Proprietary storage for consoles is bad for gamers

EDITOR'S NOTEfrom Rob Savillo

We can all thank the Digital Milliennum Copyright Act (DMCA) for making proprietary storage possible. The DMCA makes it illegal to break (or disseminate information about how to break) any digital lock placed on a copyrightable work -- and that includes the firmware for hard drives. Microsoft has already claimed the DMCA defense against third-party memory cards from Datel.

As a result, we get vastly overpriced storage solutions from the likes of Microsoft; now Sony has jumped onto the bandwagon with the upcoming PlayStation Vita handheld, which is unfortunate when you consider that the PlayStation 3 supports any off-the-shelf 2.5" hard drive.

Storage space is becoming a big issue for modern consoles. As games and movies start to take up more disc space and downloadable content becomes more prevalent, we need more room to store it all.

Installing a single Xbox 360 game to the hard drive can take up 6 to 7 GB of room, and Xbox Live Arcade Games are usually over 1 GB nowadays. We are forced to seek out bigger storage solutions as time goes on. Unfortunately for us, companies such as Microsoft and Sony like to take advantage of this.

Recently, Sony announced pricing for Memory Sticks for their new portable gaming device, the Vita. Like their PSP Memory Sticks before this, they are charging rather high prices for basic flash memory (the 32GB stick is $130 MSRP, for example).

There has been a wave of outrage on the 'net ever since because the Vita will not support any other kind of storage -- not even standard SD cards.

Sony has come forward and said that the move was for security reasons. While I can understand their concern for security (knowing that the PSP was probably one of the most hacked gaming devices ever), it still doesn't matter. Sure, proprietarty storage might slow the tide of compromised systems, but it won't stop hackers. Nothing will. In my mind, Sony is doing this for one reason: to make more money.

They aren't the only ones to do such a thing. Microsoft's Xbox 360 came with a 20 GB hard drive when it released; small even for the time, but it seemed like enough. Of course, the size we need has increased in the last six years.

Microsoft offered bigger storage solutions rather quickly but charged ridiculous prices for it. When their 120 GB hard drive first released, it retailed for nearly $200 even though standard drives could be easily found for half that price at the time. Since the hard drives Microsoft sold were the only option (legally, at least), we were forced to buy them.

Proprietary storage isn't a new idea, but it certainly is a hated one. The idea that a company can get away with charging ridiculous prices for extremely basic storage is unbelievable. Boycotting sales of the storage isn't really possible since the devices are much too popular (not to mention that gamers don't historically have the strongest of wills).

We are forced to wait for bigger drives to be released, thus reducing the previously ridiculously priced drive to a lower retail tag and achieving a happy medium between price and size. I, myself, kept my 20 GB hard drive for three years before finally just getting one of the new Xboxes that came with a 250 GB drive. Paying those prices wasn't in my best interests.

Early adopters of the Vita (and the 360 before it) will be forced to pay these outrageous prices if they need more storage. Those who wait will get them for much cheaper down the line but the number of early sales will still prove to Sony that they can keep doing this.

While I don't see an easy solution to this problem, I can't help but wonder why we keep letting them get away with highway robbery such as this in this day and age.

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Danny Concepcion

December 03, 2011

I think you answered your own question when you mentioned how gamers don't have strong willpower.

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Daniel Sims

December 05, 2011

Well at least Nintnedo still let's you use standard SD cards on the Wii and now the 3DS.

Matthew

I have a novel idea.

Security certificates. Anyone in the financial business knows that every piece of technology used has to be authorized as a recognized machine to access any company services. Why not do the same on consoles?

Let us buy a HDD or SD card. Plug it in, go online and authorize it. Tie it to a hardware based/protected piece of hardware. Problem solved. If you want a bigger HDD, transfer and authorize the new one. We live in a different time than the gameboy. It's the best of both worlds. We get more storage, they get security. The day of I bought it and I shouldn't have to do anything else to do everything I want doesn't exist. There has to be some balance between a company being able to be successful financially and customers feeling like they own the product they paid for.

Justin Davis

Should those companies be able to make money off something they didn't come up with? If they are going to use standard Flash memory or what are essentially SD cards, why can't they just use non-locked cards? I don't really see why we allow them to make money off them at all.

Edward Varnell

it would have been smart if sony created a cloud based system with a home account. Save your data at a wi fi area and have it saved there. That, or let the developers go retro and do a 6 digit password to allow gamers to continue from their last point of play.

Cloud saves would be a good start but the sticks are needed to hold things like DLC and music/movies for the device, since it is a multipurpose device. Things like that would be too big for the cloud.

Even more annoying, the Vita game "cards" were going to have set aside space for game saves and DLC so users wouldn't have to have an actual memory card. Apparently, that idea has gone out the window.

your right. I forgot all about the dlc and other media. No matter what, Sony is banking on the sell of these things. This could hinder them and push the 3DS system as the handheld to own. Specially if the games, are not really there and that battery life.

Jonathan Oyama

I'm actually surprised that Microsoft provided a new cloud save feature in the new dashboard. This could get rid of many of the pricey removable storage items that players need just to save.

The Wii has some form of hard drive with cloud-style functions, but I don't even think Nintendo matches up to the massive storage capabilities that Microsoft can handle.

Sony could have really taken advantage of cloud storage. You never know--they could add it in if they are losing their fanbase to the other game console companies.

There currently is a cloud save function for Playstation Plus members but I would love to see Sony expand the program to more people/devices.

Dave Long

I doubt this is a money-making exercise - after all, the memory cards are unlikely to be a high-turnover item for consumers (most will buy one and use it for the life of their PSV), and the prices for the cards sound about right for a new format with in-built security features (ie, it doesn't look like there's a lot of price gouging there). It's a _very_ different situation from the X360 hard drive, which was just a standard drive. I also think it's a genuine attempt to stop piracy - don't forget that the PSP has sold considerably more than the 360, and yet very rarely features in game sales figures, in large part because piracy on the system is so widespread (I know more people with CfW PSPs than not, and while I'll tell them they shouldn't pirate, I can't stop them).

Yes, it'll likely be hacked at some stage, but I'd expect the hack to be much more like that on the PS3 - far more limited, and harder to implement, so keeping the hacked systems to pretty hardcore hackers, rather than the broader-based hacking seen on most other platforms (I think it was Capcom that said recently that the PS3 was the only platform where piracy wasn't having a significant impact on revenue).

Would be nice if they found a way of dealing with all the bottom-sucking scum that are the pirates as well. We don't blame Governments from collecting taxes to pay for police to stop theft, and likewise we shouldn't be crazy surprised when tech companies have to charge higher prices to stop it in the digital realm. In both cases, the people to blame aren't the Government/companies, it's the people that won't pay their way, but live or play off the work of others, raising costs for the legitimate citizens/consumers.