Piracy

[Crisp_Rapper]

i used to have looooooads of pirate pc games, have a stack of emulators and roms as well, plus a crap load of mp3s...

recently i bought a Nes off Paulmk on this site and have been wandering the town searching for nes games high and low, have found this superb little shop inside the market which has a whole bunch of them in a cupboard (not to mention a neo geo) so i've been purchasing a bunch of them (for mere pennies each), sitting at home with torn boxes and manuals with a stupid grin on my face playing them.

Punchout > you.

[Vaipon]

The people that I really hate are those who sell pirated copies to others. It's bad enough that they are downloading all their stuff and not paying a penny for it, but then they go and charge others for it??? Absolute scumbags. Fortunately, these are the people that the authorities are mainly after. They've got a ****ing nerve though, selling stuff they got for free. ft: ft:

[Gruce]

Im getting broadband in September, I already said that I download MP3's. Once I get BB I will prolly download episodes of things to. Like the guy said about the ghost in the shell series. IMO lots of things are to expensive, cd's have come down, but its only really popular stuff. The stuff I like costs 16-20 a pop. DVD's are cheap and with special features a good reason to buy. Anime DVD's are often the same price but for 4 episodes and if its from a 12+ series it gets a little expensive. Im only saying all this to make myself feel better though, its wrong, I should pay full price for things, but I don't. Alot of other people do it, but once agai, just making myself feel better. Im not sure if I will download games once I get BB, depends on how hard it is.

[mid]

Lots of things are expensive, yes, but Broadband itself is probably top of that list. I could easily buy a film or game a month for the price of my connection.

[taurusnipple]

I like to buy my games and dvds legally - I like unwrapping new titles and having the official artwork and boxes but thats the collector in me. Recently I've been downloading Advance games but I don't feel particulary guilty about it - THIS is the only exception though - the evil in me says it's payback for paying so much for the N64 on UK launch...

[Super Stu]

Those on the morale highground: I sincerely hope you haven't conned any other worthy industries out of some money. Mildly exaggerated insurance claims, for example.

[Ginger Tosser]

............ Mildly exaggerated insurance claims, for example.

Never, the TV did fall off my desk.

Honest

P.S. like the sig...

[tssk]

Imagine for a minute that Gauntlet is your favourite game. Would you delete a rom from your PC and purchase the soon to be released Midway Arcade Collection (which includes Gauntlet)? Is someone who plays Gauntlet on a rom now a pirate when the game can now be purchased legitamately?

Well, its certainly the test for any emulator user. You can now buy the game commercially. Will you?

I'd used a lot of ems in my time to play old games using the defense that if it came out commercially I would but it.

If you looked through my collection now you would find almost every arcade compilation released in the PAL market.

I'll be buying the new Midway compilation. Will anyone else?

[tssk]

I've owned some games on different platforms that, due to the ravages of age and/or corruption have become unplayable. To cure this annoyance i have obtained them via the internet. I dont care if this is illegal since i have payed for the game in the first place. And i dont think i shoud pay again and again for something that will 'eventually' die anyway.

Would this be considered piracy? do i have the right to replace my game freely if it has been worn out?

I think its right, however the IDSA would disagree with you. For one, you are d/loading someone elses copy. Secondly, playing the game on an em is a 'derivitave work' and an 'unlicensed use of the software.'

Mainly I think their main beef is that you might have paid for that copy of Paradroid 12 years ago. And every hour you play it now is an hour not being spent seeking out the newest and the shiniest.

[tssk]

I have a "**** 'em, I'll do what I want" policy with music, some anime (although not all) and PC games.

I have about 2400 mp3s or so. I've played Half Life to death yet have never bought it. For some reason, I just don't give a ****.

Although Valve should be rewarded for their kindness. People d/loading the new Half Life 2 trailer have been amazed to find out that Valve allows you to d/load the first Half Life now. For free.

More companies should be doing this.

(DMA/Rockstar did the same thing with GTA as well.)

[tssk]

BTW, just to add my own take on how piracy can help the industry.

Back in the mid 90's when I was an Amiga Zealot I tried out a GameBoy emulator with some games. It was a dancing bear thing really, doing it just for the sake of it.

Strangely enough though, I found that these little 'kiddie' games actually had some merit.

Fast forward to now. For someone who was anti Nintendo in the 90's I now own a GBPocket, GBA, NES, SNES, N64 and GC. With loads of games. All original.

So I estimate that my illegitimate use of that GameBoy em cost Nintendo about negative$3000.

[2 Point]

Personally I don't give a stuff about pirating.

I've got BB, a CD-R and a soon to be delivered DVD-R. I have the means and access to pirate, offset against the deterant. The deterant isn't great enough on a personal level, the risk involved is so low. Those that pirate on a commercial scale, however small, are at greater risk.

I also drive a car, it/I has the means to break many more laws and cause actual death by misuse, the fact that I stay within the law is based on the premise of the law actually being a deterant.

I would wager that most knowledgable home PC users have dodgy copies of XP, is the ????? upgrade worth it to most users? (Not me, Laptop has XP included, PC is owned b my company so must use licenced sofware)These are the people that bitch and moan about Microsoft introducing spyware into their products and attempting to reduce piracy of its own products and other media products. If Microsoft was 'allowed' to have a much greater control over what software could be run under their operating system, backed with an organisation with the tracking ability and bite, the piracy problem would be greatly reduced.

Just for info, I use my CD-R largely for backups of data, copies of my own CD's so my daughter can wreck them, soon to be used to store digital photo archive. The DVD-R will be used to compile slideshows of said photos, backup of DV tapes via DV-out.

Do I use CD-R/DVD-R to pirate games/music/video? Answer- who cares? Would you forgo your choice of being able to pirate for the good of 'the industry'?

[Ish]

I'll be buying the new Midway compilation. Will anyone else?

It depends how much they expect us to pay for it. If it was 10 quid for 4 classic games (assuming they'd actually be converted correctly) then I'd at least consider it. But more than likely they'll want us to pay 20, 30 quid for it. Look at the recent Sega Arcade Gallery on the GBA. Not only did they bungle the conversion but its RRP is 30 quid. 30 quid. What a joke. And they wonder why people use emulators and download ROMs.

Individuals have a choice - pirate or don't. Download ROMs or don't. Corporations have a choice too. Price fairly or don't. Treat your customers with respect or don't.

Each choice has a consequence. Piracy harms the industry one way or another (particularly when its a struggling devco's game being pirated). But similarly overpricing harms the industry and encourages piracy.

It cuts both ways.

[buster_broon]

oh well as the human torch would say - flame on

i personally dont mind piracy as it gets me cheaper games - i do collect games for a specific system but that takes almost all my money so if i can get games on the inferior next gen systems i will

especially since my xbox has the ms dashboard installed so i can hire games and stick them on my 120gig hard drive

all those who will point out that i cant use xbox live - well done but personally i can be bothered with that side of gaming

but i feel all those who have copies on their pc and all those who use emulators to play roms are jsut as guilty as i am, oh and i have emulators as well so i am guilty of that as well

i personally feel that when the xbox was cracked the sales went up big time, without this personally the xbox would have continually sunk to nothingness - also it was cracked because of a game so that could ahve been put there intentionally to make the machine more popular

anyway all the emulators on the xbox as tremendous

[Brats]

I'll be buying the new Midway compilation. Will anyone else?

It depends how much they expect us to pay for it. If it was 10 quid for 4 classic games (assuming they'd actually be converted correctly) then I'd at least consider it. But more than likely they'll want us to pay 20, 30 quid for it.

The Midway compilation is available for under ?15 from DVDBO and includes over 20 games!

The only slight issue is that the press release says for 1 or 2 players. If that's correct and they've removed the 4 and 3 player modes from Gauntlet and Rampage, then someone at Midway deserves to be shot.

Nevertheless, mine is on order .