TylerC:
]snip

I only pirate games I either: A: have no intention of buying. B: already own on another platform. C: that do not offer a demo, i buy the game if it is good.

So this means that the money i would spend has either: already been spent, or will not be spent.

Ivan Issaccs:
Curse us PC gamers torrenting.
And curse us all for buying pre owned games too and not supporting the industry!

Your such a bad pirate.... shame on you. No booty for you!

TylerC:

Kair:
but what can easily reach everyone is being withheld because of pure greed.

So you're saying since it can be downloaded over the internet, it obviously took no time or effort, so the developers should not be paid?

Don't want to put words in your mouth but...

The developers are fed and clothed by the rest of the population anyway, money is only a tool to help with distribution. They developers could be paid according to the effort put into the product and how successful it is.

jamesworkshop:
Unreal Tournament 3===Bioshock
Assassins Creed ======Mirror's Edge
Borderlands ==========Street Fighter 4
Resident Evil 5 ========Devil May Cry 4
Dead Space ==========Prince of Persia
Fallout 3 =============Batman: AA
Team Fortress 2 =======Left 4 Dead
Grand Theft Auto 4 ======Race Driver: Grid
F.E.A.R 2 =============Red Faction: Guerrilla
Need For Speed: Shift ===Section 8
[Prototype] ============Risen

^ Current Multiplatform titles^

Assassins Creed 2===Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Bioshock 2==========Dead rising 2
Left 4 Dead 2========Colin McRae: Dirt 2
Dragon Age: Origins===Aliens Vs Predator
Crysis 2============Supreme Commander 2
Mafia 2=============Max Payne 3
RAGE==============Deus Ex 3
All Points Bulletin=====Alpha Protocol
Mass Effect 2========Super Street Fighter IV

^ Future Multiplatform titles^

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm====Starcraft 2
Diablo 3====================Guild Wars 2
Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising===Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer
Torchlight==================Star Wars: The Old Republic
Shattered Horizon============Cities XL

^ PC Exclusive titles^

Yep all my fellow PCgamers have sure been bored these past 4 years just waiting for one game to come out on the PC.
PC gamimg isn't dying having a greater number of genres to play is only a good thing.

what does the "===================" between each title mean? Just spacing it out?

I'd also add: Dragon Age: Origin, Huxley, Interstellar Marines, Painkiller: resurrection, Stalker (all of them)

BTW, how is Prince oP for the PC? Is it a quality port as I'm looking to get that considering how ropey the Console versions looked, they clearly did not have adequate resolution/AA for the quality of in game graphics which PC could rectify easily as long as the devs didn't just do a rotten port.

Xzi:
Stupid argument. Console games are similarly easy to pirate. Does that mean an industry that pulls in billions per year is going to shut down completely? I seriously doubt it.

Wii yes. Ps2 sure. 360. Not as easy unless your ready to Fork out 20-50 Bucks. PSP definitely. But still PS3 is not....BASTARDS lol. If you don't have handhelds then the systems are "harder" to hack. But still hackable. But you are right. Lets say 3 Billion people on this planet buy games. Then 20 Percent of them Hell 50 percent of them Pirate games. Then thats 1.5billion-2.4billion people Buying games. Hell lets make the number 1 Million in there as well. if a game take 30 Million Dollars to make. Then Sells for around 50 dollars. 50*1 Million = 50 Million. thats 20 million Profit. Lets get real. If 50 percent of the gaming Community Pirates games they will still make enough to Pay off the Cost of the game. I know the numbers are incorrect but its a point not trying to make a perfect mathematical Chart showing it.

Steam is to video games what iTunes is to music - piracy prevention extraordinaire.

I've never pirated a video game. If I'm really desperate to play something new I just look for a demo of a game I might like. I don't even know how to pirate video games. oO

People here honestly have no idea how much a PC capable of gaming can be got for do they. It's about £400 quid; therefore the expense argument is void.

Also where are IW getting the 60% number from? They don't provide a source and as a uni student I know that you aren't supposed to trust uncited 'facts'.

Piracy is also rampant on 360, MW2 for 360 is already on torrent sites; the PC version isn't. And yes hacking a 360 is a piece of piss, I did some research and could do it in the best part of a day and it involves no soldering or any such things.

PC gaming has been "dying" for the last 20 years...

I don't pirate games; I vote with my wallet like a good consumer...

Deshara:

MGlBlaze:
I never pirate games.

As for what a player can do to prevent the dying art of PC gaming... not much if the developers are douchebags. Look at IW. There's a huge outcry from PC gamers about the PC version of MW2, but are IW doing anything about it? No!

And here's how much 'effort' IW have put into the PC version;

" Moriarte: Ignoring IW.net, is the PC version a direct port of the console version?

Mackey-IW: No, PC has custom stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings.

This is the amount of work that went into the PC version: you are given the ability to use a mouse, to use text chat, and to adjust graphical settings. Are your fears now put to rest? "

Source - http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/pc-modern-warfare-2-its-much-worse-than-you-thought.ars

You're mad because they don't treat the PC as being as special as you do?
Too. Fucking. Bad.
It's a game made for all three platforms, they aren't going to give you a lolipop and coo you to sleep just because you're stuck up and set in your ways enough to think that PC gamers deserve privilages just because they play games on a PC.

More Fun To Compute:
Oh, what a shame, PC gaming is dying. It's a good job that I have all of these current and upcoming PC games to play otherwise it might bother me.

He said dying, not dead.

You are making meanings up in what I said. The "It's a game made for all three platforms" argument is a load of crap and you know it; there are games released multi-platform that DO include server lists on the PC version (CoD4!), and it WORKS.

And no, PC gamers don't deserve privileges. We deserve not being forced to move over to an inferior system. It works for the consoles because they're meant to be a simple 'plug in and play, join a game quick' thing. PC gaming is BASED on having more control than that.

And before you start calling me an elitist, I'm not. I am primarily a PC gamer, though I own an XBox360 and a Wii, and also use both. Which is another thing, when you said "all three platforms", there are FOUR platforms. Six if you count handhelds, and even more if you count the PSP-go and all the iterations (too many) of the DS.

If anything, since consoles are getting more sophisticated too, they should be able to use the server list as well! If they include both, then fine. The problem is that they are forcing us to use a system we simply do not want.

And if you are going to reply to me, use your brain BEFORE you type; don't start gushing about all PC gamers being elitists or resistant to change (although why would we NOT be resistant to change for the WORSE?), or any other things you said in response to things I didn't say.

And if you still insist on thinking the new system is better, then fine; if you like it, that's your opinion of it, we're not saying you have to be mad about us loosing our control over the game we play, and I'm not saying you should be forced to use our system either, but your statements suggest to me that you ARE trying to force US to accept YOUR system, and it needs to stop.

canadamus_prime:
I don't pirate games, so don't yell at me.

Agreed, it is a small fraction making the rest of us look bad. Don't Generalize all PC gamers as pirates.

ma55ter_fett:

TheDoctor455:

ma55ter_fett:

TheDoctor455:

ma55ter_fett:
I am a digital pirate, what of it?

You bastard.

HotFezz8:
fair enough, my pc is a laptop, therefore if i were to walk a game past it it would throw itself out the window and die.

i'm into 360, and honestly other than some RTS (the Total War series, i use it because i know it), flight sims, and maybe a handful of others i can't think of, computers aren't really designed to play games.

no, no... no shut up and let me finish. the only real advantage the PC has over the 360 or the PS3 (i refuse to call the Wii a games station) is that it has many many many more buttons you can use as a control.

stop and think. the PS3 sells for, what? £300? if you try to get a bling one? second hand ones in my area are £225... the 360 is, well i don't know but i can pick up a second hand mid range one for £75. using this as a comparasion the pc can't compete, a decent games PC costs a limb, a soul, and prefereably a child.

i can understand why companies stop making games for the PC, piracy et al, but there is a fairly compelling reason to stop making shooters racers etc for the PC all together.

p.s. is it possible to pirate a 360 or PS3 game?

Okay, now tell me this... could you play Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights on a console? Could you play Crysis or most flight simulators on a console? No. That's what I thought.

Not quite,

My mother was married to my father when they conceived me.

There is no way that you can possibly play the games I mentioned on a console. And... what?

You called me a bastard, and I was just pointing out that I'm not one.

I was not conceived out of wedlock

]

Ha ha.

Oh, and to Activision: raising game prices only drives more people to piracy.

im going to bet half of you probably downloaded some game illegally...my friend just downloaded windows 7 ultimate 64 bit, some mac os(i dont really care about macs all that much) and ubuntu........

I haven't pirated a PC game in years, I only pirate console games, specifically FAILBox 360 cause I couldn't care less what happens to console gaming. Also it is a good way for me to decide if I want the superior PC version, like a teaser demo with shitty graphics and clunky console gameplay.

DRM?
Spore?
Bad Quality CD's that wear out?

TORRENTED ISO TO THE RESCUE !!!

People pirate games for Xbox's as well, it's not JUST PC gamers.

Ah, it's Infinity ward trying to justify annoying PC gamers by saying it's out fault. Yes, very clever of them.

PC gaming isn't dying....*rolls eyes*. There are just as many people pirating console games, I have a friend who pirates just about every game he owns for his 360.

Here's an interesting spanner in the works...

How many people pirate games because the 'new' game is just like the old game, just with more bling and they can't be arsed to pay twice for (essentially) the same game?

I don't pirate games (except for demo purposes, or where my retail version has gone belly up) and, over the past 3-4 years have become increasingly despondent over the state of the industry. From my perspective, the games industry has gone Hollywood on me. The only games that get made these days (with a very few exceptions - go play Psychonauts, ya barstewards!) are ones that are 'just like [insert title here] that did so well on the charts'.

MMO's are a perfect example of this. WoW is the best MMO ever... at least, if you believe subscription numbers. And, you know... pretty graphics and passable game design aside, it's got nothing really unique about it. And yet, because of its massive subscriber numbers, virtually every subsequent MMO shares a large number of characteristics. Very few innovative ideas ever make it to market. Planetside was a brilliant game. Had issues, had hackers (what online FPS doesn't?!?), but also had a brand new concept and was basically unique in the market. The dev team made poor decisions, true. But how much it's overall failure was driven by the tiny subscription numbers?

So yeah. I've got a whole stack of games that I bought, played and then stopped playing shortly thereafter because it had nothing new (in terms of gameplay, scope, plot, whatever). It was just like [older game that I own] which, while older with worse graphics, was better.

So, no. I won't buy games any more unless I've had a damned good look at 'em. ~£400 of repetitive, poorly thought-out unoriginality (let's ignore the 9/10 reviews, fantastic looking demo's and hordes of salivating fan-bois, shall we?) sitting on a shelf have convinced me otherwise.

When the games companies convince me that their product is worth it, they're welcome to their profit. That's only fair. But ONLY when they convince me.

Until then, I'll spend my time with Baldur's Gate 2, KotOR 1/2, DoW and... Theme Hospital :P

I would argue that pirating a video game is not even slightly like stealing the game from a retailer. If you steal from a retailer you are stealing from the middleman, who paid the creators for the product. I get the sentiment you're trying to put forth but it is in fact two different types of theft.

Still, fuck the thieves either way.

Can't believe I only lasted 4 threads today.

I can't go through every single comment in this thread and contradict them all, but I'm just going to say that PC gaming is in fact more economical than most here think. Especially when you can keep your keyboard, mouse, headphones, monitor, case, power supply, hard drives, RAM, and video card when upgrading to a new motherboard/CPU.

Oh, and I don't pirate games.

I do, however, get No-CD fixes for games like GTA4 with secu-ROM.

All joking aside, why purchase a disc made of fossil fuels when you can just download data? It's better for the environment that way.

I don't pirate, and I'm pretty much facepalming at anyone who does. And that INCLUDES the Activision and EA haters. Here's my typical response system with them.

Q: Why are you pirating the game?
A: Because they did a freaking horrible job of X, Y, Z, and L. They're just greedy bastards.
Q: Then why are you pirating the game?
A: Huh?
Q: If the game is so utterly horrible as you say, why do you want to play it?
A: I do want to at least play through it, I just don't think it's worth paying for.
Q: But you just said you "want to at least play through it." That means you'd be willing to pay something for it, don't you?
A: Not necessarily...
Q: If the game were 1 cent, would you buy it?
A: Well, I don't even know about that. It's more about sending a message.
Q: Pirating a game sends the message "I want to play this game but don't want to pay for it because I'm cheap." not "stop doing a horrid job". When looking at how satisfying a game is, they include piracy numbers in that statistic. Here's how it goes; "Well, 10 jillion people loved our game. Unfortunately, 90% of them are filthy pirates." "Oh dear. Well, the 10 jillion means we're definitely in the right direction, we just need to add more DRM." "Oh yes. Please pass the money-flavored ice cream."

Aw shit, now I have a hankering for money-flavored ice cream.

Madden is failing because Madden IS fail

how many times can you release the same game anyway?

I like how everyone is complaining about pirating. Yet games like MW2 have been leaked for the 360. :p

OH! Also. One of the only games I've pirated that would be considered "New" (I.E - 2005+) would be Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2. Funny thing is. I'm stareing at my completely legitimate copy of GRAW 2 for the PC as we speak. It won't install because I have had Daemon Tools on my computer, so Securom decided it would crash the install. So I had to pirate it to play my game.

HotFezz8:
fair enough, my pc is a laptop, therefore if i were to walk a game past it it would throw itself out the window and die.

i'm into 360, and honestly other than some RTS (the Total War series, i use it because i know it), flight sims, and maybe a handful of others i can't think of, computers aren't really designed to play games.

no, no... no shut up and let me finish. the only real advantage the PC has over the 360 or the PS3 (i refuse to call the Wii a games station) is that it has many many many more buttons you can use as a control.

stop and think. the PS3 sells for, what? £300? if you try to get a bling one? second hand ones in my area are £225... the 360 is, well i don't know but i can pick up a second hand mid range one for £75. using this as a comparasion the pc can't compete, a decent games PC costs a limb, a soul, and prefereably a child.

i can understand why companies stop making games for the PC, piracy et al, but there is a fairly compelling reason to stop making shooters racers etc for the PC all together.

p.s. is it possible to pirate a 360 or PS3 game?

...And because keyboard/mouse is by far the best implementation of aiming software in existence (Opinion of mine, shared by many but not fact). It's not perfect, but it beats the completely unnatural movements of the joystick. Shooters are simply unplayable on a game controller (Again opinion), and RTS are unplayable on consoles (Fact). Consoles are, despite them being just a prebuilt PC, only good for Sports games (Which I don't play) and racing games (Same story). So...Show me this "Fairly compelling reason to stop making shooters...for the PC," when the PC has just about every advantage. And hey, here's something interesting: My old(er) PC cost right around $500 and lasted 4 years (Ran the gambit from Starcraft to CoD4, and I could push it into L4D if necessary). My new computer cost me about the same, reused 2 HDD's, and will probably last me even longer (I opted for a higher end GPU and CPU this time, got 'em at good price points). So tell me, would you rather have a system with superior controls, no extra internet fees, extreme flexibility in displays and storage space, and the ability to Mod or just play the game as is? Or do you want a console which'll last you a tiny bit longer, has inferior controls, can't play RTS, has limited capabilities and storage space, is basically tied to your tv, and costs you about the same?

See how I took your way of thinking, that there are absolutely no highlights to the other machine in terms of games, and twisted it around? PC's are big gaming machines, if you build the thing yourself instead of buying the same thing prebuilt for 5x the price. And they'll last just as long as most consoles (PS2 excluded) while giving functionality beyond just a console. Notice how consoles now have internet connections, storage space, music players, chat programs, etc? It's because they are trying to be more like the PC, to try and attract those gamers who like the advantages of the PC. Yet the PC is still a solid pillar. It won't go away just because you've gotten used to controllers and thinking that PCs are more expensive and last less time, which doesn't have to be true. Consoles have their place, PCs have their place, and both of them fit into the set of gaming rigs. PCs just fit into the set of everything else computer related as well.

Right, well I'll openly admit to pirating one game in my life, Red alert 1. I'm against pirating though, and i get my games fairly - But If PC gaming dies, the piraters will work out new ways to pirate, it'll get around and console after console will be destroyed.

Ok, I confess. When the PS came out, I pirated each and every game I bought but I did not know what I was doing. And even so, the cds stopped working from a point on cause the console would overheat. After that, in the PS2 era, I did not pirate a single game. It does kill the industry and when I think about the effort that someone put into this, especially if the game is good, I HAVE to support the guy. By God, I know how it feels to be unappreciated and piracy is a very effective catalist when it comes to programmers' work being thrown down the drain. Pirates do not place themselves in the shoes of the developers and that is why they suck as human beings. I am against pirating except in the cases of 15 year old games that are not in the PSN and that I cannot find any other way.

People do not get that piracy actually makes the industry end up with less money. Without money, where the fuck are new games supposed to come from? Sure, it is not visible now but once it starts raising its pretty head, noone will like it. And to the guys that think the PC gaming is not dying, it is like a human being. You start dying from the moment you are born. And that does not go only for PCs. It is like Yahtzee said. At some point, the pinnacle of realism and gameplay will be touched. And then what? Maybe gaming is pointless. Yeah, maybe. But piracy amplifies this since noone gets any money out of this deal. So do not give in. Support the community. Plus, it is fun watching the counter-measures being deployed (like in Arkham Asylum)

Oh and to all pirates reading this, to quote Chucky: Fuck you very much.

Im happy to help

StarStruckStrumpets:
What makes you think I care?
I don't play games on the PC anyway.
Nor do I pirate.
You're the PC gamers, you fix the problem.

It certainly isn't my concern.

Why do you post in the thread then if it doesn't concern you? Wasting time or adding to your post count? Your contribution was pointless. If you're going to add something, make it provide a bit better assortment of contribution, please.

The countless piracy upon piracy threads on the Escapist always end the same. There's the majority that hate digital pirates, the majority that raise arguments over how bad it is, and there's the pirates who don't care about what they do.

i don;t pirate

This is strange. You all seem to be under the impression that people need money to make games. That it would be impossible, for some reason, for gaming to thrive without big business behind it.

Personally, I'm an FPS guy. Let me tell you some of the FPS games I play:
Cube, Sauerbraten
Assault Cube
Blood Frontier
Alien Arena
Open Arena
Tremulous
Nexuiz
Smokin' Guns
Urban Terror
Warsow
.kkrieger

Hey wait! Isn't every single one of those free? Yes, they are. Hell, for all but one (kkrieger) I can go get the damn source code and modify it however I wish.

And you can't try to say that you can't be innovative unless you've got a huge company behind you. Rogue was developed by a couple kids in college for the hell of it, and that marked the beginning of an entire genre. Without Rogue we'd not have NetHack (also free, and open-source), which, as I recall, is a massively influential game on its own. It also influenced Dwarf Fortress (holy crap, that's free too), which is basically the most complex game you can find in existence. And Spelunky (this is almost overwhelming now) spawned from NetHack and La Mulana (cough*free*cough).

Yeah. PC gaming will certainly die because people don't throw money at game developers. Game developers make games because they want to, not because they want people to shower them with cash. If anything about the PC dies, it'll be mainstream gaming, because the massive corporations that currently think they control it will buckle under how free the PC truly is. What then? Oh no, it looks like the people who care about making games more than getting dollars will finally be the center of attention. Tell me, please, where is the downside to this?

We don't need game companies to play games. I survive without them every single day.

AgentNein:

Sulu:
I only pirate games I would never actually buy. So the developer isn't losing money.

Bullshit. If you didn't have the ability to pirate, you're telling me you wouldn't touch any of these games? Then why touch them now? It's called dollar votes, if you like a game well enough to play it then you like it enough to buy it and support it.

He brings up a valid point. I don't have a job, so I don't have very much money to spend on gaming. I can only buy a few games a year, so I can't AFFORD to buy every game I have any interest in. So, a game like FEAR 2, which I would like to play, but can't afford, I might pirate. So even if I hadn't pirated it, I wouldn't have bought it. I wouldn't care THAT much about it to pay for it.

Are they really losing money if I wouldn't have bought their game in the first place?

EDIT: Or a game like Spore with ridiculously invasive and restrictive DRM. When I buy a game, I want to OWN it, not rent it.

I actively pirate and distribute free games to my friends. Why? because they are too pour to afford it! set the prices at decent levels and I wouldnt.

If someone from my country wanted to buy an original game, he must go without paying his phone or electricity bills, because thats how much it costs (100$), whenever I meet up with friend I give them up to 17 pirated games free just to spite capitalist eggheads who act like vampires.

a 300$ windows 7 is almost 1/3 or 1/4 of a salary here(An Arabian country)! how can people afford it without starving to death? the answer is piracy. When developers become more sane and set reasonable prices then I would stop pirating(Example Valve, I never pirate them as they are concerned with the gamers, they just offered Team fortress 2 for 2.5 $ in holloween)

I am a proud pirate just to piss off blood sucking capitalists.