Does the XBOX and/or Gamecube have technology to stop piracy?

[jfall]

Just wondering if Microsoft or Nintendo have done anything different with these new game consoles to make it hard for people to pirate games much like what happened with the Playstation? Does anyone know if there is a way to do this yet with either system? I am not trying to flame or promote piracy. I am just looking for the information, I would imagine that Microsoft and Nintendo have had piracy in mind when they designed these new consoles, I would like to find out what they are doing to prevent it.

 

[AmRoD]

yea alot

nintendo has it's own disc size and the disk is read backwards(?? not 100% sure but that's what i've read)

the xbox boots off 2nd layer of the dvd and it's a dvd

 

[Sugadaddy]

Xbox uses DVD-9 (dual layer) disks, which are impossible to copy right now. They also have the data written from the outside of the DVD towards the center. (it's usually the opposite) I think some people said the TOC was on the top side of the DVD, but I'm not sure about that. Anyways, CloneCD can't see the game part of the DVD.


I don't know that much about GC, but they use their own DVD format, and I think they're also dual layer.

 

[jfall]

So, it will more then likely be possible for people to pirate the games for either system.. but it won't be as easy as playstation. DVD Burners may allow it in the future? I guess they will never stop piracy 100%, but if people have to go out and buy DVD burners or other equipment to do it, then it should stop most people from doing it?

 

[royaldank]

I read an article the other day that the GameCube in Japan has been hacked allready. They ended up hooking it up to an external harddrive to get the contents off. They were speculating that a regular disc will fit in the tray, but you wouldn't be able to close the top...so something was going to have to done about that.

As for XBOX...I suspect that it will happen either with DVD burners, or networking the unit up to your home computer and loading it off a mounted drive. That would be cool if you could have a 100 gig HD with a sh!tload of games to pick from.

 

[jfall]

Seems is if though the companies have really thought this out. Especially if you need a dual layer DVD burner. They probably won't be affordable for another 6 months to a year or so. Doesn't seem like piraters will have it very easy with the xbox or the gamecube, or at least not as easy as the playstation was. I am also pretty sure that Microsoft will continue to fight piracy even if someone finds a way around it. They will more then likely start introducing more protection on the actual game DVD's.

 

[mithrandir2001]

If a developer can strongly stave off piracy, then I'd like to see some aggressive pricing of games. Reward legitimate users, who have been subsidizing pirates for years. No pirates = no high prices to compensate for the piracy.

 

[royaldank]

Come on...do you really think they are going to stop pirating games? Every system made has been pirated. These two will be no exception.

 

[Shantanu]

I think of consoles thus far, Dreamcast had - in theory - the best anti-piracy measures. The frequency used to read the data was proprietary. Unfortunatly, the game companies never bothered to make the games beyond 700MB, so it was eventually possible to rip the data to a normal CD, and since the DC could read those (failure #2), it was possible to pirate.

Game Cube's anti-piracy measures are also good. Proprietary CD size will be hard to beat, unless Nintendo was dumb enough to make the tray large enough to hold regular CD's.

 

[JACKHAMMER]

<< These two will be no exception. >>



I would take a wait and see approach to that.

 

[royaldank]

<<

<< These two will be no exception. >>



I would take a wait and see approach to that. >>



Yeah, that's why I've got a PS2 and not an XBOX or GameCube...

 

[piku]

Normal sized CD's don't physically fit in the Gamecube.

 

[LiQiCE]

It would be really nice if they reduce the price of games to say $25-30 MSRP sortof like the way DVD movies are priced. That would encourage me to buy games that I'm not 100% interested in and wouldn't be upset if they're only mediocre. It really pisses me off that there are some games out at $50 MSRP and they SUCK. If you're going to make me spend $50 on a game then at least make it a worthwhile purchase. Capcom had a great idea when they priced a lot of their games at $30 MSRP because they knew that the games weren't stellar and don't demand a $50 pricetag. People have just gotten so used to paying $50 for games that game companies seem to be willing to release crap and sell it to the consumers at $50 a pop.

I for one would own a lot more games if they were priced at $25 a piece rather than $50... Right now, I usually only buy the blockbuster games and a few games here and there that I know I'll like.

I think lowering the price would also help to reduce piracy some since a lot of people's reasoning for piracy is that they can't afford to spend $50 on a game, and some people argue that its not worth $50 to spend on a game that sucks or is only mediocre.

 

[SgtZulu]

That's why i'm happy with the SNES purchased at a garage sale with 10 games for only $20.

You must be really dumb to pay $50 for a game.