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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Sony has filed a patent which proposes the use of blockchain technology as a way to supplement DRM (digital rights management) in PS4 games. Right now, DRM on PS4 games is handled by third-party operators, but it seems like Sony wants to take matters into their own hands.
[...]There are a few implications here for PlayStation owners. For one, the future of being able to play a game on your friend’s consoles with your account (something which is currently allowed by Sony) is uncertain. Since blockchain authentication is more secure, and since ownership is repeatedly verified along the blockchain, there’s a chance only the purchasing user will be able to play games or consume other digital media on their device. There’s also the question of whether a user’s console will need to run the DRM process itself, and if so, whether any power will be taken up by this process.
Because everything's better with blockchain!
Source: https://techraptor.net/content/sony-files-patent-for-blockchain-based-drm-on-games
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @02:16AM (16 children)
Please excuse my ignorance here, but do you people really find it worth all this time and trouble just to play cowboys and indians (in space, as it may be) on your TV screen??
Ah well, I sure hope that we can defeat all DRM, no matter how it's done.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @07:59AM (2 children)
I get the idea the business-types are taking our love for computer-game playing for granted.
Maybe if they "sour the milk" enough, kids will give it up and computer games become about as popular as my dad's old raccoon coat.
I remember when MySpace was all the rage... and Yahoo. The business types could not resist killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Highly paid people tried to shoehorn yet more and more irritations to the site. Eventually, someone else came by and took their unwanted audience.
This would save us both a lot of irritation. Business won't have to worry about DRM, cause their stuff becomes about as interesting as a ball of used gum on the bottom of the desk, sit there for years, perfectly safe, and the kids will find something better to do.
I remember when I used to spend every free hour watching TV. Now, I have a fine TV, excellent picture and sound, and its covered in dust. The commercials simply got so numerous and onerous that I found other things to do, and the TV is about to go back in its box to the attic. Its only saving graces are that it has a VGA input and will run on 12 volts DC. My Arduino will drive it. Main reason I keep it is for earthquake/disaster preparedness, where AM/FM radio and OTA TV may be the only mass distribution news channels available.
Side note: I am quite well aware that the tiniest earthquake will shut the local internet down. I was ON the internet when an earthquake happened around Santa Barbara off the Southern California coast. Both Time Warner and Verizon went down for about an hour. I did not even know it was an earthquake that shut it down. I thought I had just gotten another pesky virus. I suddenly went offline and could not get connected to either one. It wasn't until the internet suddenly came back that I discovered why it went down like that. Both of 'em no less.
I talked to an AT&T guy about it, and he told me that was standard operating procedure. In the event of even a tiny quake, shut down power, so that in the event it was a forerunner of more aggressive shaking, the equipment won't suffer fault currents due to ruptured wiring and inductive load dumps should the quake interrupt a highly inductive load.
Taught me that if I was thinking of depending on our technology to help me, better think again.
Maybe I should consider the HughesNet Gen 5, as they have a $45/month plan with no games ( yeh, literally, the latency sucks for gaming ). But I am pretty sure that one is going to work when I need it. Having finicky internet is about as irritating to me as having a car that sometimes won't start. I am of the belief that we are due for our earthquake, probably starting at the Cascadia Subduction Zone, but no telling wherebouts the fractures will occur - and I don't wanna be cut off from everything if that happens, rather I would much rather be in the position of offering my still operating internet connection to my neighbors for skype calls and emails. I can always get 12 volts for the satellite receiver and router, and repoint the dish should it be knocked out of alignment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @11:09AM
Oh man, I wish I had a raccoon coat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @02:48PM
Satellite isn't great for Skype. It will kinda-sorta technically work, but the latency is annoying.
Satellite isn't just always-on, but the occasional weather disturbances generally clear up quickly. Much more so than landline damage.
Satellite is excellent for email and things like that where latency isn't an issue but fat bandwidth is good. It's even pretty acceptible for CLI remote work.
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday May 06 2018, @10:51AM (7 children)
Yes. My livingroom chair is more comfy than my computer chair and does not require other people enter my bedroom to make a social event of a game.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @03:39PM (4 children)
Yeah, well, the problem is when you jump through all these hoops like a trained dog, everybody else has to also if they want to play the game. This is just another example of the hostile environment created by the market economy. The tolerance of abuse makes it the standard. The individual has no choice but to either give in, or break in. Luckily for me, Pong and Solitaire are all the excitement I need, which makes me quite invisible in your marketplace. And my computer chair is extremely comfortable...
And who has the damn time anyway when one hand is clutching a beer and the other a burger? I can't work the remote with my feet...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 07 2018, @09:59AM (2 children)
I'm okay with consoles being black boxes. They started that way and it won't bother me if they end that way. The only real question then is do I get my money's worth from them during their lifecycle.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07 2018, @08:19PM (1 child)
You only reveal your comfortable position inside the market collective. And still the individual has no voice. How can they? The *economy of scale* simply can not work for them. It only measures the center of the biomass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @12:52PM
Troll? Really? Looks like somebody's personal feelings is clouding their judgement. They have no argument, so they engage in drive-by bullshit. What assholes!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @09:55AM
This.
When games got to the point of requiring drm drivers and so called anti cheat software I have up.
I would have liked to have played Runaway A road Adventure but the dam software broke something on install. Obviously they didn't want me to to play the game I purchased.
Humble bundle is good these days for drm free games on Linux
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:57PM (1 child)
I've been firmly in the camp of "computer in its own room, TV in its own room, bed in its own room".
Although I never really considered the the merits of wii sports, keggerators, and social events in my bedroom. The tv/nintendo is just to get the party started, right?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 07 2018, @09:54AM
It's more so I can browse porn without damaging the minds of my roommate's kids. Granted they're only here half the time but when I wanna look at boobs, I wanna look at boobs.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @12:24PM (4 children)
I am not a gamer and do not see the draw that untold millions do when it comes to gaming. Fortunately for everyone I am not the arbiter of what does or does not get created, built and/or distributed.
From my understanding gaming is a mix of entertainment, escapism and competition. It provides the ability to indulge in these activities with the convenience of not having to leave your home. Because gaming is an "instant on" activity it can be used as a short respite from the daily grid, or as an hours long departure from the pressures of life.
For me a Sunday afternoon of watching football satisfies my needs for entertainment, escapism and competition. Throughout the week I may read the sports pages or visit sports related websites to get my short respite from the daily grind.
Scheduling my weekends around a football schedule may seem odd to gamers who can play anytime they want. And I can understand that. My football friends think getting together to watch a game, either at home or at the stadium, is more social than gamers sitting alone and playing against people they may or may not know from just about anywhere in the world. But the gamers I know contest that, and for good reason. The social interaction and bonding may be different while gaming, but it is certainly significant in their online communities.
The costs of gaming, with consoles and games, are more than watching football on TV. Unless we have friends over and buy pizza and beer and make our nine layer taco dip and and and. Or if we grill up burgers and hotdogs and steaks. The cost of a game ticket can get ridiculous, not to mention the $7 hotdogs and $12 beers. So I guess one is more expensive than the other, but which one depends on your level of participation.
So let gamers game, and let sports fans watch their sport of choice. The important thing is we are letting off steam so we don't feel the need to blast shortsighted individuals who try to reduce things they don't understand to trivialities.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @06:54PM
Nothing to add, just "well said!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07 2018, @12:47AM (1 child)
The problem isn't that people like playing games. The problem is that these people tolerate and pay for the companies who make these proprietary games and devices to abuse them. This means that companies have no incentive to not be abusive, and so the abuses become more and more widespread as time goes on. Why would this ever change when the foolish addicts keep coming back?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07 2018, @01:17AM
Just like $1,500 PSLs, $180 jerseys, $40 parking, $12 beers and $7 hotdogs. If we keep paying it the NFL teams will keep raising prices.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 08 2018, @01:04PM
Like the others, you're not getting it. Your market collective makes life difficult for those who disagree. Capitalism is communist. There is no regard for the individual. Disenfranchise them, and all the infringement of copyright/patent privileges becomes quite justifiable, not that it isn't anyway.