I Don’t Think They Actually WANT Our Money.
PlayStation 4 is Code-Named ‘Orbis,’ May Restrict Second-Hand Games
The next-generation PlayStation console will display resolutions up to 4096-by-2160 and show 3D games in 1080p, but it may render second-hand games useless, according to an online report. Games would only be accessible for the purported new console, codenamed Orbis, on brand new discs or as downloads from the PlayStation Network. New discs would require online authentication via PSN and then be locked to the account of a single user, according to Kotaku. [...]If Kotaku’s claims are accurate, this is just the latest example of how technology companies are moving toward locking down computer hardware as much as possible. Sony has already shown its desire to keep the PlayStation closed when it went after hacker George Hotz for distributing jailbreaking tools for the PS3. Microsoft is also said to be considering an anti-used game restriction for its next-generation Xbox console.
See, this is just more of the same crap I was bemoaning on Wednesday. I’m beginning to think these companies actually don’t want our money, because if this isn’t a screaming incentive for people to crack and pirate games and software, jailbreak their computing devices, and generally do everything in their power to avoid doing what these companies are trying to force on them, then I don’t know what would be.
The gaming industry has been butthurt over second-hand games for years – practically since second-hand games became a thing.
Who can afford $50+ for a brand new game after dropping several hundred on one of these gaming systems? The vast majority of games have very little by way of replay value, so after you beat them, what are you supposed to do with them? Use them as coffee coasters? Indulge in a little skeet-shooting? Why not sell them to GameStop? The gaming company already made money on that physical copy of the game, and odds are, the folks who are buying them used probably weren’t going to invest in new games anyway. If they are willing to invest in new games, they probably aren’t going to buy as many. Nobody’s getting hurt here.
But wait, there’s more to this article.
This lockdown mentality is also creeping beyond consoles, smartphones and other devices to PCs. Microsoft currently plans to lock down the Metro-style interface on Windows 8 PCs by restricting Metro-style apps to the company’s own app store. Some critics fear Apple may eventually lock down the Mac as well, restricting users to purchasing apps only from the Mac App Store. At this point, however, Microsoft is going farther than Apple when it comes to PC lockdown.
Just about the red hot split second someone starts telling me how I’m allowed to use my PC, you can be sure I’ll be figuring out how to run Linux on this bitch. Or, like I’m doing with my smartphone and Kindle Fire, I’ll be hacking the sucker so I can do what I want.
It seems to me that if you’re trying to make money, then you make it as easy for people to give you their money as you possibly can, and then you put out the kind of products people want to support. And I sure as hell don’t want to support products that come with piles of rules and restrict what I want to do.
