Piracy

[Guest Karnage]

What do you guys think about Video Game piracy?

[Guest Blackston]

I guess that I go into the camp that is pro-piracy, though with reservations.  I would not pirate a game that has come out for a console that is currently on top of the market (PS2, NGC, X-Box, GBA) but I might find myself pirating some lesser games.  Old-school Nintendo games, though, I have a hard time feeling bad about pirating.  If there is a game that has come out for a console that is no longer supported (NES, SNES) that I want to play, I could definately see myself downloading it.

[Guest teke184]

My views:

 

  New games: No piracy on domestic games.  Import games

  that are hard to find, however, are up for piracy.

 

  Old games:  Free reign on old games.  Fuck Nintendo, as I'm

  NOT paying $25+ on the used videogame market for a

  fuckin' copy of Galaga, let alone trying to get a POS

  toaster-box NES to play games without screwing up.

 

There are limits however, but I'd say that's mostly dictated by emulation quality.  I avoid getting emulated Genesis games because the emulation is spotty, at the least, on some games <COUGHEternalChampionsCOUGH>.  I don't even bother with the SNES emulation because I've never found a working emulator for that system with a GUI.

[Guest areacode212]

Well, I buy a lot of games, but I have no problem with pirating games that I don't have any intention of buying. And yeah, abandonware games are up for grabs.

[Guest Bruin]

I'm against it with new games, but I have one exception, which I'll get to in a sec. But if its some old game selling for 10-15 bucks, just pirate it. I honestly don't think Epic is going to care too much if I get a pirated copy of Unreal, while they're comming out with Unreal Tournament II, and Unreal II within a few months from now. (UT2 in May )

 

Now I think it's okay to pirate certain games. Like expansion packs for computer games that should've just been a part of the game when it shipped ::cough:: Team Arena for Quake 3 ::cough cough:: Ack, damn cold. But expansion packs that're made to be quite good and are sold at a reasonable price (20-25 dollars), I say just go and buy them. (IE: Half-Life: Opposing Force, Black & White: Creature Isle)

[Guest chirs3]

If it's 16-bit or below, pirate away, because nobody sells NES or SNES games anymore.

 

Otherwise, I would say it's conditional. Head Games isn't going to sue you for jacking "eXtreme Paintbrawl" online (although, considering the budget for the game, they might sue you after all). "eXtreme Paintbrawl" isn't exactly flying off the shelves, but it's still on the shelves.

 

Once the title drops into the bargain bin at CompUSA, I'd say it's fair game.

 

Now, is Piracy wrong? Sure it is. Technically, so is "stealing" music via Napster. But then you have to go into "What if I hate all of Band X's music except one song"? Should I have to buy the CD just for that song? Or let say I was going to pirate "Thief: The Dark Project" because I like the first four levels. Should I have to shell out my money to play the first four levels?

 

Some will say yes. Some will say no.

[Guest]

I'll pirate whether it's come out today, not coming out for another month, came out a year ago, whatever.

 

Fact is games are horribly overpriced they are one of the biggest profit makers because it's so cheap to mass produce em' once the original product is there.

 

I'm not paying 50 bucks for a disk worth a dollar.   If they had more reasonable prices like let's say 25-30, then I wouldn't bother, but as far as I see it, they're the pirates and I'm just Robin Hood.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

My views:

 

  New games: No piracy on domestic games.  Import games

  that are hard to find, however, are up for piracy.

 

  Old games:  Free reign on old games.  Fuck Nintendo, as I'm

  NOT paying $25+ on the used videogame market for a

  fuckin' copy of Galaga, let alone trying to get a POS

  toaster-box NES to play games without screwing up.

I think teke pretty much summed up my ideas here too.  But I don't really believe piracy is as much of an issue for consoles as it is for PCs, where one guy can buy Rogue Spear and then use that same CD to install it on fourteen of his friends' computers.

 

With PC games, I'm really kind of torn.  On one hand, PC games are typically overpriced as well and they kind of induce piracy by using marketing strategies like $30 expansion packs and by releasing apps that aren't even fully quality-tested and debugged.  But, on the other hand, there is almost always a demo/shareware available for people to experience the game and determine whether they should spend money on it...and PC game development studios usually don't pull in a lot of money off of somewhat successful games (e.g. Looking Glass Studios, who made Thief and System Shock 2).

[Guest jimmy no nose]

Ummmmmm...Pirating is bad:)

[Guest JMTapes]

Who cares? Pirate away! -JM

 

www.jmtapes.com

[Guest Jay]

I am against piracy, NO MATTER WHAT.  People deserve compensation for these games.  Whether it be the publishers, the developers, or the clerks at a used-game store who depend on the NES games to sell in order for them to turn a profit.

[Guest chirs3]

Since when do used game stores still sell NES games?

 

I've looked all over Baton Rouge, and I can't find a single store with anything before Playstation.

 

If I could find a store that sold SNES games, I'd give up my pirating-and-emulating ways for good.

[Guest Cataclysm911]

What do you guys think about Video Game piracy?

This is the way I see it: If it's there to take, take it.

[Guest VACANT]

Well, it depends...

 

With older games I think piracy is okay as the games are no longer for sale but I personally prefer to play the games the way they were meant to play, rather than emulating them.  So, it's okay but I don't really do it.

 

With imports that are never being released in the US, piracy is okay.

 

With newer console games, I'm against piracy.  The games are overpriced, for sure, but buying older classics and waiting until the prices fall is the best way of dealing with this.

 

With PC games, I'm all for piracy.  Prices and expansion paks are ridiculous and the games are generally pretty buggy.  I don't play too many PC games but I could understand why a person would pirate PC games.  Also, there's no difference whatsoever between the real thing and a pirated game.  So you're not really missing out on anything.

[Guest swan]

I'll pirate whether it's come out today, not coming out for another month, came out a year ago, whatever.

 

Fact is games are horribly overpriced they are one of the biggest profit makers because it's so cheap to mass produce em' once the original product is there.

 

I'm not paying 50 bucks for a disk worth a dollar.   If they had more reasonable prices like let's say 25-30, then I wouldn't bother, but as far as I see it, they're the pirates and I'm just Robin Hood.

Of course the higher prices of the games help cover the loss on the hardware which is sold below cost

[Guest Bruin]

Of course the higher prices of the games help cover the loss on the hardware which is sold below cost

 

$600 for a videocard, no matter how good it is, is insane. ::cough:: nVIDIA ::cough cough::

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Of course the higher prices of the games help cover the loss on the hardware which is sold below cost

Yeah, but a lot of the publishers aren't tied in anyway to the hardware distributors, so that's not really relevant.

[Guest swan]

Of course the higher prices of the games help cover the loss on the hardware which is sold below cost

Yeah, but a lot of the publishers aren't tied in anyway to the hardware distributors, so that's not really relevant.

I'd like to know how many copies of Metal Gear Solid SOL needed to be sold to break even . Wasn't that a 3 or 4 year project? Wouldn't the prices of the publisher's other games help pay for the development? I'm not defending prices, just asking questions here.

[Guest swan]

Yeah, but a lot of the publishers aren't tied in anyway to the hardware distributors, so that's not really relevant.

Doesn't let's say Sony get a cut of every game sold? Just more for the games they develop?

[Guest J*ingus]

Way down inside, I'm a thief, and will take pretty much anything that I can get my hands on as long as that one single thing won't hurt anyone (i.e., I'd shoplift from a store, but wouldn't steal a person's wallet).  Yeah, it's wrong, I know, but hey, the big companies often screw me too, so I dont care.  If someone stole something from the store that I worked at and got away with it, more power to them.  

 

So, uh, in a roundabout way, yeah I'd pirate games left and right, if I didn't have a damn iMac that won't run emulation programs.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Yeah, but a lot of the publishers aren't tied in anyway to the hardware distributors, so that's not really relevant.

Doesn't let's say Sony get a cut of every game sold? Just more for the games they develop?

Yes, Sony does get a little bit of "licensing" money for each game sold, plus whatever profits come in for their own published games.  But Sony isn't the only publisher out there - there are many others (EA) that maintain the same price as Sony or higher, but they don't have to worry about pimping any console hardware in particular.  

 

I was making more of a point in relation to PC games, where the hardware components are made by independent companies like nVidia and Asus, while there are hundreds of PC game development studios, many of which have absolutely no connection to any hardware provider.

[Guest KoR Fungus]

I don't pirate console games that I have the ability to buy at a normal price.  The only console games I'll pirate are old NES/SNES games that are impossible to find anywhere, or rare games that cost ridiculous amounts of money.  I certainly don't feel that there's anything ethically wrong with not paying $200 to some eBay seller for some old SNES game.  If I know the money will go to the game manufacturer, I'll buy the game.  If it's just going to go to some speculator, I'll pirate it.

 

As for PC games, I have no respect whatsoever for the vast majority of PC developers.  There is no way I'm going to pay money for their incomplete, bug-ridden shit.  If I pirate a game and it turns out to actually be high quality and bug free, I'll usually buy a copy to give the developers the money that they deserve.  That happens very rarely, however.

[Guest Karnage]

What pisses me off is those shops that pretend to look like import shops but all they sell is burnt Playstation games.

 

And wasn't piracy one of the reasons that lead to the Dreamcast's demise?

[Guest razazteca]

Dreamcast died because of Sega's bad business models.

 

Piracy is what the internet it all about right, without the "free stuff" AOL and MSN would not be in business.

[Guest Dr Driscoll]

I don't pirate as such but I have a fried who works in a computer shop and as their easy going guys they don't mind if I borrow something for a couple of days.

 

The problem is that while new games in America are $50, new games in the UK are around £45.  Now I'm not entirely certain about the exchange rate but it's a little suspect to me.  A good example of the UK being ripped off is the X-Box which is about £90 cheaper in Japan.

 

Games companies have got to start lowering their prices or else.

[Guest]

If I really want a game, I'll usually buy it. If it's a game I'm only half interested in, I'll grab a copy.

 

The prices of PC games to console games consfuses me.  Here in Canada, the most a PC game usually sells for is $60 (Jedi Knights 2, Medal of Honor etc.) and some sell for $50 (Global Ops, Freedom Force) and some for $30-$40 (Serious Sam, No One Lives Forever).  Plus, older games usually drop to $10-$15 (Unreal, Deus Ex, Wheel of Time).  

 

Then you look at console games (PS2, X-Box, GameCube).  The cheapest they sell for is $70, with the average being $80. Older titles may drop to $40 if they are really bad.

 

So why do PC games cost so much less than console games?

[Guest areacode212]

Hey, I saw Wheel of Time for $6. Worth picking up?

 

I always wondered about the prices of console games vs. PC games. Console games are freaking expensive and harder to pirate than PC games! How do all these kids afford it? I've always assumed that there were higher licensing fees or something for console game developers. And it might cost more to manufacture an X-Box or GameCube game than a PC game, since they require specialized technology, as opposed to a regular CD pressing place.

[Guest Smues]

Since when do used game stores still sell NES games?

 

If I could find a store that sold SNES games, I'd give up my pirating-and-emulating ways for good.

You must not have good stores, cus I can find old NES and SNES games all the time. Granted I can't always find good ones, but stores like gamestop, babbages, soft ware etc. always seem to have a junk bin with old games.

[Guest]

If I could pirate food, I would

 

--Rob

[Guest chirs3]

I do have terrible stores.

 

There are stores in the mall, but none carry anything before PSX.

 

There are Blockbuster's, Major Video's, Hollywood Video's, West Coast Video's... none carry anything before PSX.

 

There's Albertsons... doesn't carry anything before PSX.

 

There's Video Game exchange... with them, it's off and on. SOMETIMES (and I stress that because it's not often) they'll get a collection of used SNES games, but they go quick.