trekka Posted December 22, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 22, 2012 The legacy games should be playable on new kit with a software emulator. Then there's no need for backward compatibility. Emulators are ridiculously difficult to pull off though. Even now, N64 emulators (we're going back how long?) on a beast of a PC cannot emulate flawlessly. PS2 is workable but with lots of problems and I would suggest that PS3 emulation is a long way off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted December 22, 2012 Administrator Share Posted December 22, 2012 Emulators are ridiculously difficult to pull off though. Even now, N64 emulators (we're going back how long?) on a beast of a PC cannot emulate flawlessly. PS2 is workable but with lots of problems and I would suggest that PS3 emulation is a long way off. They do seem to be, but there isn't a good reason for this, especially on processors which support virtualisation out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted January 4, 2013 Author Share Posted January 4, 2013 PlayStation 4 anti-second-hand patent causes industry panic Peculiar video games patents are discovered by eagle-eyed fans all the time, and in the majority of cases they never come to anything – but the mere possibility of Sony banning second-hand game sales has set the games industry alight. The patent was discovered by a poster on forum NeoGAF and describes a system which ensures that each game disc will only work with one specific account, so that if you try to play a game that belongs to – or used to belong to – someone else it won’t work on your console. The concept appears to use NFC (near field communication) technology similar to modern bank cards and its purpose is described in the patent thusly: ‘The dealing of electronic content in the second-hand markets is suppressed, which in turn supports the redistribution of part of proceeds from sales of the electronic content to the developers. Though in the following description a game application is exemplified as the electronic content, the present embodiment is similarly applicable to various kinds of electronic content such as an office suite, images, and music content.’ Not only has the news caused outrage amongst gamers but it immediately led to a six per cent drop in the share price of major American retailer GameStop, which relies on second-hand sales for most of its profits. Controversial industry analyst Michael Pachter has compared the patent to anti-piracy bill SOPA, saying that, ‘if Sony puts the technology into the next PlayStation and any publishers attempt to limit the playing of used games, I expect the consumer backlash to be similar.’ ‘Sony would be materially hurt if its console blocked used games and competitor consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo did not,’ he added in an unusually sensible comment to investors. Pachter has previously claimed that Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton is against banning second-hand sales, although Tretton himself has admitted he could be overridden by Japan. Others have pointed out that the patent could just as easily be used to stop pirated games, and indeed that’s probably the most likely use of the technology. The next generation of consoles will almost certainly be the last to use physical media and it seems very unlikely that Sony would want to cause such controversy with the promise of digital-only downloads just around the corner. sauce It would be ludicrous for Sony to implement this if the new Xbox does not. Suicide in terms of sales. If Microsoft did implement it aswell, I don't think there would be much of a backlash. People will still want to play the latest games, and if they are forced to buy it brand new, well, I believe they will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regular_john Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 How utterly unethical. Who are Sony/Microsoft to dictate to you what you do with your property? Who are they to say you shouldn't be able to sell on a game that you are finished with or don't enjoy? Why should they force people into buying a product at full price instead of having a second hand option? Surely the best option is to work out a deal with the second hand retailers to have a % of the sale in exchange for allowing the use of second hand games, that way everybody benefits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 How utterly unethical. Who are Sony/Microsoft to dictate to you what you do with your property? Who are they to say you shouldn't be able to sell on a game that you are finished with or don't enjoy? Why should they force people into buying a product at full price instead of having a second hand option? It's been that way on PC for quite some time. It was only ever a matter of time until consoles were affected too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 How utterly unethical. Who are Sony/Microsoft to dictate to you what you do with your property? Its not your property though, you are technically just buying a licence to use the software that's owned by Sony. That's why they can tell you that you cen't sell it on second hand. Still a huge minefield though if they decide to push ahead with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 How utterly unethical. Who are Sony/Microsoft to dictate to you what you do with your property? Who are they to say you shouldn't be able to sell on a game that you are finished with or don't enjoy? Why should they force people into buying a product at full price instead of having a second hand option? Surely the best option is to work out a deal with the second hand retailers to have a % of the sale in exchange for allowing the use of second hand games, that way everybody benefits! Oh you can sell it just fine. Theyre not stopping you selling it, they're just ensuring the buyer can't use it As for your "best option", it was attempted in the past, the retailers said no chance when there was no alternative. They had their chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted January 8, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted January 8, 2013 I think it's fairly unlikely that any of the manufacturers will implement an anti-preowned measure on this gen. The easiest way to do it requires net connection, which as I and others have said in the next Xbox thread, is problematic as a considerable part of the market don't connect their consoles to the internet. Every other patent smacks of patents for patents sake to me, including this. I don't think this will be implemented on the next Playstation. The preowned market is doomed regardless. A non-physical media console market is inevitable, it's just a question of how long it takes. It won't be this gen, but it will happen and then the preowned market is dead - unless licence swapping services are allowed to come about. There is one of those already for music but it's being attacked already by Apple IIRC. The industry demonises the preowned market but neglects to note that it actually contributes to new sales by allowing a number of buyers to pick up the latest releases when otherwise they might not be able to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted January 8, 2013 Administrator Share Posted January 8, 2013 The patent is more than likely a straw man. Cause some outrage now so that people aren't so upset when the real policy is announced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 a considerable part of the market don't connect their consoles to the internet a considerable majority do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leemond2008 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 if there was something bought about that stopped you from selling games would the prices drop quite considerably? If there is no sell on value in games then surely they wouldn't be able to continue selling them for £45, aren't PC games quite a bit cheaper than console games? I don't know I am just having a guess at that by the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 The argument is that selling old games funds buying new ones. Publishers seem to disagree and perhaps they are now ready to test their theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogso Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 A sony vice president has said that there is a major annoucenment on the way at E3, and that they may in fact announce what it is before then, in May. Which means the PS4 may be announced before the new Xbox, which seemed unlikely only days ago. In an interview on a Chilean website here, he says "It’s still a big secret, but our Sony PlayStation friends are getting ready. I only can say that we’re focused on the games related E3 event, booked for June. The announcement can take place there or even before, in May" He was then asked whether the company was working on a big reveal, or merely a teaser. "Probably the first, we plan to release big news for this date, but we have to wait at least until May" Both consoles revealed at E3? Exciting times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3te Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 there's a sony media event on feb 28th Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Seems Kotaku has acquired some info on the supposed PS4, from the same guy who was trying to sell that Xbox Dev Kit on eBay a few months ago. Link The following specs are for the units currently at developers so stuff may obvioulsy change for retail release. Specs: System Memory: 8GBVideo Memory: 2.2 GBCPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 "Bulldozer" (so, 8x cores)GPU: AMD R10xxPorts: 4x USB 3.0, 2x EthernetDrive: Blu-RayHDD: 160GBAudio Output: HDMI & Optical, 2.0, 5.1 & 7.1 channels The new controller might have a back touch pad like the Vita with multi-touch. PSN accounts would be able to be linked to controllers, allowing for multiple logins on the one system so multiple people could earn trophies when playing co-op. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandaq Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Kaz hirai has previously stated that they would not make the same mistake twice and that ultimately they have to bring it out around the time xbox does. There is so much money to lose to wait a year or whatever, this won`t happen. If it actually does then they are in for trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 http://youtu.be/DGP1ErugFCA Interesting talk from a guy who had the best part of 20 years experience in software engineering before realising he could make $100k a year on YouTube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I completely rely on 2nd hand gaming, the only game Ive ever bought brand new is Fifa. I simply can't justify paying near £50 for a new game that I would be finished with in a month or 2. If they do take these steps then I hope the price of new games is adjusted accordingly say £20 for games which cant be used again by anyone else. If the prices remain the same then I'm afraid I wont be buying the Ps4 or any other games console that limits you in this way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I think the Steam sales model will be going to consoles in the next generation mate. You will have times of the year when huge games have massive discounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted January 24, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted January 24, 2013 There's not a chance the pricing model of retail titles would alter in the unlikely event they introduce anti-preowned measures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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