I love those "Righteous" people who sound like a shining knight or intellectual conduit to in a valley of heithans and cavemen that seem to flock to these pages.

You ain't gonna stop piracy by being a smarmy prick.

A man chooses. GreatNocturn357 is a hypocrite.

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The rest of it is so idiotic I can't even bother with a snarky simile.

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Not all pirates think like that. All the people I know buy the games that they think are actually worth their money, even if they already finished the game.

And how do you know what the "excellent" games are? The trailers and reviews may give you a nice impression, but what if you end up utterly hating it? Tough luck. Nobody cares, the transaction is complete.

In my view, this actually helps the gaming industry. It shows that these companies can't push crappy games on us, and serves as a type of quality control. Also, most of these games I would have normally never have bought (meaning they wouldn't have gotten my money in the first place) because I didn't get motivated enough by the trailers or reviews. After pirating it, I find myself thoroughly enjoying a game and end up buying it. The best advertising is the real thing.

So you'd rather me give my money to people who DON'T deserve it? Nah, I'm good.

Btw...its not stealing. ;D

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And if you hate it then you can sell it. You'll lose a tiny bit of money but your not out of the full amount. And like you said there is reviews and trailers so you can also get a very good idea of whether you'll like it.

It doesn't help the gaming industry. It makes a group of ultra selective and picky people who choose to not support companies based on small and questionable things like glitches or disliking the online etc. When you let people move onto new stuff easier, try stuff for free and be picky about what they pay for then that's not good for the industry. Even if YOU buy the odd game you like at the end pirating is a very slippy slope. Promoting it at all generally garners the idiotic crowd who choose not to pay for anything since every system gets abused.

If you played through a game that a company had worked years on then yes you should pay for it.

It is stealing because you've stole a copy (whether physical or not it's still a copy) and played it without paying. It's no different to me walking into nintendo's offices, copying there game before they release it and saying I've not took anything. I'd have took the data and ultimately the game.

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You don't get to try a box of cereal and then decide whether or not you like it enough to buy it.

You can't borrow a car to go on a road trip to see if it lives up to the reviews and then retrospectively pay for the use.

You can't stay in a hotel for a given period and then decide whether or not it is worth paying for.

If you aren't sure if a game is for you then you have to pay to find out. It's called renting. It's cheaper than buying so the remorse you feel when it sucks is greatly reduced.

Read what you're saying "The best advertising is the real thing." you're essentially suggesting that all shops should have "Honesty Boxes" in them, you can walk in, take what you want, if you like it go back and pay full price, if you don't then return it, or burn it or whatever.

If you really think that would work then you are fantastically naive.

The only way piracy will ever stop is for people to realise that it is wrong.

Get this into your head...

You are stealing. You are stealing from everybody who works in the videogame industry, from Kaz Hirai and Suda 51 down to that bloke you never heard of who works in QA on £12,000 a year (before tax). Not only that, you are stealing from everybody who buys games, including me and Komrade Kayce, and KillerBee. Every Kotaku Kommenter who has ever bought a game has had the price hiked by the publisher because of the perceived cost of piracy.

If you really think that it is ok for you to get a game (whether temporarily or permanently) for free while everyone else has to pay, if you think it is ok that you don't contribute the cost of a game to the hard work, the long hours, the stressed caused by the constant whining of an ungrateful audience, the sheer brilliance of some of the creative minds that are necessary for this industry then there really is nothing more that can be done, we might as well pack up our things and get out of the industry. If the people who care enough, who follow us closely enough to read gaming blogs are willing to steal games from us and then tell us it's what we deserve for not being good enough then all I can say to any and all pirates is fuck you, you and the horse you rode in on. When you're left with nothing to play I hope you realise that the only people you can blame are yourselves.

/epic rant

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You link to somewhere I can rent PC games and I'll rent them to try them out.

...or just..you know. Buy it? And if you hate it then you can sell it.

That's the thing about PC games. You buy it and that's it, you can't trade it in and good luck trying to sell it somewhere else. If you buy it and don't like it then you're shit out of luck.

And like you said there is reviews and trailers so you can also get a very good idea of whether you'll like it.

Except that the majority of videogame reviewers are in the pockets of the publishers/developers. I can't trust any review because of that, hence why I stopped reading them.

It doesn't help the gaming industry. It makes a group of ultra selective and picky people who choose to not support companies based on small and questionable things like glitches or disliking the online etc. When you let people move onto new stuff easier, try stuff for free and be picky about what they pay for then that's not good for the industry.

So you're saying what we should be doing is going into a shop blind and grabbing all the shovelware we can so that we can help the gaming industry. I'm sorry but I wholeheatidly disagree. Being picky about what we buy is the power we have as consumers. If we didn't have that power then we'd have no say in the games that were coming out, we wouldn't be able to influence trends and we'd be seeing 20 new guitar heros and FIFAs every 6 months.

If PC publishers/developers want to reduce the amount of piracy (elimination is impossible) then they have to have more betas, a demo for every game and better QA and testing. Releasing a game 3 months before it's done and without a demo does nothing but push people to pirate games.

@ThursdayNext: You can't borrow a car to go on a road trip to see if it lives up to the reviews and then retrospectively pay for the use.

You can't stay in a hotel for a given period and then decide whether or not it is worth paying for.

You can take a car you want to buy for a road test for free and you can see plenty of pictures of hotels, their rooms, services, etc before you book your getaway or whatever and in the case of hotels that's enough.

However, games are expensive and unless you're the kind to buy the first game you see with a shiny cover, you're going to want to see if you like the game before you buy it and if you game on the PC you don't have the option to rent, you often don't have demos and you can't trade in games you don't like/don't work/etc.

YOu can rant and rave about piracy all you like. It isn't going to disappear and while I deplore those who just pirate for the sake of pirating or pirate a game they would otherwise buy, etc, etc I do support intelligent consumerism and if that means acquiring a cracked copy of a game because there's no demo then so be it.

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If given the option of stopping piracy completely, any company would be more than happy to take advantage of it, because you 1% of pirates don't mean shit to their sales compared to how many people pirate games with zero intention of ever paying a dime for their entertainment.

Like Kazzahdrane said, there are way too many people in this generation who, if they can get it for free with no consequence, see absolutely no reason why they should pay for it.

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And as for this whole "you go to a store, they don't let you return your purchases" crap...why are we even arguing about this?? It's apples and oranges. Software != Groceries && Software != Fucking_Cars. Are there similarities? Of course there are, along with almost every other pair of concepts you can select. Are there loads more differences? YES. Why on Earth are we going on and on about that stupid comparison...? Honestly...who cares?

In my mind, it's actually pretty simple. People will continue to download games as long as they're able to do so. Is it all on the hacker's heads? Absolutely not. I say the companies need to devise better ways to protect their property, and to do so without pissing off their paying customers. That's hard to do, right? Well, that's why we're talking about big titles, big products, and BIG money here. Steam is a great example of how to *cut back* on pirated games via your distribution means and provide a decent *option* for people to get your game through.

The other side of that coin is that I believe the large amount of piracy that's occurring in the PC market is ultimately going to kill it as a viable gaming platform. Developers are already switching to focusing on consoles for their major titles because piracy is much less of a problem there and we're stealing everything on the PC side of things. Again, we're free to do it...but we shouldn't bitch later about its consequences, and we should acknowledge what we're ultimately doing to the genre some of us claim to love.

Holy shit...that was way longer than I initially intended...

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there is no way anyone is actually going to read all of that shit I just typed, so let me just some it up for you:

Both sides of this need to stop stepping back and acting like their hands are completely clean of dirt. People need to consider what it does to the industry when they pirate, and the companies need to step up and not just hand their products to hackers with an open invitation to copy their games.

Any company that thinks shutting down sites like TPB is going to "fix piracy" is just as stupid as all of these idiots that think "I buy the games I download" is a reasonable (or even honest) statement to legitimize piracy.

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@kobeashi:

Hahahaha. Jesus, I think I was just attacked by the internet. Oh noes.

Do you know me? No. Ok, so I'll just leave that there for you to think about before you make anymore generalizations about my intellect or if I actually buy games or not (since it sounded like you directing it at me).

But you are right, most of the people don't care and will never care if their piracy hurts the game industry or not. And theres nothing you or I can do about it. However, if I choose to use this technology to make better purchasing decisions, then thats what I'll choose to do, everytime.

I mean, I certainly don't have a halo around my head. I'm not "clean," I've gotten some games, completed them, and since they weren't spectacular, didn't feel like throwing down the cash.

Its considered that I'm breaking the law and because of that I'm a very evil nasty criminal for doing so. My hands are dirty, but it keeps me from being taken advantage of, so whatever.

Oh snap, Satan just called. Apparently he invited me to a BBQ. See ya...or wait, was that God? Baaah, who can tell these days. :D

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But, since you insist....

Frankly, I don't buy your whole "Robin Hood of the Internet" bullshit about fighting the man and his plot to take advantage of an uneducated public. Nor am I swayed by your whole "you don't know me" speech. Based on what you said about completing games and not buying them, I'm right on point. Does that make you "evil" or "nasty," as you put it? Absolutely not. In fact, you're not the only one even in the wrong...That was pretty much my whole point, which I think you missed. As a side note, the whole "I'm in league with Satan and don't care" attitude is pretty much cliché babble these days.

Again, let's be real. You want to play games for free and you want to do it in a way that you know you have little chance of being caught or punished. But hey...maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you really do see pirating as a legit way to try a game and become educated on a purchase before buying. Maybe you aren't using this whole manifesto as a way to enjoy something for free when you don't have to pay for it...because we all know we don't want something for free when we can buy it, right?? In that case, why aren't YOU running a top torrent site for pirating games? You seem to be pretty adamant about "using the technology" for these noble purposes, so why not do it when you ass is on the line?

I'll reiterate again by saying that I don't really think downloading games is a terrible activity in itself. I can see where people like to get free stuff instead of paying for it...I just wish they would be up front about it instead of hiding behind all of this drama about poorly made games blah blah blah. The whole "internet criminal crusader" thing was cool 10 years ago, but it's fucking stale these days...

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In fact, your entire arguement is a crock. You can't obscure bad logic with ten-cent words. Pirates contribute nothing to the production of the game. They should pay for it. Production and distribution, even digitally, costs money. End of story.

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Take me for example. In the past 3 years, I've illegally downloaded 3 games. Those were Red Alert 3, The Last Remnant and The Sims 3. My reasons for each were different.

RA3 - I was disillusioned with the series and wasn't sure if RA3 was a game I was going to like. I DL'd it, played it, found my feelings were right and I deleted it.

The Last Remnant - I had heard the game has some problems and issues but that the game itself was good enough to ignore them. Not wanting to throw my money down without finding out for myself first, I DL'd it, played it, found it stuttered a fair bit, ignored it for a bit, played for another couple of hours, didn't like the game itself and deleted it.

The Sims 3 - Not a series I'm too fond of so I DL'd it to see if the game had changed enough to make me want it. It hadn't so I deleted it.

As you can see, none of those games were downloaded because they were free and I'm not trying to cover up anything with halos. I illegally downloaded those games and I did them for my own (however selfish) reasons.

Oh, I also pirated Mass Effect for PC, played for a couple of hours, liked it and bought it. Now, with a legal copy of the game, I can't complete it because of GPF errors that aren't being patched. If only consumers had the power to influence with their money......

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I'm no fan of pirates to be sure, but I think the iPhone is more responsible for the PSP Go! than piracy. SONY foolishly thinks they can copy Apple's business plan.

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Sony used to be the tape and cdplayer walkman kings.

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The key point you made there is "used to be." SONY used to lead in eight divisions worldwide. Now? They lead nowhere. They have a market capitalization less than Nintendo despite having a sales volume overall nearly 10 times greater.

Stringer is actually pushing SONY to lower quality across the board, too, because he thinks the price drop associated with lower quality will be more attractive to consumers than overall quality. In other words, SONY is actively targeting Vizio and Flip and will be yielding mid level electronics sales to leaner, more dynamic brands.

With the debatable exception of Bluray, SONY is no longer a leader, but a dinosaur stuck in the tar.

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"They" don't think piracy was eliminated by that lawsuit any more than a cop thinks they've beaten meth by shutting down a lab.

I'd say it's less of a symbol and more of a precedent. One that can be leveraged in various international courts.

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The aim is to have Content Owners pay The Pirate Bay to distribute content via TPB's trackers.

The End User will get the file for free.

The Content Owner will then make money by charging for subscription fees to services that the downloaded content uses.

For example, rather than ActiBliz hosting WoW expansion packs files or even the whole game file on their own servers they pay TPB to distribute the content then ActiBliz collect the subscription cash without all the overheads involved in distributing the software in the first place.

Of course this won't work for all content, but for programs like Spotify, for Online games, anything that involves content being saved onto the pc but requires a subscription to obtain all the benefits it is brilliant.

I am stunned by the lack of imagination shown on these forums. If you can't see a way to make money with this then you must be half blind.

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I'm assuming the new Pirate Bay will crash and burn pretty quickly especially looking at what happened Napster but at least it might be a step in the right direction.

People are always going to rather free things over things that cost money so piracy will always be prevalent. The thing the industry needs to do is turn those who pirate but would buy the game into paying customers and the only way I see them doing that is by improving quality (buggy ports, etc, etc shouldn't be an issue) and offering value (announcing DLC before your game is released is not going to win you fans).

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The content would still be free to the enduser, use of the content however, would be paid for.

People won't stop pirating because of an upturn in quality, they'll continue stealing like they always do. For a lot of people quality = taste, so they think that they have a right to steal a new FPS because "FPS's suck". Pirates will always find a way to justify their crimes, it's only by changing that attitude that we'll change anything.

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As the security process becomes more and more contrived, the time it takes to crack will be much longer, and if the console maker/publishers are lucky, it will be a pain in the ass for the user.

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I've theorised before that the people that are best at cracking consoles are those that do it so that they can use homebrew software on the machine. With the PS3 you have the option to dual-boot linux out of the box. Thus, people can homebrew to their hearts content without circumventing the PS3's security. This in turn leads to a "brain drain" in the piracy community and thus the reduced availability of cracks for PS3's and PS3 games.

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Raids are conducted sporadically by the government of my country to "stamp out" piracy, frequently destroying disks to make a point. Here, DL and DVD disks are a dime a dozen but blueray is still prohibitively expensive. As you can see the risk of destruction outweighs profitability.

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This article is about TPB though, so, unless I'm missing something, disc-size/format should not be an issue for downloaders.

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