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Many years ago I was the proud owner of an Atari ST, which although utterly useless by today’s high standards, its games had the playability and originality which many modern efforts are sorely lacking. Unfortunately, it came to a sorry end, as did the equally great Amiga, by the ever-present hand of piracy. This was then even more common than it is today, since copying floppy disks is so easy, and ultimately led to the collapse of the games market for these machines.
Just yesterday, I was given the opportunity to get my hands on pirate copies of some of the best Playstation 2 games around at a price that compared to a Happy Meal at McDonald's. I refused. I do not want to add to the problems piracy creates in the games market.
There is a lesson to be learned here- that the future of gaming is grim unless more action is taken against piracy. In the past games developers came up with many ingenious ideas, the most common of which was some form of detailed pattern or code printed on dark paper and supplied with the game manual- the original Settlers comes to mind here in earlier days and most modern PC games now use this code method on the back of games cases. This code is entered like a password to get the game to load and can only be registered once. Another solution was a cardboard disc with a pattern of holes which, when rotated as directed by the game, revealed a pattern of symbols which had to be entered. This method was not as widely used, but it worked all the same. More recently we have had disc shape changes with the release of the GameCube so that games cannot be copied onto normal Compact Discs.
These devices are very difficult to reproduce, and very effective, but came too late to save the systems of the past. Many of the developers responsible for these measures are still around today (Codemasters and Core to name but two). I think it is time that anti-piracy measures were more effective on all systems today, especially easy targets such as the Playstation consoles. Unless something is done fast, prices will continue to increase and many gamers will end up priced out of the games market.
Just yesterday, I was given the opportunity to get my hands on pirate copies of some of the best Playstation 2 games around at a price that compared to a Happy Meal at McDonald's. I refused. I do not want to add to the problems piracy creates in the games market.
There is a lesson to be learned here- that the future of gaming is grim unless more action is taken against piracy. In the past games developers came up with many ingenious ideas, the most common of which was some form of detailed pattern or code printed on dark paper and supplied with the game manual- the original Settlers comes to mind here in earlier days and most modern PC games now use this code method on the back of games cases. This code is entered like a password to get the game to load and can only be registered once. Another solution was a cardboard disc with a pattern of holes which, when rotated as directed by the game, revealed a pattern of symbols which had to be entered. This method was not as widely used, but it worked all the same. More recently we have had disc shape changes with the release of the GameCube so that games cannot be copied onto normal Compact Discs.
These devices are very difficult to reproduce, and very effective, but came too late to save the systems of the past. Many of the developers responsible for these measures are still around today (Codemasters and Core to name but two). I think it is time that anti-piracy measures were more effective on all systems today, especially easy targets such as the Playstation consoles. Unless something is done fast, prices will continue to increase and many gamers will end up priced out of the games market.
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Ironic that the manager of my local Game store was sacked for copying games! :-)
Well, look at the latest financial reports...
Most publishers saw profits drop last year, as did developers, yet retailers saw a record rise. Odd eh?
Oh, and here's how EB makes their money:
"So, you'd like to sell a game in ours stores would you Mr. Nintendo. Right, in that case you need to pay for it to go into our catalogue first. No, you can't just sell it without it being in our catalgoue- it's a company rule. It'll cost you a few thousand pounds- tens of thousands if you want a prominent spot for it (like the front cover).
"Ok, so you've got it in the catalogue, we'll put it into the Nintendo section in our stores. No, we won't put up posters promotting your AAA game unless you pay us to do so. I know it's probably the best game of all time, but we won't promote it unless you pay us more...
"Ok, the game sales were excellent, but we have a few thousand left over copies. We want you to buy them back from us at full price Mr. Nintendo. No? If you don't we may have to stop Nintendo game sales for a while... Ok, so it's a deal then".
And So EB have managed to control the market.
Sonic
Most publishers saw profits drop last year, as did developers, yet retailers saw a record rise. Odd eh?
Oh, and here's how EB makes their money:
"So, you'd like to sell a game in ours stores would you Mr. Nintendo. Right, in that case you need to pay for it to go into our catalogue first. No, you can't just sell it without it being in our catalgoue- it's a company rule. It'll cost you a few thousand pounds- tens of thousands if you want a prominent spot for it (like the front cover).
"Ok, so you've got it in the catalogue, we'll put it into the Nintendo section in our stores. No, we won't put up posters promotting your AAA game unless you pay us to do so. I know it's probably the best game of all time, but we won't promote it unless you pay us more...
"Ok, the game sales were excellent, but we have a few thousand left over copies. We want you to buy them back from us at full price Mr. Nintendo. No? If you don't we may have to stop Nintendo game sales for a while... Ok, so it's a deal then".
And So EB have managed to control the market.
Sonic
Fuzzy wrote:
, until companies don't need to make a
> profit, it would appear prices will probably not drop low enough for
> piracy to be wiped out.
Companies will always need to make a profit. Its how they stay in business! But I would agree that profit margins as they stand at the moment would probably allow a drop in prices.
, until companies don't need to make a
> profit, it would appear prices will probably not drop low enough for
> piracy to be wiped out.
Companies will always need to make a profit. Its how they stay in business! But I would agree that profit margins as they stand at the moment would probably allow a drop in prices.
I think SONICRAV's fourth point was very good. Having cheaper games because of the previous points would eliminate the need for piracy for games anyway as people would have faith in the producys and could afford them. As for EB and Game, until companies don't need to make a profit, it would appear prices will probably not drop low enough for piracy to be wiped out. They condemn it, but never do anything about it.
Excellent ideas though.
Excellent ideas though.
Those are brilliant ideas Sonicrav. It's a real shame that games developers don't seemingly want to do more to prevent piracy. It's just one of those things we all dont want to live with but inevitably have to I suppose.
Codemasters are the greates at putting protection on games. I remember my mate kept trying to copy it but everytime he copied it when playing the copied version he couldn't win a match coz codies put it that way so it wud annoy the rippers....serves him right :D
Well, there's a controversial opion for you to argue with;)
One of my last GAD wins was about completely erradicating casual piracy- something that could be done extremely easily, and wouldn't even involve making anti-piracy measures any better.
Basically it goes like this:
1) There should be NO lockouts on regions for consoles. This would mean that the use of chips to "allow importing" would disappear, and all chips would immediately become illegal. Seeing as most chips are made by professional companies, these companies would stop chip production mostly of their own accord- those that don't wouldn't be hard to close.
However, this means we can't be ripped off with prices so much higher than the rest of the world- so it won't be done.
2) Publishers should scrap bad games before they get far into development. How many people feel annoyed that they've bought a highly publicised game, and it's rubbish. Just stop the games being made, and people will have more faith in the industry.
But that would mean the end of cheap cash ins like Simpson's Wrestling.
3) Develop games in every language from the start. This allows universal release dates, and will lower development costs. So now we have NO delays on games, and they're cheaper.
4) Reduce the costs of games. You know, over half of the profit from games goes to the retailer- people like Electronics boutique. A lot of the rest goes to publishers, and the actual game developers get very little. How about ending the cartel on games that retailers have set, and lower all the rrps?
Now, not only do those ideas stop casual piracy (you won't be able to buy chips), but they will also increase confindence in the industry, give us cheaper games sooner and allow us to import from the cheapest territory.
But it'll never be done because the facade of piracy is used to charge us extortionate prices for games. The whole idea of piracy is a joke- if the industry wanted it could do lots of tackle it!
Sonic
Basically it goes like this:
1) There should be NO lockouts on regions for consoles. This would mean that the use of chips to "allow importing" would disappear, and all chips would immediately become illegal. Seeing as most chips are made by professional companies, these companies would stop chip production mostly of their own accord- those that don't wouldn't be hard to close.
However, this means we can't be ripped off with prices so much higher than the rest of the world- so it won't be done.
2) Publishers should scrap bad games before they get far into development. How many people feel annoyed that they've bought a highly publicised game, and it's rubbish. Just stop the games being made, and people will have more faith in the industry.
But that would mean the end of cheap cash ins like Simpson's Wrestling.
3) Develop games in every language from the start. This allows universal release dates, and will lower development costs. So now we have NO delays on games, and they're cheaper.
4) Reduce the costs of games. You know, over half of the profit from games goes to the retailer- people like Electronics boutique. A lot of the rest goes to publishers, and the actual game developers get very little. How about ending the cartel on games that retailers have set, and lower all the rrps?
Now, not only do those ideas stop casual piracy (you won't be able to buy chips), but they will also increase confindence in the industry, give us cheaper games sooner and allow us to import from the cheapest territory.
But it'll never be done because the facade of piracy is used to charge us extortionate prices for games. The whole idea of piracy is a joke- if the industry wanted it could do lots of tackle it!
Sonic
Thats true, but still i think all gaming companies need to have there games bought (if you like them of course) otherwise the smaller companies are just going to go out of buisness.
If people are going to buy the likes of FF10 and MGS2 because they are good games, but then they are going to buy the less great games on copied discs thats still damaging to the market. It will eventually lead to some of the smaller expanding developers to soon go bust, and these are the people that have just started out, who could become the new Konami ect.
In effect, by doing this also, these people that buy the copied games are decreasing the amount of quality games that we could get in the future...not to mention messing with the peoples lives who work for these jobs.
If people are going to buy the likes of FF10 and MGS2 because they are good games, but then they are going to buy the less great games on copied discs thats still damaging to the market. It will eventually lead to some of the smaller expanding developers to soon go bust, and these are the people that have just started out, who could become the new Konami ect.
In effect, by doing this also, these people that buy the copied games are decreasing the amount of quality games that we could get in the future...not to mention messing with the peoples lives who work for these jobs.
I feel the same as you Ortega. If companies produce great games like Champ Manager, GTA3, MGS, then they deserve to reap the rewards for them.
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