High Capacity Barcodes Explained

[bean19]

Have you heard about the new-fangled crazy triangle barcodes that are going to be placed on DVDs and Xbox 360 games by the end of the year? Did you, perhaps, wonder to yourself, "Who cares?"

Well, Microsoft employee, Ozymandias (http://ozymandias.com/archive/2007/04/19/Fun-with-High-Capacity-Barcodes.aspx) explains that they may be used for exclusive game content.

What's interesting about this is it's a way to tie physical objects to your online world. Nintendo has done similar things before with the Game Boy Advance e-Reader that allowed you to scan barcodes (which in turn unlocked game content). What's different about this new barcode is that we can store a lot more information (almost 3.5 Kb of data), and you won't necessarily need special hardware to read the code. A simple cell phone picture uploaded to the LIVE cloud might be all it takes to enable all sorts of new game scenarios.

You can imagine rare objects or limited edition content that comes with your game (with one-time use codes). Or games that allow you to trade physical objects but be able to take advantage of them in game scenarios. I love that the sample art is of Viva Pinata - imagine getting rare pinatas and trading them across LIVE.
I'm a bit afraid of one-time use codes. What's keeping some creepy store employee from taking a picture of MY barcode?

[NACIONAL]

I'm a bit afraid of one-time use codes. What's keeping some creepy store employee from taking a picture of MY barcode?

I assume that the barcode, in those cases will be inside the package, not on the outside....

[Tricky Thumb]

I think he's referring to Gamestop and EB Games where they almost always take the discs out of the cases for display use.

If you're worried about that then just make sure you get a seal copy of the game, or shop at a store such as Target where they lock up all their games behind windows.

[Dag-Sabot]

Ahhh barcodes, I remember old ladies running around screaming about "The end of the world" this and "Mark of Satan" that, maybe they were right...

Afterall if MS can't run XBL marketplace without gouging, I wonder what nefarius schemes they have up their sleeves with this new barcode technology.

Hmmm monthy game subscriptions on top of live, you say? Diablolical!

[Telefrog]

Great. Another microtransaction platform.

[Mr.Green]

Oh Noes!!!1 etc...

[51|RandoM]

If it is a one time use code, it doesn't matter what encoding they use.

Typing in an 8-12 digit number is less work than scanning in something with a cellphone camera and emailing it to somebody at Redmond.

I don't really see any need to evangelize a coding system that allows for more data, that is a win all around assuming it doesn't significantly increase the requirements for scanning devices.

[Ph00p]

Clever way to eventually kill the whole used games resale thing, sure they haven't mentioned it yet, but you can see where its going, they haven't spent a fortune on this shit just for your benefit.

[destoo]

Hmm.. If you want to see what it's all about, I wrote an article about it a few weeks back.
http://www.technocarotte.com/index.php?2007/04/04/108-des-code-barres-artistiques-et-utiles
(sorry, in french)

there's also the Wiki, and an article in NY Times.
You take a picture with your cellphone, and it interprets the data. I doubt current tech will allow a lot of people to take a picture and decode what's on the VP disk, but it'll get there eventually.

http://www.technocarotte.com/images/IMAGES/gadget/nyt600.jpg
One of those 2d barcodes on a billboard. Take the picture with your cellphone, and once decoded your phone will hold the info that was there.. be it contact information, a web page, a phone number, a link to goatse.cx...


Pretty interesting stuff. If course, it's been out in Japan for a year or two.

edit: 3500 characters? pretty impressive.

[bean19]

Clever way to eventually kill the whole used games resale thing, sure they haven't mentioned it yet, but you can see where its going, they haven't spent a fortune on this shit just for your benefit.

I had thought of this too, but people won't put up with it if they "locked" the game to that scan, and there are better ways to do it.

For a 3.5 KB freebie, it's an incentive to buy new, and that's kind of cool in my opinion.

[Doctorossi]

For a 3.5 KB freebie, it's an incentive to buy new, and that's kind of cool in my opinion.

Kind of shitty, in mine. Sorry... call me a consumers' rights wingnut, but being forced to pay an artificially-inflated price to get a complete product is not usually a development that inspires me to party.

Meanwhile, I love the bit about "the LIVE cloud". Explains a lot about Microsoft marketing, doesn't it?

[Predation]

I don't think they are going to phase out used games with this idea. *however*, they might use this is as a way to prevent piracy. I can't think of a way yet, but I am sure there will be a way to attach every cd with a unique barcode, and have it validate once you check it out. Then you have to somehow check the box against the cd when you install. It would be a bit of a hassle, but it's a better idea then 99% of the anti piracy stuff out there (GOD I hate putting in the disc every time I want to run a game, especially when travelling with my laptop). I *also* don't have a problem with doing it that way since I actually buy my games, and like I said, it would be much easier to deal with then traditional anti-piracy products.

Between piracy and everybody jumping on the WoW bandwagon, 99% of the PC games out there are MMOs. I don't subscribe to more then one MMO, so every time a developer jumps on the bandwagon (hellgate london anyone?) I die a little inside. Maybe an effective anti-piracy product will help steer developers away from that hellhole.

[Wraith]

Ah, barcodes. The height of gaming technology.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Barcodebattler.jpg/250px-Barcodebattler.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode_Battler)

As mentioned above, if it were to be used for one-time use codes, for whatever reason, using a 10 or 12-digit character string is bound to be easier than scanning or taking photos of barcodes...

[Royal Fool]

3.5 KB of data means that whatever content it's supposed to give you would already have to be placed on the game disc in the first place. Unless we're talking about some sort of "owner's key" which otherwise restricts you from downloading XBL content for the game, or possibly playing on Live.

You know, this being Microsoft, I could actually see that happening. Shit.

[KingGorilla]

I fail to see how this who thing is good.

[bean19]

3.5 KB of data means that whatever content it's supposed to give you would already have to be placed on the game disc in the first place. Unless we're talking about some sort of "owner's key" which otherwise restricts you from downloading XBL content for the game, or possibly playing on Live.

You know, this being Microsoft, I could actually see that happening. Shit.

I don't think people would put up with it. Until all the consoles try to do something to kill the preowned market, the one that chooses to do it will basically be saying, "Hate our brand! We don't want you to be able to play all the games you want, just the ones you can afford!"

Because this would also kill game renting and game rental services like Gamefly too. . . You better believe that it would also encourage pirating amongst gamers. I'm not willing to do it because by scraping and saving, I can afford my "must have" titles new and can afford rented games that I want for my game library but won't play that much (if at all) as eventual preowned purchases.

Microsoft is greedy. They'll do whatever they can get away with, but they seem to be learning with all of their products that there is a limit on what the consumer is willing to pay and there is a significant loss created when you piss off customers.

[shnastybiznastic]

I would rather see a standard, open format for high capacity barcodes than a proprietary one. That's all I have to say to this.

[Johan]

It's the end of the world as we know it...

Or maybe we can wait and see how it's implemented? Naaaaah!

It's the end of the world as we know it...

[destoo]

I think I see what advantage there would be to this, but don't know enough about the manufacturing process to see if it could apply.

When a disk has "gone gold", does it include the label?
When they press the disks.. Are the labels printed before, after, during...
Could they easily change the disk art versus changing the disk data?

What about using the code in a contest or such?
Same data, different codes...
I don't see this being done with all codes different, but it might be a possibility.