Thief Pilfers Call of Duty: Black Ops, Leak Feared

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Thief Pilfers Call of Duty: Black Ops, Leak Feared


Theft, buying stolen goods, and copyright infringement: The world of leaked software is a dirty place.

Several copies of the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287482449&sr=8-1 ] were apparently stolen from a printing firm in Alabama yesterday, prompting fears that the game might find its way onto torrent sites ahead of its release in November.

The alleged thief reportedly sold the stolen disks to interesting parties via a number of websites dedicated to Xbox 360 modding and leaked and cracked software, although there was initially some confusion over exactly who had bought the disks. A picture of one of the disks surfaced with the name "Ungodly Leaker" written underneath it and some took this to mean that the Ungodly, who is credited with leaking Halo: Reach before its release, had a copy, while others claimed it was just the seller specifically showing Ungodly that the game was in his or her possession.

Either way, Treyarch's Josh Olin was very keen to get the disks back and went to one of the forums to negotiate. Despite being banned from the site in question, Olin was able to contact one of its members via Twitter who agreed to act as his proxy. The forum user then made a thread saying that Olin was looking for information, and if the game did get leaked, Olin would make sure that the site was closed down. The poster later said on the forums that he or she had co-operated with Olin in order to save Ungodly from some kind of legal trouble. The following day, Ungodly distanced himself from the theft, saying that he had been approached to buy one of the disks, but had never actually had it in his hands.


In a conversation supposedly between Olin and a poster on one of the modding forums, Olin said that Treyarch and Activision weren't worried about losing too many sales to modders - hardly surprising, considering that Black Ops is tipped to be an even bigger game than Modern Warfare 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104166-Call-of-Duty-Black-Ops-Set-to-Outsell-Modern-Warfare-2] - but that they wouldn't tolerate people ruining the game's multiplayer. It's not clear whether Olin was successful in reaching a deal with the alleged thief, so the possibility of a leak is still very real.

Call of Duty: Black Ops will be released on Xbox 360, PC and PS3 on November 9th.

Source: Hooked Gamers [http://www.hookedgamers.com/blogs/banewilliams/2010/10/18/retail_copies_of_black_ops_stolen_leak_imminent.html]













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Tethalaki

You fight like a dairy farmer.
Nov 5, 2009
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I'd have to say that Black Ops looks to be one of the more interesting CoD titles in recent years. Can't say I'm much of a fan of anything post CoD2.

Though it will be interesting to see how this predicament will play out.
 

Gvaz

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Sep 8, 2008
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I kind of hope it does, and it sells like crap, if only as a detterant to make these games and actually invest in non-linear games instead of this on rails and millionth copy of the same exact game with updated graphics :\
 

ImprovizoR

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Dec 6, 2009
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Interesting how more games get leaked on Xbox 360 than PC, but everyone seems to just ignore that. I hope it gets leaked and I hope pirates download a shitload of copies for 360.
 

JourneyThroughHell

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Sep 21, 2009
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Well, fuck. I can only hope Microsoft and Treyarch can at least clean up the online.

A leak that's month early, it's a big, big problem.


ImprovizoR said:
Interesting how more games get leaked on Xbox 360 than PC, but everyone seems to just ignore that. I hope it gets leaked and I hope pirates download a shitload of copies for 360.
More games leaked does not equal more games downloaded.
 

Kenko

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Jul 25, 2010
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I'll have to borrow an expression here.....OOOOOOOOOWNED! Aaah, feel much better now.
 

Unrulyhandbag

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Oct 21, 2009
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"cat; get off that roof and back into in this small bag, this instant!"

because that always works.
It's software; once the discs were taken and copies where made and hopes of a piracy free launch day were dashed. The only thing that will work is tracking down the criminal, suing them and hoping everyone else pay's attention and thinks twice in future.

Stomping feet and threatening everybody on the internet, like a toy deprived toddler, serves no purpose at all. Aside from looking like a particularly unpleasant group of people, of course.
 

Uber Waddles

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May 13, 2010
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Gvaz said:
I kind of hope it does, and it sells like crap, if only as a detterant to make these games and actually invest in non-linear games instead of this on rails and millionth copy of the same exact game with updated graphics :\
Thats more of an issue with the industry as a whole right now, and not just localized to FPS's. Because of the high demand and cost for better looking graphics, more of the games budget is going towards high definitions graphics (which usually includes a lot of rendering and motion capture technology).

Even non-linear games, as they are boasted, like Dragon Age, are extremely linear compared to any game just 7 years back.

The FPS like this, however, is cheap to make and manufacture (the target audience doesnt care too much about story, so they can make an 8 hour campaign then fluff it out with Multiplayer). The animations are fairly standard, you shoot, duck, reload. And its popular with the general public. Its a trend that will not go away as long as it is profitable: which it will remain.

As for the leak, it was bound to happen: either before or after the game was released. If I was Treyarch, I would moniter modding websites for mods for the console versions of their new game. Other then that, they cant really do anything short of finding the culprit and people who distribute it, and shutting them down.
 

Asuka Soryu

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Jun 11, 2010
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Oh noes~ He's stolen the brown FPS.


Pfft, why steal copies. Could've just taken a pre-existing FPS, re-lable it and edit the title screen and wah-lah.
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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Dah, doo dee daah!


On a serious point, it seems that major 360 games is becoming increasingly like major album releases: a leak is inevitable. For example, I've heard that Fallout New Vegas for 360 leaked a few days ago. And occasionally the big games get a big leak, and there's none bigger on consoles than Call of Duty at the moment. Hopefully this will provide the sales failure Activision needs. (Unlikely, though.)
 

tigermilk

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Sep 4, 2010
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Gvaz said:
I kind of hope it does, and it sells like crap, if only as a detterant to make these games and actually invest in non-linear games instead of this on rails and millionth copy of the same exact game with updated graphics :\
Updated grapchics... holy crackers batman I'm gonna by two copies just to be safe!
 

Unrulyhandbag

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Oct 21, 2009
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JourneyThroughHell said:
More games leaked does not equal more games downloaded.
That's a truism. Amount of seeds for the top five torrents of each, (taken from a well known and ailing torrent site):

Pc..............3888....2757.....2489..1841.....1785

XBox360...311......282......262......245......201


It doesn't matter that the games aren't the same, the trackers show that the top torrented PC titles are being maintained by ten times as many people as XBox360 titles.

It could be that console pirates are less willing to seed, but on that scale?
Kind of interesting that most of the PC pirates top five are games like the sims3 that are getting on a bit; the oldest in the top five for xbox is red dead and two of them are for cod.
 

D_987

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Jun 15, 2008
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Gvaz said:
I kind of hope it does, and it sells like crap, if only as a detterant to make these games and actually invest in non-linear games instead of this on rails and millionth copy of the same exact game with updated graphics :\
Non-linear=//= Good game.

I've never understood this obsession with non-linear games as though they're defiantly better than their linear counter-parts...
 

Blimey

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Nov 10, 2009
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A leak? Oh no! The spoilers, the spoilers! Now everyone will know ahead of time that Black Ops is just like MW2 with different characters.
 

Baron_BJ

Tired. Cold. Bored.
Nov 13, 2009
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Blimey said:
A leak? Oh no! The spoilers, the spoilers! Now everyone will know ahead of time that Black Ops is just like MW2 with different characters.
Actually it's set back in Vietnam.

That's a major story problem with most CoD games, they're set in the past. We know how shit's gonna end.

PS. America and it's allies LOST Vietnam.
 

Fangface74

Lock 'n' Load
Feb 22, 2008
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Leak verified, Black Ops (beta?) is now available to download for Jtag 360's.

Obviously not going to post where.