Sony threatens to evict naughty gamers from Home

Pimp up the Volume 42 Create Levels for Networking

"He stressed that Sony didn’t want to become a virtual police force for the network, .."

Why not, it would be a Great IDea, Sony San. The Virtual SamurAI

Extract from Sony EULA

Article 1) If and when Sony decide that you are not acting correctly, we reserver the right to make more money by blocking your machine and charging you

Article 2) Should such a block occur, please contact our letting agents to arrange a new, safer house.

Article 3) Our stores reserve the right to charge you a 'reconnection' fee after blocking out your machine and forcing you to buy another one. This fee will not exceed the annual revenue of the company.

Article 4) The company reserves the right to charge you the 'fee' to anyone should the end of year figures not please us

Maybe the answer's obvious but...

How could Sony know where I live?

Do they think they'll obtain a court order to get my address from my ISP (via my IP)?

Do they want to do the same to get my address from the company that delivered it (if it's not bought in store)?

Do they take my address when I register with the service (Nowhere Street, Anytown or just fake a real one)?

Or do they have sophisticated transmitters that connect to Sony's spy satellite network and relay the location of every PS3 in world back to central HQ as part of their efforts to make their customers more hostile towards them?

Pimp up the Volume 42 Create Levels for Networking

"He stressed that Sony didn’t want to become a virtual police force for the network, .."

Why not, it would be a Great IDea, Sony San. The Virtual SamurAI Yin for House of the Rising Sun Yakuza Yang.

AIBetaBeta for Venerable Input?

How can they say...

that they know where the players live? Afaik it's not required to give out your home address to buy a ps3. The only thing they can do is to brick the console and kick off the user account from the network and optionally ban the ip address. So buying a new console and resetting the cable modem would usually work, as in the case of the xbox360.

Besides all that, I don't think sony's idea of a console based second life would work, at least without some content, like actual exclusive games. If they could get wow or any other popular mmo to be ported to the ps3, that would give them a chance. Making a player created virtual world would not work when you want your players to pay for everything in it with real money.

vs MS

Wow, is Sony slipping up? We'd never hear MS admit that they can track you to your home. Not that they can't. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they can tell who's playing the Xbox 360 by matching button patterns.

Not that I'm worried, I don't game. And I don't have Vista.

Good luck!

I despise Sony, and I want to see them fail in this and every other venture, until the company is finally dissolved due to insolvency. Hey, a man can dream! They richly deserve failure for their malicious and just plain evil distribution of rootkit Trojans on their Sony-BMG audio CDs.

However, in the short term I would like to see their online service working as advertised - I hope their net.police succeed. Why? Because then Microsoft's Xbox Live service will have something that threatens them; I quit Xbox Live and sold both my Xbox consoles and all 75 of my Xbox games shortly after the Xbox 360 was released, because the Xbox Live service was overrun with "griefers" during the 3 weeks' runup to the 360 release, and it became obvious that Microsoft had no intention of doing anything about it.

So, good luck to Sony in this one venture - until Microsoft starts feeling the pain of competition and improves their own online service.

After that, Sony can rot in Hell.

The downside of a 'free' service

Microsoft probably do know where you live, if (like most people) you bought your subscription to Live with a credit card instead of a pre-pay voucher.

But Sony's system isn't charging, so what excuse do they have for asking for your address? I really hope it's not an IP Block ban, in case there are griefers at my ISP.

Sounds good

Though can we get anyone under 16 banned as well? Just because they annoy me.

And they don't need to know where you live, he probably just said that because he doesn't know what a MAC address is.

Great Marketing Tactic!

That statement must have made PS3 sales surge... not!

2nd hand value?

If they can block the actual machine, makes buying one on ebay a bit risky...

Anti-Fan boys

I can't belive that there are so many negative comments on here!

I have all of the next gen consoles because they are all good for certain games, I applaude Sony for having free online gaming, though I still pay for an X-box Live account (though this may change as M$ have only just admitted receiving my duff 360 at the repair centre after I sent it 4 weeks ago)

I'm also glad that they reserve the right to ban people, though I also feel sorry for the mug who buys the banned machine on flea-bay thinking they've picked up a bargin...

Bargain Bans

Actually, if I could pick up a "banned" PS3 for under $100, I could be interested.

Being that my interest in PS3 is pretty much limitted to using it as a cheap Cell development system, running Linux... :-)

So?

OK, so they kick you out of your virtual-universe? Who cares? I tried out Second Life, but didn't get it. What's the point? I haven't logged in for almost a year now. I can't imagine why anyone cares. I suppose somebody does, but they should be out having real-life fun instead of watching some rendered avatar doing those things.

I get it now!

So if the ps3 continues to undersell, then Sony has that many fewer people to monitor...

Clever!

The gleaming future

The Zony exec must accidentally have gotten into his part time role as Al Capone in "You mess with me I mess with you" showing now at a local dumbster. I give him three skulls for outstanding performance picturing his employer as a badly run mobster syndicate that wont take any crap from those pesky customers that dare buying their product, the company sure as hell knows where we live so you all better watch out.

I think the value added exec is right, people should bow in awe for the megalith and show total obedience by not buying any Zony products, its obviously not doing the company any good. It might have to do some proper corporate policing otherwize.

I wonder if brown khakis, black leather boots, goose marches and corporate chanting is the norm at Zony these days.

Of course I might be wrong about all this and decide to keep my Zony Eickman phone a bit longer.

There are ways to ban

For example you can ban an ip address, you can ban a user account and you can ban a machine. You can even brick one remotely, so if someone buys a ps3 or an xbox360, there is no guarantee, that the system is not disabled entirely or won't be disabled on the first network connect or at the start of a new game with an updated revocation list. In the current environment, users are only licensing the hardware and the software from the manufacturer and it has the right to end the contract, remove the software and disable the hardware. All current 'next gen' consoles have this remote bricking function built-in by default. If you want a machine you can call you own, then make one yourself from parts and use an os where you have the root password and not it's developers.

Re: Good Luck!

"I despise Sony, and I want to see them fail in this and every other venture, until the company is finally dissolved due to insolvency. Hey, a man can dream! They richly deserve failure for their malicious and just plain evil distribution of rootkit Trojans on their Sony-BMG audio CDs.

However, in the short term I would like to see their online service working as advertised - I hope their net.police succeed. Why? Because then Microsoft's Xbox Live service will have something that threatens them; I quit Xbox Live and sold both my Xbox consoles and all 75 of my Xbox games shortly after the Xbox 360 was released, because the Xbox Live service was overrun with "griefers" during the 3 weeks' runup to the 360 release, and it became obvious that Microsoft had no intention of doing anything about it.

So, good luck to Sony in this one venture - until Microsoft starts feeling the pain of competition and improves their own online service.

After that, Sony can rot in Hell."

LOL! Coz Microsoft are such a plesant, kind and honest company?! Sony's stealth crap on their CD's sucked but Microsoft ARE DRM, and ARE SPYWARE! Bloody Windows Genuine Advantage?! Biggest spyware I've EVER had on my machine, and I'm saying this as a genuine Windows user, I paid for mine! Ousting people off of XP and onto Vista anyway they can (Direct X), charging for online service (no online service, no matter how good, is worth paying for), the list goes on! Sony can really suck, and often do, and really rip off consumers, but so does EVERY other company! Don't go praising Nintendo for their cheap Wii too much until you checkout the price of accessories!!

I personally am happy with my current PS2, GC and original Xbox lineup for now, coz i've got too many games to complete for them still. When the prices are down on PS3, I'll be getting that, and no doubt a 360 around the same time. I very much doubt I'll be getting a Wii.

Also, for people bitching about the banning if people get out of hand, where's the shock? That's a pretty much standard policy around the net for these similar kinds of environments. And my guess is you'd have to do something pretty badass to get booted. And, don't forget, it's free!

Preemptive Strike

I like the fact that it's not even out yet and they're threatening the customers.

Bow to the dark side of the Force.

Here's a fairly unrelated question. Why does the UK have to pay the same rate as America for xbox live.

In America the service is a lot better they may download TV shows and Movies and the like in the media and entertainment section.

The only thing I’ve seen available here is a 2 minute HD-DVD promo with men dancing...

Feels a bit of a cop out.

And why do we get adds on the Xbox dashboard despite paying?

P.S does anyone know how to trigger/force the red ring of death error on the 360? My X360s DVD drive has stopped working and I cant get it fixed under warrantee.