A thought hit me earlier about this though. It could be difficult to implement.

Sony has taken the iTunes model to heart: Allow up to 5 devices to use it, and once a device is authorized, make sure it is possible to move content between authorized devices without the internet getting involved. And also allow a user to use content without having to connect to the internet to check the license every time they use it.

So, while it makes sense that you can 'revoke the license', the problem is that there is no way to actually enforce it because the user can just "go dark" on a device or two and continue to use the content after giving up the license. Example would be: I have two PSPs, both authorized to the same account. I use one to give up the license and sell my copy, while the other one is my 'dark' PSP. After it got authorized, it hasn't been connected to the PSN at all. So I'd copy my license/game to my computer, and then to the dark PSP, and go to resell my copy. Until the 'dark' PSP goes online and talks to Sony's servers, they can't revoke the license off that device. 

Until you can figure out how to revoke a license on one of these 'dark' PSPs without getting in the user's face and requiring they have an internet connection at all times, I don't think this is feasible. Once they give you the license key, I think Sony realizes they couldn't revoke it even if they wanted to (realistically anyways), which is why reselling isn't supported. There is practically zero way to be 100% certain the license has been completely given up (unlike a book, or other physical copy), with the way it is setup right now.  

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Kolenka wrote:

A thought hit me earlier about this though. It could be difficult to implement.

 

Sony has taken the iTunes model to heart: Allow up to 5 devices to use it, and once a device is authorized, make sure it is possible to move content between authorized devices without the internet getting involved. And also allow a user to use content without having to connect to the internet to check the license every time they use it.

 

So, while it makes sense that you can 'revoke the license', the problem is that there is no way to actually enforce it because the user can just "go dark" on a device or two and continue to use the content after giving up the license. Example would be: I have two PSPs, both authorized to the same account. I use one to give up the license and sell my copy, while the other one is my 'dark' PSP. After it got authorized, it hasn't been connected to the PSN at all. So I'd copy my license/game to my computer, and then to the dark PSP, and go to resell my copy. Until the 'dark' PSP goes online and talks to Sony's servers, they can't revoke the license off that device. 

 

Until you can figure out how to revoke a license on one of these 'dark' PSPs without getting in the user's face and requiring they have an internet connection at all times, I don't think this is feasible. Once they give you the license key, I think Sony realizes they couldn't revoke it even if they wanted to (realistically anyways), which is why reselling isn't supported. There is practically zero way to be 100% certain the license has been completely given up (unlike a book, or other physical copy), with the way it is setup right now.  

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Correct, it's just an idea, implementation may be a little hard.  As you mentioned, the easiest, but most intrusive way would be to require an internet connection at game start WHICH SUCKS AND IS NOT AN OPTION .  Another would be that, assuming the PSN keeps track of what serial numbers of devices have downloaded, it could require all devices to 'revoke' their licenses before upload to market place can be completed.  This can be somewhat problematic if you've lost your PSP or it was stolen or broken, etc.  Or, perhaps you can only do this if you only have one device activated, just an idea, but I agree implementation would be difficult.

Ultimately DRM free is the way to go, but that requires changing of business models and paradigms and business really aren't ready for that yet.  Services, not content is the way of the future ^_^

Get your Portable ID!

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PS_man1984 wrote:
If it works for Apple and the iPod/iPod Touch, then why complain about it? Stop with all your whining.

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Who is whining?  Did you even read the post?

Get your Portable ID!

I'm just speaking to all the detractord of downloadable games, movies, music.

All the major companies are doing it now... Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, even Apple. Why is it that the PSP Go is causing so much hate and animosity? 

**bleep**, not even the iPod Touch had this much hate when it came out.

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Tyrsis wrote:
Sony would lose ridiculous amounts of money on this.  Your idea is noble, but business wise makes no sense whatsoever.

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While I agree with you, it sort of all depends.

If X0 = games sold straight from Sony right now.

X1 = games sold straight from Sony if this market place feature went into play

Z = Sony's profit per market place transaction

Y = total market place value of games sold

As long as XO < X1 + Z*Y - (1-Z) * Y

Then in general, it'd be a win.

Get your Portable ID!

Just as a comment to EncodedNybble:

There wouldn't need to be an upload process to Sony, which is actually the good news. They can just mark the license as revoked on their end, and that you have it for sale. A new license for the new user would be generated on the sale and attached to their account. To prevent the seller from using their copy, the PSP just has to be told to not accept the existing license anymore.

But yeah, license revocation of this sort is hard to implement because of the potential of 'dark' devices that never get the signal to ignore the license. And even then, clever hackers getting access to the flash could potentially tell the device to not ignore the license again.

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Kolenka wrote:

Just as a comment to EncodedNybble:

 

There wouldn't need to be an upload process to Sony, which is actually the good news. They can just mark the license as revoked on their end, and that you have it for sale. A new license for the new user would be generated on the sale and attached to their account. To prevent the seller from using their copy, the PSP just has to be told to not accept the existing license anymore.

 

But yeah, license revocation of this sort is hard to implement because of the potential of 'dark' devices that never get the signal to ignore the license. And even then, clever hackers getting access to the flash could potentially tell the device to not ignore the license again.

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Right I meant upload data in general, not the game.  So, auth info, payment info for when game is sold, stuff like that.

As for hackers, that's fine and shouldn't be an issue,  Sony doesn't seem to care about hackers that remove their DRM now (well, any more than they care about CFW in general), so I wouldn't think they'd spend any time on that.

Get your Portable ID!