I find the passionate hate many u.s games seem to hold against piracy quite perplexing. For one I think almost all of you have pirated one thing or another in your life whether it be music or even a photograph. But when it comes to vg piracy many of you get your panties in a bunch. We are talking multi million, in cases billion dollar coorporations here. If the game only makes 50 instead of 70 million in revenue is that really such an evil thing? Afterall I don't think the CEO's of these companies are begging for money on street corners and having a difficult time making ends meet. Is it really such a question of morale integrity when talking about a few extra bucks filthy rich multinationals maybe losing out on, or does everyone here happen to be a part of that upper 5% corporate elite?

I don't think that's really the case. Pirating the PSP involves downloading fimware consistently and creating a hybrid contraption out of a Pro Duo and a PSP battery. You can risk bricking your PSP if unsuccessful. Pirating the DS is a matte of purchasing a card that plugs into either of the two slots and dag and drop games into it's root file. I don't think PSP games are piated more oftenly than DS games. I think the DS just reaches into many more demographics that don't typically pirate, which keeps it's sales healthy. Notice how the games that reach farthest from technophiles in terms of interest also happen to be some of the best selling. The problem with the PSP is, it was marketed directly to the kinds of people that are knowledgable enough to pirate the games, while the DS marketed to those same people, plus countless other age groups.

To those that condemn video game piracy but don't have a problem pirating other industies, please quit being hypocrites. There is no right industry to pirate or wrong one. It should be either pirating itself is right or wrong.

It's simple. More game piracy = less risk-taking in game development, more BS copy protection schemes, and oftentimes publishers abandoning a piracy-prone system altogether (see: PSP). If you love good games, you should not pirate good games.

I've pirated music before, but artists barely make a few cents off of an album sale anyway - and there will always be music, piracy or no. I've pirated TV shows, but most TV shows are available for free (legally) somewhere on the 'net in any case. Game piracy is an evil unto itself, and not comparable to anything else.

Most people have a false perception of the reality of piracy. Most of the people that complain about it think it actually takes something away from the makers of the game, when in fact most pirates couldn't have afforded the product in the first place and never would have actually bought it. One thing they simply can't wrap their minds around is the idea that the vast majority of piracy goes on in nations where the average salary is less far less than $10,000 a year AND games are far more expensive because they are imported.

The real issue they use to defend their position is that people's jobs depend on these sales. Unfortunately what they don't understand is that from an economics standpoint the game developers don't actually lose money to piracy. Even active pirates in wealthier nations such as the US that could probably afford these games wouldn't change their behavior one way or another. In short, they were never going to pay for the game, so the company didn't actually lose anything at all. It's another concept that some people have a hard time wrapping their heads around, but if I had a dime for every time an anti-piracy fanatic didn't understand something I'd be struggling to figure out how to spend the money instead of struggling to figure out how to get the money I need to get my game to publication.

Also, since we're talking about people not being bright enough bulbs to illuminate some essential truths, these anti-piracy people are clearly unaware of the fact that IF piracy were stamped out completely, it wouldn't raise sales. Pirates are pirates for financial reasons, and if they couldn't "steal" their games they'd buy them used. Game developers don't get a single dime from used sales, so breaking up piracy rings wouldn't help one iota. The only people who would gain from it are companies like Gamestop, which the video game industry considers to be as much of an enemy as piracy. Sony and Nintendo both have tried to stop game resales almost as much as they have tried to stop piracy, and if you argue that you buy games new to support developers you have to loathe people who buy legitimate used as much as pirates because they hurt your precious developers MORE than pirates. They legitimize the idea of not buying a product from the developer and, worse still, they do their business legally in the US instead of illegally in China and Brazil (where it doesn't matter to begin with, due to low salaries).

Really, anti-piracy people just don't think about anything they can't see in their own world. They can't be bothered to take the time to realize that not even one more game would have been made in the history of the industry if piracy were non-existent because they know neither economics nor human nature. They assume, falsely, that a +1 for piracy is a -1 for developers when it is not a zero-sum game, and they do so because they neither understand the market nor human beings outside their tiny circle of associates.

Most people have a false perception of the reality of piracy. Most of the people that complain about it think it actually takes something away from the makers of the game, when in fact most pirates couldn't have afforded the product in the first place and never would have actually bought it. One thing they simply can't wrap their minds around is the idea that the vast majority of piracy goes on in nations where the average salary is less far less than $10,000 a year AND games are far more expensive because they are imported.

The real issue they use to defend their position is that people's jobs depend on these sales. Unfortunately what they don't understand is that from an economics standpoint the game developers don't actually lose money to piracy. Even active pirates in wealthier nations such as the US that could probably afford these games wouldn't change their behavior one way or another. In short, they were never going to pay for the game, so the company didn't actually lose anything at all. It's another concept that some people have a hard time wrapping their heads around, but if I had a dime for every time an anti-piracy fanatic didn't understand something I'd be struggling to figure out how to spend the money instead of struggling to figure out how to get the money I need to get my game to publication.

Also, since we're talking about people not being bright enough bulbs to illuminate some essential truths, these anti-piracy people are clearly unaware of the fact that IF piracy were stamped out completely, it wouldn't raise sales. Pirates are pirates for financial reasons, and if they couldn't "steal" their games they'd buy them used. Game developers don't get a single dime from used sales, so breaking up piracy rings wouldn't help one iota. The only people who would gain from it are companies like Gamestop, which the video game industry considers to be as much of an enemy as piracy. Sony and Nintendo both have tried to stop game resales almost as much as they have tried to stop piracy, and if you argue that you buy games new to support developers you have to loathe people who buy legitimate used as much as pirates because they hurt your precious developers MORE than pirates. They legitimize the idea of not buying a product from the developer and, worse still, they do their business legally in the US instead of illegally in China and Brazil (where it doesn't matter to begin with, due to low salaries).

Really, anti-piracy people just don't think about anything they can't see in their own world. They can't be bothered to take the time to realize that not even one more game would have been made in the history of the industry if piracy were non-existent because they know neither economics nor human nature. They assume, falsely, that a +1 for piracy is a -1 for developers when it is not a zero-sum game, and they do so because they neither understand the market nor human beings outside their tiny circle of associates.

Most people have a false perception of the reality of piracy. Most of the people that complain about it think it actually takes something away from the makers of the game, when in fact most pirates couldn't have afforded the product in the first place and never would have actually bought it. One thing they simply can't wrap their minds around is the idea that the vast majority of piracy goes on in nations where the average salary is less far less than $10,000 a year AND games are far more expensive because they are imported.

The real issue they use to defend their position is that people's jobs depend on these sales. Unfortunately what they don't understand is that from an economics standpoint the game developers don't actually lose money to piracy. Even active pirates in wealthier nations such as the US that could probably afford these games wouldn't change their behavior one way or another. In short, they were never going to pay for the game, so the company didn't actually lose anything at all. It's another concept that some people have a hard time wrapping their heads around, but if I had a dime for every time an anti-piracy fanatic didn't understand something I'd be struggling to figure out how to spend the money instead of struggling to figure out how to get the money I need to get my game to publication.

Also, since we're talking about people not being bright enough bulbs to illuminate some essential truths, these anti-piracy people are clearly unaware of the fact that IF piracy were stamped out completely, it wouldn't raise sales. Pirates are pirates for financial reasons, and if they couldn't "steal" their games they'd buy them used. Game developers don't get a single dime from used sales, so breaking up piracy rings wouldn't help one iota. The only people who would gain from it are companies like Gamestop, which the video game industry considers to be as much of an enemy as piracy. Sony and Nintendo both have tried to stop game resales almost as much as they have tried to stop piracy, and if you argue that you buy games new to support developers you have to loathe people who buy legitimate used as much as pirates because they hurt your precious developers MORE than pirates. They legitimize the idea of not buying a product from the developer and, worse still, they do their business legally in the US instead of illegally in China and Brazil (where it doesn't matter to begin with, due to low salaries).

Really, anti-piracy people just don't think about anything they can't see in their own world. They can't be bothered to take the time to realize that not even one more game would have been made in the history of the industry if piracy were non-existent because they know neither economics nor human nature. They assume, falsely, that a +1 for piracy is a -1 for developers when it is not a zero-sum game, and they do so because they neither understand the market nor human beings outside their tiny circle of associates.