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Comment by sivam | Hacker News Reader

>Just put a code into the game case that allows for discless play, and require an online connection to install the game to the hd and unlock it for discless play. Not rocket science

It is rocket science apparently

Person A does what you said and goes on a cruise ship playing the game before giving the disc to Person B.

Person B takes his disc, installs the game with an online connection. The server has no way of telling that Person A is still playing the game on his cruise.

Person B finishes installing, goes to a camping trip before giving the disc to Person C....

Person C installs the game, unplugs the network from the Xbox and gives the disc to Person D...

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Person A puts disc in, phones home, and installs. Person B puts disc in, phones home and finds out that the game is already registered.

Person B can't install unless Person A phones home to de-register. Person B can use a partial code to check if the game is registered.

Not rocket science.

Maybe you missed the point entirely.

Person A installs the game. Then goes on a cruise ship, playing the installed game, giving the disc to Person B.

Person B takes the disc and can't install it because the code that came with the game has already been used. If he or she wants to play it without the disc then they need to buy a new code.

Person B plays the game as much as they want then lends the game to Person C. Person B can no longer play the game because they don't have the disc, but Person C can play the game as much as they want.

Not rocket science.

I am confused here.

>If he or she wants to play it without the disc then they need to buy a new code.

From who? A used game code? Or a new one? How is that any different from the rules announced at E3 with no used games?

>Person B plays the game as much as they want then lends the game to Person C. Person B can no longer play the game because they don't have the disc, but Person C can play the game as much as they want.

So the disc is required to play? Like in the new rules?

Disc is required for disc-required play. Code is required for discless play.

They'd buy the code from the people that made the game, of course. If you want to install the game to the console and play it without a disc present then it's trivial to process that through a workflow that requires some sort of purchase.

You can have the best of both worlds if you like.

If it makes it any simpler just think of it as downloaded vs. disc-based games. You can pay to download the game to your console or you can play the game off of a disc. For convenience you could include a free download code in each new game, or even just provide a discount.

Except that publishers won't agree to such a deal, meaning that any console implementing such a policy would lose third-party support resulting in significantly decreased sales units, and ultimately billion dollar loses for the console manufacturer.

But now you have Person A and Person B playing the game at the same time with only 1 purchase of the game.

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