New PS5's Optional Disc Drive Requires an Internet Connection To Connect (videogameschronicle.com) 69
The upcoming optional disc drive for the PlayStation 5 will require an internet connection to pair it to a console for the first time. From a report: As spotted on the back of the box for the upcoming Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 PS5 slim bundle, small print confirms that players who purchase the new model with the optional drive will be required to connect to the internet when pairing it to a machine for the first time. It's likely that this is a security measure in order to ensure that the disc drive is a legitimate one and not a third party. However, it has raised some preservation concerns.
security measure? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's likely that this is a security measure in order to ensure that the disc drive is a legitimate one and not a third party.
That'd not be a security measure. That'd be anticompetitive digital restrictions management. If the content on the disc is signed then it doesn't matter at all what kind of disc drive (or disc drive emulator!) you attach to your console.
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it matters to sony
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And that alone should make you ponder "how are they gonna use that to screw me over?"
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If one is really so paranoid about that they shouldn't be gaming on a console platform at all.
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Yes, I am a PC gamer. Why do you ask?
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If one is really so paranoid about that they shouldn't be gaming on a console platform at all.
Yes, I am a PC gamer. Why do you ask?
Few issues with this, bringing your distrust of Big Gaming out of a dedicated console and into your general purpose PC makes very little sense, a dedicated gaming PC doesn't isolate you from Big Gaming any more than a console, and avoiding Big Gaming brings us to "I don't buy games that use DRM" is the new "I don't own a tv" :)
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It's more that I don't get any more enjoyment out of games that cost 80 bucks than I get out of games that cost 20, so why should I buy games that cost 4 times as much?
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That's true, consoles were the systems free of malware, cheaters, driver bugs, endless patches. Now we're all pretty much equal.
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Come back to me when you actually have something worth responding to, not silly quips.
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My SNES safeguards my privacy pretty goddamn well.
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What do you think that port at the bottom is for, they're tracking you back to 1993! Wake up sheeple!
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Not nearly as well as my Atari 2600!
[Let alone my Odyssey 2]
hawk
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Oh man, Odyssey 2. The Speedway / Spinout multicart was the first video game I ever played. Superior console to the 2600 but didn't have the same volume of games.
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Hmm.
Mine is apparently actually the original odyssey, not the 2 (even though it came, used, in a box that said 2).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]â"1977)
It's cartridges weren't programs, but rewired the internal circuitry, including two flip-flops--each on it's own daughter board, made from discrete components.
There were screen overlays that used static to stay on.
It had a spot on the screen for each player and a ball. You had to keep score yourself, iirc, although there were later variants that kep
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The original Magnavox Odyssey is somewhat of a rarity - might fetch some collector's value; something you should keep in mind. I never had the opportunity to play one but I had seen those CRT overlays in action. Even at the time I thought the overlays were kind of lame, but appreciated the novelty of being able to manipulate objects on the TV screen.
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they also meant you could mix and match.
Multiple games used the same "cartridges".
The regular controls had three controls: horizontal, vertical, and English.
and we figured out that you could have one player use the cartridge and overlay for skiing game, and the other could play sniper with the rifle . . . and so forth!
collector's value doesn't mean much, as it would be hard to pry it from my fingers . . . but then, one of the "if only . . ." in my family is that my father was saving Action Comics #1, but on
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Yeah, super cool piece to hang onto if you have an attachment to it. I'd probably stick a note with it for posterity so a family member doesn't dump it off at a thrift shop or worse, throw it away.
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This rules out Sony's new console, but not all of them. I'm still holding out hope for Nintendo's upcoming console. We'll see.
Re: security measure? (Score:1)
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it matters to sony
Yup, gotta nickle and dime customers for every little thing ...
Re:security measure?s (Score:3)
That'd not be a security measure. That'd be anticompetitive digital restrictions management. If the content on the disc is signed then it doesn't matter at all what kind of disc drive (or disc drive emulator!) you attach to your console.
You are right that it is most likely DRM. Specifically HDCP which would govern how the components like the disk drive and the TV would protect the content. However, it does matter what disk drive reads the content as it must be allowed read the content in a consumer device. One of the annoying restrictions of HDCP is that an optical drive must not be write capable.
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You are right that it is most likely DRM. Specifically HDCP which would govern how the components like the disk drive and the TV would protect the content. However, it does matter what disk drive reads the content as it must be allowed read the content in a consumer device.
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It's for Sony's security. Signed content on the 'disc' only proves to them that the developer of the game agreed to the right licenses and paid the needed fees to develop and release the software, it doesn't prove that the disc isn't actually just a file on an SD card connected to an FPGA connected to the disc drive connector pretending to be a legit disc.
While we don't really like the restriction because it interferes with what we want to do (or just offends your sensibilities as to what we should be allow
Re: security measure? (Score:2)
Maybe Iâ(TM)m reading it wrong? My understanding is this is a first time use only requirement, so itâ(TM)s more of a right to repair issue when the drive fails and the servers have been shutdown (assuming you can replace the drive and go through the pairing process again, if itâ(TM)s something that can only be done once ever then this is even worse), not a continual online requirement to play physical games with an already paired drive.
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It's likely that this is a security measure in order to ensure that the disc drive is a legitimate one and not a third party.
That'd not be a security measure. That'd be anticompetitive digital restrictions management. If the content on the disc is signed then it doesn't matter at all what kind of disc drive (or disc drive emulator!) you attach to your console.
It's half and half. Sony gets the benefit of anti-competitive behavior to make sure you can only purchase their licensed product. The other concern they're targeting is the ability for people to attach third party disc systems with built in security signature / copyright defeating mechanisms.
If they make it difficult enough, the average person won't bother as they don't want the hassle.
You can argue that that legitimate third party manufactures are unfairly targeted via anti-competitive means, but you also
Re: security measure? (Score:2)
There were hacks for the Xbox 360 that altered the DVD drive firmware so it would lie to the console and say "this is an original Xbox disk" when it was a copy. Full piracy enabled without messing with the signature checks in any way.
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Of course it's a security issue. It's all about securing their profits.
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The concept of security and DRM are not separable. DRM relies on the same underlying principles as security, and simply signing a binary is not the only form of security available.
iOS signs the OS too, that doesn't mean there aren't material security benefits to dedicated hardware security features. Likewise being a security feature doesn't mean its meant for *your* security, quite often these features are also used for DRM.
To be clear Sony are a bunch of ****s and this will almost certainly be DRM, but you
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Signing the binaries on the disc only prevents homebrew and unlicensed games, it doesn't prevent copying. The signature is copied along with all the other data.
To make discs impossible to copy, the disc itself has to have some element that normal Bluray writers can't write. Sony famously used a special inner track that deliberately wobbled in a certain pattern on the original Playstation, which CD burners could not reproduce.
The weak link in that chain is the drive itself. To run copied Playstation games, t
It's Sony (Score:3)
They've always treated you like a cash spigot with no rights. Why would that change now?
Re: It's Sony (Score:4, Funny)
Somewhere, a Sony exec is reading your post and masturbating to it.
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Somewhere, a Sony exec is reading your post and masturbating to it.
They're too busy writing it down in their future plans notebook to be masturbating over it.
You're going to see a lot more of this. (Score:2)
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Re:You're going to see a lot more of this. (Score:4, Interesting)
Which is just an argument for regulating internet access like a utility. If you can't even realistically file your tax reports without an internet connection then it IS a required utility for functioning in society.
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Which is just an argument for regulating internet access like a utility. If you can't even realistically file your tax reports without an internet connection then it IS a required utility for functioning in society.
Less regulating it like a utility (a govt based monopoly isn't much better than a private one, you only really want one when a market is being abused) what you need is to mandate fair and reasonable charges for access to the infrastructure (read: copper, fibre, exchange buildings) to any company and allow the market to do it's thing. Whilst I'm no libertarian, a market based solution is often the best one if the barriers to entry are kept low.
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The problem with that approach is that there are sectors of the market that are not profitable, eg. rural areas, who need internet access as much as they need water and electricity.
I live relatively rurally myself. From 2010 to 2020 my internet connection was 448/96 kbps. In 2020 they upgraded the DSLAM or something and I went up to a whopping 1.2 mbps each way. Fiber has been a very long time coming; it was supposed to be here by 2012. They started digging in 2020 just as Covid hit. It has still not been l
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If you're in one of the 13 states below, you could try the IRS Direct File pilot in the 2024 tax season: IRS advances innovative Direct File project for 2024 tax season; free IRS-run pilot optionprojected to be available for eligible taxpayers in 13 states [irs.gov]:
Arizona, California, Massachusetts and New York have decided to work with the IRS to integrate their state taxes into the Direct File pilot for filing season 2024. Taxpayers in nine other states without an income tax – Alaska, Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming -- may also be eligible to participate in the pilot.
Though it's limited to certain conditions at this point:
Taxpayer eligibility to participate in the pilot will be limited by the state in which the taxpayer resides and will be limited to taxpayers with certain types of income, credits and deductions – taxpayers with relatively simple returns. The IRS today announced it anticipates specific income types, such as wages on a Form W-2, and important tax credits, like the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, will be covered by the Direct File pilot.
If Apple got away with it, (Score:2)
Re: If Apple got away with it, (Score:2)
Apple didnâ(TM)t get away with this. They were required to open up the repair tools that let you re-code an iPhone to a new screen.
Nothing new (Score:2)
The PS3 wouldn’t play a dvd unless you connected it to the internet. Don’t know why people buy Sony and seem surprised.
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It's not a disc anymore (Score:2)
they don't want people to buy an $25 blu ray usb d (Score:2)
they don't want people to buy an $25 blu ray usb drive.
No they want you to buy the $90 Sony one.
Re: they don't want people to buy an $25 blu ray u (Score:5, Interesting)
They want you to buy the one that they know contains equipment to prevent you reading pirated disks.
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Discs don’t even contain the game anymore. They sell you a piece of plastic with a license key and download link.
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Re: they don't want people to buy an $25 blu ray (Score:1)
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Ummm what? The story is about the new disc drive module for the new PS5 game console version. That is like complaining you cannot put in a cheaper Intel Arc GPU in an Xbox Series S or X. Sony is not stopping you from using a Blu-ray USB drive for your own computer. To connect the disc drive to their console, there are standards like HDCP that must followed that are outside Sony. Also if you want to play any movies on that external Bluray, you will either have to connect to internet to get the authentication
But what if... (Score:4, Insightful)
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If there's no internet then there's no playing some movies. You often require internet access to update the keys in your bluray player, especially if your system key shows up on a revocation list.
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I don't think anyone owns a PS5 and has *no* internet access. That said they may not have access to internet regularly or the data quota or bandwidth to be permanently online. Tether to your 3G phone for 5 minutes to get your drive online.
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What if the whole reason you get the drive is because you have no internet access (or can't provide it to the PS for various reasons), but still want to play games? A tiny demographic in this day and age, I know, but it still exists.
Yes, they don't want you offline... They want all that juicy data and all that ad revenue for shoving ads down your throat that only being online 24/7 and they want you to pay for access to the PSN... per month.
Shit like this is why I'm glad to be and will remain a PC gamer. Offline, no problems. Ancient disk... Load that bad boy up, more genres, better graphics, cheaper games, oh heavens, how will I cope.
No Sale (Score:1)
n/t
Meh (Score:2)
Practically all games today require an account to even start and last time I got my kids a new game I spent the first 10 minutes just clicking through license agreements, signup forms, e-mail confirmations and software updates. Long gone are the days of sticking a disk in a console and playing a game a fee moments later.
Customers paying extra (Score:3)
If you have an internet connection, why would you buy a DVD player? If you don't have an internet-connection, why would you buy a needs-internet device?
The need to control their customers makes this product totally useless. It's limited use-case will be long-term customers paying extra (this device) to play games they already own. Just keep your PS4 and demand a right-to-repair.
History lesson - 2013 E3 Sony Response (Score:2)
In response to Microsoft's announce "always online", used games and DRM policies Sony wooed the console peasants with one executive simply passing a boxed game to another. Microsoft's greed was outstripped by their fear of irrelevance and they backed off on the rate they'd treat console gamers as suckers with wallets they were entirely to harvest for shareholder value, at least for a while in their hardware design.
There's a cluster of insipid videos up with names like "How Sony's PS4 DESTROYED Microsoft at