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Pirated software. I always imagined some twentysomething bloke goes out to the stores, buys a game, and then spends a few hours cracking it. When he's done, he'll maybe up it to an FTP site, and staryt telling people about it.
But no. It turns out it far, far more organised than that.
There exist two *major* pirate groups, as far as I can fathom. Each has things planned out perfectly to get the game uploaded as fast as they can. It's a race. This is not done for a laugh, it's a serious competition.
8:58 am, day of release. A man waits outside the store of the local games shop, just before opening.
9:00 am, shop opens. The man enters, buys a copy of the game, and leaves. No messing around. He returns to the car, parked right outside the shop, where an accompalice is waiting. On the way home, the game is already being cracked on the laptop. Within a few miniutes, it's done. Hundreds or thousands spend on security, but it's no good. They've researched how it's protected, and they've known exactly how they were going to get round it for days or weeks before the launch.
They arrive home, the game fully cracked. Immediately they begin to upload it on an ultra high speed connection, and in miniutes it's done.
Well under half an hour from release to being available on the net. Incidentally, the different in how long it takes each of the major groups to upload it is a matter on miniutes.
(Trying not to say anything that would allow people to pirate games ya know) :p
Pirated software. I always imagined some twentysomething bloke goes out to the stores, buys a game, and then spends a few hours cracking it. When he's done, he'll maybe up it to an FTP site, and staryt telling people about it.
But no. It turns out it far, far more organised than that.
There exist two *major* pirate groups, as far as I can fathom. Each has things planned out perfectly to get the game uploaded as fast as they can. It's a race. This is not done for a laugh, it's a serious competition.
8:58 am, day of release. A man waits outside the store of the local games shop, just before opening.
9:00 am, shop opens. The man enters, buys a copy of the game, and leaves. No messing around. He returns to the car, parked right outside the shop, where an accompalice is waiting. On the way home, the game is already being cracked on the laptop. Within a few miniutes, it's done. Hundreds or thousands spend on security, but it's no good. They've researched how it's protected, and they've known exactly how they were going to get round it for days or weeks before the launch.
They arrive home, the game fully cracked. Immediately they begin to upload it on an ultra high speed connection, and in miniutes it's done.
Well under half an hour from release to being available on the net. Incidentally, the different in how long it takes each of the major groups to upload it is a matter on miniutes.