Copy protection for Nerf Gun Ammunition

Alexander1970

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The iconic Nerf guns have been enjoying great popularity for years - but Hasbro maker is evidently trying to make himself unpopular with a number of users. Because the company came up with the idea to equip the foam ammunition with copy protection.
The bullets of a Nerf gun like to get lost and many owners of toy weapons then like to buy the much cheaper replacement packages from third-party manufacturers. But that will not be possible with the new Ultra series. The products can only be used with projectiles made by Hasbro itself. This is the result of a report by the renowned Wall Street Journal.

Hasbro wants to have a good reason for integrating copy protection into the Ultra series. The ammunition is made here from the new, specially developed and patented Ultra foam and only in conjunction with the original darts to the Ultra-Guns can keep their promise to fire the projectiles over a record-breaking distance of over 35 meters.
Originals are expensive
How exactly Hasbro implements the copy protection, has not been previously known. However, a company representative told the newspaper that the previous darts were too easy to duplicate. This suggests that the launching mechanism will rely on a mix of material and design rather than a built-in test chip. Although the first model of the new ultrasound will work on battery power, completely mechanical products are also expected to hit the market.

The scope of delivery will now include 25 of the new Ultra projectiles. Hasbro then asks for additional parcels, each with 20 other darts around $ 10. That's quite a decent price for the small foam projectiles. Especially as third-party providers offer partial packages for 20 to 25 dollars with content in the hundreds range.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/parent...blasters-wont-fire-knockoff-darts-11569240001
 
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Veho

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Trying to block third party replacement parts/accessories is nothing new. Printers and their non-refillable, first-party-only cartridges are the most notorious example (well, if we get technical, the Juicero debacle is the pinnacle of this kind of bullshit, but it's not as widely known), but every industry has tactics to try to prevent generics in favor of the original manufacturer's stuff. With generic "foam darts" available for a fraction of the cost of original Nerf darts, I'm surprised they haven't tried something like this sooner.
 

gamesquest1

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I wonder when team xecuter will release their nerf-nerfer mod chip :lol:

but seriously i thought printer manufacturers got sued for that shit and were forced to allow third party inks to be used
 
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FAST6191

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I am going to be curious to see what they do for this.

A printer, embedded electric device powerful enough to drive a screen... all annoying to replicate a modded firmware for. Nerf guns... are they not guns which are fairly simple on the electronics side of things*.

*less so on the pneumatics though
skip to 2:25 if you want
 
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