual piracy is fine and a good balance between security and intrusiveness. Obviously nothing is perfect, but the more someone has to work (and install potentially damaging software) to play an illegal version, the more you're forcing them to admit they're doing something wrong!

 

[Xanthious]

Actualy the moment some one buys a game second hand they are not "your" cusromers

Sure they are. There is still DLC to be considered unless people that buy secondhand don't buy DLC. They may be buying the actual game someplace else but they are still at the very least a prospective customers for future games and products and often times an actual customer of DLC and the like that isn't available for secondhand games that comes free with new games.