I mean seriously is there any reason to go and buy that major singleplayer game on PC anymore?

I mean seriously is there any reason to go and buy that major singleplayer game on PC anymore?

Supporting the developers, testers, designers, producers etc etc who worked tirelessly to bring you their work?

Shh, don't discourage them.

Supporting the developers, testers, designers, producers etc etc who worked tirelessly to bring you their work?

I don't think that line of reasoning really works on anybody. Nobody rly gives a fuck.

And not just for video games. Music, movies, whatever...nobody feels bad about downloading this stuff. Nobody stops and says "gee, if i download this then the artists, producers, whoever aren't going to get any money".

i figure, as long as you don't rage over having YOUR videos, video games, music, etc. downloaded after you create them, then all is well. just don't be a hypocrite about it.

I buy games for the multiplayer and rarely the single player experience.
I'll only download a game if I have absolutely no intention of buying it anyway, that way, the company still might gain my favour and encourage me to buy the game if it's actually a lot more fun than I thought, or I'll at least be more aware of the series and will consider buying a sequel if it sounds to be significantly better.

Films work the same way. I refuse to go to the cinema in 90% of cases out of principle of the stupidly high prices. Whether or not I download a movie makes no difference to the amount of money the industry isn't making off of me. At this point it's just a moral question.

Buying DVDs is a different matter. If a film's really good then I'll buy the DVD no problem. Had I not downloaded the film then this would not have occured.

I used to tell myself "yeah, i'll download the game if i like it". This was back when I'd sometimes feel guilty about pirating software, movies and music.

Yeah...like the game or not, that never happens. :rolleyes:

They still have the ultimate weapon to deter cheap skates like me: HIGH REQUIREMENTS.

Hell, the only game I'll probably ever be able to play from here on out is Diablo 3. I think my computer can't play anything pre-F.E.A.R., aside from the odd low requirement ones that came out.

Ripping copyprot is nowadays just as easy as it always was. However, new(ish) games come ridden with bugs and crap which means you have to patch it as soon as you install it (it's common practice now to release the first patch along with the game itself). And here's where the train runs off the tracks. Patches detect tampering and either refuse to install the fixes or modify the copyprot so the original cracked exe doesn't work anymore, necessitating the application of a fresh cracked exe for the new version. Online-exclusive activation/updates add an extra layer of complication.

Oh, yeah, the high requirements necessary in order to make the game look at least 50% as nice as in the official screenshots does prevent many from even trying to rip it. :D

Honestly, I haven't bought a PC game in 3 years. I mean really... it's just way too easy.

Only problem with me is that torrents take an assload of time to download.

9 out of 10 times, I can throw a game into utorrent, go to bed, and while I'm sleeping, it downloads and then seeds a little bit.

Its like as if you can walk out to your mailbox and go "Hey... I need this movie, this game, these CDs, and I want them here by tomorrow morning..." and presto! there they are!

Of course, pirating does mean you have to make some sacrifices.. such as online play, unless you play on cracked servers...

Also, some of the times the official patches just won't apply period, leaving you with the original buggy game.

Honestly, I haven't bought a PC game in 3 years. I mean really... it's just way too easy.

Only problem with me is that torrents take an assload of time to download.

Torrent speeds are dependent on how many people are downloading/uploading the file. If it's a relatively new or extremely popular game, lots of people are going to be downloading/uploading it. Unpopular older games....meh, just leave the torrent running for a few days (sometimes weeks).

As far as online capabilities and bugs that people mentioned...i dunno. I've always preferred cracked servers for games as they seem to be populated by less idiots and arseholes. And if you wait long enough then you'll find that sometimes fans of the game'll make patches that go beyond the fixes that the programmers have officially patched.

But I agree, it's way too easy to pirate games and just about any other kind of media these days. Most of the measures that companies take to counter pirating are usually cracked in a couple of weeks and in the end it's the guys that paid for the game that get screwed. SecurRom (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/52547) is one good example.

I buy games for the multiplayer and rarely the single player experience.
I'll only download a game if I have absolutely no intention of buying it anyway, that way, the company still might gain my favour and encourage me to buy the game if it's actually a lot more fun than I thought, or I'll at least be more aware of the series and will consider buying a sequel if it sounds to be significantly better.

Films work the same way. I refuse to go to the cinema in 90% of cases out of principle of the stupidly high prices. Whether or not I download a movie makes no difference to the amount of money the industry isn't making off of me. At this point it's just a moral question.

Buying DVDs is a different matter. If a film's really good then I'll buy the DVD no problem. Had I not downloaded the film then this would not have occured.

This is the argument I use to justify pirating. Paying for games is really more like donating nowadays. It's kinda sad. I feel bad about pirating games though, still. It's a bit of a problem when I'm usually broke though, and don't have the money to buy the game anyway. Even when I do have the money, it's usually enough only to buy a used or discounted copy, in which the developers don't get the money anyway, it's the retailer.

Valve has been getting most of my money lately, simply because the Steam service is hard to rip off and the multiplayer games are so awesome! Even then though, I try to score deals or get free games. Just yesterday I discovered the nVidia Portal: First Slice deal and scored HL2: Deathmatch for free since that was the only game in the deal I didn't already own. Saved myself 5 bucks haha.

For those of you with nVidia hardware: http://steampowered.com/nvidia/

I often buy games I have pirated.

I don't ever really pirate games, but I don't buy them that often anyways.
But with movies and music, I'll download everything, but if it is an artist/movie I really like I will bu the C.D./Movie to support them.

most games out now arent even worth the effort to go and download

ill get old games that i have the sudden urge to play, ill get the newest movie, and newest music via torrents. If I like the movie, i will go out and buy the dvd, if i liked the cd, i would go see the band live.

and about games putting up patches and secrom, www.gameburnworld.com, solves everyone's problem there

most games out now arent even worth the effort to go and download

Sadly true...

Gaming companies should consider losing money to piracy as 'taxes'. It's nearly unavoidable, and they're still making a pissload of money despite the losses. They should not consider them 'losses', but rather additional expenses.

If the games i wanted to buy we're reasonably priced, instead of 50 euro's, and i could actually get them somewhere (ut3 hit 20, i went out to get it, friggin nowhere) i would buy them, but.....life apparently ain't that way

If prices were reasonable and the creators actually make the real profit I wouldn't mind paying for some things.

For me though I have AMAZINGGG connection. I know the whole more seeds=faster but trust me when I say my torrenting speeds are above normal I even got me n my friend to try dling the same content with same ISP and I smoked him.

Now its to the point where the xbox 360 is so cheap I could go out and buy one, mod it to play backup games and simply get any game I want for xbox 360 for $200 which is a little more than 3 games.

I mean seriously is there any reason to go and buy that major singleplayer game on PC anymore?

Torrent use (P2P) now makes up approximately 50% of the activity on the internet. What does this mean for you?

ISPs are pissed. Contracts are floating around and shit. It's not looking good for you. Something to do with the amount of bandwidth offered to every customer. I don't get it. I don't know. But w'ere fUEKD

Supporting the developers, testers, designers, producers etc etc who worked tirelessly to bring you their work?

This. Software is something I will not pirate. You can't just sit in front of a microphone, jam out for a few minutes, and make a million bucks with software.

This. Software is something I will not pirate. You can't just sit in front of a microphone, jam out for a few minutes, and make a million bucks with software.

I'd pay for it if I knew who my money was going to... I have a hard time just seeing my money go into the register and then... what? I mean I know how the whole thing works and that my actually dollar bills won't make it to the developer because the store I bought the game from bought the game from them... but I have a hard time paying for an EA game because I hate EA and everyone that works for it. Same thing for Crytek... Tom Clancy... infact, I have personal beefs with many of these developers.. and therefore refuse to fund them in anyway shape or form.

I'm not going to pirate anymore Steam games because I'm convinced of their quality enough to actually pay for them, and may actually buy the games I have already played.

I don't see the harm in downloading a game that doesn't offer a demo before you buy it. This should be MANDATORY for ALL games. Every game should have a demo, so you can try-before-you-buy.

I think the key to curbing pirating is to release a polished demo for every game. This is what lead me to want to buy L4D. Without the demo I would've thought "Another gay zombie game".

I'd pay for it if I knew who my money was going to... I have a hard time just seeing my money go into the register and then... what? I mean I know how the whole thing works and that my actually dollar bills won't make it to the developer because the store I bought the game from bought the game from them... but I have a hard time paying for an EA game because I hate EA and everyone that works for it. Same thing for Crytek... Tom Clancy... infact, I have personal beefs with many of these developers.. and therefore refuse to fund them in anyway shape or form.

I'm not going to pirate anymore Steam games because I'm convinced of their quality enough to actually pay for them, and may actually buy the games I have already played.

I don't see the harm in downloading a game that doesn't offer a demo before you buy it. This should be MANDATORY for ALL games. Every game should have a demo, so you can try-before-you-buy.

I think the key to curbing pirating is to release a polished demo for every game. This is what lead me to want to buy L4D. Without the demo I would've thought "Another gay zombie game".

So basically you don't buy your games because you're a butthurt fanboy that hates specific game companies for no specified reason?

Also take a business class or something... -_-

So basically you don't buy your games because you're a butthurt fanboy that hates specific game companies for no specified reason?

Also take a business class or something... -_-

Nah... you got me totally wrong.

I just have personal problems with many of the developers of EA, Crytek, and a few other small time companies.

Either way, if I was fanboy or not, or even if I didn't hate certain companies... I'd still pirate because its just that easy.

What did Crytek do?

They have made Far Cry, a brilliant game.
And Crysis a good game with amazing graphics and physics.

Also developed the Cry Engine 1 and 2.

I mean their games published by EA but that is no reason to hate them.

Crytek doesn't make games. They make benchmarks for people over at Tom's Hardware to use when benching double-SLI cards with 3000 dollar CPUs.

If they made games that even 75% of the world could play, I'd give them more respect. Far Cry 1 started off well, but Crysis and Far Cry 2 failed badly.

Ubisoft and EA keep releasing the same games over and over. These are straight-up businesses, that focus more on profits than making a good game.

Valve games I enjoy, especially when I buy them off Steam. Valve gets all the money and I don't have to pay EB Games to order a game for me and wait to get it 3 days later.

The poster above me is damn right. VaLVe is one of the very few companys that get my money. EA and Ubi focus on releasing the most cloned games with the least possible different content like its some kind of fucking Olympic challenge. Why pay for what you've already played?

And on the subject of movies: Did you really expect me to pay to watch Hancock? Or Doom? I wanted to waste an hour and a half, not twenty bucks. And you know if they hadn't turned out to be utter and incontrovertibly shit, I would have bought them. Hollywood and the VG Industry have forgotten that people will pay for quality games, movies or music. What they release isn't that, therefor they suffer.

The last game I actually spent money on, that I can remember, was Ghost Recon.... simply because I was into snipers and I just liked crawling around and poppin' a few motherfuckin' Georgians.