@ShadowRJ That's part of the thinking too, the comments on here about fluff Sony/etc, the ones we've been seeing since this no disc future announcement pale in comparison. It's hard to put into words because there are many camps and existing ideologies over there, each one justifies it's existence and Ethical hacking did eventually colour my own thinking too. So for me a disc'less future has Ethical implications. i.e. parts of the world depend on physical imports, VPN detection has become stronger while customer protection has become weaker, and ultimately censorship is tipped to become worse because of those regional locks. We monitor both the Russian side and Ukrainian side for account bans (due to VPNS) and we're both being hit with them. We discuss it regularly on Telegram/Tor/etc, try to track the numbers. So what do people do when they lose their account over red-tape?
- Visit vendors like this, buy an account (previously verified) and source an imported machine to match the account. This is because of sanctions and because Sony have made it so easy to hijack accounts. I could buy accounts all day long for pennies on the dollar, would I? never, I respect the person who was robbed even if I don't know them, but others do it regardless.
I look at it like this: I have two copies of the Harry Potter game, one my Government censored the use of 'wife' out of because it was two ladies, and the other the UK copy. Most people don't live under heavy censorship so they won't understand my stance but it's there for a reason. Many share my mood on censorship and many look to hacking and jailbreaking as an Ethical response to censorship, and to a lack of availability. You and I have talked countless times about physical/digital and we both share the same love of the disc, but my views on everything else I mentioned have to be felt by the person to truly understand it. I had books burnt in-front of me to send a particular message, I'll never allow that to happen to my games and if Sony don't preserve what's there then I will.
@Midgar777 That's a mighty beard you have, it was called the Retroid Pocket Duo, I think it just released. I considered doing it with a Steam Deck or jailbreaking a Switch but a dedicated handheld means I'm supporting a company doing what I believe in. I thought it shipped today when I saw an order pop-up, it was the Lego Playstation instead. I think the handheld is coming from America, I have some thousand Roms ready to put on the machine. At the same time I use Retro as a history lesson, and a way to appreciate a past that I never experienced so I do play on the original consoles. I'm hoping a handheld doesn't altar that. If a jailbroken PS5 does then I'll go back to firing up the old console. This current jailbreak is to me a system for preservation, not manipulation, we need to save these games not allow them to vanish into the abyss of copyright/censorship and greed. Also Satan is the name of a man on this site. I don't mean the literal Dark Lord, but he could be.