Sony has been working on new technology for limiting used game sales, and has applied for a patent. The patent was filed 09/12/2012 by SCEJ. Link: http://www.freepaten...13/0007892.html Here's some of the relevant detail: Source: Neogaf Not good for the consumer if true...
I wouldn't mind this if Sony can actually be competitive with their game prices. If not, and Microsoft follows suit, the PC will take over hardcore gaming.
Yeah, try purchasing a game in Australia, damn things are priced well over $120 for new releases. So I usually peruse the second hand games, or wait until it's been heavily discounted before I even consider purchasing it. Guess that's why my Steam collection is filled with older games. Can't see them going with it, like Michael said, as it kill them in the console wars.
I hardly buy brand new sealed games any way because they're incomplete (later they release paid dlc to know the rest of the story) or the game is just not worth the full price. F1 Race Stars is a great example, overpriced game that's only worth 400 MSP (£3.50) at maximum.
Poor Sony ! Economically speaking this will make things worst for them. It can also help them to get out of this as well. A giant conglomerate like Sony does not only depend on its gaming division to make economic profits. So they can still afford losses for the gaming division for 3 years or even 4 years. However, they are making huge business mistakes like insisting on some ideas. For example promoting the 3D TV for PS3 and 4K TVs possibly for PS4. But I do not see how people might get A 3D TV or 4K TV just for games to be better. They see that and insist on this business model. But it is not working. You can see that in the last three years Sony share price, Quote ticker "SNE", went down from $ 30 a share to $ 11 dollar to the time of writing. Which is a true and sad reflection of the bad performance.
Actually, games are fairly cheap here in AUS at the moment. I'm seeing brand new games for $80, and i've seen Borderlands 2 and a couple other games (NFS:MW) for $68 on launch day!