The next iteration to the oft troubled PlayStation 3 isn’t scheduled to hit E3 this year but that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning out tidbits about the console. Codenamed “Orbis” the new system isn’t looking to be a bona fide hit, especially with gamers. Say goodbye to backwards compatibility with PS3 games, just like when the PS3 Slims came to life. Which is really sad, especially with so many of the HD Collections that have been pumped out as of late. As a gamer, I’ve loved the nostalgia kick but don’t expect me to rebuy all of these titles – again. In fact I would buy “Orbis” games even less.

The most outrageous claim floating around is that the new system would have a used game lock. Gamers can buy a new release as either a digital or physical purchase but the real world version will come with several caveats. The disc would be locked to the console, to a single PSN account and could only be played when connected to the PSN. There would be no way for offline players to game and considering how often the network is down for maintenance, lots of people will be stuck not playing.

If someone were to trade in a used game, the new purchaser would be restricted on what they could do. They might be able to play almost like a demo of the game or a limited amount of time, all we know is it will be enough to infuriate the player. They might have to buy a code to unlock the game and be forced to register the game to their PSN account. All this is being done in an attempt to strangle out the used game market, a war the publishers and console makers shouldn’t wage.

Sony, listen carefully. If you go down this road, prepare to lose. Some gamers can’t nor won’t pay $60 for some of the utter crap that gets put out there and will spend their cash elsewhere if you limit how they can play. What about rentals or the best advertisement ever – word of mouth? Nothing helps sell software like being able to borrow a game from a bud then going out and buying it yourself. The PS network is sketchy and prone to outages beyond the scheduled ones, locking people to only playing on PSN is low and underhanded. If this is how you plan on doing things, prepare for your new system to be a waste of plastic and a colossal failure.

Related articles

• Sony PS4 may be codenamed Orbis, use AMD chip and 4K video (electronista.com)
• Next PlayStation code-named Orbis, reportedly won’t play PS3 or used games (bgr.com)