How long before Console games have serial numbers to Activate/Play online?

PS3 is only really safe from piracy because of the Blu-Ray format which prohibits making cheap copies.

What if it was to ever be hacked in such a way that means games could be played off a hard drive? Blu-ray doesn't mean a single thing when it comes to preventing piracy. Besides which, BD writers can be found for £150 and the discs for £7 or so - not really that extortionate anymore.

Anyway, I hope they don't go with serials. Although it's not really that much hassle, it sort of defeats the purpose of being able to pop a game in and being able to play straight away. Granted, this is the same argument used for console games with hard drive installs (which incidently I think is a pretty good move, it should just be optional) but as already mentioned, it will cause problems for the second hand market. Although PC games are traded, it's nowhere near as big as it is with console games.

Anyway I don't reckon it'll happen simply because piracy isn't as big of a problem for consoles as it is for PC. Yes, it does happen on 360 and Wii but a PC doesn't require a hardware modification to be able to play pirated software so it's far easier.

If you're not a complete retard you'll never be caught.

Nobody really knows what they check for - it's all speculation. They'll pull more checks out at some stage.
 
Is it? I think the 360 is hit and miss and lots of people that play online worry about the protections that might be in place that get them banned.

But nintendo, wow i'm amazed at how many people I know with a modded wii or DS. I didnt even know about the wii til I went into work and saw a dvd spool with about 80-100 ripped games on it.

My whole workplace has a dodgy wii. With next to none of them bothered about online play I'm blown away that I'm the only person I know without a dodgy wii. Friends and work collegues have all got them done. Is that why the attach rate is so poor on the wii?

Then the DS, so easy that it's almost a crime to buy a game.

My bad i dont normally even consider the Wii, in my opinion i dont see it as next gen - i only really look at *** PS3/360
 
Providing I can enter the serial then install the game ot the HDD to never need to use the disk again I wont be bothered about it, infact id prefer it.
 
only console that doesnt suffer from piracy at the minute is the PS3

but thats due to the prohibitive cost of writable blu rays. Its just not profitable enough yet for the pirates.
 
the piracy or lack of of the ps3 has nothing to do with the bluray discs - they are cheap enough to warrant pirating new releases for anybody interested. No, the reason it isnt being pirated is because they cant yet. its that simple lol
 
I think a simple system just to make it a bit more difficult maybe a good idea. You could have something like every disc having a unique serial number and when it's being used from two places at the same time, you can't play it or something.
 
I think a simple system just to make it a bit more difficult maybe a good idea. You could have something like every disc having a unique serial number and when it's being used from two places at the same time, you can't play it or something.

You have no idea how much it costs to make a disc press template do you? Each game would cost many thousands of pounds via your idea.
 
No. I don't see it happening. Just saw date of thread, and PS3 still remains as secure as ever... plus I recall Microsoft banning a lot of people from Live a few months back. Result.
 
I can definately see publishers heading this way. With the game content included as a CD key recently with games such as Mass Effect 2 I think publishers are slowly heading towards eventually requiring you to connect to Live/PSN to download a core component of the game to get it to run. It will be hugely unpopular which is why I think they're slowly testing the water with things such as the Cerberus key.

Cutting out the 2nd hand market would be huge for game devleopers/publishers.
 
Doesnt this already happen? Im sure the new Socom has an online activation code you need to play online, you can buy these seperatly if you get a pre-owned game. Not totally against the idea as such but pricing for the license has to be at a sensible level ie not £20 for a £30 game as an example. On a slightly different note why is the price of BD the reason PS3s havent been pirated? BD media is a what £2 a disk for a 25GB one, think there are only 3 or 4 PS3 games that use more than this surely if your nasty mr pirate a £2 BD is is better than paying £40 for a game?
 
I can't see them doing online activations for a good while. It's easier to do on most computers, and the majority of people who would play games that require online activation are 99.9% of the time already online. I bet there are way way way more console people who aren't connected to Xbox Live / PSN / whatever the Wii uses.

If they did introduce it though, personally, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

On a side note - Personally I've never understood why developers and publishers haven't targetted the 2nd hand market and rental stores over piracy. I bet they lose more money in those two compared with piracy. Also I bet the PS3 has been hacked already, but due to expensive discs/writers and that PS3 games would be 25gb - 50gb to download it's not worthwhile. I'm kinda suprised games companies haven't developed their own type of disc, like an offshot of what they are basing their consoles around (bd/dvd etc) and creating their own writers which are given to games developers and disc printing companies. Surely that would massively hinder piracy when you can't easily get ahold of a device to write the game or the actual blank disc itself?

[EDIT]: Just noticed thread date! Bit old :p
 
I can definately see publishers heading this way. With the game content included as a CD key recently with games such as Mass Effect 2 I think publishers are slowly heading towards eventually requiring you to connect to Live/PSN to download a core component of the game to get it to run. It will be hugely unpopular which is why I think they're slowly testing the water with things such as the Cerberus key.

Cutting out the 2nd hand market would be huge for game devleopers/publishers.

Kind of what they've done with BC2. locking content on the disk to those that dont have a valid code. If purchased second hand you have to then spend £10 on "VIP" code....if you want the full online experience.
 
XMB on the PS3 hasn't been opened up yet, though I hear they have decrypted some segments of it. Its still very very well protected Sony learned their leason from the PSP.
 
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