Piracy is a non-issue to Gabe Newell

[Arkaign]

Make no mistake, Apple will probably do an HD Audio marketing thing before long. I've done blind tests with people on not even very high end audio, and they can immediately tell the difference when I play a standard iTunes version of the song back to back with a good FLAC copy.

As for Piracy, I admit to downloading better versions of songs that I already own the physical CD of, usually pristine vinyl to FLAC rips, which sound better than the CDs did in the first place. But you can damn well bet I would pay good money for super high quality versions of songs.

FLAC/Lossless from a CD source is good, but not amazing or anything, it's just a bit better than current iTunes/MP3 standards.

What would kick major ass is remasters from source to very high definition lossless audio formats. This probably wouldn't be all that widespread on current catalogs just given the hassle of digging out old masters and such, but could fairly easily become standard procedure for new releases.

I don't mind spending a buck a track on stuff I like, and I'd go 50% higher for really good HD versions of the same.

 

[frostedflakes]

It's a little of both honestly, for some people it's a convenience thing, and for others they just refuse to pay for anything they can get for free, even if getting it for free means jumping through more hoops (downloading and installing cracks and stuff like that). Valve definitely has a nice platform going with Steam, though.

 

[lord_emperor]

And why did they become such? yeah because their DRM doesn't punish their customers for paying for software. Rather, it makes it more convenient than pirating it. Way to dumb it down.

Try that line on any person who has tried to get a refund from Steam or wanted to play a single player game without first entering offline mode.

 

[Texashiker]

That's good. Publishers who use DRM are shooting themselves in the foot.

What do you think Steam is?

Oh course piracy is a non-issue to Gabe, he owns one of the largest DRM and content delivery platforms in the world.

 

[BFG10K]

What do you think Steam is?

Oh course piracy is a non-issue to Gabe, he owns one of the largest DRM and content delivery platforms in the world.

Yep, it's pretty funny to see Gabe making anti-DRM comments when Steam is a DRM empire. I've had more trouble with Steam DRM than any other form of DRM.

 

[Barfo]

Yep, it's pretty funny to see Gabe making anti-DRM comments when Steam is a DRM empire. I've had more trouble with Steam DRM than any other form of DRM.

Did you read the article? Gabe didn't make any anti-DRM comments.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Why do I download most of my music free instead of buy from itunes? Because itunes is lossy not because I don't feel like paying $1.50 for a track. The fact that so few musicians release their albums in lossless downloadable format is probably killing their sales. I'm too lazy to go to the mall everytime I want to listen to a new album or track and itunes sucks, so I just download it for free if I can find it in flac or other lossless format.

This is why bandcamp rocks. I've bought a crapload of albums and tracks there.

 

[gorcorps]

The only thing I want to hear out of that tubby bastards mouth is "Half Life 3 will be released on X date"

 

[Zenoth]

The only thing I want to hear out of that tubby bastards mouth is "Half Life 3 will be released on X date"

The best we could get out of him or anyone at Valve concerning HL3 is "when it's ready". Right now it's probably something along the lines of "we have absolutely no idea as to where the story arc is going and how to resume it, so we made L4D2 and Portal 2". On a more serious note, I remember reading (without an actual source for the information, so I myself have never known if it was true) that Marc Laidlaw, the writer of the Half-Life series has been ill for months if not a few years, and didn't have the time (nor probably the mind and will) to dedicate to resume the story of Half-Life for Valve to work on it.

If that's the case then it's understandable, especially if they want to keep the original writer, rather than risking to take a completely new writer who knows nothing of the Half-Life series and will get his info from the Wikipedia page to resume the story only to screw it up in the end. If that's not the case then where the fuck is Half-Life 3? I think that without exaggeration I can say that indeed only God knows at this point. I know one thing is for sure, however, is that whenever Half-Life 3 is released, it's going to be a console port, and we'll QQ about it.

On a side note... yeah that DRM stuff Gabe talked about, whatever he says.

 

[Nebor]

Yep, it's pretty funny to see Gabe making anti-DRM comments when Steam is a DRM empire. I've had more trouble with Steam DRM than any other form of DRM.

I've never heard anyone mention Steam DRM before, it's totally transparent.

 

[catilley1092]

All of the arguments for piracy are stupid. People don't pirate because of iTunes bitrates, DRM, bad quality content, etc. They pirate because they want to consume some entertainment without paying for it. Yes, you're stealing a digital copy that isn't removing any physical resources from a store, but that doesn't matter. When you buy a game, CD, or DVD, you aren't paying much for the actual disc and such. You are paying for the time and resources put into producing the content on that medium.

Thank you!

Cat

 

[BFG10K]

I've never heard anyone mention Steam DRM before, it's totally transparent.

LMAO.

http://www.google.com/search?q=this...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=vdTQTpOJBaGwiQeG5pD0Dg

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=xtXQTundEemXiAfRnISxDg

http://www.google.com/search?q=dele...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=gtbQTtTzPOariAfhkK3SDg

 

[Texashiker]

I've had more trouble with Steam DRM than any other form of DRM.

I have been using steam since November 2004. The day half-life 2 was released, was the day I created my steam account.

Over the past 7 years I have had a few problems with steam, but they have been few and far between.

I would much rather use steam, then something like windows live that requires a separate login for the game. I prefer to be authenticated before I start playing the game, then have to alt+tab out of the game and find my login information.

Steam is the ideal DRM, at least to me anyway. I log into steam, and I am authenticated to play my games. Its going to be difficult to develop a better drm program then steam

 

[HeXen]

I
Steam is the ideal DRM, at least to me anyway. I log into steam, and I am authenticated to play my games. Its going to be difficult to develop a better drm program then steam

i agree except there is no guarantee i'll always have internet. especially considering the economy, at which point all those purchases would be a 100% loss and unplayable.
Meanwhile most Indie games have no DRM or even a CD key required.

 

[Barfo]

i agree except there is no guarantee i'll always have internet. especially considering the economy, at which point all those purchases would be a 100% loss and unplayable.
Meanwhile most Indie games have no DRM or even a CD key required.

Steam offline mode?

 

[HeXen]

Steam offline mode?

i think you have to get on at some point right?

 

[blinblue]

i think you have to get on at some point right?

In theory you need to have been online once before on that computer. However just a few weeks ago I lost internet for the morning, and open launching steam it told me that I didn't have internet (no surprise) and asked if I wanted to go into Offline Mode (which I did). Except it then gave me an error saying it couldn't connect to steam's servers and wouldn't let me proceed. Not sure if it was my error or not, but you'd think that it would be able to work correctly (all other times I've tried Offline mode it worked just fine).

 

[Worthington]

Unless it's changed, you need to be online to be able to go offline (cough).

 

[HeXen]

ah, so offline is a joke, bringing the issue back where it starts. However, Steam is still the about the best solution out there.
Although it does appear that Indie games are doing extremely well...and none of those discs have any kind of protection. I've got a few before for my wife.

 

[Nebor]

LMAO.

http://www.google.com/search?q=this...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=vdTQTpOJBaGwiQeG5pD0Dg

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...,cf.osb&fp=8805ce2f49171fb6&biw=2560&bih=1469

http://www.google.com/search?q=stea...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=xtXQTundEemXiAfRnISxDg

http://www.google.com/search?q=dele...&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=gtbQTtTzPOariAfhkK3SDg

Seems to be all about offlline mode, which is a non-issue to me. An internet connection is a perfectly acceptable requirement to play games. I had no issue with Steam DRM in Afghanistan with very intermittent internet.

 

[Lonyo]

Of course Gabe doesn't care about piracy. His company barely makes games, they just take a cut from the sale of the games other people make, so he can just laze around rolling in money without doing any work.
Since he has made a DRM system and everyone else uses it, and he gets a cut from a lot of the sales, piracy has helped him immensely to make more money. He probably likes it.

 

[zerogear]

I only subscribe to music.. Like Rhapsody or Zune Pass. Otherwise, no thanks @ buying mp3s.

 

[nitromullet]

I only subscribe to music.. Like Rhapsody or Zune Pass. Otherwise, no thanks @ buying mp3s.

This.

Spotify and a smart phone have made my iPod obsolete. Spotify has almost everything I want to listen to on it.

For local/indie bands, I'll buy their cd at the show, rip it, and put it up on Google Music so I can stream it when I want to listen to it.

 

[HeXen]

An internet connection is a perfectly acceptable requirement to play games.

but yet an always on connection like Ubisoft had isnt ok?
I don't really care too much myself, but seems to be odd at how such a super fine line that is for anyone would consider acceptable or not.
Either you have an always on connection or you don't. But ya never know when you may hit tough times and can't afford internet for a while which would mean that inbetween looking for work, you have time but no games to play with either one of them.

Of course Gabe doesn't care about piracy. His company barely makes games, they just take a cut from the sale of the games other people make, so he can just laze around rolling in money without doing any work.
Since he has made a DRM system and everyone else uses it, and he gets a cut from a lot of the sales, piracy has helped him immensely to make more money. He probably likes it.

Not only that, but its mostly cause they are doing well...now imagine how his attitude would change if they wern't doing so well.

 

[Maximilian]

Of course Gabe doesn't care about piracy. His company barely makes games, they just take a cut from the sale of the games other people make, so he can just laze around rolling in money without doing any work.
Since he has made a DRM system and everyone else uses it, and he gets a cut from a lot of the sales, piracy has helped him immensely to make more money. He probably likes it.

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