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2k games says everyone in family should buy Bioshock.
Posts
I'm in the same boat. My roommate just recently bought Bioshock because he couldn't pirate it, and before that it was Might and Magic: Dark Messiah... Before that... I'm not quite sure. He usually pirates every game, and if he can't pirate it, he doesn't even play the game.
The thing is, he makes twice as much as I do at his job. So there's no reason for him to do this, except to be called a pirate.
So your saying that since it had obscene copy protection, he couldn't pirate it, so he bought it. Resulting in a sale for 2K games.....what a wild concept.
I realize this. I used the Sims because besides MMO's (which are almost un piratable unless you like playing them ten years later/on a shitty private server) its a game that has actually done really well.
In fact, I'm almost positive that companies getting sick and tired of piracy is what will finally drive online distribution foward. It's quite a bit tougher to pirate your average online distributed game, and you can force checks for online connectivity. I know that right now you can shut that off in Steam, but I guarantee that in the future they may make an internet connection a requirement for all games.
It's a big game, I need the space on my relatively small HDD. I've already completed it and uninstalled it now because I have no intention of doing a second runthrough immediately after my first.
I'm sorry, but NO. If this is the way they're going to play it, if this eats one of my installs for no good reason, then that application shouldn't even be coming out tomorrow, it should have been included WITH the game on release. I don't care about 2-3 years time, there are plenty of people who'll burn through those installs in a very short space of time through any number of factors.
Realsitically, I doubt that there's going to be an issue, but the idea that I should refrain from uninstalling it because "No one should be uninstalling this game right now" is ridiculous.
Well, he didn't buy it first. He logged into my Steam account from his computer and tried to get it to run on his computer. But everytime I logged into Steam it kicked him out of Bioshock.
So I reset my password and basically forced him to buy the damn game.
Normally if he can't get a good copy of a game online, he just won't buy the game unless people tell him it's worth the money.
If the profit per sale times the number of sales lost to piracy is LESS than the cost of copy protection, then you've wasted money. End of story.
And the quicker the protection is cracked, the less money its worth.
The copy protection on Bioshock did not work.
I was joking sir, relax.
Copy protection never works, on any console. It only delays the inevitable. Seriously, I don't understand why companies waste their money paying jerkoffs like Securom for fallible security. At least they seem to have kicked Starforce to the kerb.
That's another interesting thing about this discussion; no one has anywhere near accurate numbers on piracy, for obvious reasons. There could be 100 million pirated copies of The Sims out there, or maybe 20 million. Who the fuck knows? All I do know is that companies have to try something in the PC world. Piracy is a big reason why a lot of development time and dollars have moved over to consoles, besides standarized hardware and lower costs.
A lot of the bigger software pirates I know identify themselves as hardcore PC gamers. Spending thousands of dollars a year to keep their rigs up. Yet they don't realize that they are killing the market for such games with their behavior.
Pretty soon (hopefully not, but I like to remain pessimistic) they will eventually work on Console games, and port them (shitty ports, no doubt) to the PC down the road.
*Removes batteries from sarcasm detector and places them in the Duracell bunny. Nothing happens*
Crap.
If they're willing to wait sometimes 2 weeks for a copy work around, they were unlikely to ever buy a hard copy. Same with movies. Sales lost is a made up number.
Luckily for PC gaming, since its apparently easy to port between 360 and PC, there will still be games appearing on it.
It happens, sorry
I hope you're right sir. I'm tired of my PC being used for only MMO games, and Blizzard games. (I do have Bioshock as noted before, but its been a long time since a good game has come out for it)
The Wii has also been cracking down on modchips via online distributed firmware updates.
Piracy must cost them some money. It's impossible to calculate how much exactly, of course. A lot of people who couldn't get it for free might not ever get it, but some might.
I'm the opposite. I've got a PS3 and am waiting for games to come on that. I just hope Fable 2 goes PC because some games should just not be played on a console.
And in 2k's defense, usually its whoever is publishing the games/disc manufacturers contract to have to have some sort of protection. (as far as im aware)
Edit: and im sick of people saying "dur dont uninstall it"(I did notice you were joking, but people keep saying it) considering for alot of people, more then just me on these boards in fact, the game just did_not_work. It took me 3-4 installs to get the game barely running. And then after those two days of troubleshooting a game I bought im told that if I install it once more and rmeove it, im going to have to call up a security company and explain to them why im not a theif and deserve more installs. On the steam version. the program that does its own verification checks. the software that will only allow me to play the game while logged in. In one location at a time.
After all my trouble, if I waited 10 days or so, I could of played the game for free, without limited installs, without securom up my ass. Im not buying another 2k game and Ive let them know that. To me all these issues, a buggy as hell release, problems with the extra 3rd party auth servers for the steam version, the whole widescreen fiasco, tell me that they got really fucking lazy, and they still dont care.
I sail the high seas seeking booty.
Ahem.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
My friend has a chipped Wii and I can assure you, the games hes copied, he'd never have bought. But he did buy stuff like Zelda. Pirates basically copy the games they wouldn't buy unless they hit £4.99 or less. And even then...
I on the other hand only buy games I really want coz I don't have time to play shit I don't want. So GTA's, MGS's and the like I buy launch day. A £400 console isn't worth damaging by cracking it. No way would I risk the warranty on this baby.
Oh I agree. If I have a choice between the console version and PC version I'll usually pick up the PC version because I prefer KB/M.
But there have been a number of terrible console ports to PC (Halo 1/2 for example, and RE:4) and I wish they would actually put some effort into it.
I hear that. The other nice thing about a console's hardware control is that they can and will (since the days of the NES no less) update hardware and software to kill piracy.
Later model NES can do it.
Earthbound has some hilarious anti piracy measures.
There was a famous stink about FF VIII and anti piracy.
Some very late model Gamecubes stopped the various "soft-mod" approaches.
The PSP is the one system availible right now that is losing the fight to piracy. Even then, it seems that the newer slimmed down version might have a few tricks up its sleeve.
Except it is technically illegal to use a purchased DVD to have large viewings. It breaches some fair use clause somewhere and I forget where to look it up so don't ask me for a source.
I'm pretty sure that's not bullshit.
It specifies public viewings, as in, viewings that are advertised and open to the general public. There's a fine line between showing a movie to a bunch of friends in the privacy of your own living room and getting a giant crowd of people to come watch a movie without the studio's permission.
THe main stipulation just appears to be the difference in a private showing and a public showing. I mean, you can still show something to a large audience if you're all within a private organization and in a private location. (That's how our club gets away with showing full movies during movie nights).
The de facto standard right now is that nobody gives a shit unless you're charging admission.
And Xeno, you're not allowed to say "we don't have any real data on piracy" and then say which systems piracy is damaging the most.
I can however mention how easy and cost free the PSP piracy is. Sure, you can mod any system on the market, but it costs money and has a certain level of risk. The PSP? Very, very, very simple to pirate on. No external hardware needed. It's the easiest system since the Dreamcast to play pirated wares on.
Except every firmware update fucks it up, and most games require firmware updates. If I went out and bought a PSP today, I wouldn't be able to pirate anything. Or, more importantly, use homebrew, which is why I own a DS.
But then, you also mentioned the Dreamcast. Bitter ex-Sega fan? Piracy wasn't what killed the 'cast, it was Sega's constant managerial fuckups both before and after release.
This is why you downgrade and put a custom firmware on that will run newer games. It's absurdly simple on the PSP. It's not hard on the DS, just a bit more expensive.
Piracy was bad on the Dreamcast. That did not kill it, nor did EA. A lack of money and the PS2 did.
Can't downgrade PSP 3.51. You can buy an R4 and it'll work on whatever the hell DS you choose to buy.
This is technically incorrect, but I'll not relay any details, as PSP Homebrew Issues are what got me jailed in the first place.
Anyway, this is getting off on a tangent anyway. I think we can break this argument down into two differing ideologies:
1. That's the way the world is, they deserve their money, suck it up, it's not as bad as you're making it out to be.
2. The world is only the way it is because people don't do their part to change it, they deserve their money, but not if they're going to treat me like a criminal and place invasive and disruptive restrictions upon their products.
As this is largely an ideological issue, I don't expect any rational conclusions to come from it.
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