EricBall's Tech Projects

Ooh, I just had an idea. Part of the DVD Content Scrambling system was a table of disc keys encrypted with different player keys. The theory was if a player's decryption key was compromised that playback of future titles could be prevented by not including a valid entry for that player in the table. Well, what if there were a similar table on the game disc; except in this case the player key would correspond to a specific firmware version for the console. So if the console's firmware was compromised two things would happen:

1. New game discs would include the latest firmware (ala Wii) which would include a new public key to decrypt the disc key from the next entry in the table.

2. Prior entries in the table on these disc would decrypt to a value which would tell the firmware that they were invalid and an update was required.

 

This assumes that the firmware update process can't be compromised to extract the public key or to modify the firmware update. The process also assumes that a set of public/private keys are known from day one (so early games are compatible with later firmware) and are kept secret. I'm also assuming that knowledge of the ciphertext and plaintext doesn't compromise the public & private keys, and knowledge of the ciphertext, plaintext and public key doesn't compromise the private key.

I would think the most logical way to implement copy protection would be to have game disks kept in a caddy with some electronics. The caddy could protect the disks from damage, and the electronics could include logic which would be required for a game to function. In some cases, the electronics could even include some of the game logic. For example, the game might feed part of the game state through the chip and ask it whether any new monsters should spawn. The only way one could bypass the chip and play the same game would be if one knew the exact monster-spawning rules.

I don't know whether such a scheme would be effective. From the Apple2 days crackers have been patching games to remove copy protection, including stuff with dongles. Hardware cracking has also gotten very effective at reverse engineering chips. The additional cost would also be a deterrent to game creators. (One of the reasons for the success for the Playstation, and why all later consoles have followed suit, was it used CD replication facilities.)

The only way to prevent the games be copied is to play games online. If I'd release a new console, players will play games on-line only. No cartridges, no diskettes and no cds. Only downloading games on-line and play them.

 

It's the future of video games.

The only way to prevent the games be copied is to play games online. If I'd release a new console, players will play games on-line only. No cartridges, no diskettes and no cds. Only downloading games on-line and play them.It's the future of video games.

 

Yes, and the world is moving in that direction. However there are problems with that strategy:

1. The bigger the game the harder it is to make it a download due to local storage requirements, download speed & caps.

2. Server-side outages lead to lost sales - see the recent PSN outage for examples.

3. Consoles are often sold by stores with very little markup with the difference made up by new game and, increasingly, used game sales. Downloadable only games would likely mean the console would have to be sold at a higher MSRP. See PSP-Go for an example.