Playstation 3 Will Not Lock Out Second-hand Games

It was a pretty stupid rumour in the first place, given that the patent was filed in Japan in 1999, and was granted in the US in April 2000.

So in fact, according to the US Patent Office records, it could have been used as early as the Playstation 2 anyway.

technically it couldn't because there were no dvd-burners at that time. This is just another case of some concept idea being patented before a competitor does it before you. I thaught to be able to patent something it had to be technical possible to achieve in the very near future (this wasn't at that time).
With Sony's Blu-Ray plans it was technical feasible to implement in the PS3, thank god they didn't...this could have lost them the consolewar in one swift stroke.

It was great to get mad at Sony for a while because of a rumour xD

Damn good news, I'll consider buying now. Looks more tempting now 360 won't play some great Xbox games too.

Like any of us needed confirmation on perhaps the stupidest rumor of all time.

Yea, someone explain to me how Sony wouldn't be commiting financial suicide by preventing gamers from playing borrowed, used or rented games on their PS3?

That fact that such a rediculous rumor could make headlines AT ALL is embarrassing.

Hey I heard this rumor that the Xbox360 will play PS3 games as well...

A better idea would be for Linux providers to agree on a simple game platform standard for console computer and mobile. Where one compile would run on any distro in standard mode, but also be allowed to take advantage of any custom enhancements in the distro or hardware.

This would get us away from the console companies and allow any company to make cheap consoles, and for developers, non-royalty games.

This is actually really obvious. Many console manufacturers over the years (including Sony) have sold their consoles at a loss, making money from the licensing agreements needed to publish games. Every time you buy a new PS2 game, some of the money goes to Sony.

When you buy a used game, all the money is going straight to the retailer. Because the used game stock is being bought from the consumer, the developer gets nothing, the publisher gets nothing, and Sony gets nothing. Customers like it because it means they get games at slightly more reasonable prices by trading old games for new, or buying used. Retailers like it because they tend to have a bigger profit margin on used games than they do on new ones. Developers, publishers and format holders hate it, because they're not getting any money off those sales, they're being undercut (meaning you're less likely to go and buy a new copy), and unlike piracy they're losing customers that are willing to pay for games - and it's 100% legally and socially acceptable, so they can't do anything about it.

Borrowed games don't make any money either. The rental industry allows one copy of a game to be played by a number of people, thus lessening the likelihood of them buying new games that make money for Sony.

Financially, it would make a great deal of sense, because the people left playing would be paying customers who are buying brand new games. The question is, how many paying customers would be left? It doesn't matter now because Sony isn't going to implement this anyway.

thank goodness the rumour is total nonsense.