People that rationalize software piracy are funny...

[beer]

...they just don't understand. Then they complain how xbox/PS2 get all the cool games first. They then 'justify' the stealing of games becasue of this fact.

This is why that in in the next few years, PC games will fade even more to consoles. Look at the quality and quantity of games that was put out in the mid to late 90s. Game developers will support consoles because of less piracy, thus pissing off all the PC gamers. The PC gamers like to act like they really mean so much to these game developers, that they should push forward these PC releases and spend more time on them -with the end result of them just pirating the game sooner, as they never had any intention of purchasing it anyways.

One day I hope to see activation on games, similar to the Win/Office XP. The difference is, there will be no such corporate editions out there to circumvent the activation.

 

[SpiderX]

Hmm...where's that horse...oh yeah it's over there it was beaten to death.

 

[FrustratedUser]

LOL

 

[Lonyo]

Because only PC games have ever been able to be copied.

Lets forget my copy of Legend Of Zelda on my PC. Or the mod chips for XBox, or copied PS One games.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: SpiderX
Hmm...where's that horse...oh yeah it's over there it was beaten to death.

Poor horsey..

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Because only PC games have ever been able to be copied.

Lets forget my copy of Legend Of Zelda on my PC. Or the mod chips for XBox, or copied PS One games.

The quantity of pirated games as a percentage of total market are much more in favor of the consoles.

Anyone with half a brain can kazaa a PC game and get it.

It takes someone with a fair amount of technical skill to install a mod-chip and deal with some of the problems therein. And don't forget that it still takes someone a whole lot of effort to do the font-buffer underrun for software hacks on the xbox. And then you lose Live playability too (at least, the last time I was active on the scene back in June).

I've hacked my xbox twice over with mod chips as well as the software. I think I am qualified to discuss it. And I can tell you that every single person I've shown my xbox to has wanted me to do it for them. They wanted to do it to pirate games only, but not a single one of them had the balls to do the mod themselves. This is at one of the better universities in the country, too, although admittedly none of these people were technically inclined. Given that consoles have a much higher market penetration and target a much less savvy audience, your point is completely moot.

 

[brxndxn]

First of all, if a game is good, people will buy it whether or not it can be easily pirated. Many computer pirates are also game companies' largest customers. The most pirated games are also ALWAYS the highest-selling whether or not there is CD copy/serial number/call Microsoft/dongle/dizzle/dazzle protection.

Often, people justify pirating because pirated software often is more useable than non-pirated software. IE: You don't have to call Microsoft with the pirated version of Windows XP. ALSO, You don't have to have the CD in the drive when playing a computer game if it is pirated.

You can pirate games on the PS2 and Xbox fairly easily, also. Idiots CAN mod an Xbox and PS2.

I justify piracy because I cannot return a game even though I believe under current law, it is my legal right to do so. (no one has successfully tested the law yet) If I find out a game is awful to play, I should be able to make sure the game company did not receive my money for it. Thus, with pirating, I can test the game first.

If you know something is a crappy product, you don't buy it. With video games, there is no way to know until your money is locked into it.

Don't mention shareware/demo as a way to test a game, either. It isn't the full game. I never want to be back in a spot where the demo version runs perfectly and the full version is a buggy piece of crap (my experience with Redneck Rampage.)

 

[ndee]

Originally posted by: SpiderX
Hmm...where's that horse...oh yeah it's over there it was beaten to death.

rotfl

 

[NuclearFusi0n]

Activation is bull-, it's one of many reasons I stopped using Wintendo.
whatever

 

[Corporate Thug]

it is quite easy to pirate PS2 and Xbox games

 

[GigaCluster]

On the subject of Windows XP Activation, it's a joke -- I installed a legal copy of Windows XP onto my father's computer, activated it over the Internet, then installed it from the same disc onto a customer's computer. I know that the customer had a legal license but her college-bound daughter took the system software with her.

When the activation window came up and told me that the code has already been used, I simply called Microsoft and told them to activate it as I am installing it legally. They immediately gave me a number and Windows was activated.

 

[LordMorpheus]

I buy the games I really want, and I don't play the others.

For software, its all about open source.

 

[darkeneddays]

I've "aquired" games for nearly 3 years now. Out of all the games I've aquired, maybe 8 were wothy of buying. In fact, the only game that is currently on my system(MOH:AA) is the pirated one, but since I loved it so much, I bought it even though I really didn't need to. Reason? Well to be perfectly blunt, I'm poor and I simply cannot afford to lose money on something I can't/ won't enjoy. Reviews are helpful, but many games that got high reviews, I hated(BF1942, Splinter Cell, etc). I thought I might like them, I Dled it...I was wrong, and I uninstalled it. You give me a concrete return policy on software and I'll hang-up my Bin & Cues.

 

[Corporate Thug]

return policies on software are out of the question, maybe 1 in 50 people will return the game if they do not truely like it as where 49 out of 50 people will buy burn and return

 

[AnitaPeterson]

hey, dude, please keep in mind America is NOT the world. Your predictions cannot come true

I doubt consoles are as popular elsewhere.
Faced with buying a computer - which can do so many things besides just dumb play - or an Xbox, what do you think your average German, Brit, Russian or Chinese will do? Eastern Europe alone is a huge market...

keep on dreaming, Playstation fanboi...

 

[PoPPeR]

seriously, when a game is good, I buy it. I remember when I was small, for my birthday my mom would always buy me a computer game or two. I'd go out and choose them based on what IGN or Gamespot or whatever said, and 9/10 times I was sorely dissapointed. What a waste of $100, i'd always say. I've spent well over $500 on PC/Console games over the past 2 years, and a lot more money on hardware (500 for my PS2 and XBox alone). I think people that are so morally inclined that they view pirating as a horrible evil sin are funny.

 

[darkeneddays]

Originally posted by: shady06
return policies on software are out of the question, maybe 1 in 50 people will return the game if they do not truely like it as where 49 out of 50 people will buy burn and return

That's possible, but unless you know what you're doing, chances are they aren't going to burn it properly. Almost every PC game nowadays has some wayward copy-protection scheme that your run of the mill burner can't understand. Only a few(Lite-on,plextors, etc) can do it but only with certain software and certain settings. I'd even be cool with limited return policy, as in you can only return software X amount of times per year/month. Something other than, "Sorry, you're fvcked" would be nice....

 

[beer]

Originally posted by: GigaCluster
On the subject of Windows XP Activation, it's a joke -- I installed a legal copy of Windows XP onto my father's computer, activated it over the Internet, then installed it from the same disc onto a customer's computer. I know that the customer had a legal license but her college-bound daughter took the system software with her.

When the activation window came up and told me that the code has already been used, I simply called Microsoft and told them to activate it as I am installing it legally. They immediately gave me a number and Windows was activated.

Most of the software that is pirated is probably distributed through kazaa and not friends letting friends borrow their CD. I mean, if you get a CD from a friend, then he would have had to buy that CD, no? You can register a CD key a few times, sure, but once it's out in the open, such as the FCKGW key for WinXP.....after a few hundred activation requests, MS is going to get the picture. No one is dumb enough to CALL about a registration key that is gotten t hrough kazaa