Ok everybody, just be sensible, pirate just as much as you need and then if you really want the game go out and buy it. Actually i was thinking why don't game companies just hand out free copies of games and then ask for donations from people who feel like paying.

well, that might work with MMO's with a monthly susbscription, or a low budget game, but can we honestly expect a game that cost $10 million+ dollars to make (and they do exist) being handed out for free on the slim hope of getting some donations?

^^I think you may need to read my comment again and just roll it around in your mind for a minute or two;)

Since companies see more profit from software than hardware, and sometimes a loss on hardware, then piracy would be double bad for them.

oops. my mistake.

You see, my sarcasm detector is in for repairs :(

The piracy does boost sales, at least where I live. When it was PS2 against Xbox, PS2 was much more popular because of the cheap software. Now, it's vise versa. PS3 is hardly sellin' because piretes just don't mess with it. Piracy is a bad thing but imo it makes the console sell better.

I'm sorry, did you use your talents to make that game?  Did you sink millions into its production?  Did you spend years of your life making it?

No?

Then it's not yours.

Copyright laws are made to protect talented people.  If your  contribution to society is "seeding diz for u guys!!" we're not interested in protecting you.

 PS2 was no doubt popular because of cheap software.  The catch is games easily hit the million mark of SOLD games on the PS2.  It wasn't due to piracy.  Piracy is not competition for game developers.  Piraters often say that games are too expensive and they would buy them if they were cheaper.  But almost all games hit the $19.99 or $29.99.  Do you have to be patient, absolutely they don't drop after being on the market for three days.  The second thing is piraters say is that these games are good anyway.  So thus the double oxymoron of the pirater. 

1.  Games aren't cheap.  Unfortunately you can't compete with $0.  There are several games I have an interest in that I'll wait until they are 19.99-29.99 to buy.  Sometimes it takes a couple of years with the Nintendo brand.  But you simply can't compete with free.  The analysis into setting a price is an analysis performed on how much money you will get from people that buy the game.  As piracy increases, the number of people that buy the game drop, thus creating an increase in the price of games for those that actually do purchase games. 

2.  These games aren't good.  Why do you want to play them then?  Everyone likes to quote the $60 price point, but wait until the game is at a price point that it's not as risky to try out.  Will you get it day one, no you won't but you can get any game cheap as long as you are willing to wait for the right deal.

Fact?  Not quite.  Show me some real statistics to prove your point.  I would wager a guess that most people still do not know how to pirate games.  I knew about 15 people in college that had a PS2 (supposedly the most pirated system ever).  And only two had pirated games. 

Today with the internet I don't think you need a demo to find out what a game is all about.  You have a multitude of review sites that explain how games play.  I usually read at least 10 reviews for games that I'm on the fence about.  I'll also watch a handful of youtube videos until I feel comfortable.  It's not 100% foolproof but I'm happy with over 90% of the games I have purchased this generation.  As a consumer you have to take some risk. 

Here's my take on the effect of piracy. The more free stuff that are available to people the more attractive it looks from the outside. Hence it have more early adopters. These early adopters will talk about the system to their friends and spark further chain reactions. Now not all of those people who will buy the system will pirate the software. What you have to see is that while piracy itself hurts the market, it also serves as marketing for the best features of your product. And software being soft, the manufacturers don't really lose money when they are "stolen." There are lots of examples of popular successful platforms that may have been helped by piracy Windows, PS1, PS2, Wii, DS. Piracy increases the popularity of systems, if the system is good (or in the case of windows does what the users needs it to) it will reach more people and eventually branch out to the non-pirates and everybody will be happy. It's a double edged sword, it helps and hurts.

PS2 was no doubt popular because of cheap software. 

Sorry m8 my bad. That's not what i meant. The thing is that here in Russia the xbox wasn't popular due to lack of pirate games. People just didn't want to pay much money for gamin'. And there were lots of pirate PS2 disks that costed 3$. Now the games for 360 cost around 5-6$. Also when i worked in the hardware shop we sold no PS3s and plenty of 360s.