BlastProcessing
Member
Does anyone remember DIVX? Not the codec but Circuit City's DIVX player?
It was a Disc based movie system developed by the studios as an attempt to curtail rentals and reselling. They sold Discs for $4.50 that only worked for 48 hours. Then you had to pay again to watch more. The player required a phone line connection.
Wikipedia said:Each DIVX disc was marked with a unique barcode in the Burst cutting area that could be read by the player, and used to track the discs. The status of the discs were monitored through an account over a phone line. DIVX player owners had to set up an account with DIVX to which additional viewing fees could be charged. The player would call an account server over the phone line to charge for viewing fees similar to the way DirecTV and Dish Network satellite systems handle pay-per-view.
It was a massive failure. It had no chance compared to DVD which offered all of the digital benefits of without any of the bullshit. Divx completely dissolved in 6 months. Once the servers went down, all DIVX discs became unplayable.
DIVX FAQ said:Q: Is there some way I can play Divx discs indefinitely after the billing system shuts down?
A: Not that I am aware of.
Q: Is Divx dead?
A: Yes--all Divx accounts expired on July 7, 2001, after which registered players were directed to to dial in to the billing system for final decommissioning.
Q: What do I need to play Divx discs?
A: You need a registered Divx-compatible DVD player, and apart from a few players that were "unlocked" prior to the Divx shutdown, these no longer exist, making playback of Divx discs impossible
All the talk of an Always-Online Xbox made me remember think about it again for the first time in years. Online DRM for games solves the same problems that Disney et all where trying to solve in the 90's. After all, it is every publishers wet dream to find a way to sell you the same content multiple times.
This totally awesome training video shows how Circuit City tried to pitch this shit sandwich. If the Durango rumors are true I bet their pitch will be hilariously similar. My favorite part of that training video is how they instruct employees to answer questions about what would happen if DIVX went under.
I bring all of this up because I see a lot of people assuming that Always-Online DRM will succeed by the sheer will of Microsoft and Publishers. But DIVX had the full force of Hollywood behind it and went over like a fart in church.