So you're saying that if they hadn't made the game non-piratable they wouldn't have had the bad reviews and probably sold more copies and been developing to this day.  Seems like an argument to let the pirates be to me.

I'll honestyly admit that I originally bought the 360 (I used to hate anything M$) due to the fact that I could mod it and burn games. To this day I have purchased 14 games and have several other purchases this year to make. I have also downloaded a fair amount as games as well, but the fact of the matter is in some situations like mine, piracy does help because there's money in M$ pocket and those developers that wouldn't have been there. Now if you ask me do I think that every person with a modded console does that?Hell No and its a shame that there are people too cheap to even buy a game, even if its really good.

How old are you people? I was there. I can tell you that the only reason mettallica ever got anywhere was because people were passing out copies of their tapes everywhere in schools. If it wasnt for those copies, no one would have ever heard of them. They were popular long before they hit radio (where they were still shunned) and long before anyone saw them on MTV.

Well genius think about this. Back in 1994 where the hell would you buy a copy of warcraft? You didnt see it in walmart. There were none on the shelves of Target. Certainly werent any in Price Club (aka Costco) and there was no Best Buy or Frys. Or wait, are you going to tell me that people knew how to use the internet back then and looked at BBS. Most people didnt even realize that computer games existed back then. We had nintendo and computers were for work and then I saw someone playing this game and the rest was history. I talked about it. We all had copies. When WCII was released we all searched high and low to buy a copy and even then it was a struggle. Moral of the story, piracy did not start with the internet... you twit.

Depending on the laws of your country, yes.

I was around.  The only reason they are famous today is because of the Black Album.  Before that, they were just an above average metal band.  The Black Album made them way more mainstream but alienated some of their old fans who felt betrayed.  Piracy had absolutely nothing to do with it.  Radio absolutely loved the Black Album(Enter Sandman), so that point of yours is worthless as well.

After thinking about this, maybe piracy did have something to do with it, and you may have just proved a point against piracy.  Maybe Metallica wasn't making enough money with their hardcore metal because of piracy.  They had to change their style in order to make more money and be able to keep making music.  So in essence piracy destroyed Metallica's style(and Cliff Burton's death). :)

Don't put your stupid words in my mouth, they taste bad.

I'm familiar with Renegade, so you're preaching to the wrong person about pre-internet history.  Most people had no idea how to use a BBS, and if they did, they had no idea how to find a warez BBS.  Compared to today's torrent sites, where any idiot can download a game.

Warcraft was made popular by:

1) It's demo

2) Word of mouth

3) Glowing reviews (I still have the PCGamer where it received a 90)

 If its popularity were made by people giving copies to everyone they knew, it wouldn't have sold a single copy, twit.

You know, I wonder what would happen if anyone broke into your office at night, stole the goods that you worked hard to produce and impacted your capacity to generate revenue to build up your pension fund, your kids college fund, etc.

Would your reaction be:

a) things should be free!
b) call the cops and hope the bastards get jailed.

And as for Metallica,

 That doesn't make it right.

This is exactly why "stealing" is the wrong label to give piracy, it's easily attacked by pro-pirates since copying doesn't fit the exact definition of theft.

Piracy is devaluation of a product, just like lowering someone's land value by polluting.  Anti-pirates need to call piracy destruction, since that's what you're doing to the original's value everytime you copy.

 Now I dare you to go up to your favorite developer, show them this image, and explain to them why it's ok that you gave away their work to thousands of people while seeding for two weeks.

Exactly.  I've seen pro-pirates get upset when their blogs are copied.  Piracy groups get upset when other groups re-tag .nfo files!  You need to understand your ideals work both ways, kids.

Insulting other users is not tolerated on this website.  Please don't do it again.