copyprotection posts (Subscribe to this feed)
Levine confirms no PS3 BioShock and does mea culpa on PC issues -- success hurts
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Aug 24th 2007 at 2:15PM }
Levine admits there were "real screw-ups" and he "understands why people are pissed off" about the online copy protection verification for the game and it comes down to a classic victim of their own success story. They couldn't have planned the game would be such an insta-hit and they weren't prepared, so when all those people tried to verify their PC versions online during installation the server crashed. He also reiterated patches are in the works for the FOV issues and that the copy protection limit locked in for PCs will be raised. He also says at some point they will remove the online verification. He says there is nothing "insidious" in their copy-protection, it's the same as any other game that uses the same protection program.
Then there is the lingering question of the rumored PS3 version of BioShock found in the PC code. Levine responds quite clearly, "I promise you, there is no secret plan about the PS3 that we're keeping from people. There's no PS3 development going on that we're hiding. There's lots of stuff that gets into game code, plans change over time and we got an exclusive deal with Microsoft ... that's not a Rosetta Stone discovery."
Update: Full interview with Ken Levine is up.
Component to HDMI cables already exist, already pointless
by Zack Stern { Mar 30th 2007 at 6:15PM }
Our BFF, Engadget, got a tip about an upcoming component to HDMI cable for the non-elite 360, and we're left shrugging our shoulders. Such adapters already exist at a steep cost; you plug component and audio cables in one end, and a single HDMI cable feeds out the other.That's cool if you're down with OCD, but for the rest of us, why bother? One feature of HDMI is to run a digital signal for audio and video over a single cable. Connecting each audio and component feed into an analog-to-digital converter negates that one-cable, digital-only benefit.
Another "feature" of HDMI is its support for HDCP, and these adapters can't handle that copy-protected signal. What that means is someday, when a studio executive pushes a red button to turn on an Image Constraint Token for new movies, an HD-DVD enabled 360 will down-scale HD movies to DVD-quality; full quality in that future scenario will require a direct HDCP connection between a device and a TV. And some of our fancy HDTVs don't even support HDCP. Thank you, piracy panic.
Maybe Microsoft is preparing an HDMI cable to interface with the original 360's video-output port. Even then, the interface change won't impact games; it's only a convenience and movie issue.
Note that pictured adapter includes component to VGA cable.
Sony ponders destruction of used game market [Update 1]
by Nick Doerr { Jul 12th 2006 at 3:00PM }
The technology to prevent playing unlicensed software has been patented and should be delved a little deeper into. Let's face it -- we probably buy most of our games used. Heck, we spent $990 million on used games last year. Sony's new technology registers our games when we load 'em up and prevent any other system to play them. It even prevents any other copy of the same game to be played. Scratched up your copy of your favorite game? Oops, you can't buy another one because it won't work. So very, very sorry.That seems a bit extreme. Perhaps there will be ways around it or perhaps it won't be as harsh as the story at 1up.com makes it out to be. Sony could be sharing what the patent has the ability to do, but won't necessarily utilize every feature. Still, this may cripple our used game market or at the least hinder it. If anything happens, let's hope it's something like a timestamp feature on games so we won't find a used game at a lower price two days after the game's release. That gives the developers and publishers more time to make money and keeps the bargain-hunters waiting for a few weeks. One month wouldn't be too long to wait for a game to appear used, would it? What does everyone think? Should there be a timestamp on games, full protection, or none at all leaving doors open to piracy and whatnot?
[Update: after a comment, the URL with the patent is included to stop the "fake news" nonsense]
Security hole found in early HD-DVD software
by Ken Weeks { Jul 8th 2006 at 7:05PM }
We all know that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies will be chock-full of anti-piracy measures, but it looks like one glaring hole didn't get plugged:Computer magazine c't has discovered that the first software players running on Windows XP allow screenshots of the movies to be created in full resolution. To do so, you only need to press the Print key on your keyboard while the movie is running. Such a screenshot function could then be automated to produce copies of HD movies both from Blu-ray Discs and from HD DVDs picture by picture. As c't calculated, the performance of current PC systems is sufficient for a clean recording using this procedure. Once a pirate has all of the individual pictures, they can be put together to create a complete movie and mixed with the audio track that is grabbed separately.
This copy protection hole affects both Sony's first Blu-ray PC Vaio VGC-RC 204 and Toshiba's first HD DVD notebook Qosmio G30. Both of them use special OEM versions of Intervideo's WinDVD player software.
It's amusing that the powers-that-be would miss something so obvious as the good ol' print key. You'd probably be more interested in this news if your console was mortally tied to the success of a certain format.
