(rant) And the movie industry wonders why piracy exists

[smackababy]

Nobody, even the movie industry, wonders why piracy still exists. It exists because the price of admission is zero and the consequences are none. You will never beat free for the majority of people. Sure, some prefer the extra stuff you get and some love that smug feeling of them "supporting the artists", despite the lion's share of profits going to the studios, but those are in the minority.

 

[reallyscrued]

I owned the VHS version of The Terminator with the original mono soundtrack and all original sound effects. Nostalgic.

I bought the Bluray version which inexplicably has only the 5.1 upmix with redone sound effects remixed background score so that the ambiance of the movie is ruined.

Friendly pirates corrected this issue though.

 

[master_shake_]

Wow install limits... I almost forgot about those! Thank god that never caught on. I remember some people actually defending the practice 😱

how could you defend against something so asinine?

 

[Sonikku]

Wow install limits... I almost forgot about those! Thank god that never caught on. I remember some people actually defending the practice 😱

It never ceases to amaze me how there are always apologists willing to speak out against their own interests.

 

[StrangerGuy]

It never ceases to amaze me how there are always apologists willing to speak out against their own interests.

I think the more asinine thing is when the pirated version is a clearly superior consumer product, we will have high horse moral crusaders preaching morality towards a target audience who simply doesn't give a shit in the first place.

 

[CZroe]

I remember Bioshock not even allowing another user on the same machine to play it without wasting another activation. A 2K forum administrator or moderator or something was quoted as saying something along the lines of "Why should your brother play for free?" when all I would have to do was hand the controller over to my brother on the console version. It caused a huge s**tstorm and I think the mod/admin was fired/released.

 

[CZroe]

First thing I always do with laptops is to apply Scotch tape to the Windows license number.

I have had adhesive make ink and lettering disappear on certain materials and I like to be able to remove it, so I cut a non-adhesive plastic film to fit exactly over the CoA and then tape over that. It's usually a product packaging window that I cut.

 

[Maximilian]

how could you defend against something so asinine?

- you probably wont need to install a game more than 5 times anyway
- even if you do just call the company and they give you more activations
- they need to do something to combat piracy
- it dosent bother me one bit you are just a crybaby etc

Those were the core arguments thrown around IIRC. I just had to assume paid shill... nobody can be that stupid surely. :\

 

[Pulsar]

- you probably wont need to install a game more than 5 times anyway
- even if you do just call the company and they give you more activations
- they need to do something to combat piracy
- it dosent bother me one bit you are just a crybaby etc

Those were the core arguments thrown around IIRC. I just had to assume paid shill... nobody can be that stupid surely. :\

Over the weekend I installed Diablo (the original) 5 times off my original cd. My boys are LOVING it - it's the first multiplayer PC game they've ever played. Diablo was released 19 years ago. How many of the unfortunate people who purchased Diablo 3 (which requires a connection to Blizzard's servers to play) will still be able to play it in 19 years?

Doom? My kids have played it. Quake? Quake 3? Age of Empires 2? Command and Conquer Generals + Zero Hour? These are all games that they are just getting into and loving, and it's something that their kids won't be able to do in 20 years. It's sad, really. They're stealing our childhood.

 

[Blanky]

Over the weekend I installed Diablo (the original) 5 times off my original cd. My boys are LOVING it - it's the first multiplayer PC game they've ever played. Diablo was released 19 years ago. How many of the unfortunate people who purchased Diablo 3 (which requires a connection to Blizzard's servers to play) will still be able to play it in 19 years?

Doom? My kids have played it. Quake? Quake 3? Age of Empires 2? Command and Conquer Generals + Zero Hour? These are all games that they are just getting into and loving, and it's something that their kids won't be able to do in 20 years. It's sad, really. They're stealing our childhood.

Nice taste in games. I agree, though.

I wanted to buy Fallout 3 recently for another play through. It's only six years old, but apparently works with such difficulty on Windows 8 I didn't bother. At least it could still be played on an old console, though. Not a piracy matter, I realize, but it's interesting which games can and can't be played nowadays. The first game I ever played on the 286 still runs on Windows 8 I bet, but many in between don't.

 

[KeithTalent]

Which movie?

KT

 

[WelshBloke]

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...l_progressive,q_80,w_636/18iy0tgziwsftpng.png

I just had that lovely experience putting on a Frozen DVD for an excited 3 year old.

With the added bonus that some wierd audio narration for blind people seemed to autostart with the film so I had to restart the entire process.

I'll rip it to mkv the first chance I get, and if there's any tricky copy protection I'll just grab a torrent.

So pirating... cheaper and more convenient. And even if you buy the product you end up pirating because the official experience is so shitty.

 

[werepossum]

Nice taste in games. I agree, though.

I wanted to buy Fallout 3 recently for another play through. It's only six years old, but apparently works with such difficulty on Windows 8 I didn't bother. At least it could still be played on an old console, though. Not a piracy matter, I realize, but it's interesting which games can and can't be played nowadays. The first game I ever played on the 286 still runs on Windows 8 I bet, but many in between don't.

Fallout 3 doesn't play on any PC OS without a great deal of tweaking, but IMO it's worth the hassle. You get a game that you can literally mold to your own exact preferences via mods, and (also with mods) can make extremely pretty.

 

[KeithTalent]

Fallout 3 doesn't play on any PC OS without a great deal of tweaking, but IMO it's worth the hassle. You get a game that you can literally mold to your own exact preferences via mods, and (also with mods) can make extremely pretty.

I've owned three different copies of Fallout 3 and have never once gotten it to run.

KT

 

[slag]

Over the weekend I installed Diablo (the original) 5 times off my original cd. My boys are LOVING it - it's the first multiplayer PC game they've ever played. Diablo was released 19 years ago. How many of the unfortunate people who purchased Diablo 3 (which requires a connection to Blizzard's servers to play) will still be able to play it in 19 years?

Doom? My kids have played it. Quake? Quake 3? Age of Empires 2? Command and Conquer Generals + Zero Hour? These are all games that they are just getting into and loving, and it's something that their kids won't be able to do in 20 years. It's sad, really. They're stealing our childhood.

I bought diablo III a year or two ago, played through it, and have absolutely no want to do so again. The replayability factor on that game is ZERO. Makes me sad I spent like $14.00 on that dumb game.

 

[reallyscrued]

I've owned three different copies of Fallout 3 and have never once gotten it to run.

KT

Just....torrent it....

 

[inachu]

Just imagine when future movie prices go to $100 as that is what Steven Spielberg predicts.

Soon all movies will be on the internet for free.

Could be a trend. Free on the internet but pay $100 for the experience.

Not sure what kind of experience they expect me to have when just watching a movie?

Do I get a asian lady to wash rub and massage my feet as I watch the movie?

Will I be served beer and have a host of ladies making me feel like a king?

Not sure how so I think Piracy will win because of these bad prices.

 

[Cerb]

I wanted to buy Fallout 3 recently for another play through. It's only six years old, but apparently works with such difficulty on Windows 8 I didn't bother. At least it could still be played on an old console, though. Not a piracy matter, I realize, but it's interesting which games can and can't be played nowadays. The first game I ever played on the 286 still runs on Windows 8 I bet, but many in between don't.

On Vista or newer, install all Gamebryo games from Bethesda or Obsidian outside of Program Files. It's not Windows 8, it's any Windows post-2003. Even if it runs stably, it won't be able to read and edit all files correctly, causing mods to screw up, and even the stock game audio (I was accused of pirating it on this forum, FI. Later, I found the default install location was the problem--WTF, Bethesda?). When I say all, I am including new installs of Morrowind.

Then, go download a tweaked INI. Havok and AI thread settings often need to be changed from default for 3+ core PCs to keep it stable, and sometimes to even start it. They didn't carry that degree of consolitis over to Skyrim, thankfully, but it's very bad with Fallout 3. Worth it, especially with the DLCs, IMO, but pretty bad that you have to do all that to get and keep it working.

P.S. Most programs as old as for a 286 will likely not run at all in 64-bit Windows, without an emulator like DOSBox, or for popular cases, modrnized game engine reworkings. The switch to NT killed compatibility for many, and then the switch to 64-bit killed compatibility for more. But, despite the development focus on retro games, DOSBox works for, "serious applications," as well.

 

[KeithP]

Doesn't matter what reasons one might come up with, the fact of the matter remains they are just rationalizations used by the thief to justify their behavior and mask the real reason why they steal...they just don't want to pay.

-KeithP

 

[WelshBloke]

Doesn't matter what reasons one might come up with, the fact of the matter remains they are just rationalizations used by the thief to justify their behavior and mask the real reason why they steal...they just don't want to pay.

-KeithP

That's just not true. Many times I've pirated content that I've already bought just because it's more convenient. At some point I'll stop buying it because I know there's a good chance that I'll need to pirate it anyway.

(That may well count as a rationalisation but it's nothing to do with not wanting to pay)

 

[CZroe]

I just had that lovely experience putting on a Frozen DVD for an excited 3 year old.

With the added bonus that some wierd audio narration for blind people seemed to autostart with the film so I had to restart the entire process.

I'll rip it to mkv the first chance I get, and if there's any tricky copy protection I'll just grab a torrent.

So pirating... cheaper and more convenient. And even if you buy the product you end up pirating because the official experience is so shitty.

You're doing it wrong. Disney movies support Disney Fast Play. IIRC, you just press the menu key to skip all that (it isn't a prohibited user operation like it is in many other movies).

 

[purbeast0]

That's just not true. Many times I've pirated content that I've already bought just because it's more convenient. At some point I'll stop buying it because I know there's a good chance that I'll need to pirate it anyway.

(That may well count as a rationalisation but it's nothing to do with not wanting to pay)

how is it more convenient to go find a torrent, download a movie, unpack it, move it over to a server, then load it up on some player ... than it is to put a disc in and push play?

i never understood this rationalization either.

as KT said, people just want to try and justify stealing.

 

[WelshBloke]

You're doing it wrong. Disney movies support Disney Fast Play. IIRC, you just press the menu key to skip all that (it isn't a prohibited user operation like it is in many other movies).

That doesn't skip all the rest of the crap, just the trailers.

how is it more convenient to go find a torrent, download a movie, unpack it, move it over to a server, then load it up on some player ... than it is to put a disc in and push play?

i never understood this rationalization either.

as KT said, people just want to try and justify stealing.

It's more convenient to download a torrent and transfer it to a server than buy a disk, get disk delivered, put disk in PC, bypass copy protection, rip and encode movie skipping out all the extraneous guff then transfer file to server.

We do want to stay apples to apples here yes?

 

[Linux23]

how can a record or movie company exec afford that 2nd boat and 3rd mansion if you thieves keep pirating their shit?

 

[inachu]

how is it more convenient to go find a torrent, download a movie, unpack it, move it over to a server, then load it up on some player ... than it is to put a disc in and push play?

i never understood this rationalization either.

as KT said, people just want to try and justify stealing.

Also after several plays the DVD might get a short life due to scratches and other various factors.

Which again I cut my piracy down to almost zero because of ITUNES and amazon and netflix.