Gaming Encryption chip will end piracy, open markets, says Bushnell

[The Helper]

Speaking at yesterday's Wedbush Morgan Securities annual Management Access Conference, the Atari founder (Nolan Bushnell) suggested that game piracy will soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new chip.

"There is a stealth encryption chip called a TPM that is going on the motherboards of most of the computers that are coming out now," he pointed out

"What that says is that in the games business we will be able to encrypt with an absolutely verifiable private key in the encryption world - which is uncrackable by people on the internet and by giving away passwords - which will allow for a huge market to develop in some of the areas where piracy has been a real problem."

Encryption chip will end piracy, open markets, says Bushnell

Speaking at yesterday's Wedbush Morgan Securities annual Management Access Conference, the Atari founder suggested that…

www.gamesindustry.biz

 

[IceWarrior98]

Piracy won't end because of something so simple as a chip...Seriously dude, people know more about computers than the companys that make them, pirates always find a way.

 

[The Helper]

Read hard to break the type of deal they are talking about here. It is an offshoot of the governments program to research a way to keep foreign companies from using our technology. Not saying it can't be done but more than likely any bypass would not be a software solution.

 

[esb]

I love my old computer? =D

 

[Fragglez]

With some doubt, all i will say is that people won't buy these motherboards that pirate it up.

I can almost guarantee there will be a company that won't put that chip in.

If the companies force you to have it as a minimum, gg sales. gotta have some seriously good game for that to happen.

 

[sqrage]

I love my old computer? =D

With some doubt, all i will say is that people won't buy these motherboards that pirate it up.

Did you read the article? You wont be able to play the games without that chip, it's what checks the CDKey.

"What that says is that in the games business we will be able to encrypt with an absolutely verifiable private key in the encryption world - which is uncrackable by people on the internet and by giving away passwords - which will allow for a huge market to develop in some of the areas where piracy has been a real problem."

This guy is an idiot.

 

[Asehujiko]

And to make matters worse for the costumer, non-chip based aplications are not compatible with this thing.

And most likely everybody with the ability to read a website is able to circumvent it. The people who can't are also the people that would not pirate anything anyway.

 

[esb]

Oh.. no I didn't read it >_<

Well... that sucks. Good thing I don't play games anyway.

There is nothing uncrackable

 

[Darthfett]

Well considering I just barely got a new computer, I'm going to be playing older games for a long time. I'm not going to buy a new computer for a few newer games.

 

[Monovertex]

I just hope that SCII will not be chip-based :|...

 

[seph ir oth]

I wouldn't worry. Hackers and crackers that work for the public's good will surely break this "chip" into submission, allowing us to get around it once again with our Torrents, just as they have done in the past with other software. :thup:

 

[DDRtists]

I've heard this stuff before, and none of the other ways ever worked...

 

[ShadowTek]

Not saying it can't be done but more than likely any bypass would not be a software solution.

Considering the widespread use of mod chips for game consoles, finding a hardware solution probably wouldn't be to difficult for the average person.

 

[TheDamien]

I've heard this stuff before, and none of the other ways ever worked...

This.

 

[WC3_map_fan]

it wont happen.. straight out it will fail.. we have everything nescessary to break it.. if we have state of the art security systems that can apparently be hacked (like on movies like Die Hard 4.0) then we can surelly posses the techno stuff easilly enough to pass this sort of thing.. anyhow i am just a dude that plays to much comp and watches to much TV and if this chip comes out i am going to have to get a job + a life :thdown:

 

[ShadowTek]

"There is a stealth encryption chip called a TPM that is going on the motherboards of most of the computers that are coming out now," he pointed out .

Does anyone have a list of these currently complying manufacturers?

The only way that you could force a manufacturer to implement these protocols is with legislation. But, enacting legislation takes far longer than it takes for someone to solve the puzzle and spread the news.

This appears to me to be nothing more than a product advertisement. And as with every advertisement, there comes the obligatory bullshit marketing.

 

[enouwee]

Does anyone have a list of these currently complying manufacturers?

Most Asus boards have a TPM connector which you can plug an option module into. It costs about $10 - $20. Some GigaByte mainboards already have an on-board TPM 1.2 module, like some X38 (or X48?). IBM/Lenovo and other business-class notebooks/desktops are delivered with such chips for years now (either TPM 1.1 or TPM 1.2). It's a defacta-part of all Intel-based Apple products and serves as OS-lockdown to their own hardware. Still hackable, but not guaranteed to always work.

The whole TPM-story is nothing new and it's quite surprising to have Bushnell dig it out only now. The whole Palladium/NGSCP thing has been flamed years ago during the Vista/Longhorn debacle. Vista's BitLocker takes advantage of it.

Basically, it is secure (for the vendors) and can't be "hacked" permanently. Should a series of mainboards be "compromised", they'll be blacklisted, either individually or completely, to the depends of the legit owners. The effort to fake a valid module isn't a simple task (it kicks before the operating system boots) and locking out someone is only a matter of adding an "serial number" to an online list.

The situation is quite similar to the BluRay/HD-DVD/DVD systems with a slight difference: the system isn't carved in stone (say: optical disk) but can evolve. Unless the situation has changed from what I read 1-2 years ago, there are many key pairs involved, some under user control, some under the vendors'.

There are however better and simpler solutions, like Valve's Steam. Even offline games like Portal require an online validation in order to unlock the game, while online games can only be played with a valid Steam account. In case of suspected abuse, the account is banned. One may cry "collateral damage", but it's strictly business: if you give away your credentials or get them stolen, no more gaming for you.

 

[Sooda]

Cracking this new module on motherboards depends will PC manufacture employees leak the top secret validation codes (vendors' keys). With movies leaking to public before premier and same thing with PC games it may even happen.

 

[dunpealx4]

LOL! people can just use their old PC to download stuffs then transfer to the other machine.

 

[DDRtists]

LOL! people can just use their old PC to download stuffs then transfer to the other machine.

Wrong.