Piracy in console gaming IS an issue.

These days you can find game's on bittorent for download even before they hit retail, this could present a bigger threat to people making these games for 360, ps3 and even the Wii.

Mod chips pretty much override the following.

CD keys

and

Write protection.

Console games have never tried using a CD key for each copy of a game put out, and in all honestley CD keys are not a very effective way to prevent piracy.

But one thing that DOES work very well with software put out these days is the USB dongle.



This, if you've never seen or heard of it before, basiclly is a key, where it enables the software to be installed. Some of you might be familar with music software such as Pro-Tools and such, these all require actual physical hardware (the USB dongle) to be installed and some programs even require it to still be inserted while the program runs.

There are even USB keys in existance that have a led screen and read you a number off to put in for your software. While alot of this stuff is not compltley hack proof, it gets pretty damn close because it is actual hardware, instead of just code.


So my main question is, Why has this not been tried with the console market?

Now I'm aware of the almost immidate response most people would give me, "Production cost would be too much." Well, that's wrong because produceing these things in mass would not cost much at all. And considering how many more copies you could sell if you're game had less chance of being pirated, I think it would defintley be worth it.

I work at a company that buys A LOT of USB keys right from SafeNet, and really It saves us money instead of costing us more in the long run.

I Just hope this idea is put into use in the future, because with the right steps, it wont matter how much you mod your console, if you dont have the right dongle then the game will not run, plain and simple.