RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[Malcador]

Until console piracy gets 'out of hand', which I'm not guessing is that far off. Then they'll find something new. Why exactly would you quit if you found out people were pirating your game ? I assume you'd get into this field due to a love of programming or game creation (certainly not for the work environments).

Edited November 22, 2010 by Malcador

[Tale]

If they weren't going to buy it, what did you lose ?

It's pretty much impossible to tell what someone is going to buy or not if they're still using it as if it was purchased. Self reports are among the most ureliable reporting methods ever. What a person says and what they do are regularly at odds. Like smokers who think they could quit anytime they want to. You take away their FPS games for a week and they're going to eventually give in and buy one.

 

Unless they can get it without paying for it.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Tale

[Gfted1]

So is it pretty much impossible to pirate a Steamworks game? If so, is that because its constantly connecting to "the cloud" or phoning home? If so, why dont game companies just switch to that model of distribution?

[Malcador]

If they weren't going to buy it, what did you lose ?

It's pretty much impossible to tell what someone is going to buy or not if they're still using it as if it was purchased. Self reports are among the most ureliable reporting methods ever. What a person says and what they do are regularly at odds. Like smokers who think they could quit anytime they want to. You take away their FPS games for a week and they're going to eventually give in and buy one.

 

Unless they can get it without paying for it.

 

 

Well then, assumption must be correct then.

 

As for Steamworks, I don't think that it's impossible to pirate. Civ V was released by skidrow or something and it uses Steamworks. You can always prevent it from calling home, just takes more work for the groups. Copy protection like BIS did for Arma 2 was fun, basically it breaks the player experience and was an effort to circumvent if I recall. But I suppose the real idea is, it's easier for the consumer and if you delay the scene release for a while you could grab a bunch of people that you'd have otherwise 'lost'.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Malcador

[sorophx]

So is it pretty much impossible to pirate a Steamworks game? If so, is that because its constantly connecting to "the cloud" or phoning home? If so, why dont game companies just switch to that model of distribution?

just check thepiratebay for Steam games, all of them have been cracked, the same day they were released.

[Pidesco]

It is a completely ridiculous argument to say that they wouldn't pay for it anyways. That isn't how businesses work, they work on supply and demand. There are 6 million people using the product. Only half are paying for it. That is a serious problem. From a business perspective, that is a huge loss.

 

I can't think of another industry with a 50% theft rate. That's insane.

 

It's a huge loss, but it's not a loss of 50

[Enoch]

It is a completely ridiculous argument to say that they wouldn't pay for it anyways. That isn't how businesses work, they work on supply and demand. There are 6 million people using the product. Only half are paying for it. That is a serious problem. From a business perspective, that is a huge loss.

 

I can't think of another industry with a 50% theft rate. That's insane.

 

It's a huge loss, but it's not a loss of 50

Edited November 22, 2010 by Enoch

[Gorgon]

So is it pretty much impossible to pirate a Steamworks game? If so, is that because its constantly connecting to "the cloud" or phoning home? If so, why dont game companies just switch to that model of distribution?

No it's not. FONW is already out there. They have found a way to strip the steam from steam games.

[Mera]

A beginning of a new trend?

Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action.

If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer.

Link

 

From a global perspective, pira people can't afford games at that price point. Because they are poor, or are children, or live in countries where the minimum wage is much less than 500$.

PC gamers must be the poorest people in the world.

Every year there are millions of new computers sold with dedicated graphic cards and yet software sales stagnate or are slowly sinking. PC piracy rate is estimated at around 90%

[Pidesco]

Eh. PC Game pirates do have to, you know, own PCs, so we know that there's some base level of disposable income in the marketplace. $50 for a game to play on a $500-$1500 PC is hardly in the realm of "ridiculous," IMO.

 

I really doubt that the level of piracy would change much if the standard sticker price of games were halved. Certainly not to any degree that would make up for the revenue loss resulting from the price drop. I suspect that a price increase would be more likely to boost sales revenues than a decrease would. Now, if you're talking about smarter price discrimination, charging different retail prices in different markets, you have an argument, but price discrimination schemes are notoriously difficult to maintain, particularly given that lots of sales are done digitally.

 

If an Eastern European gamer making, say, $400 a month, buys a $1000 PC, he will probably be doing so through a small loan paid over 2 years with an interest rate of at least 20%. Which means that he will be paying at first, some 50$ out of his monthly income in the first year.

 

Now, it's not unreasonable to suppose that this gamer will spend $300 a month in various expenses, including rent, food, phone, gas, electricity, water and transportation. Now, how does this gamer play games on his $1000 PC? He pirates them.

 

Now, I said Eastern European, but I could have said South American, Southeast Asian, or Southern European. These are huge markets and games simply aren't priced to be sold there at all.

[LostStraw]

A beginning of a new trend?

Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action.

If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer.

Link

It'll be DRM free

I disagree strongly with the practice of "shake down" letters

 

I'm conflicted

[Thorton_AP]

A guy plays the first 15 minutes of Call of Duty: Black Ops without shooting.

Yeah.. And the console crowd thinks we "PC elitists" are being stupid when we whine about games being more and more dumbed down.

 

Thank god there are still sadistic GRPG's around.

 

I think you only become a PC elitist when you blame consoles, as opposed to a non-platform specific pandering for the masses, for this.

 

It's interesting, really, the change just between Modern Warfare 1 and this is pretty staggering. MW1 was fully dependent on YOUR ( the player's) ability to keep advancing continuously. This was already scaled back with MW2, and now you're just a bystander while the rest of the team advances. MW2 had the solo sections, and even when you had your team with you, they didn't seem quite so omnipotent as these guys do.

 

 

I haven't played Black Ops, but I hated that my allies were useless in other CoD games.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

So is it pretty much impossible to pirate a Steamworks game?

 

Nope. In fact I'd say, and this is just a guess, that Steam has been around for long enough that it's gotten to be a semi-routine for groups to crack it.

 

[Labadal]

Finally.

 

Sony and zuzzex on good terms again. The release for this game has been a complete joke.

[Hurlshort]

Eh. PC Game pirates do have to, you know, own PCs, so we know that there's some base level of disposable income in the marketplace. $50 for a game to play on a $500-$1500 PC is hardly in the realm of "ridiculous," IMO.

 

I really doubt that the level of piracy would change much if the standard sticker price of games were halved. Certainly not to any degree that would make up for the revenue loss resulting from the price drop. I suspect that a price increase would be more likely to boost sales revenues than a decrease would. Now, if you're talking about smarter price discrimination, charging different retail prices in different markets, you have an argument, but price discrimination schemes are notoriously difficult to maintain, particularly given that lots of sales are done digitally.

 

If an Eastern European gamer making, say, $400 a month, buys a $1000 PC, he will probably be doing so through a small loan paid over 2 years with an interest rate of at least 20%. Which means that he will be paying at first, some 50$ out of his monthly income in the first year.

 

Now, it's not unreasonable to suppose that this gamer will spend $300 a month in various expenses, including rent, food, phone, gas, electricity, water and transportation. Now, how does this gamer play games on his $1000 PC? He pirates them.

 

Now, I said Eastern European, but I could have said South American, Southeast Asian, or Southern European. These are huge markets and games simply aren't priced to be sold there at all.

 

Games are a luxury. He could also wait for the price point to come down, or only buy a few titles a year. It's a poor excuse.

 

Wasn't there a game awhile back that was offered at a pay whatever you can afford model, and it was still taken for free by a sizable number of people?

[Malcador]

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Saving-a-p...le-Indie-Bundle

 

Maybe that ? I seem to rememeber much righteous outrage over this on this forum or others, heh.

[HoonDing]

Speaking of piracy: CD Projekt is out for blood

[Hurlshort]

http://blog.wolfire.com/2010/05/Saving-a-p...le-Indie-Bundle

 

Maybe that ? I seem to rememeber much righteous outrage over this on this forum or others, heh.

 

That's it, thanks! Pretty sad stuff, really.

[Gorth]

Wasn't there a game awhile back that was offered at a pay whatever you can afford model, and it was still taken for free by a sizable number of people?

Yes, it was a charity thing. A lot of lowlifes went with the minimum $1 requirement which cost the company more than $1 to process while telling how awesome they thought themselves to be, rippping off the company. Shows what kind of people the industry is dealing with.

[Pidesco]

Games are a luxury. He could also wait for the price point to come down, or only buy a few titles a year. It's a poor excuse.

 

Wasn't there a game awhile back that was offered at a pay whatever you can afford model, and it was still taken for free by a sizable number of people?

 

Like I noted, that's not my point. It's not an excuse, it's what happens. It shouldn't happen, ethically speaking, but it does.

 

My point is that current industry business models are partly responsible for piracy.

 

Also, to base the business strategy around the premise that a pirated copy is a lost sale is idiotic when many pirates literally don't have the income necessary to buy a game.

[Tale]

Wasn't there a game awhile back that was offered at a pay whatever you can afford model, and it was still taken for free by a sizable number of people?

Yes, it was a charity thing. A lot of lowlifes went with the minimum $1 requirement which cost the company more than $1 to process while telling how awesome they thought themselves to be, rippping off the company. Shows what kind of people the industry is dealing with.

Jokes on them, Paypal waives the fee on charity donations. So as long as the company actually directed all of the money to the charity, no processing.

[Malcador]

Heh, right, very sad stuff. Or they just paid $1 to pay the least amount for the product, not as they're sinister folk out to make needy kids suffer or something. Customer's aim is to pay the least right ?

Edited November 22, 2010 by Malcador

[Labadal]

I think it was World of Goo?

[entrerix]

Speaking of piracy: CD Projekt is out for blood

 

i wish them luck. chasing pirates often generates huge amounts of ill will toward the creator of the work (remember metallica v napster) for dubious reasons. Metallica got the bad rep cause they had millions of dollars already and were chasing broke college students (so i agree they should have just chilled out) but I worry that people will attack CDprojekt unfairly, because those game devs are (usually) not millionaire fat cats moaning about how unfair life is for them.

 

I'm going with the "support what I like" approach, and will be ordering it from GOG (to support DRM free gaming), but I'll be waiting until after some reviews and/or patches are released.

[Hell Kitty]

A beginning of a new trend?

Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action.

If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer.

Link

It'll be DRM free

I disagree strongly with the practice of "shake down" letters

 

I'm conflicted

 

Shake down letters? Do you also disagree with security guards nabbing shoplifters?

 

Despite all the excuses (I was just testing it, I'm too poor, after completing it I've decided it's not worth anything, etc) people pirate because they can get away with it. There is no fear of being caught and punished. CD Projekt is attempting to change that, I hope it works out for them but I'm not convinced it will.

 

As for the Humble Indie Bundle, you could pay as little as you want and the money went to charity and still people pirated it, downloading directly from the devs website even.

Edited November 22, 2010 by Hell Kitty