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Sony's Anti-Piracy Strategy That Works

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I came across a really interesting article today, which you can follow by clicking the source link at the bottom of the article, that basically explains how to defeat piracy, Sony have not taken technological steps, but played on human nature instead.

The article is obviously right in it’s argument, mostly because the PS3 has yet to have any sort of issues with piracy at all. Sony are really feeling the sting of piracy with the PSP, so this is definitely a breath of fresh air for them.

The things is, that I don’t fully believe that most of it is was intentional, but was rather just a byproduct of certain decisions made by Sony when designing the PS3. Here are the three main points that the article makes:

People are cheapskates: This may seem crazy but it actually makes sense if you think about it. If you attempt to mod your PS3 and it screws it up you are deeply out of pocket, therefore, many are not prepared to take the risk. Maybe there was method in Sony’s ‘madness’ with their pricing, many believe that the PS3 was overpriced but if this is the result I doubt very much that Sony are crying about it.

People want what they can’t have: Games on PS3 are region free. This means that the situation where people can’t play a game because it is only released in Japan does not occur. People are contrary creatures and if they are told they cannot have something many of them are bound to want to desperately, enough even to risk ruining their console to get it. Once they have modified their machine the flood gate ares open.

People have no patience: the much maligned, in some circles,blue ray also has a hand in why piracy is so far giving the PS3 such a big swerve. The huge size of the files means that it would take someone days to download potentially, well a very long time, anyway. People cannot be bothered. Time is money after all so most folk would rather just got out and buy the game.

Do you think they make any good points?

At the moment, I truly just believe that the PS3 has not yet been affected because of the size of Blu Ray discs, but that doesn’t mean that it will remain that way forever. One must also remember that the PS3 comes standard with a pretty large drive, which means that if people do find a way in ala PSP, there is going to be lovely and large amounts of disk space to dump the images onto, so let’s hope it never comes to that.

Source: Top PS3 Games

Last Updated: May 20, 2009

21 Comments

  1. koldFU5iON

    May 20, 2009 at 13:09

    I’m not so sure about the size of blu-ray being a contributing factor. It stands out for us because we’re capped so stringently in SA, but for abroad where “local” bandwidth is free and since most of these pirating sites are local it doesn’t really affect them. also in the states I believe they’re capped at something like 120gig? I can’t remember. Also note that their speeds for downloading are insane, they’ve been sitting with 12mb lines for more than 2 years now… which makes downloading a pleasure.

    But it’s good to see that Pirating is being discouraged on the PS3… I hope it follows suite with the rest of the industry. Don’t be a :pirate: … :angel:

    Reply

  2. Banana Hammock

    May 20, 2009 at 13:21

    Total BS, there was a lenthy tech report done a while ago stating the 7 levels of PS3 security. At the moment they have not found a way to hack the security. I’m sure they will eventually as everything eventually get’s hacked but i’m sure this is the longest a non-cartridge system has gone without being hacked already.

    Reply

  3. koldFU5iON

    May 20, 2009 at 13:30

    “stating the 7 levels of PS3 security.”
    Cell processor 1, Cell processor 2, Cell processor 3, Cell processor 4, Cell processor 5, Cell processor 6, Cell processor 7 :biggrin:

    Reply

  4. WitWolfyZA

    May 20, 2009 at 13:35

    here is my theory. Cost of a Verbatim blu-ray disc R200.. Cost of a Blu Ray writer…. +/-R3400… Now lets add them up…

    Lets say the average pirate… or the occasunal user creates a disc there are bound to be duds correct? Think about it a damn i just wasted 2 Blu ray disc because my bookmark wasnt set to the BD setting or darn my Layerbreak was out by 2…. R400 gone (not to mention the +/-R3400 Blu-Ray writer)

    Whats the bet there is a mod chip for the PS3 but why charge people lets say R350 for a pirate if they can get the original for R200 more…?

    The blu-Ray is still too expensive and rare to make it as flexible as what the DVD/DVD-9 format is.. Facts :biggrin:

    Reply

  5. WitWolfyZA

    May 20, 2009 at 13:44

    For all we know all those “Firmaware updates” are updates to make the PS3 even more pirate proof… And they just add like another media support file with it and just say um well we just dont believe in compression :whistle:

    Reply

  6. easy

    May 20, 2009 at 13:55

    but you forget the encryption for blu-ray and hddvd (at the time) were one of their major selling points, apart from their super-sized capacity.
    dvd’s didn’t have such stringent policies in mind when developing the format.

    as banana hammock has said, its just a matter of time before its hacked.

    Reply

  7. Banana Hammock

    May 20, 2009 at 14:19

    Lol, do you think the kind of people who mass pirate stuff BUY discs and writers?

    No, they get them off the back of a truck, that’s the kind of bastages they are.

    Reply

  8. easy

    May 20, 2009 at 14:36

  9. WitWolfyZA

    May 20, 2009 at 15:42

    i hear what your saying but lets rewind to 1998 thats when the dvd was just released if im not mistaken. How much did a DVD writer cost then it was R2000 that time. And DVD piracy was non existant.

    As time obviously rolled buy alot of companies got the lincenses and patents to make DVDs which made it more common and cheaper… Thus giving coders the ability to examine its properties and how to hack it.

    Reply

  10. WitWolfyZA

    May 20, 2009 at 15:44

    Thats like saying your DVD writer in your machine isnt for copying dvds :whistle:

    Reply

  11. WitWolfyZA

    May 20, 2009 at 15:51

    Everybody here knows if MS actaully had a HD DVD internal at release they would also be in the boat with the pirate proof consoles

    Reply

  12. easy

    May 20, 2009 at 16:41

    and in the same boat as sony with expensive consoles

    Reply

  13. RSA-Ace

    May 20, 2009 at 18:36

    substitute blu-ray for dvd and you have the same argument as to why the ps2 wouldn’t be cracked. oh but wait it was…

    things get cheaper. blu-ray is as expensive as dvd’s were when they came out!

    Reply

  14. RSA-Ace

    May 20, 2009 at 18:37

    ummm… why? what kind of proof do you have.

    blu-ray may be one reason why the people are having trouble cracking it but i think thats the easiest part. there are many other things effecting the hackability of the ps3

    Reply

  15. RSA-Ace

    May 20, 2009 at 18:43

    i’m pretty sure the pirates dont go into to shops and steal the writers or get them off the back of a truck.

    Reply

  16. CHase

    May 20, 2009 at 21:31

    ye i have to agree with RSA-Ace, the Blu Ray is the least of the pirates issues.

    In Thailand you can buy pirated Blu ray movies but u cant buy Pirated Ps3 games. The Price of Blu rays nothing do with pirating of the PS3. :sick:

    Reply

  17. WitWolfyZA

    May 21, 2009 at 07:38

    Its like being a terrorist with WMD’s … If its all been destroyed it will take them years to get the resources to aquire them again. Same with BD it will take them years to aquire so many BD discs to burn at a reasonable price… I dont think buying a R300 pirate PS3 game justifies as being a cheaper option :cheerful:

    Reply

  18. WitWolfyZA

    May 21, 2009 at 07:39

    The question is whats the price of those pirate BD discs

    Reply

  19. WitWolfyZA

    May 21, 2009 at 07:40

    didnt Sony sate that time that the PS2 was hack proof? I’m sure I read that some where

    Reply

  20. ToOkieMoNstZA

    May 21, 2009 at 14:51

    :pirate: Yarrrrr… maybe this is why the ps3 is not moving as many consoles as the wii & sexbox.,.,., pirates be stumped by this pretty sawg.

    Reply

  21. WitWolfyZA

    May 22, 2009 at 07:35

    you have a valid point there savvy yar…. :pirate:

    Reply

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