Game Format (physical Format) Of (ahahahah!) Commercial Games?

[giovanni]

In the hard hard possibility that there will be some commercial games, how we can buy them?

I'm asking for this because if we won't be ale to see a physic thing (like DVD for PS2) in the shops I doubt that someone will be intrested in that console...
Downloading the games is also an advantage for the illegal scene...

P.S: How about USB cartridges?

 

[bennyboy]

Um. How about SD cards?

 

[Mutilator]

The gp2x commercial games were sold as downloads and as SD cards containing the game. If we were to see commecial games on the pandora they may end up being sold by gbax

 

[giovanni]

Um. How about SD cards?

Ehm... :blush:... You're right...

P.S: Remain the problem of the possibility for the SD cards (and USB device) to be read and copy by the computer...

 

[bennyboy]

Um. How about SD cards?

P.S: Remain the problem of the possibility for the SD cards (and USB device) to be read and copy by the computer...
I think SD cards have unique identifying numbers built into a non user-accessible area which can be used to tie games to only one card, but I'm not sure. I believe Payback did this..?

 

[Squidge]

The GP32 and GP2X have commercial games, I see not reason why the Pandora shouldn't sometime in its life.

For copy protection you can use PSN field of CID which is a read-only 32-bit serial number, and also use the MID, OID, PNM and PRV fields if really want to. There is also mutual authentication and a cipher algorithm to protect from illegal usage of the card content. You could even put the entire games executable into the protected section of the card (not readable by a PC) if you wanted to.

SD cards are much more secure than USB sticks.

 

[CCmachined]

Um. How about SD cards?

P.S: Remain the problem of the possibility for the SD cards (and USB device) to be read and copy by the computer...
I think SD cards have unique identifying numbers built into a non user-accessible area which can be used to tie games to only one card, but I'm not sure. I believe Payback did this..?


I bought Payback on SD and copied the entire game (300-400mb i believe) onto my main 2GB card to avoid having to switch carts (always annoyed me on a portable system with potentially 4+GB of storage) out of curiosity and... it worked!

Might have something to do with the fact that Payback is also downloadable.

 

[giovanni]

The GP32 and GP2X have commercial games, I see not reason why the Pandora shouldn't sometime in its life.

For copy protection you can use PSN field of CID which is a read-only 32-bit serial number, and also use the MID, OID, PNM and PRV fields if really want to. There is also mutual authentication and a cipher algorithm to protect from illegal usage of the card content. You could even put the entire games executable into the protected section of the card (not readable by a PC) if you wanted to.

SD cards are much more secure than USB sticks.

Oh....right....serial number...I forgot it and I'm for the protected section on the SD card.
Ok, thanks to everyone - problem solved.

 

[aq21]

Of course, since the application is getting the serial number from the kernel it is trivial to bypass.

The DRM features of SD cards cannot be used, since Linux has no support for those features.

 

[marshal]

Having too much protection just is too hustle to the consumer IMO

Ppl using the pandora don't want to carry 10sd card if they have bought 10 game... makes no sense to me.
The number of commercial game for the pandora will be pretty limited I guess, and I would expect that ppl would actually bought those if there are interested in them and the price is right.

Just look at pc gaming... the games with a lot of copy counter-measures can be pirated just like any other...

 

[Prometheus]

Ppl using the pandora don't want to carry 10sd card if they have bought 10 game... makes no sense to me.

Personally, I wouldn't mind it. That said, I carry a mint-tin in my pocket with 12 DS games in it most of the time... :lol:

 

[fischju2000]

The DRM issue has been discussed many times, the OMAP3530 has built in hardware level content restriction called M-Shield. I think commercials devs would trust this more than anything else.

 

[OrR]

While selling games on SD cards is possible, it's not really practical because it's expensive. The Pandora won't be in stores for a while so there would be no advantage in having physical game packages. I see piracy as a separate issue. Not sure physical media do anything to prevent piracy. The DS for example has very easy piracy. Even if you can prevent piracy through using physical media, you also prevent legitimate sales because of the increased price and it is probable that you lose more sales than you gain.

 

[Game_over]

Correct me if I'm wrong but, you can pretty much use M-shield and the SD-card as some sort of lock and key mechanism for security, kinda like what Nintendo had for the NES (minus the hat trick).

And yeah, don't forget SD was designed with security in mind.

 

[giovanni]

While selling games on SD cards is possible, it's not really practical because it's expensive. The Pandora won't be in stores for a while so there would be no advantage in having physical game packages. I see piracy as a separate issue. Not sure physical media do anything to prevent piracy. The DS for example has very easy piracy. Even if you can prevent piracy through using physical media, you also prevent legitimate sales because of the increased price and it is probable that you lose more sales than you gain.

Yes, but my intresting in "physical game" is not for the prevention of the piracy.
What I want to say is that an X person won't be intrested in a system that is completely absent in his daily life... for example <<I, consumer, intrested in video games go everyweek to the game shop wher I can see the new games on sale: PSP, PS3, NDS but where is this famished "Pandora"?>>
I don't know if what I'm saying is clear but do you see the point?

 

[Vorporeal]

The Pandora is not (yet, at least) a mainstream handhold that will be sold in stores. It is a bit of a niche product, catering to people who know about and are interested in the community. Maybe, if it takes off, it could see some larger-scale distribution, but that is unlikely. We'll leave that up to Engadget and Gizmodo and friends giving the Pandora some good reviews.

 

[Wolfsclaw]

Take also into consideration that for the GP2x, 30.000+ units (afaik) have been sold and it has seen just some few commercial games.
For the Pandora, about 4000 will have been sold till February/March (release date). Let's say each batch holds 4000 units, that means it takes about 7 more batches after the first one to get to 30.000, and thats going to be a long time, if it is ever going to happen.

I doubt any commercial games developer will develop [high-quality] commercial games such as Payback for the GP2x for a device with so few sold numbers over the world. Pandora is a pretty damn niche product, just because it's also pretty damn good doesn't mean that commercial games developers will see it as an opportunity to make a whole lot of money.

That is, if Craigix & Co. don't find a way to sell 30.000 units within 2-3 years (which could be possible, but actually i have no idea about the possibility of this)

 

[Creature XL]

For copy protection you can use PSN field of CID which is a read-only 32-bit serial number, and also use the MID, OID, PNM and PRV fields if really want to. There is also mutual authentication and a cipher algorithm to protect from illegal usage of the card content. You could even put the entire games executable into the protected section of the card (not readable by a PC) if you wanted to.

SD cards are much more secure than USB sticks.

Maybe some people never wondered what the "S" and the "D" stand for in "SD Card"

 

[emcp]

For copy protection you can use PSN field of CID which is a read-only 32-bit serial number, and also use the MID, OID, PNM and PRV fields if really want to. There is also mutual authentication and a cipher algorithm to protect from illegal usage of the card content. You could even put the entire games executable into the protected section of the card (not readable by a PC) if you wanted to.

SD cards are much more secure than USB sticks.

Maybe some people never wondered what the "S" and the "D" stand for in "SD Card"


i was thinking the exact same
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card

 

[aq21]

i was thinking the exact same
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital_card



Did you actually read that?

"This DRM has not been seen "in the wild" and few, if any, devices appear to provide support for it."