Sony Threatens to Ban PS3 Hackers Forever

[hansari]

Pirates and hackers are AT LEAST paying for the purchase of the console. How many legit game purchases they make is up in the air but they have to at least make a large initial payment to Sony.

Except consoles are generally sold at a loss. I'm pretty sure the PS3 now makes a slight profit off every one sold, but Sony took large hits with the promise that the sale of games would make up for it. The so-called "large initial payment" to Sony is at best a few bucks and at worst COSTS them....The console market is heavily reliant on the number of legit games purchased as a result.

And I don't contest that. I said in my last post "how much greater of a loss..."

Afterall, how far in the red do you think Sony's finances can go before they call it quits and pull out of videogames alltogether?

Because from what I gather, this console generation (with its hackers and pirates) was pretty hectic and had a lot of people sweating. (Except Nintendo :/)

 

[ramboondiea]

this could potentially cause quite the shitstorm, as i know alot of people who have 'hacked' there ps3 just to make it a better user interface, which i thinks fair enough, its not like there sitting there playing pirated games, they just want to enjoy there system by improving the aspects they dont like, now if they get permaband that is just an abuse of power by sony.
i hope people can find ways around this because sony bloody deserves to suffer for punishing its clients

 

[Nikki_Viper]

Pirates and hackers are AT LEAST paying for the purchase of the console. How many legit game purchases they make is up in the air but they have to at least make a large initial payment to Sony.

Except consoles are generally sold at a loss. I'm pretty sure the PS3 now makes a slight profit off every one sold, but Sony took large hits with the promise that the sale of games would make up for it. The so-called "large initial payment" to Sony is at best a few bucks and at worst COSTS them....The console market is heavily reliant on the number of legit games purchased as a result.

And I don't contest that. I said in my last post "how much greater of a loss..."

Afterall, how far in the red do you think Sony's finances can go before they call it quits and pull out of videogames alltogether?

Because from what I gather, this console generation (with its hackers and pirates) was pretty hectic and had a lot of people sweating. (Except Nintendo :/)

SONY is very, VERY tenacious. They have a reputation for refusing to lay off employees, and up until a few years ago, they'd never had a lay off. I think if anyone has the tenacity to persevere in this department, it's SONY. They tend to get by quite alright

 

[Lord Xtheth]

All I want is for my PS3 to play my PS2 games like I was PROMICED... Maybe even my PS1 games too... Is that too much to ask?
XBox fixed their backward compatability with a SYSTEM UPDATE... Why can't you Sony?

 

[Something Amyss]

Pirates and hackers are AT LEAST paying for the purchase of the console. How many legit game purchases they make is up in the air but they have to at least make a large initial payment to Sony.

Except consoles are generally sold at a loss. I'm pretty sure the PS3 now makes a slight profit off every one sold, but Sony took large hits with the promise that the sale of games would make up for it. The so-called "large initial payment" to Sony is at best a few bucks and at worst COSTS them....The console market is heavily reliant on the number of legit games purchased as a result.

And I don't contest that. I said in my last post "how much greater of a loss..."

Afterall, how far in the red do you think Sony's finances can go before they call it quits and pull out of videogames alltogether?

Because from what I gather, this console generation (with its hackers and pirates) was pretty hectic and had a lot of people sweating. (Except Nintendo :/)

Then why make that initial, extremely dishonest or false statement?

Sony won't leave the market any time soon. They're still making money off the console market, despite piracy and a recession. For all the panic, the "hectic" nature of this gen, they're sweating irrationally.

The panic is because they see any money lost as a travesty. And I'm not saying they don't deserve to get money for their properties, but they're going batshit over losses that don't add up to the losses they try and make them out to be. It's worth speculating their attempts to thwart piracy may one day cost more than the piracy itself, that it will be their hunt for the White Whale that does the real damage. Though that's still speculation.

Not that they're invincible. But a lot of the damage they've taken is due to the economy and to business choices like selling an 800 dollar system in a recession. It's hard to factor in what sort of effect piracy has because it can't be measured, but by the same effect, worrying about a loss that cannot be measured in terms of what will sink a company is rather silly.

 

[Darkong]

Why wouldn't you give hackers a life-time ban? Why is this even a threat and not just obvious statements? Just do it. Nao.

Because the people who made the hacks did so to restore the other OS functionality of the PS3, an issue which is currently seeing action in the court rooms, and if this case follows the same example as Apples jail'breaking case went then it will be found legal as the hackers were just restoring the advertised functionality of their machines. Sony are going about this in a very ham-fisted way which will likely come back to bite them on the ass.

 

[Keava]

When i read this i cant stop thinking about this [http://nerfnow.com/comic/image/465] comic strip by nerfnow.com.

 

[Baresark]

Saying that there are no losses and no one loses money from piracy is as naive as saying that each pirated copy means a lost sale. Ripping groups saying to people to buy the game won't make them do so. And remember that this is a global affair. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can jailbreak their PS3 and play pirated games. While in developed markets where people have more money, it may not cause all that much trouble, in other markets, where people have less money or are more used to pirate stuff, it will mean huge losses.

I know, because where I live most people are quite used to piracy and rarely buy an original copy, even if they can afford it. Here, the PS3 was the only console people couldn't buy pirated games for, so they bought original games. Now the PS3 jailbreak is all the craze here.

Yes, companies do lose money because of piracy. In some cases, it may not affect legit sales very much, but in others, it can really hamper sales of the original games.

I misspoke, I mean they can't actually quantify the number of losses, so they can't actually determine the amount of losses that comes from piracy. And they can't say that just because it's pirated, it isn't a sale because that is not explicitly true. But, your points are very good points. I wouldn't go as far as to say that piracy depends on whether or not your poor or rich though. Software pirates exist in all markets. The only reason it would be more rampant in richer nations is because people have more access to information in those areas. No one is buying bootlegged PS3 games on the street, at least I don't believe they are, so it's not like someone is making money when publishers aren't. I think they need to add piracy as, "the cost of doing business", haha. That is just my opinion. I mean, Microsoft has ban people who weren't doing anything wrong. I hope it doesn't happen with Sony. I have a WoW account that almost got banned for an accusation of something I didn't do.

I don't care if they ban pirates, but I do care if innocent people get affected by some sort of blow-back because the industry is scared to death at the prospect of slightly less profits.

I also believe that piracy is rampant for the PS3 now because it is new. I think that it will die down when people a.) have more money to spend and b.) find out that it's not really worth the headache of trying to keep your system online. I know I have friends who are trophy fiends, and they would never pirate their games, and I wouldn't just to play with those guys. I have a friend who does play backed up games, but I am relatively sure that soon it will not be worth while for him to maintain that. I used to have hacked everything, I don't anymore because it's not worth it really. I only bought a PS3 a year ago, and in that time I have had to pay very little to get every game for the system that I wanted since launch.

 

[Kroxile]

lol, more empty threats.

You can't stop hacking. If there's a will there's a way.

 

[Therumancer]

This won't stop the serious hackers and cheaters who will lose money, but will generally just set up new accounts and/or buy a new system, if they can't find some way of "spoofing" it to begin with.

To be effective you need to start applying real world penelties to such actions, things like prison time. The simple mention of people going to prison for this is enough to inspire fear, and all kinds of arguements about why they shouldn't do it, but the bottom line is that for something to be a deterrant you need people to be afraid of the penelties and getting banned just doesn't inspire that kind of fear. Of course there are practical concerns to this kind of thing (so nobody needs to point them out), though I suspect they could be worked around.

Right now the biggest problem with EULAs and any kind of penelty is that they have never been seriously challenged. Most cases where the EULAs have gone to court it was a case of corperate bullying and there was little in the way of effective defense, or even a lawyer on the other side who seemed to know what they were doing. As I've read in a lot of places most battles on the subject have come down to fighting the terms of the EULAs rather than fighting the very concept itself, and focusing on the simple fact that such agreements were never made when the products were paid for, and as such it's just so much text. It could vary by state but I've heard some good cases made for how with hardware or software they should technically be handing you a contract at the register for it to have any meaning whatsoever. This of course would make it very difficult to actually involve criminal charges among other things, since it would put the EULAs under a microscope that I don't think any industry that relies on them wants to see.

So in short, I think this is pretty much Sony doing some ineffective ranting. The bottom line is that there are no effective tools with which to do such policing. The most they can really do is harass talentless aspies and shutins who find ways to pad their gamescores or trophy lists, oftentimes by employing someone who knows more than they do. The people who mod consoles or engage in serious piracy are going to be hit for a few bucks, but just come back more savvy afterwards.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Unless in a parallel universe, the hackers create their own online and threatens Sony to permanent Ban on it's own console hahaha

 

[hansari]

Then why make that initial, extremely dishonest or false statement?

What? The part about great loss?

I suppose I should have elaborated more like you and said that I hypothesize that Sony would be deeper in the red next console generation. If they decided to play the waiting game for a "sell at a loss" business model, then they would be waiting much longer.

If I'm guilty of anything, its being too cynical

Not that they're invincible. But a lot of the damage they've taken is due to the economy and to business choices like selling an 800 dollar system in a recession.

I suppose its possible too though that Sony will take Nintendo's place next console generation and dominate the market through innovation or clever marketing. But again, cynic.

I should take better care to remember though that Sony is a gigantic company with divisions that all lean on one another (some more than others).

 

[OtherSideofSky]

This doesn't really bother me. It's not like you can do much with a hacked PS3 besides piracy, unlike a hacked PSP, which has many more uses (like a better internet browser, converting your UMDs to run off the memory stick, better music and video support, homebrew games, etc.)

 

[Brad Shepard]

So let me get this right, The PS3 can do EVERYTHING, but you cant hack it so it CAN do everything?

Mind=Blown.

 

[Son of Detroit]

All I want is for my PS3 to play my PS2 games like I was PROMICED... Maybe even my PS1 games too... Is that too much to ask?
XBox fixed their backward compatability with a SYSTEM UPDATE... Why can't you Sony?

It does play PS1 games.

Anyway everything the "legitimate" cfw users wanted is available to them on 3.55. There's no reason for them to hack the PS3 any further, if they're not all full of shit they'll back off.

 

[Digikid]

Lets face it guys. Sony is not a good company any more.....THEY ARE IN IT FOR THEMSELVES AND NO ONE ELSE.

( sorry there...pressed the caps lock key by accident....deal with it )

Sony needs to learn that no matter how hard they try...and how they TRY to circumvent these so called "Hacks" there will always be workarounds and more "Hacks".

Piece of advice Sony. Give up. You will never win.

 

[Digikid]

So let me get this right, The PS3 can do EVERYTHING, but you cant hack it so it CAN do everything?

Mind=Blown.

Well said.

 

[Dogstile]

Yes, there are a handful of people that only use stuff like homebrew for home made games and some other ok software, but those are in the minority.

You know what i'm sick of? I'm sick of people like you acting like its ok the royally screw over the minority just because "PEOPLE MIGHT HACK IT".

Its going to happen anyway, Sony are just being pricks.

 

[sosolidshoe]

Why wouldn't you give hackers a life-time ban? Why is this even a threat and not just obvious statements? Just do it. Nao.

Don't be so naive, this has nothing to do with preserving the quality of the online experience, this is Sony covering their extremely exposed arse before the lawsuit against them for removing "OtherOS" gets to court. They've had the ability to do this since the launch of the console, but we're supposed to buy into the idea that only now, with a court case right around the corner, has hacking online games or piracy become enough of a problem that Sony needs to bring out the banhammer? Bullshit.

How would an acknowledgment that hacking is getting out of hand help their case in any way? "Oops, we're sorry, it turns out that taking away the OtherOS feature didn't stop people hacking... Do we win now?"

Your logic totally makes sense.

Read the bloody wording in the statement, it's all about ensuring that they are being seen to be enforcing their "service agreements" and EULAs. Prior to this, those suing Sony over the removal of OtherOS could argue that, since Sony wasn't bothering to go after people who'd hacked Linux onto their PS3 after it's removal, they can't justify it's removal. Further, if Sony makes consistent and public efforts to crack down on "rampant" hacking and piracy, they gain an additional argument they can use to support it's removal.