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That sound you hear is Sony trying to drive a few nails into the Gamestop coffin. Of course,
Gamestop isn't quite in the coffin yet. The new generation of consoles are nothing
but rumor at this point. We know there is going to be another console war because Cthulu
forbid anything in gaming works with anything else. The question is when it will happen.
The current suspicion is a major announcement from both Sony and Microsoft will happen at
E3 this year. After all, they can't let Nintendo have power equivalent tech to their
old consoles for very long. Sony filed for a new patent. The premise is
an RFID chip embedded in the media disc itself that will activate with a piece of hardware,
thus rendering used sales a thing of the past. The patent doesn't exclusively specify video
games however Sony doesn't have sufficient control to enforce this in relation to movies.
Now, it's clear that they would want to implement such an authentication method very
soon. If you were in control of a significant portion of the game industry, you would too.
Whether it will be in time for the next Sony console remains to be seen but this kind of
tech isn't something that can be added later. It's launch ready, or it waits until the
next generation. I have several issues with this. Does anyone
remember as a child, or hell as an adult taking one of your video games over to a friends
house to play with them? Kiss that goodbye. And you know what's funny? Having friends
bring video games over was a major sales vehicle because I got to play just long enough to
get hooked. I'm also not sure the industry has the right
to terminate used sales. Over the last few years the big three media industries have
done a stellar job at positioning their product into the realm of license rather than own.
You don't own that music CD, you just own the plastic. For those born more recently,
what do you think would happen to your music library if ITunes disappeared. The same thing
has been happening in video games for a while now. I have a nice fat steam account filled
with products Valve could take away from me at any time.
And on PC they can get away with that because it's an open platform where multiple digital
distribution methods are available and hard drive space isn't at a premium. On console
it's a much different problem. Up until this point the common view was that the next
gen of console would simply require an internet connection. I don't think that's accurate
anymore and this RFID thing really has me wondering what the Microsoft will do. Console
makers don't really care about piracy on consoles because it takes FAR more work and
potential hardware bricking to make it happen. What they do care about is all of that money
Gamestop isn't paying them for every used sale.
Would you like to know who else doesn't get a share of used sales? Ford, IBM, Hasbro,
Boeing, Finning, Fender, Eddie Bauer, Bell, Canon, Gillette, Mattel, Nike, Polaris, Duracell,
Seagate, Xerox and Victoria Secret. Game industry you are not special. Get off the high horse
and look up the First Sale Doctrine again. Putting the word license in the EULA isn't
enough and someone is going to take you to task on this soon. Probably Gamestop.