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PC game developer has radical message: Ignore the Pirates

arstechnica.com — When trying to make a living creating PC games, ignoring the pirates might be the best approach. The CEO of Stardock, which made the best-selling Sins of a Solar Empire, argues that copy protection simply aggravates actual customers.

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  • boshaus, on 03/20/2008, -2/+149It's about time a game developer starts seeing this. Luckily for them they do their own publishing so they don't have some ***** publisher telling them what to do.
    • fkr3, on 03/20/2008, -27/+11Game developers can ignore piracy simply by having the games authenticate the serials against their servers when you play online. Which is what most of them do and probably why most of them focus more on online play than single player modes.
      • MikeSD34, on 03/20/2008, -8/+21That works really well when you've installed the game on your laptop and want to play it when you're out. Or if you want to play a game and your internet connection is down. Most anti-piracy checks end up being a pain in the ass for regular customers, and not for pirates, who just download cracked copies anyway.
        • fkr3, on 03/20/2008, -17/+18Obviously you can't "play online" if you're "not online".....
        • noerrorsfound, on 03/20/2008, -1/+18So why is fkr3 being dugg down? I believe most of you are misunderstanding what he's saying. He is not saying to authenticate the game online every time you play singleplayer. He's saying you should authenticate it online when playing MULTIPLAYER, which wouldn't be a problem since you can't play online multiplayer without a connection, anyway.
          • fkr3, on 03/21/2008, -0/+8That is what I meant and I thought I said it pretty clearly.... "when you play online". Authenticating every time you play offline is unfeasible, but shifting the focus to online play and then authenticating when you connect to their (or whoever's) servers to play against other people is a pretty much proven way to protect games and definitely a growing movement.
      • whyufail, on 03/20/2008, -1/+262K did this with freaking Bioshock and managed to completely ***** up what was otherwise a great release with that ***** DRM system.
        • unjustend, on 03/20/2008, -3/+14and is also the reason I never played it. I hear its good though, just would rather not deal with the DRM, my friend offered me a pirated version i told him I wasn't interested.
          • LLamaStar, on 03/20/2008, -20/+2you never played bioshock because of the drm? that's a pretty sorry excuse.

            "I wasn't interested" would have been much better. either that or kill your self.
          • damndj, on 03/20/2008, -4/+3I was totally going to digg you up until the kill yourself comment. :( Now I don't know what to do.
          • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3i have had to sit out on bioshock due to it requiring shader model 3.0 . i have an x800xt and ATI decided not to include it in the x series. i would have bought it long ago if not for this.
      • fgsfds, on 03/21/2008, -0/+6They're not kidding when they say it doesn't use copy protection. Sins doesn't use keys. Or dongles. Or CD checks.

        The point they seem to be making is that pirates will never stop pirating, and they aren't going to magically become paying customers if a game somehow avoids a 0-day leak.
        • Matri, on 03/21/2008, -0/+5Uhh, Sins does use keys. You need to register an account with them and register your key to that account in order to play online.

          Unless you mean off-line, in which case you're right, it doesn't even bother you with it.
          • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4i believe you also need to be registered to get patches from them.
      • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2Except then if the authentication server is down, everyone is screwed. Also despite such methods, Infinity Ward is complaining about the amount of pirated copies of COD4 that are currently playing online. This means that the CD code authentication scheme fails at preventing piracy. Indeed, there are free WOW servers out there that are nearly as populated as the real ones. The Dev team got to realize that if the pirates are pirating the hell out of a title, then the buyers are buying the hell out of it too.
        Sins is the top selling game of the month? Well look here. http://thepiratebay.org/browse/401/0/7
        Sins is also the most popular game on TPB with COD4 right behind it. Probably half of the "Pirates" bought the game anyways and the most of the rest didn't keep the game on their HD for more than a few weeks anyways. Every massively pirated game is also a massive seller. They need to realize this and get over it.
        • MetricLobster, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2I downloaded sins about a week ago... i am just waiting to get paid so i can actually buy a copy
    • trispear, on 03/20/2008, -25/+2Yeah, wait until this guy ships a losing product or has a bad quarter -- then his full wrath will be on the pirates -- all of which would be merely a song and dance to appease the investors, of course.
      • bejayel, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6God forbid he is in a company that actually tests games, maybe even get a little closed beta help on what the game needs from professional gamers, while not forgetting the rest of us.
    • Spuy767, on 03/20/2008, -21/+4Apple computer figured this out years ago.
      • Skooma714, on 03/20/2008, -2/+30There are games on Apple?
        • sjmulder, on 03/20/2008, -2/+4I'm going to bypass the sarcasm here.

          The games still lack in this regard, I hate to have to find the CD to play.

          What he's talking about here is the lack of serials for software like Mac OS X. I like that. Not all Apple software has this however, for example iWork does have a serial code. Probably so you can activate the trial without installing additional stuff - I never removed the CD from the package.
        • insertAliasHere, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9He might be referring to the fact that Apple's OS X dvds have no product keys or validation.
          • McGrude, on 03/20/2008, -0/+14Well that's because the OS is ancillary to the main product -- high margin hardware.
          • insertAliasHere, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10@McGrudge
            Of course. You already have to have bought their hardware to use their software anyway. (OSX86 doesn't count, you can't use the retail dvd for that anyway.) This is why apple's example doesn't really fit this situation.
          • dansmeek, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2but there are still people who will pay to upgrade. wasn't the launch of 'leopard' a pretty big deal? didn't tons of mac users upgrade to it? so you mean, people who already own apple and a valid apple operating system are willing to pay more money to apple for a newer version of that operating system?
            and i'm sure there are a lot of pirated copies of os x (leopard) floating around (and installed) and working flawlessly. but apple doesn't cater to the 'pirate' audience. and trusts in their user base.
            compare that to microsoft who treats you like your a pirate until you can prove that your not.
          • aywwts4, on 03/21/2008, -1/+4Microsoft then continues to check that you are not a pirate, even if you have proven you are not, constantly checking to protect you from the ever evolving danger of piracy, or false positives... or changing too many pieces of your hardware at once.
          • insertAliasHere, on 03/21/2008, -1/+3@dansmeek, aywwts
            Be that as it may, but Microsoft doesn't make computers. No hardware revenues. So they have to fully protect their investment. I'm not saying that they have the ideal solution; far from it. But Apple software sells apple hardware. Microsoft software sells dell, sony, toshiba, and hp hardware. See what I mean? Not everyone can afford to ignore pirates.
          • aywwts4, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Microsoft doesn't make its money by selling copies of Windows Vista in a box at walmart.

            Microsoft, just like apple, makes its money from the hardware, almost every computer sold, up until recently had the required Microsoft tax levied upon it. That and volume licensing for offices are where their profits come from.

            It's my thought that the real reason they keep selling it in stores, and at such absurd prices compared to it's volume licensing fees, is just so windows remains valuable in the perception of the public. that you are getting windows for "free" when you buy a dell, so thats a good deal.
    • ArrakisDune, on 03/20/2008, -0/+19Its rarely the developers which want the copy protection on there. They are geeks like us. You can blame the publishers who tell their shareholders "Hey guys, if we install Starforce on all our games, it will stop piracy!", or at the very least to make it appear that they are attempting to tackle the problem.
      Just look at any of Epic's previous games - copy protection on the disk, which is instantly removed in the first patch every single time (They even removed the need for the CD to be present too).
      Of course, its not true for all, but most. If you have a group of people clever enough to make a computer game, they sure as hell know that copy protection does not work.
    • CoolWind, on 03/21/2008, -1/+10Brad Wardell likes to brag about how his games aren't copy protected, probably because it helps him get free publicity, but his Windowblinds 6 program, that lets you skin Windows has been out for over a year and it's basically un-crackable. So it's not like he doesn't worry about piracy, it's just that he can't think of a cost-efficient way to keep his games from getting ripped off.
      • fearphage, on 03/22/2008, -0/+1I have never heard of uncrackable software. I don't use windowblinds but i do see torrents for it on all the major spots and key generators as well. The only program that is uncrackable is the one that isn't written.
    • 4d669, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2Great article.
  • ToeCracker, on 03/20/2008, -7/+236Mate, seems we submitted this story within seconds as it wa showing the same minutes for both, so I un-dugg mine and buried my submission too.
    • fkr3, on 03/20/2008, -126/+10Want a cookie?
    • aramova, on 03/20/2008, -0/+481) Good Catch
      2) Good call taking the high ground

      cudos!
      • jackyyll, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10*cough*

        Kudos*
      • zinc6471, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2what would have happen if both undugged and bury the article... ???
        • yoshman, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3The same thing that would happen if you built a Starbucks across from a Starbucks...
        • rrbest, on 03/21/2008, -1/+3The reasoning for a starbucks across from a starbucks is so blatantly obvious I don't know why it suprises people.
    • requiem3, on 03/20/2008, -1/+67...You're doing it wrong.
      You're supposed to bitch and moan.
    • kaelyiesta, on 03/21/2008, -0/+19Tsk. What is digg coming to these days. Manners and sensibility? What a shame.
    • ruddy, on 03/21/2008, -7/+9I award you the DIGG purple heart - the noblest award DIGG has to offer
      • Reziarfg, on 03/21/2008, -3/+2Since when was digg capitalized? The first letter isn't even capitalized in their logo thing.
        • rrbest, on 03/21/2008, -0/+5DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.
    • vofuse, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Thanks for announcing it and letting everyone know what a generous person you are.
  • Giolon, on 03/20/2008, -1/+166If only this philosophy were shared more widely among the industry. Stardock games not only don't require a CD in while playing (alleviating the need to find CD cracks for on the go laptop gaming), but they also allow registered customers to re-download the game at any time from their servers. It's great! Stardock is officially my favorite publisher.
    • Klarth, on 03/20/2008, -1/+54Stardock and Valve are keeping the PC gaming industry pretty well right now.
      • jackyyll, on 03/20/2008, -3/+19It's funny, until now, i've never heard of stardock.
        • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2Never heard of WindowBlinds? ObjectDock? They're awesome.

          Anyone who says "Windows is ugly", really needs to check it out. It's pretty much limitless what you can do with it (and some creativity).

          My subscription lapsed a while ago, but I"m really thinking of re-subscribing to the "Object Desktop" thing.

          Stardock is awesome.
        • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3They also did Fate, a Diablo clone.
          Most antivirus companies claim Stardock are spyware producers and spammers but I have only seen quality work from them. Out of everything they have produced I have only liked their games, but I'll admit that Windowblinds and Object Desktop are both the highest quality of work.
        • SpaceMonkeyZero, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1I never heard of them either. But if they're ok with their stuff being pirated... well... ARRR MATEY!
      • Laughto, on 03/21/2008, -2/+5[cough]Blizzard[/cough]
        • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Well, a few Blizzard members anyways, but not quite Blizzard.
    • aramova, on 03/20/2008, -0/+19The redownload option is awesome. It's worth paying them the sticker price on this great game to support this even if you pirated it.
    • orangedude, on 03/20/2008, -7/+1His philosophy about catering to a wider range of PC's is spot on. However, I'm not too sure about whether the "just focus on profitability" idea is a good thing for the PC industry as a whole. He's basically suggesting that the PC market is a niche market, so spending less resources in production while being content with less sales overall in order to make a profit is they way to go. Maybe he's right, but it's sad to see the PC gaming industry go down this path. That's exactly why so many developers are moving to console --> more people will buy games there. It's possible we'll never see any big blockbusters on the PC again, or fewer and fewer of them if companies follow this philosophy. Only the niche developers will survive.
      • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1Then you've gotten his point wrong. He means to quit dumping cash on preventing pirates and use the money to make a better (and more profitable) game. Also, the little guys need to quit trying to break standards and use available hardware. Let the guys like id and Valve do the ground breaking work and develop more friendly products that more people can run.
    • lukas88, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5Anyone else who has actually played the game see this move as a little ironic?

      One of the key strategies of the game is to bribe the space pirates to attack other people instead of you.
      • Matri, on 03/21/2008, -0/+7Patch 1.02 allows for pirate-free maps.
        • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1There is some sort of irony in that.
  • jobias, on 03/20/2008, -4/+59The title doesn't state this, but ignoring the pirates is just one of the two really interesting points this article makes.

    Brad Wardell also echoes Blizzard's philosophy of developing for low-end to middle-end machines, not the high-end. SoSE has both a good framerate with respectably impressive graphics primarily because of this.

    Although I have to agree that their stance on piracy is far more interesting, and that's where Stardock is most revolutionary. If only their Steam-clone (Stardock Central) didn't suck so very much. They seem to hold a grudge against valve, since manually adding SoSE to Steam removes all fonts from the game, making it unplayable.
    • jkuempel, on 03/20/2008, -0/+28This is not something that was done intentionally and is rather silly to even suggest.
      • dood, on 03/20/2008, -7/+1It does seem like it was intentional:

        "His approach is not to think only about the "cool" games, but to make sure what the company does create can be profitable. What good is spending years on a top-tier game that gets all the buzz, is on all the magazine covers, but that very few people have the hardware to run?"
    • jkuempel, on 03/20/2008, -0/+28Also, Stardock Central isn't a "Steam-clone" as Stardock has been doing digital distribution long before Steam was around. But since you dislike it so much, maybe you'd care to know that it's being replaced by something that looks a little more contemporary called Impulse.
    • NTolerance, on 03/20/2008, -0/+18I also like the idea of games designed for midrange systems. I have a fairly high-end system and if the graphics aren't extremely intensive that means I'll get mega FPS. I'm totally OK with that. The Source engine does a great job at this, and guess what, Valve is still successful amidst this whole PC-game SNAFU.
      • fkr3, on 03/20/2008, -1/+6I love the idea. I have a high-end system but half or more of the time I'm on my notebook with a Geforce 6150.
    • CJMac, on 03/20/2008, -9/+8The first thing I thought of when I read this was WoW. If you make a solid, fun game, that doesn't need to be run on a $4000 machine, you're going to get a whole lot more people playing it. Its kinda like what Nintendo did with the Wii: Fun games + a cheap console = $$
    • smurfsahoy, on 03/20/2008, -11/+2Steam blows. I don't want to run your damn program to look for updates every time I restart my computer by default. Get over yourself, Valve.
      • DemonWasp, on 03/20/2008, -0/+81. There's a simple option to turn that off.
        2. It's better that it keep itself updated than force you to update it.
        3. Updating it is painless - and often happens without me even being aware of it.
        4. Get off your high horse and learn to just uncheck the "run on startup" box.
        • fkr3, on 03/21/2008, -3/+1Steam still suck. Ever had to use their support? They leverage the internet for such cool features as next-day-replies that can turn a simple question into a weeklong adventure.
          • DemonWasp, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1Yes. I've used their support. I got a response - a correct, easy-to-follow response - within hours. I'd honestly prefer that over sitting on a phone listening to elevator music, because I can go off and do other stuff. Far superior to other tech support IMO.
        • LemmingJesus, on 03/21/2008, -1/+3I had to use their support system to get my password back after someone stole my account. I sent them a scan of my Half life 2 voucher (I never even payed for any of my games, they all came with my old video card) and they gave me a new password within a couple days.
          • fkr3, on 03/21/2008, -2/+1A couple days is a ***** response time I'm sorry. I think my worst was nearly 5 days too.

            They're obviously heavily understaffed which usually means either they're just bad at running their business or their profit margins are so slim they can't afford any other employees, neither of which is great for long term survival.
          • DemonWasp, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1A couple of days is excellent, unless you have ADHD. And OH NO 5 days? Whatever will you do?

            How long does it take your internet company to get technicians out to your house when your internet goes down? Hmmm.
    • mitrovarr, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3The danger of designing to a lower or mid-end machine is that your engine won't necessarily age well. Engines that have advanced technologies in them when released stay current longer, in the same way that a high-end computer is viable longer than a low-end one. Someone mentioned the source engine in this thread - the source engine was quite advanced when it came out, and made low-end PCs of the time suffer greatly. Perhaps that's why it's still viable instead of being abandoned and forgotten?

      Some of the better game design companies seem to make games that work pretty well on midrange stuff as well as having advanced features on top-end machines. That seems like the better way to go, if companies can pull it off.
      • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4i thought the valve source engine games were fairly scalable. i started off with a P42.5ghz 512MB and a radeon 9000 pro. things ran fairly well other than the load points in HL2
        • DemonWasp, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1They're really nice about scalability. You think your system is slow? I had an AMD 1900+ (1.6ghz) with 1GB and a GeForce3 - and it ran the games. Not particularly well, nor particularly nice-looking, but they were playable.
    • Abomonog, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4Jobias:

      I hate to burst your bubble. But Steam is the clone. Stardock Central is about 3 or 4 years old now while Steam is about a year old.
  • MikeonTV, on 03/20/2008, -30/+5At last someone gets it. Piracy doesn't exist!
    • norman619, on 03/20/2008, -2/+10No. The Mafia doesn't exist. Pirates actually do exist.
  • streetstealth, on 03/20/2008, -0/+113"The reason why we don't put copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count."

    So simple, so true.

    Just think, if Hollywood had this attitude, there would be no HDCP, you wouldn't need to upgrade your monitor to watch Blu-Ray, and I, for one, would have actually bought their stuff.
    • insertAliasHere, on 03/20/2008, -1/+23To take the concept even further, if they didn't have to pay to engineer all the encryption and DRM on everything, and then pay again to re-invent the wheel when it's cracked, movies may actually be cheaper, and pirating might actually decrease. But the more they spend on fixing failed DRM, the more expensive my movie tickets/disks/players are going to be, and the more likely I'm just gonna hit up thepiratebay.
    • philhatesyou, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7You don't need to upgrade your television/monitor to watch Blu-Ray. My TV doesn't do HDCP and I can watch Blu-Ray just fine. It is only 720p, though.
      • Shaflugi, on 03/21/2008, -2/+1I assume he means upgrading from an old SDTV at 480i.
      • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2a friend of mine uses his LCD monitor for his xbox 360 using a hdmi to dvi adapter and he is unable to watch dvd's due to his monitor not being HDCP compliant.
    • cannonball, on 03/20/2008, -10/+1Hell, if Microsoft had this mentality, I wouldn't mind using Windows...
      • cannonball, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7I deserve to be dugg down. I just realized what I just said...
        • ruddy, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2this has got to be against the rules somewhere
  • terrix, on 03/20/2008, -2/+23This is dead on, you don't see PopCap games hurting for sales of Peggle or whatever casual games they are selling. They sell games available to a wider audience. I'm not saying all developers should go to casual games, but if games were fun 5 years ago on much older hardware, I'll be happy with an affordable fun game that will play on my 2 year old laptop with decent 3D graphics card. Guild Wars, Orange Box, Rise of Nations, and GameTap get my dollar simply because I could play them. Many of the people (I was one of them once) who spend $2000 grand on a l33t machine, or $400 every few months on a new card pirate because after spending that cash just to play your game (I'm looking at you Crysis), they nearly feel entitled or simply can't afford it.
    • trispear, on 03/20/2008, -10/+2So... you spend 2000+ on a machine and then won't fork over the $50-70 for the actual game?
    • norman619, on 03/20/2008, -4/+14Oh god. You don't need $2000 system to play Crisys. You don't need to spend $400 on a new video crad every few months to play any of the games you mentioned. If you want to see all the fantastic eyecandy on games like Crysis you do but the games look just fine on regular systems. You are feeding into the PC gaming FUD.
      • zengonzo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+8norman is absolutely right.

        For everyone who says you need to spend that much money on the machine, that's to run top-of-the-line settings. Anything after a mid-range amount is only what a person chooses to spend .. Not what they have to.

        Just stay away from Alienware!
    • wolfofwar, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2You dont need a 400 dollar gaming card every month. But if you want to be able to keep at max settings on any game you WILL need to upgrade something every year.
    • foltaggio, on 07/11/2008, -0/+32000 grand? That's a $2,000,000 system!
      • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3Alienware will sell you one.

        It'll still be stock parts you can get off-the-shelf, but it'll come in that really fugly case!
    • logandurand, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4Flawed logic is flawed.
      First, you only need to upgrade if you want better graphics. If you don't demand the latest and greatest technology, you only need to buy new parts every three to four years. Second, the 8800 GT, which costs about $200 at the moment, can almost completely max out Crysis. Building a Crysis-on-uber-settings PC can be accomplished for less than $1000.
    • stretch611, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4Actually I stopped buying from PopCap. When I bought Peggle, I was only allowed to install it 5 times. While I am a geek and I am sure I can find a way around it on the internet, I would rather not have to bother. Before someone says that 5 times should be enough, why should I be limited at all...
      • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3It's one of the reasons I never bothered with Bioshock.
  • Damien2101, on 03/20/2008, -1/+46One of the major selling points of Steam (for me) is not having to deal directly with copy protection. Log in, doubleclick, the game starts. No dicking around with potential blacklist programs, copy protection drivers, and the whole nine yards. If a game comes out new on Steam the same time one in the stores does, I always get the Steam copy over the retail one. Not even because of the convenience of not having to go to the store, but the fact that I don't have to deal with the potential of a game not running because I want to have burning or emulation software installed. Not having to sit there and use emulation tricks or cracks to run a legitimate game. I can't even imagine the horrors people who aren't tech-savvy have to go through with some of this *****. Starforce, anyone? I still don't think I'd ever got my store-bought copy of Pandora Tomorrow to run without my 'help.'

    This guy's got it right. Kudos to you. Great game, by the way.
    • centran, on 03/20/2008, -4/+6I keep going back and forth with Steam. I do like it. It is convenient. The added features for multi playing are nice. However having to open it up then select my game is pain in the ass.
      • herrferret, on 04/03/2008, -1/+8You can create a shortcut on the desktop for the game, and I always found that ruffling around in a case for a CD was a far bigger pain in the ass.
        I am attempting to have a PC with no cd/dvd drive, doing quite well so far.
        • psykiv, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3Until you need to burn a cd/dvd :(
        • ruddy, on 03/21/2008, -2/+3this is his excuse for buying an apple air.
          /jk
        • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1ive been running without internal optical drives for almost 2 years now. i have an external usb dvd burner for any burning or software installation.
        • dominikkom, on 03/21/2008, -2/+1I haven't had optical drives in my computer for about a year now. I dont even have a floppy for when I might need to format or update bios. The solution to all of it is a USB drive and this guide.

          http://ben.franske.com/blogs/2007/08/21/booting_do ...
    • smurfsahoy, on 03/20/2008, -8/+3Huh? I don't know about you, but I have to type in my registration number every time I buy any steam related game the first time around. So it's the same as anything. Except you also have to log into a client. Lose-lose. Or neutral-lose, at least.
    • kaelyiesta, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2Plus they make some decent games too. I enjoy the hell out of my 4x classics.
    • jdaniel284, on 03/21/2008, -2/+4The best thing about Steam is that when it goes down so does your entire game collection. Another thing that is really cool is that you can be banned from Steam after you have already paid, and when you get banned you get banned from your entire collection. But above all, I love having to be dependent on my internet connection (and the associated fees) just to be able to play a single player game... now THAT is cool.
      • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -2/+1So don't use it, and buy the games instead.

        And I've never been banned from Steam. But then I don' try to run "free game" hacks and ***** either.
    • cybrguy, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2Steam is annoying to deal with if you run lan parties or any larger events, and they make no concessions. Its a very strong business model though for distrobution, and we will likely see more steam type models in the future.
  • NTolerance, on 03/20/2008, -0/+17Every time I read about that Infinity Ward dude's comments about CoD4 being pirated I get more pissed off. I generally dislike DRM and copy protection, yet there are a couple of systems that are fair and don't get in my way. Those are online key authentication for multiplayer (this started with HL2/Q3A) and Steam. Infinity Ward could have simply only allowed legit keys to play online like games have been doing for about a decade now. Instead they chose not to and then publicly bitch about it. Maybe it's just an excuse to make the next CoD game console-only.
    • mdx392, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9Exactly. Requiring legit CD-Keys to play online is a perfectly acceptable means of PC copy protection. The thing about Infinity Ward and pirate keys bugs me too, but the only reason I could think that they would allow pirate keys is to gather information.

      Starforce/Securom/etc and requiring the disc in the drive are just annoying and should be done away with - they are *not* a deterrent to pirates.

      CD keys for online play are not as effective as the DRM used on 360's or PS3's - but unless we're going to fundamentally change how PC's can function, I really think they need to find better/less annoying methods of copy protection. In a way, they're in the same position the music and movie industries are now - DRM that limits or annoys the user will not succeed, so find a better way.
      • NCecil, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4As a matter of fact, CoD4 appears to have added this very thing in the latest patch. It was very quick, but when I joined a server for the first time, I noticed it say "verifying game key", or something like that.

        So, in Infinity Ward's defense, they bitched about it, and then they actually DID something about it.
        • kodek, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Nah, that's been there for a while. The game does it so quickly that most of the time it doesn't show the message, but it's always been there.
        • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -2/+1The same people that will bitch about that quick check are the same ones that whine about WGA.

          If you're legit, it's NOT a problem.
    • warriorscot, on 03/21/2008, -0/+3Keys are the best way to do it, and if you make the multiplayer as good as the singleplayer more people will buy it if they pirated it I know I do.

      Removing the protection lets people try the game first and not just a crap half featured demo but the whole thing, I DL allot of games and I will only buy them if I really liked it and its worth playing the MP if I have time for it, half the time these days I would be pissing away my money with most games as I play for 30minutes to an hour and thats the last time I will pick it up as I don't have time for it unless its really good, but if its good and fairly priced I will buy it next time im ordering something from amazon etc..

      Back in the day you could buy a game and try it and if you didn't like it take it back in a month but you can't do that anymore you can't even exchange them most of the time so the games need to adjust I buy more from a company I like and maybe I didn't like one game but if it didn't have excessive copy protection thats a plus point and if another game from the same company is good I will probably by it sooner than I would have if it had had starforce. If you realise that not every gamer is going to like every game its a big start and letting you try it before you buy is the best thing about piracy I still buy the same amount of games I just don't waste money on ones I don't like anymore.
  • plundstedt, on 03/20/2008, -4/+16I think I'm going to buy Sins. I was planning on downloading it, but this article makes me want to buy Stardock's products.
    • herrshuster, on 03/20/2008, -8/+4I'm downloading it, but i might end up buying if it it's cool enough
      • gmiley, on 03/20/2008, -7/+2I was surprised at how good of a game it is. Granted it's basically a Star Craft clone, but it is a lot of fun regardless. Not only do you have your major factions to worry about in the solar system, but you also run into Space Pirates which can be bought off to stay out of your territory. I also really liked the "research" features (as a note learn to research everything as fast as possible) that let you advance as a civilization.
        • Sokkratez, on 03/20/2008, -2/+6This game isn't an SC clone. I have to wonder if you've ever played SC before.
        • ehal256, on 03/21/2008, -2/+4How the hell is it a starcraft clone? Oh, it has 3 races, I see your point.

          /sarcasm
          • gmiley, on 03/21/2008, -4/+2Wow, unbunch those panties there chief. Perhaps I should have said "it reminds me of Star Craft".
      • Johnny1337h4x0r, on 03/21/2008, -1/+2have you played any one of those games? I can't see any similarities between the two titles.
    • candafilm, on 03/20/2008, -0/+9It's a fantastic game. Well worth the money.
    • Haon, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Same here. Just checked out the site.
    • geekanarchy, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I actually bought SoaSE last week and love it. It's well paced (not a frantic click-fest), has no unwanted micromanagement, and epic space battle done right.
      • Cerebron, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5Actually, it's got both; you can micro those little damn ships like a mother if you want, but the AI does a good job if you want to send the ships off to fend for themselves.
      • iruel, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2i have been hearing really good things about SoaSE so i went over to EB Games. after about 5 minutes of searching through their terribly organized cluttered PC section without seeing it. i asked the guy at the counter, He had no idea what the game was, but said that a lot of people had been asking for it. and that they were sold out. So i downloaded it, but i will be buying the game as soon as i can find a copy.
    • Tempest261, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I bought it because of this article. Newegg has it on sale.
    • lukas88, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5The game is amazing. It has an amazing story and is an original strategy. There is tons of strategy but next to no micromanagement. Each race (there are 3) has its own unique research tree. There are capital ships that lead your fleets and gain experience. Instead of a main campaign, it has more of an objective/accomplishment list, which some people may not like, but I love it. I always found campaigns to be gimmicky. It is scalable, so you can set up a game that will take no more than 2 hours, or you can set up a game that will take days or months to complete. Oh, and you will get addicted to the zoom wheel on your mouse (a first for me)

      So that I don't sound unreasonable, here are some of the cons: there isnt enough super awesome stuff at the high end of the research tree, so focusing on research won't necessarily give you an advantage. The planets and some of the ships could have used some higher res textures. Most of the time, a close up zoom is very beautiful and cinematic, but the explosions and the impacts are kind of off. The end game is a little deterministic, there is very little a race can do after they are down to 3 or 4 planets and a huge fleet is looming over them. It would be cool if there was some sort of wild card you could play, a long shot so that the last 20 minutes aren't so humiliating for one player and boring for the other. There could be something like this that I don't know about.
      • LemmingJesus, on 03/21/2008, -0/+4Going to have to disagree with you on the story. There's a slide show intro, and that's it. The story ends there. There's plenty of micro management, you have to develop and place structures in the systems you colonize, and there can be a whole lot of stars. The zooming in this was done well, Supreme Commander works the same way, although it's much smoother. Once I started playing with the wheel all other games felt cramped.
        • Cerebron, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1I can't stand BFME2 at all, nor any game like it when I can't instantly zoom out to roughly the distance to the moon and see the entire playing field in the blink of the eye now.
  • Elliottx, on 03/20/2008, -0/+33As far as I can tell. Piracy will ALWAYS exists in one way or another. You can create 40,000 word CD keys and hacker will eventually learnt he formula and crack it, it's inevitable. I love stardock for simply ignoring it, and because of that they earn a crapload more than other publishers while taking less of a hit from pirates. Nice job xD
  • str3ama, on 03/20/2008, -0/+24Exactly he's got it right on the money - literally. If you just ignore piracy, you'll realize that your profits can stay the same or increase - because you soon realize you don't need to spend extra money licensing security protections like starforce and can instead package it as is (especially since all cd protections get cracked eventually). If you're not paying for licensing and deployment of such protections, that means more money to keep in your own pocket or spent in bettering the end-product. But many companies are over-zealous in blaming piracy for the failure of them to make a profit - "sure the game was riddled with bugs, and the game went through 5 batches of design teams - and took 3 years to produce - but ultimately it was the piracy that spelt the end of the game" /sarcasm give me a break..
    • AlexanderCurtis, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2"and took 3 years to produce"

      Doesn't the average game take 2-3 years to produce, even in big development houses?
      • diggdiggerid, on 03/20/2008, -1/+1ignore
      • Nekiruhs, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Except in some companies, yes. VALVe, I'm looking at you here.
      • Matri, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2"Doesn't the average game take 2-3 years to produce, even in big development houses?"

        3 words: Duke. Nukem. Forever.
      • stretch611, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2"3 words: Duke. Nukem. Forever." The emphasis is on the forever part.
  • DarkerMaster, on 03/20/2008, -2/+43SOMEONE FINALLY GETS IT!!!
  • macweirdo42, on 03/20/2008, -1/+18Yarr... And who will fix your global warming problem, that's what I what to know.
    • MuletTheGreat, on 03/21/2008, -1/+1Bring on global warming. I live on a cold mountain, and yearn for the warmth and beach to come to me!
  • laserblazer, on 03/20/2008, -20/+4Software pirates are like rock stars. ***** the corporations and their ***** 'intellectual property'.
  • devolved, on 03/20/2008, -0/+40Ignoring the pirates makes them mad, and when they come after you it's very easy to level up your capital ships.

    Wait a sec, are we talking about the game? Never mind...
    • Deveak, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7I love sins of the solar empire, best way to deal with pirates AND ignore them: Gauss Cannons ftw!
      • Wartz, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3gauss cannnons + repair platform + hanger defense ftw
        • Cerebron, on 03/20/2008, -0/+1They rape your trade ships while your caps and fighters mow they pirates down though.
      • aamo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3forget the gauss cannons....hanger defense the whole way. covers the entire gravity well.
  • bincoder, on 03/20/2008, -12/+6Or the game writers could trojanize a game and then put it onto p2p. This would give the customer a reason to actually purchase the real thing rather than just downloading it.
    • ehal256, on 03/21/2008, -2/+0that would be even worse than iron lore's hidden piracy protection they put in Titan Quest, and look where it got them.
      • Matri, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2Wha what? Hidden piracy protection? What?
    • Tek12, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2In the scene world, we call that a PROPER. :)
  • spamonstick, on 03/20/2008, -1/+9I love sins its a wonderful game.
  • jkgm, on 03/20/2008, -3/+6Can I digg this article 10-20 times from this account? I sure wish I could... ^_^
  • MetaMars, on 03/20/2008, -0/+16Sins of a Solar Empire kicks ass.
  • Shady81, on 03/20/2008, -0/+22The only problem is that I highly doubt it is the actual developers themselves who are slapping intrusive DRM on their products - it is most likely aloof non-technical book-keeping 3-piece suit wearing corporate assholes who believe it raises profits. I don't doubt for a second that most of these copy protection systems heavily market themselves toward management, who just see the word "increase profit" and demand inclusion. Stardock is probably chaired by intelligent management that listens to their development team, or ex-developers who have been in and know the trenches of game development.
    • Genma, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1obviously since the devs know how easy it is to crack and they actually care about gamers, plus they're the ones that have to deal with the grief that comes from all the system conflicts the drm creates. what do the publishers do, they don't really give two ***** besides putting up a fake dead end support contact for customers to bitch at, maybe throw em a bone when they notice an overwhelming amount of negative feedback. they hype up the game and collect the money, that's it.
  • SacrificialGoat, on 03/20/2008, -18/+3Kind of hard to "ignore" piracy when all but a small fraction of your fanbase feels entitled to free singleplayer campaigns. Ridiculous rates of piracy like 92% are the norm nowadays. Developers are moving to consoles for good reason: you.
    • jkgm, on 03/20/2008, -1/+7Me? But I don't even play games on my PC! You don't even know me!
    • snatchmstr, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7Way to make up your own stats moron.
    • 0ldmankdude, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6yes, because its impossible to pirate stuff on consoles.

      /sarcasm (and yes i know it's harder)
  • kristov, on 03/20/2008, -0/+8Most game developers are so in touch with pirates because they all were one at one point or another. Any software developer worth his salt has pirated, knows how to pirate, etc. Elsewise they aren't technically savvy. Because of this I think the are scared of themselves and don't often know how to just ignore piracy and make some money like everyone who came before them.
  • Soriven, on 03/20/2008, -0/+6Easily one of the best articles I've read in years regarding the state of the PC Gaming industry.
  • Ellipsys, on 03/20/2008, -1/+15Finally! Someone who realizes that legit customers will respond to not having to jump through hoops for copy protection. Personally, even as a "technically savvy" and very pirate-capable individual, I go out of my way to purchase titles that don't come with any copy protection, are well priced, and available to the consumer at a minimum of BS. Stardock gets it. Now its up to the rest of the industry to catch up.

    P.S. - You stardock guys get another year of Object Desktop out of me. I made good on my promise last year when you did the same thing for GalCiv II.
    • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1I'd let mine lapse, but I want to re-subscribe to it. I loved it.

      Reasoning like this makes me want to do it more.
  • BruceDude, on 03/20/2008, -0/+14Rings true.

    All the pirated games I have, I never intended to purchase in the first place.

    On the other hand, I really like buying quality games that I indend to keep. Its really nice having a quality manual, and a case for it.


    If this game turns out to be good, I'm deffinetly buying it.
    • Coolone84, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5Definitely
    • thomasthecat, on 03/20/2008, -1/+4Oh it's good; it's already out if you weren't sure.
    • whyufail, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3It's very good. I had it pre-ordered some time so I could check it out in the beta, and whats cool is they adjusted the prices between when I pre-ordered it and when it came out, so to compensate us they sent out limited editions at the standard price for people who ordered before hand. That was awesome. I did the digital download+physical copy option which is another reason I love Stardock.
    • aamo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I actually downloaded both Galactic Civilizations 2 and Sins of a solar empire from bitorrent so i could try them out. after a bit of playing i made the plunge and bought both of them. I don't regret it one bit. The other thing is the fact that stardock's patches are actually usefull. they add new features not just bug fixes that should have been caught before release.
    • b1177, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2It is a fantastic game. The best part about it is the ease of modding. You can make some small mods yourself in a few seconds, to say, make ships more powerful so battles seem more exciting; to some of the bigger ones that are brewing on the SoaSE forum, like the Star Wars and Star Trek mods. The scale is so huge too, i've been playing a game with 10 computers on a massive map for 3 days, and I'm still not bored...and i usually hate RTS games.
      • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2I didn't know about some of those mods. That kicks ass. I'm certainly going to be checking into that.
    • GrantTLC, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1I don't pirate games: If I think it's not worth spending big money on I just go play something else for a while then get 'em dirt cheap off eBay or Amazon; I got PC Halo this way and was bloody glad I didn't spend any more than ten bucks for that over-hyped product. By contrast, I recently bought the Galciv2 expansion packs direct from Stardock precisely because of the great time I'd had with the core game. Good games sell themselves, it's that simple.
  • allfatherblack, on 03/20/2008, -2/+24Ugh, damn, I already have been preaching this for years. I may or may not have worked at a company that may or may not have developed an RTS that may or may not have been called Upreme Ommander. That game, in my opinion makes for a very good RTS, because the scale FORCES one to use strategy; terrain cant just be turtled behind as everyone been doing for years now. However, few people in the world can play that game at full capacity, and I have never heard of anyone playing a full multiplayer game with all the unit limit set to max. I may or may not have been in IT and I was in charge of setting up machines for this kind of thing and WE didnt have too many computers that could play that game at max (the ones we did have were dev boxes from Intel and AMD that were packed to the brim with tech that wasnt even released yet). Obviously Im summing up what this article already said; my company endeavored to make a game bigger than was realistic for machines at the time, and in turn, it sold like ***** (though well enough) and the repercussions could be clearly seen if you worked there (I personally felt them recently). It should also be noted that the game has been out for around a year now and computers STILL arent up to par. I mean you can buy one that is, but thats not the problem. LOTS of people have to "buy one that is". Had the company gone a different route, and maybe stylized the game (read: used pretty colors to hide the lower polycounts) maybe people would be playing it. And maybe it wouldnt be atrociously ugly. Anyhoo, I hope all the gamers read this, because gamers grow into developers and maybe in the future stupid, and what I would consider obvious, ***** like this wouldnt happen (poor sales of a deserving game). And look at Crysis. Anyone who argues that anything about Crysis was worth developing in the first place (excluding the spectacular engine itself), either hasnt played the game or doesnt have a valuable opinion any way. They got all *****-hard about the fact that it was gonna be sooooo beautiful but they forgot about what would happen to their sales. Im under the impression it sold well enough, but had they played it realistically with the dev time they spent on that thing, imagine what it COULD HAVE been....

    edit: im sorry i dont think that was exactly the articles point, but I started ranting and I wanna leave it now ;)
    • psykiv, on 03/20/2008, -1/+10I don't know whether to digg you up for truth or bury you for lack of paragraphs.
    • wordglue, on 03/21/2008, -1/+7I may or may not have dugg you
  • dplynx, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5This game rocks. I bought it for the 4X aspects and I can't tell you how much fun I had playing it, even single player. They really stripped down strategy to the core "fun" aspects in this title. I got it from TotalGaming--Stardock is really an awesome source for fun games you'll usually never hear about unless you go digging.
    • aamo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2at times i wish the tech tree was little deeper. I feel like most of it it isn't even that useful.
  • l33tforlif3, on 03/20/2008, -12/+2This was a TRIUMPH!
  • Skooma714, on 03/20/2008, -1/+5I love Stardock. They make excellent games and are generous with their patches, even though they release it in a very good form usually anyway.
  • psg188, on 03/20/2008, -1/+10Oblivion used this same strategy and made plenty of money. If a game is good, people will buy it.
    Though I'd still rather everything just come out on Steam and get it over with.
    • Nekiruhs, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2Steam FTW! Best Implementation of Anti-piracy/hacking/cheating I've ever used. Aside from no copy-protection that is.
  • usingpond, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7Pretty much this. It's pretty easy to crack almost any game. Publishers should concentrate on making quality games and pleasing the consumer; instead of crippling the experience and causing people to pirate out of principle.
  • TheZorch, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4At least one developer understands, maybe there is hope for the PC Game Industry.
  • kingUssop, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5They say the Call of Duty guys were complaining about piracy... well why is it them and most of the complainers are people who franchise something beyond the public's desire to keep up? If they get real and make something besides Military Scenario Generica 2,032,344 they might just survive as a company.
    • SSCrow, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Are you saying CoD is Generic?
      Just wondering.
      • kingUssop, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I'm saying the title AND genre is overplayed. I've heard 4 got good reviews, but I certainly don't care anymore after playing a million war FPSes.
    • BruceDude, on 03/20/2008, -1/+3Doesn't get any more generic than CoD.

      You play one, you've played them all. So why buy a 'new' one when it comes out?
      • DemonWasp, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Negative. CoD1 and CoD2 are very similar, I'll give you that. CoD4 is very, very different. Retains a lot of the stuff that made the first two great, but then is great all on its own.
  • VladislavIII, on 03/20/2008, -4/+0I think that a better solution would be to use the Royal Navy and contract bounty hunters to hunt them down and hang them from a gibbet after a summary conviction.
  • cidman2001, on 03/20/2008, -2/+2Very well said....I too will buy a game I like. A lot of the pirated versions out there seem to bug out at some point anyway. Usually when you are 7/8ths of the way finished....BTW, there are plenty of Steam cracks/workarounds out there. If they build it...it will be hacked!
  • AlexanderCurtis, on 03/20/2008, -0/+12This thread makes me want to buy the game..
    • bjornski, on 03/21/2008, -0/+1It's worth it. One of the few game releases I can honestly say that about.
  • Cam_86, on 03/20/2008, -0/+10Unless your game is online and has constant authentication processes being run against it(which bogs down the system) like BF2142, or requires you to make monthly payments, there really is no GOOD reason to try to fight pirates. Its a battle that cant be won, and one that alienates legit. buyers. Why the ***** should i drop $50 bucks on bioshock, when the publishers are going to assume i'm rippping it off each and every time i start it up. I could get it for FREE, without having to deal with any of that CD-check/install limitation BS. The publishers are punishing me, for wanting to support the developers.
    Until this common sense gets knocked into the publishers mind, they deserve to get screwed by pirates. The recording industry is adapting faster then the gaming one... That should be beyond embarrassing, considering the gaming industry had a solid 5 years to study the whole napster/DRM effect, and did ***** all to reform their practices. And unlike the music industry, the PC gaming one is competing against console ones which are inherently harder to pirate... So its in everyones best interest they clue in and do the reasonable thing, before more gamers switch over to consoles, or piracy, as a way to avoid this bull *****.
  • whittmadden, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5I hope that EA games will catch on to this! :) j/k, its hard for me to use pirated games, when I run linux.
    • RetepNamenots, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Saying that, I'm now fully on Linux, my only reason for keeping with a WinXP partition is so that I can play Bioshock. I own the game, but damn is SecuROM a bitch.
  • mlindle, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3I'm going to go buy this game this weekend because of this article. Good stuff.
  • TnTBass, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7Finally a developer who has not missed the point.
  • Renuvian, on 03/20/2008, -0/+7This article is spot on. Two friends and I bought sins on opening day because we were excited about it. We played it that night together and never even considered the fact that we could have bought one copy for the three of us. We were excited because its an innovative, fun game in a genre that doesn't get enough attention.
    • hammelman, on 03/20/2008, -2/+0MOO 3 got a lot of attention, and was a total piece of crap, thats really the last i've heard of 4X since Gal Civ started appearing,
      • Lunarbunny, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Sins is top-notch material and highly entertaining. They got real-time 4X right with this game.
      • aamo, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3Didn't civ 4 come out since moo 3? i guess its not space but it is 4x.
      • stretch611, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2I remember the original MOO and MOO2 fondly. I bought MOO3 for $60 when it came out and was annoyed because of how bad it sucked. But I know piracy was not a problem because they were giving the game away for only $9.95 by the end of the year. You know a title is bad when it gets relegated to the bargain bin in only a few short months.
        • GrantTLC, on 03/21/2008, -0/+0Absolutely. I'd been interested in buying the game until I saw exactly how fast it reduced in price in stores. Then I read the reviews online which explained everything.

          "My [Bill Hick's] Quick Capsule Review -> Piece of *****"
  • Aorawn, on 03/20/2008, -6/+3http://digg.com/pc_games/Piracy_PC_Gaming_Why_Pira ...
  • FaithclubDotNet, on 03/20/2008, -0/+11If you ignore the Pirates, the Ninjas will keep them in check. It is nature's way.
  • wraith808, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3I was just having this same discussion with a friend. And the B&M stores had better take notice too. I was not enamored with digital distribution- especially since they're charging the same price with a negligible cost for their distribution channels. But then I began to see that I don't need to put the frickin' DVD in the drive- without having to hack my legitimately purchased game! Now I only buy digital, and have decided not to buy a few new releases because they don't have a digital option. Get rid of the copy protection, or the B&M stores will start to suffer...
  • TdiFFRob6876, on 03/20/2008, -2/+3Object Desktop is the best software package offered from Stardock... Running it rite now. Requires a decent ammount of RAM (1 Gig) to run smoothly.
    • stretch611, on 03/21/2008, -0/+2Actually I remember Stardock from the days it was a small company that supported OS/2. The original Galactic Civilizations was an OS/2 only game and a must have if you ever played a game on OS/2. They also had a popular utility called Process Commander of OS/2
  • NCecil, on 03/20/2008, -1/+2Link to the full article, on Brad Wardell's blog: http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_ ...
    • Lunarbunny, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2I was going to link to the copy that was posted on the Sins forums that StumbleUpon lead me to last week, but since it's just that, a copy, I'll digg you up instead.
  • Bkaufman, on 03/20/2008, -0/+5This is the exact reason I pirated Bioshock, while I legitimately purchased Galactic Civ, Oblivion, and SoSE. Valve, Bethesda, and Stardock/Ironclad are companies that understand what the people who actually purchase their games are looking for. I wonder if its a coincidence that all 3 of these companies are smaller, independent companies run by developers and not by suits. Business majors are ruining the gaming industry (and pretty much every other industry). JUST LET THE ENGINEERS RUN AMERICA AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FIXED.
    • ApeInago, on 03/20/2008, -0/+3If I pirate a game, and if it occupies my time, i buy the legit version. If i had a game and only play it for like 3 hours, i'd be pissed to have had to pay $50 for it. I treat pirated games like extended demos. I eventualy end up buying any game that I think I would play down the road again. I typically only pirate games that look interesting to begin with, so about 90% of the games I play are legit eventualy.

      if I could return a game... I might not feel as worried about buying them.

      When I was into consoles, I'd rent, and if i liked it enough, go out and buy it.
  • mnemy, on 03/20/2008, -0/+4I always thought that if they made music and games more affordable for your typical teenager, you'd see a heck of a lot more sales. I mean if music CDs were $5 and video games were $20, a lot of people would simply buy them instead of going through the trouble of downloading and risking viruses, etc. I know I would have. Now that I'm an adult with a well paying job, I just buy my games. It's in my price range. But there are a LOT of kids out there wanting the latest game on the market. Meanwhile, I'm old and have to work and have little time for games now, so I don't buy that often. Maybe they need to change their target audience, and price things accordingly.
  • carbonetc, on 03/20/2008, -0/+2Open beats closed. It's counter-intuitive at first glance, but it's true, and companies are taking way too long to finally figure it out.
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