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Sony is starting to implement this sort of feature with the PS3. You can download the entire, full version of the game to your console, and then you have 24 hours from the first game start to play the game, including saving your position, as much as you want. Once the 24 hour period is up, you can keep your game saves, and either delete or purchase the game, at which point you can continue from your game saves.

It's just too bad so far that you can only do this with an extremely limited selection of games that have already been on the market long enough that I would have bought them if I was actually interested in them.

But the concept is great.

The problem is that it is very, very easy to disable time-based lockouts, thus making piracy even easier.

Agreed. And while we're all at it, somebody needs to bring back shareware. (Especially on mobile devices!)