When I really think about the patent idea, it makes sense.

Publishers would prefer that all sales be online only, as they (obviously) get a higher % of the sale value by cutting out the middlemen, plus they don't have to worry about all this used games business that is causing them to go hungry.

But not everybody will connect their console to the internet, so you need an alternative method to get them content, and a disc that can only be used on the machine for which it's loaded sounds an awful lot like an offline version of an online games sale.

I think the transition for all consoles to something like this is inevitable. It just makes too much sense from a business perspective to not make it happen.

I'm not saying I like it, as I will miss collecting games, but I'd learn to live with it I imagine.