Sony Patents Game Demos With Feature Erosion 200
MojoKid writes "When a game developer releases a demo, it's typically intended to entice players into first trying and then purchasing the full version. This is the stuff of Game Design 101 for most of us, but a crack team of cutting-edge gaming researchers at Sony have applied for a patent based on a novel concept: game demos that become progressively less fun the more you play. Sony refers to this as 'feature erosion.' The idea behind this dubious concept is that gamers will become hooked on a game while it's still in demo, then squawk unhappily as features and abilities they've unlocked begin to disappear. In order to prevent this, the player ponies up for the full version. A demo or program that provides limited functionality or play time is one thing; a game that's purposefully designed to take your progress away, in an admitted attempt to get you to buy once you've been hooked, is something altogether different."
Re:Lucky Sony patented it (Score:3, Informative)
I'm glad Sony have patented this. I don't buy Sony products, and no one else will be allowed to implement this.
Unless they license it.
It's already being done. (Score:2, Informative)
For example, in Batman: Arkham Asylum, some pirated versions would have Batman's Gliding move disabled [strategyinformer.com]. In Grand Theft Auto IV, pirated versions would have gravity suddenly go berserk, and with the Penny Arcade On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness game, pirated versions would be rendered uncompletable by a glitch.
Since some people "try/demo" games using the pirated versions, you could say that what Sony is trying to patent has already been done.
Re:What's the problem? (Score:2, Informative)
Possibly you are thinking about the FADE, used first in Operation Flashpoint.
http://www.gameburnworld.com/protections_fade.shtml [gameburnworld.com] (first link on Google)
Like most DRM, it apparently has been circumvented.