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Piracy is a big issue in gaming today. Loads of people have chipped PlayStations, PS2s, GameCubes and Xboxes, and all for the express purpose of not having to pay for games. Piracy IS illegal, and people who copy games are *.
Piracy started when games were bought on floppy disks. Just stick it in the drive, and you can make infinite amounts of copies. I know that when games were on floppys, my mates did give me copied versions, but that is as far as I have ever gotten to piracy. Now, what am I going on about? Yes, piracy.
Nowadays, piracy couldn't be easier. I have a gameshark for my PlayStation, and in the instructions it tells you how to manipulate it to play copied and import games. Fine, but I don't use it because I don't have copied games. You can't buy copied games in shops, hell no, but it is so easy to copy games.
I'm not writing this as a tutorial to copy games, but you can easily copy them as you would copy anything. Create a cue file, then write to a CD. And when the games don't work, you download a patch. PlayStation piracy is so widespread, it is quite unbelievable. Of my friend group, there are more people who play copied or 'back-up' games (as they call them) than people like me who pay for them. Ridiculous.
And this 'back-up' excuse is ludicrous. You aren't allowed to hire games and copy them, and you can't copy a game then sell the original. The only legal way to have a copied game is if you actually own the original. And even then you aren't allowed to play it. Weird indeed.
Piracy is rampant, and it seems that few people can stop it. Mod chips aren't illegal because they are used for import gaming, and things like Gamesharks and action replays are as legal as buying the originals. Bit of a deadlock there.
I can't really say that those worst hit by piracy don't deserve it. Sony could have put in some anti-piracy measures on the PS2, but that would have meant extra cost, which they weren't willing to pay. Therefore, there are a lot of people playing pirate games. And judging by the amount of junk mail I get advertising 'Copy PS2 games to CD-R', it must be a big business.
GameCube has got some great anti-piracy measures. The little holes in the discs are a good idea, though I have no idea how it works, but I know that it costs just as much to pirate a game as it does to buy it. So consequently, GameCube piracy is pretty much extinct. And even when games are pirated, you can only play the CD-R versions on the Q-Cube because the GameCube's disc tray is too small.
The Xbox is open to piracy, due to the fact that it uses DVDs as the medium, but as far as I know, you can't chip the Xbox, which is a good thing. Although, judging by the tech bods that come up with all this stuff, I doubt it will be impossible for long.
So this results in the PS2 being prime choice for those pirates (arrr matey). Pirating is a big business; many of the SR contacts I have on MSN have admitted to piracy at some stage (though I won't say who). After all, if you had the option to have games for a quid each rather than 40, I think I know what you'd choose. The reason I don't go for copied games? The risk.
a) Mod chips can mess up your PlayStation
b) Copied games are illegal, and if caught you get fined a lot of money
c) Games lose their face value when they're copied; I will enjoy an original much more than a copied game, because I want my value for money. I will finish the game because I spent a lot of money on it, and don't want it to just end up on the shelf.
People say that developers lose money because of pirating. This isn't true. They just don't get money which they may have got. But the thing is, one of my mates who has copied games says that he never copies games which he would buy in the shops normally. Now, this is interesting to me, because technically developers wouldn't get money either way round, whether copied or not.
A simple and easy way to counter piracy is to make games cheaper. At £20 each rather than £40, developers won't lose money. DVDs only cost about 20p each in mass production, so it isn't as if there are restricting production costs. If games were cheaper, I'd buy more games, because I'd have more money to spare. This seems like a simple solution, and it is. The only reason preventing it is the greedy corporations who can't be bothered to give consumers an easy time. So they kind of bring it upon themselves in a way, in the piracy issue.
But don't get me wrong, piracy is bad and illegal. I would never recommend it, or indulge in it, and neither should you. Just stick with the traditional and honest method of buying games. At least SOME people give you a good deal, such as Special Reserve, and I'm not sucking up, but compared to shops, nobody comes close to the value that SR gives you.
So don't pirate, and don't pay extortionate prices. Shop around for good deals, and possibly buy second hand. You shouldn't have to shell out a lot of money for a piece of *, but, you shouldn't pay nothing either.
And on a lighter note, Maximo is brilliant. :-)
Piracy started when games were bought on floppy disks. Just stick it in the drive, and you can make infinite amounts of copies. I know that when games were on floppys, my mates did give me copied versions, but that is as far as I have ever gotten to piracy. Now, what am I going on about? Yes, piracy.
Nowadays, piracy couldn't be easier. I have a gameshark for my PlayStation, and in the instructions it tells you how to manipulate it to play copied and import games. Fine, but I don't use it because I don't have copied games. You can't buy copied games in shops, hell no, but it is so easy to copy games.
I'm not writing this as a tutorial to copy games, but you can easily copy them as you would copy anything. Create a cue file, then write to a CD. And when the games don't work, you download a patch. PlayStation piracy is so widespread, it is quite unbelievable. Of my friend group, there are more people who play copied or 'back-up' games (as they call them) than people like me who pay for them. Ridiculous.
And this 'back-up' excuse is ludicrous. You aren't allowed to hire games and copy them, and you can't copy a game then sell the original. The only legal way to have a copied game is if you actually own the original. And even then you aren't allowed to play it. Weird indeed.
Piracy is rampant, and it seems that few people can stop it. Mod chips aren't illegal because they are used for import gaming, and things like Gamesharks and action replays are as legal as buying the originals. Bit of a deadlock there.
I can't really say that those worst hit by piracy don't deserve it. Sony could have put in some anti-piracy measures on the PS2, but that would have meant extra cost, which they weren't willing to pay. Therefore, there are a lot of people playing pirate games. And judging by the amount of junk mail I get advertising 'Copy PS2 games to CD-R', it must be a big business.
GameCube has got some great anti-piracy measures. The little holes in the discs are a good idea, though I have no idea how it works, but I know that it costs just as much to pirate a game as it does to buy it. So consequently, GameCube piracy is pretty much extinct. And even when games are pirated, you can only play the CD-R versions on the Q-Cube because the GameCube's disc tray is too small.
The Xbox is open to piracy, due to the fact that it uses DVDs as the medium, but as far as I know, you can't chip the Xbox, which is a good thing. Although, judging by the tech bods that come up with all this stuff, I doubt it will be impossible for long.
So this results in the PS2 being prime choice for those pirates (arrr matey). Pirating is a big business; many of the SR contacts I have on MSN have admitted to piracy at some stage (though I won't say who). After all, if you had the option to have games for a quid each rather than 40, I think I know what you'd choose. The reason I don't go for copied games? The risk.
a) Mod chips can mess up your PlayStation
b) Copied games are illegal, and if caught you get fined a lot of money
c) Games lose their face value when they're copied; I will enjoy an original much more than a copied game, because I want my value for money. I will finish the game because I spent a lot of money on it, and don't want it to just end up on the shelf.
People say that developers lose money because of pirating. This isn't true. They just don't get money which they may have got. But the thing is, one of my mates who has copied games says that he never copies games which he would buy in the shops normally. Now, this is interesting to me, because technically developers wouldn't get money either way round, whether copied or not.
A simple and easy way to counter piracy is to make games cheaper. At £20 each rather than £40, developers won't lose money. DVDs only cost about 20p each in mass production, so it isn't as if there are restricting production costs. If games were cheaper, I'd buy more games, because I'd have more money to spare. This seems like a simple solution, and it is. The only reason preventing it is the greedy corporations who can't be bothered to give consumers an easy time. So they kind of bring it upon themselves in a way, in the piracy issue.
But don't get me wrong, piracy is bad and illegal. I would never recommend it, or indulge in it, and neither should you. Just stick with the traditional and honest method of buying games. At least SOME people give you a good deal, such as Special Reserve, and I'm not sucking up, but compared to shops, nobody comes close to the value that SR gives you.
So don't pirate, and don't pay extortionate prices. Shop around for good deals, and possibly buy second hand. You shouldn't have to shell out a lot of money for a piece of *, but, you shouldn't pay nothing either.
And on a lighter note, Maximo is brilliant. :-)
Page:
I feel that piracy is illegal for any Nintendo or Apple software or hardware. I don't really care about Microsoft or Sony.
*ahhh*
*ahhh*
unknown kernel wrote:
As far as I can see the only solution to
> the problem (and I think its a hugely exaggerated one) is to get game prices
> down to a reasonable level.
But going back to a point I made before. A large number of people who buy pirated software they don't care about the industry so they are still going to opt for the pirate copy at as little as £5 insted of paying above that. Why pay more for the exact same thing, ok you don't get an instruction booklet (You can get them on the web) and a fancy case.
The way I see thing is it would be a good idea to have more with an official copy, little extras which make buying a proper copy a better idea. Posters, keyrings, Limited addition extras and such like. (More extras too but I can't think of them all right now)
As far as I can see the only solution to
> the problem (and I think its a hugely exaggerated one) is to get game prices
> down to a reasonable level.
But going back to a point I made before. A large number of people who buy pirated software they don't care about the industry so they are still going to opt for the pirate copy at as little as £5 insted of paying above that. Why pay more for the exact same thing, ok you don't get an instruction booklet (You can get them on the web) and a fancy case.
The way I see thing is it would be a good idea to have more with an official copy, little extras which make buying a proper copy a better idea. Posters, keyrings, Limited addition extras and such like. (More extras too but I can't think of them all right now)
It's a hard situation to get around, but I feel that high-street shops are partially to blame for the piracy of computer games.
Over the Christmas period whilst shopping for gifts, it was EXTREMELY important to me that I had reassurance over the quality of the games. If, for example, my dad's golf game turned out to be poor, I didn't want to be stuck with £40 worth of crap. Therefore, I paid particular attention to deals offered by high-street retailers. Some places gave me the opportunity to return it for an exchange if I didn't like it, but... a NUMBER of major retails offered a 30 day return policy.
Basically, and I won't mention names here because i'm sure most people know the sort of companies i'm talking about, you were offered 30 days to return any software for an exchange in product or your money back. You pay no subsidary charge, there's no fuss, it's as easy as your gonna find. THAT's why piracy is so popular. It's so easy to buy a game, return it saying "Well it was a present but he's already got it" and you've got all your money back.
Now, I understand that retails can't stop doing this because that wouldn't be sound business sense. I for one would think twice about buying a game from a store that didn't offer some kind of re-assurance on quality, but there are, as we know, a LARGE number of people who abuse these schemes.
I can't think of any way of avoiding this without the companies losing out on a lot of income (from people like myself who may buy games elsewhere), and we all know they're not going to do this.
The problem of piracy is a maze, and one that I don't think's ever going to be sorted, unless a company the likes of Microsoft invest a LOT of money into developing a whole new medium of software distribution, patent it, and keep it "close to their chests". Maybe if someone like Microsoft developed a medium that only THEY could control (e.g not involved CD's or any other medium that can be tampered with by the industry) then piracy could be eradicated.
So, without TOTALLY changing the way games are distributed and investing a lot of money, the problem won't go away.
Every avenue we explore with regards to piracy has the same conclusion. SOMEONE will have to invest high amounts, or cut off a revenue that generates high amounts, and THAT isn't going to happen ANYWHERE, on the planet.
Over the Christmas period whilst shopping for gifts, it was EXTREMELY important to me that I had reassurance over the quality of the games. If, for example, my dad's golf game turned out to be poor, I didn't want to be stuck with £40 worth of crap. Therefore, I paid particular attention to deals offered by high-street retailers. Some places gave me the opportunity to return it for an exchange if I didn't like it, but... a NUMBER of major retails offered a 30 day return policy.
Basically, and I won't mention names here because i'm sure most people know the sort of companies i'm talking about, you were offered 30 days to return any software for an exchange in product or your money back. You pay no subsidary charge, there's no fuss, it's as easy as your gonna find. THAT's why piracy is so popular. It's so easy to buy a game, return it saying "Well it was a present but he's already got it" and you've got all your money back.
Now, I understand that retails can't stop doing this because that wouldn't be sound business sense. I for one would think twice about buying a game from a store that didn't offer some kind of re-assurance on quality, but there are, as we know, a LARGE number of people who abuse these schemes.
I can't think of any way of avoiding this without the companies losing out on a lot of income (from people like myself who may buy games elsewhere), and we all know they're not going to do this.
The problem of piracy is a maze, and one that I don't think's ever going to be sorted, unless a company the likes of Microsoft invest a LOT of money into developing a whole new medium of software distribution, patent it, and keep it "close to their chests". Maybe if someone like Microsoft developed a medium that only THEY could control (e.g not involved CD's or any other medium that can be tampered with by the industry) then piracy could be eradicated.
So, without TOTALLY changing the way games are distributed and investing a lot of money, the problem won't go away.
Every avenue we explore with regards to piracy has the same conclusion. SOMEONE will have to invest high amounts, or cut off a revenue that generates high amounts, and THAT isn't going to happen ANYWHERE, on the planet.
AliBoy wrote:
I think in the future piracy
> as a problem will slowly disapear, developers are getting more streetwise and
> learning how to beat them by making it very hard using the hardware/software
> techniques or by making it very expensive to do.
I can't see piracy ever disappearing. These things tend to go in cycles: the industry develops a new foolproof standard and just as quickly it's broken by pirates. Software companies are always revealing 'revolutionary' methods of copy-protection, but the fact is that if you can program something IN then someone else can program it OUT. As for hardware, I think the pattern is the same: the architectures might get more complex but then so do the chipping technologies. You only have to look at the variety of PS2 chips available to see it in action. X-Box and Gamecube might look more secure at the moment, but they are both new to the market and pirate technologies will be under-development as we speak.
As far as I can see the only solution to the problem (and I think its a hugely exaggerated one) is to get game prices down to a reasonable level. How many games in your collection were worth the asking price? There are 2 ways of doing this. First, cutting development costs: stopping production of patently bad games early; cutting down on non-gameplay features like FMV and bad voice acting; not buying expensive and pointless licenses. Second, cutting out the level of profiteering in publishing and retail. The high street chains act essentially as a cartel - pretending to offer great value but keeping prices artificially high. And the increasing concentration of publishing into a handful of giant software companies is creating the same situation there.
If the gaming industry wants its customers to stop ripping it off then it should extend the same courtesy to them.
I think in the future piracy
> as a problem will slowly disapear, developers are getting more streetwise and
> learning how to beat them by making it very hard using the hardware/software
> techniques or by making it very expensive to do.
I can't see piracy ever disappearing. These things tend to go in cycles: the industry develops a new foolproof standard and just as quickly it's broken by pirates. Software companies are always revealing 'revolutionary' methods of copy-protection, but the fact is that if you can program something IN then someone else can program it OUT. As for hardware, I think the pattern is the same: the architectures might get more complex but then so do the chipping technologies. You only have to look at the variety of PS2 chips available to see it in action. X-Box and Gamecube might look more secure at the moment, but they are both new to the market and pirate technologies will be under-development as we speak.
As far as I can see the only solution to the problem (and I think its a hugely exaggerated one) is to get game prices down to a reasonable level. How many games in your collection were worth the asking price? There are 2 ways of doing this. First, cutting development costs: stopping production of patently bad games early; cutting down on non-gameplay features like FMV and bad voice acting; not buying expensive and pointless licenses. Second, cutting out the level of profiteering in publishing and retail. The high street chains act essentially as a cartel - pretending to offer great value but keeping prices artificially high. And the increasing concentration of publishing into a handful of giant software companies is creating the same situation there.
If the gaming industry wants its customers to stop ripping it off then it should extend the same courtesy to them.
I understand what your situation is like, and it isn't you whom I'm talking about. Its the people who borrow games and copy them and sell them. Annoying.
nice post 1/2 pint, hits the nail on the head.
Not all chips are made specifically for piracy, but sadly it seems as with so many other things the few ruin it for everyone else.
I do have a chipped ps2, i admit this openly as the only games i play on it are either original pal or import games.
Trouble is when people can get pirate games cheaper and earlier than the originals it makes it increasingly difficult for people to say no.
I had my ps2 fitted with a messiah chip, in a bundle with mgs2 and final fantasy X u.s versions, and now i have a large collection of obsecure jap games, which sadly will never be released over here.
Most of the problem is due to the fact that the uk has to wait ages to play over inlated prices for games! i got mgs2 import for the equivalent to £25, two months ago just for u.s original, now its comming out in uk its £36!
Not all chips are made specifically for piracy, but sadly it seems as with so many other things the few ruin it for everyone else.
I do have a chipped ps2, i admit this openly as the only games i play on it are either original pal or import games.
Trouble is when people can get pirate games cheaper and earlier than the originals it makes it increasingly difficult for people to say no.
I had my ps2 fitted with a messiah chip, in a bundle with mgs2 and final fantasy X u.s versions, and now i have a large collection of obsecure jap games, which sadly will never be released over here.
Most of the problem is due to the fact that the uk has to wait ages to play over inlated prices for games! i got mgs2 import for the equivalent to £25, two months ago just for u.s original, now its comming out in uk its £36!
If you don't want me to use language, complain to SR. Ask them to tighten up their filter, so that I Can't swear. Then you'll be a happy bunny.
Half Pint i ecpected better of you, i noticed the way aliboy conveyed his points with minimal language, but after a quick scan of the post i noticed several times you sweared, and for the younger members of SR this just aint on.
Piracy isn't as big as a problem as it was just because developers are learning better ways and techniques of making it a lot harder but not impossible.
Some of the techniques they use are software based in that extra code is added along with the code for the game that prevents an exact copy of the game being produced but if you add an extra patch while you copy the game you can overwrite the protective software and obtain a perfect copy of the game which can be played.
There is also the hardware side in that they do things within the console to prevent it playing copied games, but as you all know you can get your console chipped to overcome this. But these days consoles are designed so that any extra chips could cause overheating, so chipping your PS2 or gamecube could cause it a lot of damage. The XBox in my view is different though, due to the similarities in it's architecture with a PC it is possible to overclock the processor and chane the cooling system and do a few more adjustments.
So I think the XBox could face the biggest problems just because of the possibilities that the tech wizards out there have with its similarities to a PC. In saying that though I could be proved very wrong if Microsoft have worked very hard on safety measures to prevent these.
As you all should know piracy is a big problem and it costs the industry a lot, money which could go to improving games or sadly could just go into publishers pockets as a huge profit. Which is the thing which annoys me, piracy is made to be a big problem but no official facts about it are ever calculated and also piracy is a problem but so is being ripped off and many of you may well argue that we are being ripped of for the prices we have to pay on games, consoles, peripherals etc.
I think in the future piracy as a problem will slowly disapear, developers are getting more streetwise and learning how to beat them by making it very hard using the hardware/software techniques or by making it very expensive to do.
I also think with the new introduction of storage mediums, perhaps the blu-ray DVD standard will drive piracy even further down. Here a lot of the developers have worked together so it is likely they will have used the best ideas they have to overcome a lot of problems they face.
It also comes down to moral decisions to I guess. Would you buy pirated software? No, why not? probably because you have an interset in the industry and want to see the best games and best ideas being used by developers. But remember there are people out there who don't care about the industry in the slightest, they don't care what games come when and who makes them. They will buy games if they appeal to them and not really have much interests in what piracy does and who it effects.
If you can buy a game for as little as £5, nearly a saving of £35 and it is exactly the same as an official game except you don't get an instruction booklet or fancy case and have no care in the world about it would you opt to pay £5 or £40? I think most would choose £5 and you would be stupid not too.
This is where I think the bulk of the problem lies, the punishments for piracy are pretty lame but our whole law system is (RANT MODE: You can be jailed for 5 years for mugging someone for a mobile but rapists can be out after as little as 2 years, my opinon that is just crazy)
This is why I think the problem of piracy isn't as bad as it is made out to be, if it was surely the main developers would have some say in having laws updated to match the way it is treated in the world, make the punishments harder and drive people away from doing it.
If you are caught by police they usually take all your equipment used for piracy and any copies you have produced and maybe even a fine and a small jail sentence, If you are caught in possesion of a copy usually just a warning or small fine. The big market copied games producers are a big problem and you usually find they are mixed up in other criminal activities like drugs, that is just some, not all.
Ok I think that is enough, piracy is a problem, may not as bad as we are lead to believe, if it was they would do more to prevent and try stop it. I also don't see it going away for some time if ever as if someone is clever enough to come up with a way of stopping it then usually there will be someone else who is clever enough to find a way around it. I would like to see developers work together in trying to get rid of the problem one and for all. In the future with the software and hardware techniques that may get used I think we may see a stop in chipping and piracy being a very hard and expensive thing to do, so it may not totally disapear but I do see it slowing down by a large amount.
"Piracy's bad mmmkay"
Some of the techniques they use are software based in that extra code is added along with the code for the game that prevents an exact copy of the game being produced but if you add an extra patch while you copy the game you can overwrite the protective software and obtain a perfect copy of the game which can be played.
There is also the hardware side in that they do things within the console to prevent it playing copied games, but as you all know you can get your console chipped to overcome this. But these days consoles are designed so that any extra chips could cause overheating, so chipping your PS2 or gamecube could cause it a lot of damage. The XBox in my view is different though, due to the similarities in it's architecture with a PC it is possible to overclock the processor and chane the cooling system and do a few more adjustments.
So I think the XBox could face the biggest problems just because of the possibilities that the tech wizards out there have with its similarities to a PC. In saying that though I could be proved very wrong if Microsoft have worked very hard on safety measures to prevent these.
As you all should know piracy is a big problem and it costs the industry a lot, money which could go to improving games or sadly could just go into publishers pockets as a huge profit. Which is the thing which annoys me, piracy is made to be a big problem but no official facts about it are ever calculated and also piracy is a problem but so is being ripped off and many of you may well argue that we are being ripped of for the prices we have to pay on games, consoles, peripherals etc.
I think in the future piracy as a problem will slowly disapear, developers are getting more streetwise and learning how to beat them by making it very hard using the hardware/software techniques or by making it very expensive to do.
I also think with the new introduction of storage mediums, perhaps the blu-ray DVD standard will drive piracy even further down. Here a lot of the developers have worked together so it is likely they will have used the best ideas they have to overcome a lot of problems they face.
It also comes down to moral decisions to I guess. Would you buy pirated software? No, why not? probably because you have an interset in the industry and want to see the best games and best ideas being used by developers. But remember there are people out there who don't care about the industry in the slightest, they don't care what games come when and who makes them. They will buy games if they appeal to them and not really have much interests in what piracy does and who it effects.
If you can buy a game for as little as £5, nearly a saving of £35 and it is exactly the same as an official game except you don't get an instruction booklet or fancy case and have no care in the world about it would you opt to pay £5 or £40? I think most would choose £5 and you would be stupid not too.
This is where I think the bulk of the problem lies, the punishments for piracy are pretty lame but our whole law system is (RANT MODE: You can be jailed for 5 years for mugging someone for a mobile but rapists can be out after as little as 2 years, my opinon that is just crazy)
This is why I think the problem of piracy isn't as bad as it is made out to be, if it was surely the main developers would have some say in having laws updated to match the way it is treated in the world, make the punishments harder and drive people away from doing it.
If you are caught by police they usually take all your equipment used for piracy and any copies you have produced and maybe even a fine and a small jail sentence, If you are caught in possesion of a copy usually just a warning or small fine. The big market copied games producers are a big problem and you usually find they are mixed up in other criminal activities like drugs, that is just some, not all.
Ok I think that is enough, piracy is a problem, may not as bad as we are lead to believe, if it was they would do more to prevent and try stop it. I also don't see it going away for some time if ever as if someone is clever enough to come up with a way of stopping it then usually there will be someone else who is clever enough to find a way around it. I would like to see developers work together in trying to get rid of the problem one and for all. In the future with the software and hardware techniques that may get used I think we may see a stop in chipping and piracy being a very hard and expensive thing to do, so it may not totally disapear but I do see it slowing down by a large amount.
"Piracy's bad mmmkay"
I've already said what I'm going to say now on another thread, but it was started by a new arrival so I don't think anyone has read it. Basically it's this:
The games industry does a hell of a lot of whining about piracy and how much it's costing them. They always come up with some ridiculous figure - a hundred trillion dollars or whatever - which doesn't have any basis in reality. Either the number is just plucked out of thin air, or it's based the number of copied games in existence and puts a value on each one: its guesswork, pure and simple. But what really bugs me is that there is an inbuilt assumption that a twelve year old kid who buys three pirated PS2 games would - if piracy were stamped out - rush down to EB and splash out £120 for those same three games. First off, there's only a limited amount of money one person can spend. Second, as you said in your post, people choose which games they buy as originals and which they buy as 'back-ups'.
I don't buy pirated games anymore but, in the days of the Atari ST and pocket money, it was the only way I could afford to play. I never felt guilty about having a copy of a bad game, but I ended buying the originals of my favourites. Personally I can't see anything wrong with people who can't afford to pay for games (ie, young kids - the people who WILL buy games in the future, if they're not put off now by high prices) getting the odd knock-off down the market. And while I'm happy spending money on games like GTA or Gran Turismo, I am tempted by a modchip that would let me play the average games - to satisfy my curiousity and see if they've been misjudged in the press.
In the end, I don't think piracy is much more of a problem than home-taping was to the music industry thirty-odd years ago: if music can survive then gaming can too.
The games industry does a hell of a lot of whining about piracy and how much it's costing them. They always come up with some ridiculous figure - a hundred trillion dollars or whatever - which doesn't have any basis in reality. Either the number is just plucked out of thin air, or it's based the number of copied games in existence and puts a value on each one: its guesswork, pure and simple. But what really bugs me is that there is an inbuilt assumption that a twelve year old kid who buys three pirated PS2 games would - if piracy were stamped out - rush down to EB and splash out £120 for those same three games. First off, there's only a limited amount of money one person can spend. Second, as you said in your post, people choose which games they buy as originals and which they buy as 'back-ups'.
I don't buy pirated games anymore but, in the days of the Atari ST and pocket money, it was the only way I could afford to play. I never felt guilty about having a copy of a bad game, but I ended buying the originals of my favourites. Personally I can't see anything wrong with people who can't afford to pay for games (ie, young kids - the people who WILL buy games in the future, if they're not put off now by high prices) getting the odd knock-off down the market. And while I'm happy spending money on games like GTA or Gran Turismo, I am tempted by a modchip that would let me play the average games - to satisfy my curiousity and see if they've been misjudged in the press.
In the end, I don't think piracy is much more of a problem than home-taping was to the music industry thirty-odd years ago: if music can survive then gaming can too.
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