Gaming Roundup 8/6/08: Yo-ho, yo-ho

Posted 08/06/08 at 07:07:00 PM | by Nathan Grayson

During my many years of Taekwondo training (no, really) I've seen a fair share of faux-martial artists come and go. Not all of them were masters of the ol' chop-socky, but that doesn't mean they weren't good company. One of those long-since retired combatants was big into games, so naturally, we hit it off. In between feasting on one another's punches and kicks, we talked about all of the latest releases -- mostly on the PC. But, in one major way, we were different: I purchased; he pirated.

Of course, he had a reason. PC games can sometimes be buggy and unreliable -- even going so far as to not run on certain PCs. He raked in torrents as "extended demos," and presumably purchased the games he liked. Even so, I'm not sure if I agreed with his methods. After all, isn't that what regular demos are for? Plus, I never really got the impression that he actually followed through with step two of his little plan.

So, question of the day: Do you pirate games? If so, what's your justification? Do you even call it "pirating"? Don't worry, I'm merely asking as a discussion question -- not to judge anyone.

Today's Roundup contains a few possible methods of diverting cash back into the pockets of those who create games, though I'd wager none of the wannabe saviors really have a concrete idea of how they're going to end the Yarr-ing menace once and for all. On one had, Microsoft sees downloads usurping retail's throne in the near future, which could create an iTunes-like situation for the gaming industry. On the other hand, Turner has decided to toss GameTap to the curb like a box of unwanted kittens (an $18 million box of kittens), so obviously not all is well in the realm of downloadable games. Read about all of that and more after the break.

Microsoft: ‘No question’ downloads will overtake retail

That choice quote sprang from the mouth of David Gosen, Xbox Europe's VP of strategic marketing. He sees convergence, such as sales of movies and music, as a driving force behind the move to digital content delivery, and the success of premium DLC, like Rock Band's weekly tunes, as proof of concept.

Of course, Gosen aims to position Xbox Live and GFW Live as the harbingers of DLC's rise to dominance, but we'll see. Something tells me Valve may be the nameless inventor behind the theory of relativity to Microsoft's Einstein. Hopefully this time, the truth will prevail.

Turner To Sell GameTap

"There is considerable marketplace interest in the GameTap business and brand," said a Turner spokesperson of the pending sale. "We are considering various strategic options, but have reached no final agreement as yet. When there is a resolution, we will announce it."

In other words: "We don't want GameTap anymore. It hurts our pocketbooks." With any luck, GameTap's next owner will put the service on a less rocky path to success, because it's brimming with potential. Also, I just invested $50 in a subscription to the service, and I'm beating Baldur's Gate II, damn it.

Microsoft Tries to Justify Why GFW Live is Free and Xbox Live Isn't

"Tries" is the operative word, here.

"Microsoft's Games for Windows head Kevin Unangst tells Gamasutra that the GFW Live shift was due to the necessity of making multiplayer functionality available for PC gamers -- who, he says, now essentially expect it in any title they play on PC," reads the article.

But, elementary statistics say that 2/3 of gaming consoles also offer free online play, so shouldn't console faithful expect it as well? Logic: hyperbole's greatest enemy.

Rumour: Medal of Honor heads to… 2002 Afghanistan

Call me pretentious, but I dream of the day when gaming is no longer afraid to plunge headfirst into serious issues. Think about it; interactivity -- experiencing something -- is the quickest avenue to understanding it. Hopefully Medal of Honor can do justice to its new subject matter.

Penny Arcade Announces “Fatal1ty” WON'T Be at PAX

Penny Arcade makes press releases fun! This is definitely worth a read if you enjoy smiling and being happy.

Grand Theft Auto 4 Confirmed for PC

Crazy. The rumor's spread so far that even Rockstar is buying into it.

COMMENTS:: 8
TAGS:: gaming, microsoft, Software, news, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Gametap

Comments

COMMENTS

Piracy
Submitted by dankers on Thu, 2008-08-07 16:01

first of all i would like to say that ive been a longtime reader of this magazine and webpage and this news brief is what finally got me to register, and i dont like most punctuation, sorry. when it comes to pirating games i will not hesitate to buy a game that i have played and know its good, however i have also been a gamer for a long time and have paid countless hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the pursuit of gaming bliss. i have been burned on quite a number of my purchases. e.t. for atari, back to the future for nes, friday the 13th nes, alien vengeance for the pc. i can go on but only have a limited amount of space here. if a game has a demo and i like it i will buy it no problem, but some games dont even have a demo, mass effect im looking in your direction, at first glance mass effect has everything i would ever want in a game, which is why i pirated it (sorry bioware) however this game has waayyyy to much talking and not enough action for me, if i had a demo to play then maybe i would have known that it was not my cup of tea. my second point is i live in a city and i cant go 2 blocks without seeing a cell phone shop or pizza place, there are a few gaming stores but there selection of pc games is dismal at best (although they have plenty of copies of the ps3 version, and i own a ps3, i still think my pc is superior), they still have need for speed most wanted in the new releases. perhaps i would have paid for pro street if they had a copy within 100 miles. i cant imagine what people go through in rural areas. #3 i paid for nfs carbon and lost the serial so now i have to use a p2p one and while the game works i cannot play it online, damn those serials to hell. lastly that online activation bs drives me bonkers, i paid for half life 2 back in the daysbefore i had the internet, i couldnt activate it of course, i even called valve and asked if they could do an override, i knew they would say no but i wanted them to know that this was a real nuisance for some customers. even microsoft has a way for phone activation!!! im sure i will not check back on this page for replies so drop me a line at dankers1@hotmail.com (dont mean to spam) or feel free to add me on msn, i will add more to my arguement for piracy (in certain circumstances)

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Pirating more like Demoing
Submitted by Sever on Thu, 2008-08-07 12:16

I see pirating as more of demo of high end games most of the
people who like games they "pirate" will most likely buy the game.
Game prices are in the $50s+ for high-end games not everyone is sure they want
to fork out the cash. Especially when there official demos only show you so
much and reviews just don’t justify price. Pirate is not really that big of a
problem. If a gaming company just gave use better demos and better prices we
wouldn't have to pirate. Instead they like to throw their money into developing
better ways to stop pirating.

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I do it because...
Submitted by my1dollarlife on Thu, 2008-08-07 07:46

I pirate exclusively. Why?

1. I don't play games online, so having a valid key to register for online play isn't necessary for my enjoyment in the game.

2. My wife would never let me pay $50 for every game I want to play.

Which leads to number 3

3. I pretty much want to play every game but I haven't played more then 2 hours into a game in probably 10 years. So purchasing every game that comes out just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

4. Demoes tend to be very large files and in most cases the places you can download demoes from have VERY slow download rates for non-paying customers. On my private torrent site I can easily get a 300 - 400 download rate for everything I want to download so in most cases downloading the entire game takes the same amount of time as downloading a demo.

Other thoughts

1. Ubisoft offered farcry awhile back that required you to watch a 30 second McDonalds add before each loading screen. I downloaded and played this version and thouht this was a great idea. Of course they stopped offering this game as a free download. Ads are not bad, and if more games could be made free or priced at under $20 because of them then I say put them in.

2. I don't think Nvidia or AMD/ATI have any interest in pirating being stopped. Think about it. One of the main reason they can get away with charging the same price for a graphics card as someone can spend on buying a console is because a person buying a graphics card knows that they can play games for free on their PC, so it's financially worth it to them to spend $200 - 500 on a graphics card. If pirating ended and EVERYBODY had to pay $50 for everygame they played on a PC, the graphics card industry would suffer, because the difference between the PC and Console gaming experience is very minimal compared to 10 or even 6 years ago.

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Spot on ol' chap
Submitted by marudd2002 on Thu, 2008-08-07 09:25

Agreed.

For those who don't give a care about dealing with online play, a PC game's singleplayer should be $20-$30 tops and sometimes free. If that requires ads (or MORE ads for some games) then so be it. Why are games like Assassin's Creed, which ONLY has singleplayer, the same price as games like Crysis or COD4 that have an amazing single player and an equally great multiplayer? Greed. That's about it. If a friend of mine offers me an ISO of a game that I was considering purchasing, then I will most likely accept it. I refuse to download anything that might be deemed illegal.

Being married definitely DOES hurt most (not all) gamer's budgets. My wife thinks $20 is better spent on new pants than another game she knows I'll be bored of within 1-2 months. $50 game? F**k that, I don't want to get THE LOOK.

"3. ......haven't played more then 2 hours into a game in probably 10 years....." - Same here with the exception of the copy of Assassin's Creed my friend gave me and the legally purchased copy of Crysis that I whooped on several times over. That's right, I bought a game even AFTER having a successfully cracked ISO of it in my hands. I just thought it was good enough to pay for (got THE LOOK for it too).

Your 4th point is extremely valid. Although I do not download full games myself, I find it ridiculous that you LITERALLY can download a full 8.4GB ISO of a new game in the time it takes a 'demo website' to allow you to download a 650MB demo.

Your other thoughts. Point 1 - FarCry: Best and worst decision by Ubisoft. Best for releasing it free with ads. Worst for taking it away from us (Still really ticked about it). Point 2 - nVidia, AMD/ATI, Intel, etc have no reason to care about piracy because they don't sell games. Their bottom line is only hurt if no one buys (or steals) any games. They don't care how you get it because as long as you have a game you have a reason to 'need' a new cpu or gpu.

Reality that corporations will never admit out loud: PIRACY WILL NEVER (AND CAN NEVER) BE STOPPED. It's a technical impossibility. Make your games worth the money you charge and I will buy it. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll pay for it if I think it's actually worth it (pretty small list).

----

Fanboys are annoying. Price/Performance is top priority. Patience=Awesome.

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I used to in the past pirate
Submitted by deject on Thu, 2008-08-07 06:53

I used to in the past pirate some games, mostly because I couldn't really afford them. I definitely don't do that anymore, and I've actually gone back and bought some of the games I pirated mostly because I felt bad about doing it. I know game development these days is a fairly cashflow intensive business, and most people agree piracy hurts developers to at least some degree and I decided I didn't want to contribute to that, especially the ones that deserve to be paid for making good games.

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LOLNathan innocently(?)
Submitted by sirphunkee on Wed, 2008-08-06 23:36

LOL

Nathan innocently(?) asks "So...do you do it? I swear I won't tell"

Then four hours of silence before the first little "nossir, not us...must be them kids over thar" *doe eyes*

Is that the answer you were looking for, Mr Grayson? if not in the form you had hoped...

hee hee, we crack me up

everybody all together now: "these aren't the droids you're looking for...move along"

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Hahaha. I'm not even sure
Submitted by Vahn16 on Thu, 2008-08-07 01:31

Hahaha. I'm not even sure what I was looking for. I sort of just wing it.

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No Pirates here, just us ninjas
Submitted by Skiplives on Wed, 2008-08-06 23:17

I don't pirate games, but I also rarely buy a game without a demo. When I was younger (and poorer) I'd wait for most of the games I liked to hit the first discount, which was usually only a few weeks in. Now I can buy what I want when I have the time to play it - which is rarely.

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