Sony Joins the Offensive Against Pre-Owned Games

BanjoTed writes "In a move to counter sales of pre-owned games, EA recently revealed DLC perks for those who buy new copies of Mass Effect 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Now, PlayStation platform holder Sony has jumped on the bandwagon with similar plans for the PSP's SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3. '[Players] will need to register their game online before they are able to access the multiplayer component of the title. UMD copies will use a redeemable code while the digital version will authenticate automatically in the background. Furthermore ... anyone buying a pre-owned copy of the game will be forced to cough up $20 to obtain a code to play online."

Comments

Weeeellllllllll.

[Anonymous Coward]

If memory serves, isn't the PSP one of those systems it's (relatively) easy to pirate for?

I have a feeling Sony has traded getting no money from resales to getting no money because everyone's downloading a cracked version.

Re:Someone doesn't like second hand market?

[Daengbo]

If I don't want to play online, am I allowed to return the code to Sony for a $20 refund? I should be.

Re:Bypassing doctrine of first sale

[Carewolf]

It doesnt bypass anything. The first sale doctrine still applies, and Sony has to allow the transfer of DLC to other accounts. Of course someone has to sue them first to force them to respect the law, until that happens they can flaunt the law all they want.

Re:More than that.

[Gr8Apes]

I don't buy a Sony TV because of my past experiences with Sony's car radios etc. The whole DRM thing is useful to tell the good ones from the bad ones.

Having such cool products.... I wonder if they fully appreciate what they're doing to their brand.

I don't buy Sony products because:

• They have placed malignant rootkits on their audio CDs that compromised PCs
• Their quality over a period dropped significantly from their heyday in the 70s-80s
• They did underhanded deals to foist a sub-optimal solution (Blu-Ray) on everyone
• They continue to champion DRM to screw their customers over under the guise of "sticking it to the pirates" when the only thing they're doing is moving the population towards acceptance of a pay to play revenue model
• They are the reason we have Celine Dion

I think any of those alone are enough reason to boycott any company. Put more than one into a single company and there's no excuse to buy anything from them.