Patents for various technologies happen every day. A lot never even make it beyond the patent stage. But with the whole used market thing really heating up and both developers and & console makers trying to combat it in various ways with things like DRM and online passes, people seem to get ancy when any technology that might even conceivably be used to completely curb used games pops up, regardless of if that is it's purpose or if it even ever materializes. Such a patent was apparently filed by Sony in early December, leading everybody to assume that the PS4 (or whatever it will be called) won't play used titles. Hell it even caused Gamestop's stock to drop 6% (because once Gamestop's stranglehold on the used market is gone, they are pretty much done). But at least for now, considering the negative impact it would have (not just Gamestop, but places that rent games would be affected as well, and god forbid you want to borrow a game from a friend), it's a high probability that it will never actually happen. Really the best thing for all parties involved is to wait for the digital market to become the dominant way to purchase console games, much like it is now for the PC. And it will happen. It might take a decade or so, but it'll happen. In the meantime, things like this are at best stumbles in the interim that will eventually sort themselves out.
Big Pokemon news coming? Apparently in 4 days there's supposed to a "big" announcement. Much as I would love it to be an announcement for a full blown Wii U Pokemon title, these so called announcements are rarely anywhere near what they are hyped up to be. I wouldn't be surprised if it was some special edition 3DS or something, but anything really noteworthy seems like a slim chance of happening.
E3 is still about 5 months away, but Microsoft has already started a countdown clock. Hopefully this is actually something meaningful, I think unveiling their new system (although I still think it coming out this Holiday season is not happening) is the only worthwhile reason they'd be doing this. And lord knows they need an exciting E3 showing, since I'm pretty sure their last one was when the 360 launched.
That's all for today, I should have another post up tomorrow. In the meatime, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Evil Dead
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